AH Challenge: Yugoslavia-Wank

With a POD no earlier than 1945(obviously), create as powerful and as long-lasting a Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia as possible. Bonus points if it out-lasts the USSR (plausibly) and manages to reasonably gain Albania or Bulgaria.

Some suggestions as to how this might be accomplished, and get the ball rolling:

1.The Red Army is slower in its advance, thus giving Tito time to rally a sufficient force to become active in Albania/Bulgaria.

2. The Soviet Union is in a weaker position, and thus more reluctant to exert dominant authority over Yugoslavia, requiring it as a willing partner, rather than forcing the break in 1948 over demands it join COMINTERN/COMECON.

3. Tito is able to accomplish his 1974 Reforms in the early 1960s, prior to outbreaks of Ustashe-backed violence, leading to a more stable relationship with Croatia.

4. Tito does not recognize Montenegrins and Kosovans as seperate nationalities, thus discouraging the growth of discontented Serbian nationalism.

5. Tito does not die in 1980.

6. Slovenia is quickly crushed in the Ten-Day War, thus allowing the JNA to reassert its authority over member-states, and discourage the others from seceeding.

7. Slobodan Milosevic does not suceed Tito,and thus Serbian Nationalism does not become increasingly introduced into the agenda.

These are all very rough ideas, and I'm sure you'll all think of plenty more. :D
 
Actually, given the title of the thread, you could have an earlier POD... it was the Kingdom of Yugoslavia for a while, after all.
 
True, but I know next to nothing about the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, and anyway, Tito is much more interesting IMHO. :p

But if you want to be a Captain-Literal, I have no objections to Kingdom of Yugoslavia-wanks. :D
 
why not a few pods before 1945, partisans lost a lot of men and women in warious battles during ocupation, and more allied involvment could make them better armed and equiped even before Germany capitulates, more Stens sent by airdrops for instance

perhaps if Churchils son survives they might have an insider in Britain that could put in a few good words about Tito, and Yugoslavia might get parts of Bulgaria as was planed

a free Istra would automatically give Tito a reason to ask for more Bulgaria

maybe with a more reasonable german strategy the soviets would be slowed down enough for Tito to spread the NOB to Albania and Bulgaria, maybe even help out Hungary later on
this could involve more croatian and bulgarian conscripts being sent to the eastern front, so leaving the partisans with less internal enemies to execute after capitulation and less resistance

if the post war mass reprisals could be avoided that would help a huge lot, but thats practically imposible

for Yugoslavia to last longer 1971 is important, if the reforms are respected and the student movement is more sucesfull, there could be more autonomy in the individuall federal states and so less need to separate
this could give Yugoslavians enough time to deal with Miloševič without separation, there would probbably be a civill war but maybe no colapse

most of what you propose is actually contraproductive or implausable

there can be no 70is reforms before the 70is because 1971 didnt happen yet, and even then the state took a hardline atitude thovards these and the reforms basically remained a unused peice of paper till 1990
there was no ustase-backed violence
if you are refering to the crimes in the 90ties thats a whole other story, just dont get me started on that

not recognising Montenegrins would olnly destabilise Montenegro even more, and not recognising Kosovans would probbably lead to IRA stile terrorism during the 80is, retaliated by earlier "police actions" and ethnic war even before the miners strike

Slovenia, unlike Croatia and Bosna, kept all its arsenal(sneeky bastards), so the JNA was up against well armed well organised local groups, and had olnly recruits that had little will to fight, and rather surendered to the people they shared theyr passport with till yesterday and went home
Slovenia, unlike Croatia and Bosna had and has a wry small population of Serbs, so there was not enough people to recruit local četniks from, or in whose name to claim the land
also Beograd knew Slovenia is not olnly far awy but also borders with Austria, so a major war woudl not olnly outrage mittle europe, but also necesitate entering Nato airspace, all for a small nation that noone really wanted much aniway, especially since the serbian minority was negligable
in case Beograd did decide to fight, slovenci would suffer a lot, but would give JNA hell, and JNA would have to fight with all of Croatia betveen it and Serbia
they could still atack Zagreb and Ljubljana with a couple of tank colums, but if it took them 3 months and huge casulties to take Vukovar, imagine how much it would take to capture a state capital


Tito living longer might help out but not for long, he was really old and really sick


a good idea for a AH Yugoslavia that lasts longer could be a larger war with a seceded Bulgaria during the late 80is wich would get most of the population on the same side, maintaining national identity till the late 80is at least, and would show how criticall the situation is, causing reforms and political turnowers, possibly prewenting Milošević

also a bigger Yugoslavia might mean the border conflicts with the Soviets during the Hungarian uprising could grow bigger, althou i dont think there could be an invasion during the cold war, but this could worsen Yugo-Soviet relations

Yugoslavia having a border with Grece would also be interesting, especially during the years of the coup
 
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