Tito was born as Josip Broz in 1892 in the town of Kumrovec, Croatia. In 1920, he became member of the soon to be banned Communist Party of Yugoslavia. In 1934, he became a member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Party. Since then he also used the party name "Tito".

After Yugoslavia was invaded by the Axis forces in April 1941, the Communists were among the first to organize a resistance movement. Tito became the Chief Commander of the Yugoslav National Liberation Army. The partisans staged a wide-spread guerrilla campaign and started liberating chunks of territory in which they organized people's committees to act as civilian government.

After the war Tito became the Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of post-war Yugoslavia. He remained in those offices until January 13, 1953 when he succeeded Ivan Ribar as the President of Yugoslavia. In 1963, the country changed its official name to Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and Josip Broz Tito was named President for life.

Tito was also recognized internationally as the first Communist leader who defied Stalin's leadership over the Cominform in 1948, an event that caused a rift with the Soviet Union. Under Tito's leadership, Yugoslavia also became a founding member of the Non-Aligned Movement. In 1961, Tito co-founded the movement with Egypt's Gamal Abdel Nasser and India's Jawaharlal Nehru, thus establishing strong ties with the third world countries.

Tito died on May 4, 1980 in Ljubljana, and his funeral drew many world celebrities. He is buried in his mausoleum in Belgrade.