Slobodan Milosevic is most known for being the ruler and politician of Serbia and Yugoslavia throughout the 1990s. From 1989 to 1997, he was President of Serbia, and from 1997 to 2000, he was President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. His time as a politician has been the subject of much speculation and controversy. His presidency was defined by the collapse of Yugoslavia and the ensuing Yugoslav Wars, notwithstanding his role in the founding of the Socialist Party of Serbia. With the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, he was accused with genocide and crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in relation to the conflicts in Bosnia, Croatia, and Kosovo (ICTY). He died in jail, however, before the allegations against him could be proven. Serbia got entangled in a succession of conflicts with the successor Balkan republics because of Milosevic’s actions. In 2010, Life magazine named him one of the “World’s Worst Dictators.”
Childhood and Adolescence
Slobodan Milosevic was born in the Axis-invaded territory of Poarevac, in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, to Svetozar Miloevic and Stanislava Resanovic. His father was a Serb Orthodox priest, while his mother was a schoolteacher and a Communist Party member.
He graduated from the Law School of the University of Belgrade with a law degree. He was the leader of the Yugoslav Communist League’s (SKJ) student branch’s ideology committee while in law school (SSOJ). Ivan Stambolic was a buddy of his when he was in university. The bond paid off when he was introduced to Petar Stambolic, the president of the Serbian Executive Council and Ivan Stambolic’s uncle, through Stambolic.
Career of Slobodan
He began his career in management and banking in 1966, after graduating from college. First and foremost, he was the Mayor of Belgrade’s economic counselor. He obtained employment with the Tehnogas Company two years later.
He climbed to become the chairman of the Tehnogas Company in 1973 as a result of his friendship with Petar Stambolic. He took advantage of the friendship by becoming the head of Beobanka, one of Yugoslavia’s major banks.
In 1984, he joined politics as a member of the Belgrade League of Communists City Committee. At the 10th Congress of the Serbian League of Communists in 1986, he was elected president of the SKJ’s Serbian branch Central Committee.
He was seen as a significant figure in Serbian politics beginning in 1987. He was a staunch supporter of Kosovo’s Serbs, even going so far as to oppose the government and the region’s ethnic majority, Albanians. His hardline beliefs were quickly condemned, with him being labeled a nationalist and a breaker of the Yugoslav Communists’ pledge to Brotherhood and Unity. His anti-bureaucratic movement forced his mentor, Stambolic, to quit, and he rose to power.
He advocated for the return of full authority as Serbia’s leader. He also implemented free-market reforms to help the Yugoslav economy recover. He also established a commission made up of Belgrade’s top neoliberal economists.
His revolutionary efforts were well publicized. He began by replacing Vojvodina and Montenegro’s government officials and leaders with his own loyalists. In 1989, he took over the president of the republic from Stambolic, resulting in Stambolic’s resignation.
He introduced various constitutional reforms after gaining control of the main posts in the government, which were ratified by the governments of Kosovo, Vojvodina, and Serbia. The reforms weakened regional autonomy while strengthening Serbian control over the police, judiciary, national defense, and foreign affairs. Because the Albanians boycotted the election, he and his men were elected by Serbian voters to positions of leadership. Four of the eight republics were under their power.
The League of Communists of Yugoslavia federation was rushed to split apart due to rising enmity in other republics and developing anti-Serb attitudes against political and economic reform. Following multiparty elections in other republics, he quickly accepted a democratic multiparty system and renamed the League of Communists the Serbian Socialist Party.
Serbia and Montenegro formed the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1992, which resulted in the complete destruction of the communist infrastructure and the establishment of a federal democratic multiparty system of government. He was re-elected to the Serbian presidency the following year.
During the Yugoslavia conflict, he was a major player. He directed warfare against Croatia, Slovenia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, which had proclaimed independence, with the help of Serbian militants, in order to reunite them with Serbia. The conflict lasted three years, however it was in vain since Croatian soldiers ejected the Serbian populace from their homeland.
Serbia’s economy was further degraded by the conflict, which was already reeling from UN trade restrictions. He had no option but to embrace the peace treaty and put an end to the violence in Bosnia if he wanted the penalty lifted.
Despite the new Federal Republic of Yugoslavia’s democratic framework, he maintained authoritarian authority during his presidency. He had complete control over the media and wielded enormous power over its censoring.
He also restricted the number of political opponents he faced and created opportunistic agreements with other parties. Despite being forbidden from seeking re-election to the presidency for a third time, he persuaded the federal parliament to re-elect him to the position in 1997. He was charged by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia as a result of this (ICTY).
He was found guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Kosovo War in 1999. The following year, he was defeated in the first round of the presidential election by opposition leader Kotunica, who received slightly more than 50% of the vote.
His rejection of the results of the first round election sparked huge protests known as the Bulldozer Revolution. As a result, a second round of voting was undertaken, with the same results. On October 6, 2000, he publicly conceded defeat. The next day, Kotunica was sworn in as the new president of Yugoslavia.
Following claims of corruption and misuse of authority, he was compelled to surrender on March 31, 2001. Despite constitutional restrictions, he was moved from his Belgrade detention cell to the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia by Yugoslav government authorities.
The trial began on February 12, 2002, when he defended himself against charges of war crimes in Croatia and genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The trial lasted two years and was widely publicized due to the presence of numerous high-profile witnesses.
Personal History and Legacy
He married Mirjana Markovic, his childhood sweetheart, in 1971. Marko and Marija, the couple’s two children, were born to them. During his time in the Hague prison, he suffered from heart ailments and high blood pressure. He died of a heart attack in his cell at the UN war crimes tribunal’s detention center on March 11, 2006, before the trial could be completed. He was never found guilty of the allegations against him because he died before the trial ended.
His admirers were heartbroken, while supporters of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia were outraged that he had gone unpunished for his crimes. A goodbye ceremony was organized, with tens of thousands of his admirers in attendance.
Estimated Net Worth
Slobodan is one of the wealthiest World Leaders and one of the most beloved. Slobodan Milosevic’s net worth is estimated to be $1.5 million, according to Wikipedia, Forbes, and Business Insider.
Trivia
The ‘Butcher of the Balkans,’ as this former President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia is known.