Andrew Chen
Ms. Bergen
AP European History
4 June 2018
Josip Broz Tito: The Rebel Communist Josip Broz, more commonly known as Tito, was born on May 7, 1892 in the village of Kumrovec in the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire (modern-day Croatia). He was the seventh of fifteen children in a large peasant family, with a Croat father and a Slovene mother. At the early age of seven, he began working on his family’s farm. He entered primary school in Kumrovec at eight years old but quit school when he was twelve after failing the first grade. At age fifteen, he moved out of his rural hometown in order to apprentice for a locksmith and machinist in the more industrialized city of Sisak (in modern-day Croatia). …show more content…
In 1915, he was transferred to the Eastern Front against Russia; however, in April, he was seriously wounded by artillery fire and was captured by the Russians. Following a long hospitalization, he was sent to a prisoner-of-war camp, where he organized many demonstrations and became acquainted with Bolshevik propaganda. He escaped in 1917 when revolting workers broke into the prison. In Petrograd, he participated in the July Days demonstrations, part of the Russian Revolution of 1917; additionally, after the October Revolution, he joined a Red Guard unit in Omsk, Siberia. In October 1920, he returned to his native Croatia, which had become part of the newly established Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes. Upon his return, he joined the Communist Party of Yugoslavia (CPY). However, a state ban was instituted against communist activities, causing him to go underground, where he rose in the ranks and revived the influence of the CPY. In August 1928, authorities ultimately arrested him and sentenced him to five years in prison; during his trial, he courageously defended himself and his beliefs, gaining the respect of his fellow party …show more content…
There, he was elected to the Central Committee and Politburo of the CPY. At this time, he assumed many names for his underground party work, the most famous being Tito. Under the orders of Gorkić, Tito traveled to the Soviet Union, working in the Balkan section of the Communist International from February 1935 to October 1936. According to the New World Encyclopedia, Tito became a member of the Soviet Communist Party and the Soviet secret police (NKVD); in 1936, he returned to Yugoslavia to purge the CPY’s leadership (Josip Broz Tito, 2016). From 1937 to 1938, Gorkić and many other leaders of the CPY were purged by Stalin and then replaced with Tito’s hand-picked lieutenants; in 1939, he formally assumed the role of Secretary General of the CPY. Under his guidance, the CPY became increasingly powerful and developed new ties with militants. As stated in the Encyclopedia Britannica, at the underground Fifth Land Conference of the CPY in Zagreb in October 1940, Tito devised the CPY’s leftist strategy, “which focused the party on armed insurrection and on a Soviet-style solution to Yugoslavia’s nationality conflict” (Banac,
Ms. Bergen
AP European History
4 June 2018
Josip Broz Tito: The Rebel Communist Josip Broz, more commonly known as Tito, was born on May 7, 1892 in the village of Kumrovec in the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire (modern-day Croatia). He was the seventh of fifteen children in a large peasant family, with a Croat father and a Slovene mother. At the early age of seven, he began working on his family’s farm. He entered primary school in Kumrovec at eight years old but quit school when he was twelve after failing the first grade. At age fifteen, he moved out of his rural hometown in order to apprentice for a locksmith and machinist in the more industrialized city of Sisak (in modern-day Croatia). …show more content…
In 1915, he was transferred to the Eastern Front against Russia; however, in April, he was seriously wounded by artillery fire and was captured by the Russians. Following a long hospitalization, he was sent to a prisoner-of-war camp, where he organized many demonstrations and became acquainted with Bolshevik propaganda. He escaped in 1917 when revolting workers broke into the prison. In Petrograd, he participated in the July Days demonstrations, part of the Russian Revolution of 1917; additionally, after the October Revolution, he joined a Red Guard unit in Omsk, Siberia. In October 1920, he returned to his native Croatia, which had become part of the newly established Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes. Upon his return, he joined the Communist Party of Yugoslavia (CPY). However, a state ban was instituted against communist activities, causing him to go underground, where he rose in the ranks and revived the influence of the CPY. In August 1928, authorities ultimately arrested him and sentenced him to five years in prison; during his trial, he courageously defended himself and his beliefs, gaining the respect of his fellow party …show more content…
There, he was elected to the Central Committee and Politburo of the CPY. At this time, he assumed many names for his underground party work, the most famous being Tito. Under the orders of Gorkić, Tito traveled to the Soviet Union, working in the Balkan section of the Communist International from February 1935 to October 1936. According to the New World Encyclopedia, Tito became a member of the Soviet Communist Party and the Soviet secret police (NKVD); in 1936, he returned to Yugoslavia to purge the CPY’s leadership (Josip Broz Tito, 2016). From 1937 to 1938, Gorkić and many other leaders of the CPY were purged by Stalin and then replaced with Tito’s hand-picked lieutenants; in 1939, he formally assumed the role of Secretary General of the CPY. Under his guidance, the CPY became increasingly powerful and developed new ties with militants. As stated in the Encyclopedia Britannica, at the underground Fifth Land Conference of the CPY in Zagreb in October 1940, Tito devised the CPY’s leftist strategy, “which focused the party on armed insurrection and on a Soviet-style solution to Yugoslavia’s nationality conflict” (Banac,