Today we will talk about a topic about major changes in the world map -—— 30 years ago, in 1992, Yugoslavia, the backbone of the socialist camp at that time, was divided into six countries, which was really unexpected by everyone!
Yugoslavia was originally a country with strong overall national strength, harmonious nationalities, and a fairly solid life for its people. As the second country to establish a socialist system, it was so powerful that it once rivaled the Soviet Union and was known as the "Balkan Hero". Its success during the Cold War years was due in large part to the outstanding leadership of its first leader, Tito.
Tito was extremely far-sighted and took the lead in proposing an independent diplomatic line of "non-alignment". As a result, Yugoslavia moved between the Eastern and Western camps, receiving a large amount of economic aid from the West, and the well-off life of the people blossomed everywhere. In Yugoslavia at that time, more than half of the households already had televisions and refrigerators, and the standard of living surpassed that of most socialist countries.
However, with the end of the Cold War, the policies of the United States and other Western countries reversed.
In this way, the "king of the Balkans" completely disintegrated in 1992 and split into six countries: Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia.
First up are Slovenia and Croatia, which are the clear winners. Both countries quickly completed their capitalist transformation after leaving the south and actively embraced the West, joining the European Union and NATO one after another, and achieving integration with Europe. Slovenia, in particular, joined the European Union as early as 2004 and is now one of the core members of the European Union. Croatia also joined the European Union in 2013 with 17,000 euros. The two countries' unique geographical location and well-developed tourism are the main advantages.
The second is Bosnia and Herzegovina, a country that is also in the middle of the range, but its industrial development is not bad due to its abundant natural gas and coal resources.
Next are the three younger brothers, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia. North Macedonia is the most underdeveloped country and is still a developing country, with a per capita GDP of only about 6,000 euros, largely due to historical reasons - it was the poorest member of the southern country and had an extremely weak industrial base. Although Montenegro has limited national strength, with a total GDP of only 5 billion euros, it has a good social welfare system and reasonable distribution, with a per capita GDP of 8,000 euros and a decent standard of living.
Finally, when it comes to Serbia, as the main force of the old Yugoslav system, it should be the strongest. In fact, it did go through a period of rapid development in the last century, and was even certified as a developed country in the first two years. However, perhaps due to its embarrassing status and too many internal and external troubles, its development has still not fully reached the level of developed countries. Although the total GDP in 2022 is 60.4 billion euros, due to the large population, the per capita GDP is only 8,900 euros.
However, in general, the overall strength still lost to Tito's strongman rule era. Yugoslavia used to be a powerful country with both influence and strength during the Cold War era, but today's six sub-nations are difficult to regain their former glory. This is also a ruthless reversal of history, and we can only remember the glory of the Nan family forever.