Tito Part 1: The Young Gun

Summary

Real Dictators – Tito Part 1: The Young Gun (June 16, 2026)

Episode Overview

This episode of "Real Dictators," hosted by Paul McGann, opens the story of Josip Broz Tito, tracing his journey—born a peasant in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, rising through war and revolution to become the charismatic dictator and unifier of Yugoslavia. The episode dissects the myth and reality of Tito’s origins, his early life, military service, exposure to social upheaval, and formative years that shaped his unique governing style: pragmatic, cunning, and deeply shaped by the Balkans' tumultuous history.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Tito’s Death & Legacy (01:02–11:05)

• The dramatic communal grief following Tito’s death is illustrated through a powerful scene at a 1980 football match, where Croats and Serbs are united in mourning—a moment that symbolizes Tito’s role as the "glue" holding Yugoslavia together.
• Tito’s accomplishments: Wartime resistance against Nazis and Fascists, independence from Stalin, championing the Non-Aligned Movement, global stature as a statesman, and bringing "unparalleled period of economic growth and stability" (07:52–09:25).
• Quotes highlight both his revered patriotism and controversial legacy:
  • "He kept the country together, but equally, he sowed some of the reasons why it fell apart." – Expert Historian (09:38)
  • "He was ruthless when he needed to be, when people disagreed with him." – Expert (10:08)
• Tito displayed both avuncular charm and autocratic brutality, establishing a one-party state and eliminating opposition.

2. Origins: Childhood and Background (11:05–19:08)

• Born Josip Broz in 1892, Kumrovec, in what is now Croatia, to a Croatian father and Slovenian mother—his family history an example of the area’s ethnic mingling.
• Life as a peasant was harsh and marked by poverty; formal education was minimal, but young Josip became an autodidact, described as possessing the “skill of a peasant, very clever, cut out with people” (14:16 – Clark Peters).
• The Balkans of his youth were culturally and religiously diverse yet repressed by imperial powers—first the Ottomans, then the Austro-Hungarians.

3. Life Under Austria-Hungary and Growing Instability (17:40–24:51)

• Detailed by historians, the Austro-Hungarian Empire is portrayed as a confusing, multiethnic entity, with shifting borders and rising nationalist tensions—context key to understanding Tito's later drive for unity.
• Broz’s early distaste for Marxist theoretical disputes is an asset, argued by Nicholas O’Shaughnessy:
  • “The fact that Tito had no interest in Marxist theoretics probably saved his life…” (24:37)

4. Family Strife, Early Independence, and Mobility (24:51–27:09)

• Family under economic strain due to oppressive landowners; domestic discord led to Tito spending substantial time with Slovenian relatives, shaping his unique accent and multilingual skills.
• Despite setbacks and menial work (herding cows, then apprentice laborer), Tito’s quest for self-improvement led him to bigger cities and eventually abroad, eager for “life experience.”

5. Apprenticeship, Travel, and Political Awakening (26:36–29:44)

• Broz cycles through work in Zagreb, Ljubljana, Trieste, Czech lands, Germany, and Austria, joining metalworker unions and engaging with trade unionism but often losing jobs due to activism.
• He becomes a polyglot and skilled at subterfuge—traits that would later serve his revolutionary career. Multiple contributors mention his “thespian skills” and shape-shifting abilities with language and identity (29:25).

6. The Balkans on the Brink: Wars and Nationalism (29:44–33:08)

• The Balkan Wars, rising Serbia, and Austrian decline provide a chaotic backdrop—“Balkanization” born as territories splinter along ethnic lines.
• In 1913, Broz is conscripted into the Austro-Hungarian Army. He excels, rapidly advancing in rank, unexpected for a peasant youth.
• He’s described as loyal to the Habsburg army—a “pretty loyal Habsburg soldier” (32:45).

7. World War I: Conflict, Injury, and Russian Captivity (33:08–44:27)

• The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand—a pivotal global event—is vividly recounted, leading to World War I.
• Initially fighting Serbs, Broz is later transferred to the Eastern Front, where he’s wounded by a Circassian lancer and captured by Russians (42:18).
• As a POW in Kazan, he immerses himself in Russian language and literature, guided by local girls and “learned to speak Russian like a native.” (43:47)

8. Exposure to Revolution & Bolshevism (44:27–52:16)

• He witnesses firsthand the deprivations and unrest of the Russian populace, and is swept up in 1917’s “July Days” in Petrograd—directly observing the Russian Revolution, which radicalizes him (47:31, 49:13).
• Skills in infiltration and impersonation allow him multiple escapes and survival in war-torn Russia:
  • “He can pose as a German, he can pose as a Russian, and they can't actually tell. We're talking about an incredibly clever man…” (50:30)
• He becomes part of the Red Guard, participates in new Bolshevik power structures, and survives the chaos of the Russian Civil War, even marrying a local teenage girl.

9. Aftermath and Return Home (52:16–End ≈54:30)

• Josip Broz returns to a fundamentally changed homeland: Austria-Hungary no longer exists; he finds his family scattered and his mother dead.
• Croatia is now part of the multi-national Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes (soon to be called Yugoslavia).
• The episode closes as Broz prepares for a new chapter—one that will see him return to the USSR for further revolutionary indoctrination and eventually assume his famous nom de guerre: Tito.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Tito’s Leadership and Charisma:
  • “To have a Yugoslav passport made you able to travel to more countries than any other country in the world. That position was a result of Tito’s leadership. It’s a genuine case of charisma. Truly beloved.” – Clark Peters (08:15)
• On Yugoslavia’s Fragility:
  • “He kept the country together, but equally, he sowed some of the reasons why it fell apart.” – Expert Historian (09:38)
• On Tito’s Practicality:
  • “The fact that Tito had no interest in Marxist theoretics probably saved his life…” – Nicholas O’Shaughnessy (24:37)
• On His Survival Instincts:
  • “The shape-shifting, shape-changing qualities of Tito were always at his disposal. He can pose as a German, he can pose as a Russian, and they can’t actually tell…” – Expert Historian (50:30)
• On Birthplace Diversity:
  • “That village in which he’s born, Kumrovec, is in many respects a microcosm of the Austro-Hungarian state. A place where language is a fluid concept…” – Richard Mills (18:19)

Important Timestamps

• 01:02 — Tito’s death announced at Split football match
• 07:52–11:05 — Historians reflect on Tito’s accomplishments and ambiguities
• 14:16 — Tito’s peasant skill and cleverness discussed
• 24:37 — Tito’s avoidance of Marxist academic disputes considered a survival trait
• 29:25 — Stories about Tito’s accent, thespian skills, and rumors of his identity
• 32:45 — Assessment of Tito as a loyal Habsburg soldier
• 42:18 — Tito’s wounding and capture by Russians
• 43:47 — Learning Russian and blending in
• 47:31–49:13 — Witnessing the Russian Revolution
• 50:30 — Tito’s mastery of multiple roles
• 52:16–end — Entrance into the Red Guard; marriage and return to a new homeland

Tone & Style

The episode maintains a narrative style that blends meticulous historical context with vivid, cinematic description. Firsthand accounts and expert commentary enrich the storytelling. The mood oscillates between dramatic, reflective, and analytical — equal parts compelling biography and historical detective work.

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For Listeners New to "Real Dictators"

This opening episode on Tito is an accessible yet comprehensive primer—tracing not just a life story, but how one man’s character and circumstance shaped the destiny of a nation. It sets the stage for exploring not only Tito’s rule, but the broader tides of revolution and shifting identities in Central and Eastern Europe.

Up Next: Assassination, further intrigue, Tito’s transformation into a Soviet agent, and the origins of his legendary persona.

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Note: Ads, unrelated show promos, and non-content sections have been omitted.

Transcript

[Clark Peters]

Clark.

I'm Clark Peters, and this is Founding an American Dream. In a sweltering room in Philadelphia, Thomas Jefferson writes the Declaration of Independence. In an open valley, George Washington leads a ragtag army against the mighty British Empire. And in New York City, a furious crowd tears down a statue of the king. 250 years ago, the the United States of America was born. But how did the people overthrow British rule? How did they invent a radical new nation? And who lost out along the way? From the Noiza Podcast Network, this is Founding an American Dream. The real story of how the US was created and why its legacies still matter. Listen wherever you get your podcasts.

[Narrator / Historian]

It's Sunday, May 4, 1980, about 10 to 7 in the evening. We're in the Polyud Stadium in the city of Split. It's the crunch match of the Yugoslav football season. Hajduk, the local team versus Red Star. Belgrade, Croatia versus Serbia, the reigning league champions, against the side poised to depose them. Both sets of supporters, 50,000 of them, packed in like sardines, singing, chanting, blowing horns, setting off flares with as much energy devoted to haranguing the opposition as to cheering on their own team. On the pitch, it's a full blooded encounter. Still in the first half, but already deadlocked at 1 1. An early red Star penalty equalized by a strike from Heydric Zlatkovujevic, the Yugoslav player of the year. But then something strange happens. A buzz starts to go around. A rumor that sweeps across the terraces, passing from one fan to another. Some press their ears to transistor radios, the action on the field now of little interest as they listen for updates, reacting to the change in atmosphere. The game slows, players shrugging in confusion. A league dignitary races from the tunnel, waving his arms. He gestures for the referee to halt play. The stadium comes to a hush, absolute silence. And then over the Tannoy comes the somber announcement. Umro Yedro Tito. Comrade Tito has died. The news is not unexpected. The 88 year old leader, president for life of Yugoslavia, marshal of its armed forces, national hero, has been in a critical condition these past few weeks. Everyone knows it, no matter what the government may have been claiming. But in historical terms, the words are still earth shattering. In the center circle, the players gather their teams, intermingling the white shirts of Haidu, the red and white stripes of Red Star. They stand with their arms around each other's shoulders, faces etched with sorrow. Some weep openly, others drop to their haunches, dabbing tears with their jerseys. Tito was a Haiduk supporter. But that's irrelevant. Both teams stand united in grief, whether Croat or Serb, whether the three match officials or Bosnian, or the players present from the state's other republics, Macedonia, Montenegro, Slovenia. In the stands, grown men blob like babies. Burly, bare chested ultras lapse into wailing hysteria. And a song starts up, a rousing socialist anthem. And soon everyone is joining in. Fans, players, officials, press. Comrade Tito, we swear by you. Tito was not just their leader, but a father figure, a world statesman, the man who gave modest Yugoslavia a voice, allowing it to punch way above its weight on the international stage. The guardian of this multi ethnic Balkan federation, a melting pot of cultures, languages and religions. As it is often said, he was the glue that held it all together. For the tears flow too, in realization that the life these Yugoslavs have come to enjoy, to love, will soon be at an end. In just a few short years, their country will be ripped apart. The men here today, brothers in arms, slaughtering each other with abandonment, engaged in the most devastating European war since 1945. According to the football records, the match between Heideux and Red Star was officially abandoned in the 41st minute, the result declared null and void. A replay scheduled for the following Wednesday. Only one man disapproves Branko Stankovich, the Red Star coach. That game, he says, was theirs for the taking. From the Noiser podcast network. This is the Tito story, and this is real dictators. Marshal Tito's record is indeed remarkable. He led the Yugoslav resistance movement, the Partisans, in World War II, making him the only wartime leader who can truly claim that his country liberated itself. He defeated both Hitler and Mussolini. He frustrated Churchill. He was the only communist head of state to confront Stalin. His pragmatism towards both east and west ushered Yugoslavia into an unparalleled period of economic growth and stability. He was the architect of the non aligned movement of nations, navigating a third way through the Cold War's superpower struggle, rejecting both Soviet vassalage and Western hegemony.

[Expert / Historian]

I'd say that he was the most successful leader in the communist world in the 20th century. In terms of the outcome for his

country, it was compelling because he was a genuine war hero. He presided over renewal of the old South Slav dream of having a country together.

[Clark Peters]

To have a Yugoslav passport made you able to travel to more countries than any other country in the world. That position was a result of Tito's leadership. It's a genuine case of charisma. We use the term very loosely in political terms. Truly beloved.

[Expert / Historian]

The other element is incredibly important to understand is that Tito stood up to Stalin in 1948. And that is one of the greatest moments in, I think, in the history of the 20th century, because the Europe and the world would have looked differently should Yugoslavia have meekly just became a part of Stalin's Soviet Union structure in Europe.

He was one of the most important world statesmen from the mid 20th century. Vastly respected. He was given the legend by France,

[Narrator / Historian]

the order of the buff by Britain.

[Expert / Historian]

Even the Russians, I think, afforded him a few trinkets.

I mean, we were a country which existed on a kind of. On a barrel of gunpowder. But somehow he managed to bring us a sense of safety and security which has been unmatched ever since.

And the thing about Tito, he wasn't just a communist. He actually believed in Yugoslavia. He was the person who actually believed in the country in which he was fighting. And that's what makes Tito quite remarkable, actually. And that's why, of course, when he went, it disintegrated.

He kept the country together, but equally, he sowed some of the reasons why it fell apart.

[Narrator / Historian]

For there was also a darkness behind Tito's avuncular demeanor, that of a man who ruled with an iron fist, whose autocratic governance was characterized by decadence, repression, ruthlessness, and sometimes brutality.

[Expert / Historian]

He was also someone who liked the finer things in life. Attracted to expensive white suits, speedboats. He even built up his own personal zoo. He fraternized with Hollywood film stars and personally oversaw the making of war films which presented him in a very positive light. He was ruthless when he needed to be, when people disagreed with him.

When he emerges as the country's leader, he is popular. But they weren't interested in having a free election. They were interested in creating a single party state in which the Communist Party was the only party. So he's a dictator. Very much a dictator in the sense that he led a dictatorial party. And opponents were removed fairly brutally.

[Narrator / Historian]

Today, there is no such thing as Yugoslavia. To outsiders, its constituent parts are proud, independent states, better known to many in the west as holiday hotspots, Tourists flocking to beautiful Dubrovnik, Croatia, or the beaches of the spectacular Dalmatian coast. Perhaps a stag do in Ljubljana, Slovenia. To anyone under 40, the old, overarching federation Yugoslavia is just a historical relic, a curio, a failed state, one that ultimately disintegrated, not an entity that had endured for the best part of a century, one that had seemed, till 1980, indestructible. For the story of Tito is the story of Yugoslavia. Marshal Tito wasn't born in Yugoslavia. No such thing existed then either. His name come to that, wasn't even Tito before he assumed that revolutionary handle, he was known only as Josip Proos. Such is the mystique attached to him that in some circles to this day, doubts persist as to whether the young revolutionary who styled himself Tito and the elder statesman called Tito are even the same person. But we'll come to that in due course. It's spring 1892. We're in the village of Kumrovec in the northern Zagoria region of today's Croatia. It's farming country, hilly, just a stone's throw literally, from the Sutler river, which marks the border with Slovenia. Agriculture is the mainstay of the economy, not just here, but in the wider Balkans. The region in the late 19th century is barely industrialized at all. Franjo and Maria Broz live on a 10 acre farm in a decent sized property that has been passed down through the generations. Franjo is Croatian, someone who can trace his roots back locally over three centuries, hailing from a long line of serfs. His wife, formerly Maria Jabashek, is Slovenian, though with all the mingling in these parts, that's nothing unusual. On May 7th or thereabouts, no one's really sure comes into the world a son whom they name Josip, a Slavic variant of Joseph. He's the seventh of their 15 children, eight of whom failed to survive infancy. Susan L. Woodward is professor of Political Science at the City University of New York. She was a special representative for the UN Secretary General for unprofor, the peacekeeping force in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

[Clark Peters]

He came from an area of Croatia that was primarily Slovene, so his parentage is mixed Slovene and Croatia. It was often said the people from that area, especially his town, there was a term in Serbo Croatian called lukavo, the skill of a peasant, very clever, cut out with people, and so it's often used for him.

[Narrator / Historian]

Josip, like his siblings, is brought up as a Catholic, but the family have neighbors who are Orthodox. Some are Lutheran, there's a sprinkling of Jewish families. Others, hailing from further south, are Muslim. The Balkans, in short, is Europe at a crossroads. Though many of these cultures remain suppressed, unable to express their historic identities, they're governed as part of larger imperial projects. If Josipros had a passport at this point, it would demonstrate that he is one thing and one thing only. A citizen, a subject of Austria, Hungary.

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[Podcast Host / Announcer]

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[Narrator / Historian]

Austria. Hungary is a confusing enough concept in its own right. It came into being in 1867, successor state to the vast Austrian Empire which is itself a legacy of the old Holy Roman Empire. At its peak it once covered all of Central Europe and Northern Italy. Then, like now, it's ruled by the Habsburg dynasty. Richard Mills is Associate professor in Modern European History at the University of East Anglia. He is the author of the Politics of Football in Sport, Nationalism and the State.

[Expert / Historian]

So Tito has this remarkably long life, an individual born in the final decade of the 19th century, in a completely different political context to the one that will develop during his later lifetime. That village in which he's born, Kumrowitz, is in many respects a microcosm of the Austro Hungarian state. It's a place where language is a fluid concept. The language spoken from village to village will change imperceptibly as you move in one direction or another. And this dialect that he speaks cannot be classed as standard Croatian or standard Slovenian. It's very much of the region that he is from and has all kinds of borrowings from other languages as well.

[Narrator / Historian]

Following military defeat by the Prussians in 1866, the Greater Austrian realm has been rationalized, subdivided into what's called the Dual Monarchy. It's still a patchwork multi ethnic collective, only divvied up now between regional rule from either Vienna or Budapest. Slovenia, the Czech lands and Galicia, what amounts to a chunk of today's Poland and Ukraine, come within the Austrian purview, as do the Istrian Peninsula, Dalmatia and the Alpine Tyrol region. Meanwhile, Slovakia and Transylvania, a large part of modern Romania, are under Hungarian suzerainty, as indeed is Croatia, or to give it its full title, the Kingdom of Croatia and Slavonia. That's Slavonia, by the way, not to be confused with Slovenia, which is something completely different. Professor Christopher Catherwood is the author of Churchill and Tito Soe Bletchley park and supporting the Yugoslav Communists in World War II.

[Expert / Historian]

Technically speaking, Croatia was a kingdom. From 1102 to 1918, Croatia existed, but it was a kingdom under the Kingdom of Hungary. And so he was a Hungarian subject

[Narrator / Historian]

as a Croat, albeit under the supreme governance of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria. And if you're developing a headache already, you can be forgiven for deconstructing the Balkans is to unravel a Gordian knot. Across Europe. The genie of nationalism has long been out of the bottle, sweeping through the continent in the wake of the 1848 revolutions, laying down a gauntlet to the post Napoleonic order still being upheld by the Great Powers. The recent unifications of Italy and Germany have ripped up the rulebook. And there are plenty of smaller nations too now aspiring to self determination. None more so than in the Balkans. In the years preceding Josipros birth. Greece has gone solo. The 1870s have seen what is known as the Great Eastern Crisis, with the likes of Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia and Montenegro also flexing their muscles. By 1878, thanks to Russian military intervention, they've thrown off the yoke of Another nominal great power dominating the Balkan region, the Ottoman Empire. Weakened and bankrupt, the Ottomans are known now as the Sick man of Europe. With the majority of their territory lying in the Arab world, they cling to the last Balkan vestiges of a once expansive Islamic commonwealth, chiefly Bosnia and Albania, still with significant Muslim populations, still notionally governed by the Turkish administration in Constantinople. And then there is Russia again, which has expansionist designs of its own, dressed up as Pan Slavism, or perhaps more correctly, Greater Russiaism, a cry for the Slavic nations to band together and orientate themselves eastwards. Russia continues to foment trouble, stoking old grievances, which isn't difficult, for this is a region where enmities run deep. In Serbia, for example, the year 1389, as it is to this very day, is held in near mystical reverence. It was then at the Battle of Kosovo, that an Ottoman army inflicted a humiliating defeat upon the Serbs, something yet to be avenged. The date of the battle has been seared into the Serbian nationalist consciousness. June 28. It is one that will soon assume a new significance. In Croatia, the woes seem trivial by comparison. The Broz family may express resentment that the purchase of a train ticket can only be done in Hungarian. But in a bubbling regional cauldron, being Austro Hungarian represents something far more important than the odd inconvenience, stability and security. The Broz family are not dirt poor, but still relatively impoverished by today's standards. Education is not a priority. Josip Broz will spend less than four years at elementary school, though he will become an autodidact, educating himself as he passes through life. It leads to a certain no nonsense approach, that of a man not given to suffer fools gladly. Later on, as a revolutionary, he will be wedded less to communist dogma than a more practical assessment as to whether something works or not. Nicholas o' Shaughnessy is Emeritus professor of Communication professor at Queen Mary University of London.

[Expert / Historian]

The fact that Tito had no interest in Marxist theoretics probably saved his life, because he couldn't and wouldn't get involved in the arcane theological disputes between Marxists.

[Narrator / Historian]

Family life is not harmonious, unfortunately. As a tenant farmer, Father Frano is deeply indebted to his aristocratic landowners who live in the castle up on the hill. They impose massive interest hikes on the loans he's been forced to take out, placing great strain upon the household. It pushes him towards drink and his children towards their mother. While Maria tries to salvage the farm, the kids are shipped off to their maternal grandparents across the Slovenian Border. Geoffrey Swain is professor of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Glasgow.

[Expert / Historian]

One of the things lots of people say about Tito is that he had a very strange accent. Some of his critics say that's because he was really Russian, but he wasn't really Russian, but he did have a strange accent because he spent so much time with his Slovene grandparents.

[Narrator / Historian]

Franko Birki is a publisher and editor and the founder of global media organization Project Continuum.

[Expert / Historian]

After he died, there were so many crazy theories and there were so many crazy theories about him, and I think it doesn't do him justice because he was extraordinary man without any of those things. To grow up as a little peasant child who failed the first grade in school, and to grow up to be a legendary leader like that, it takes incredible ability.

[Narrator / Historian]

Age 12, Josip Broz leaves school to help out herding the farm's cows. The first job in what will be a peripatetic existence. At 18, he goes to Zagreb, the Croatian capital, and becomes a metalworker.

[Expert / Historian]

What we see in Tito is someone who is very keen for life experience, Someone who moves away from the village at an early stage in life as an apprentice gets to know the world, living in various towns, initially small towns, but then he moves on to Zagreb, where he is immediately familiarized with trade union politics, becomes a member of the Metal Workers Union, but then never really stays anywhere for very long.

[Narrator / Historian]

In 1911, he ventures to Ljubljana, the Slovenian capital. This time, from there it's on to Trieste, Austria, Hungary's key Adriatic port. All in the pursuit of gainful employment. But he winds up back in Zagreb again as a bicycle repairman. Things are going nowhere fast. Hearing of industrial opportunities in the empire's heartland, Josip Broz heads north to Czech Bohemia. He lands work temporarily at the Skoda Armaments works in Pilsen. The tour continues on to Germany, Munich first, then the Ruhr Valley. Next up is Austria, working alongside his older brother Martin at the Daimler Benz car factory near Vienna.

[Expert / Historian]

He was very proud that he had test driven a Daimler car in 1912 or something like that. But he was also always active in the trade unions. And that of course, didn't always go down very well. And so he loses jobs. On occasion he gets blacklisted.

[Narrator / Historian]

But there is work and there is play. In Vienna. Bros learns to fence and he indulges in cafe society.

[Expert / Historian]

He was also very keen dancer. I was fantasizing earlier that maybe if we have Strictly Come Dancing of the dictators, Tito would be the one who

[Narrator / Historian]

would win hands down along the way, he has affairs with assorted women. And for this burgeoning polyglot, adds passable German to his newly acquired Czech. Add his later mastery of Russian, and it will inflect further that already unfathomable speaking voice. Neil Barnett is the author of Life and Times and the founder of the intelligence consultancy Istok.

[Expert / Historian]

The fact that he spoke in that way spawned various suspicions, one of which is that this boy who grew up in Kumravec was not the same boy who came back from Russia after the First World War, but actually it was a doppelganger sent by Comintern.

He actually had great thespian skills in his earlier career, posing as something he wasn't. He was so fluent in a whole stream of European languages that he could pose as a native. And for a man constantly under threat, that was highly significant.

[Narrator / Historian]

It's during this period in the bars and staff canteens that Broze becomes aware of the power of the workers movements he's been flirting with, and that there are seismic shifts about to occur in European politics. Above all, there's a sense that the old order cannot be sustained, that it could all come crashing down, and that the Balkan region in particular is ground zero. Sure enough, in October 1912, war breaks out. The Balkan League, an alliance between Orthodox Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia and Montenegro, takes on its ailing Ottoman masters. The Ottomans, fresh from defeat to Italy and Libya, are in poor shape militarily. Victory by the Balkan League will result in the ottomans losing over 80% of their European territories. The League's members are recognized as independent states, and Serbia will emerge as the dominant alternative force in the region.

[Expert / Historian]

Serbia had been rising as an independent power from 1903, really evolving as quite a powerful state. Then, in 1912, the first Balkan War broke out. The Slav inhabitants of the Ottoman Empire rebelled against Turkish rule. Serbia came to their support, and that military operation increased the power of the Serbian military enormously.

[Narrator / Historian]

This oft overlooked conflict, notable for its savagery and atrocities, will be followed soon after by a second Balkan war. Serbia, unhappy at concessions made to Macedonia, will embark on a fresh round of fighting. It has the feel of an overture for something truly cataclysmic, and it will coin a phrase, one that refers to the fragmentation of a region into its ethnic constituencies, a term still used today. Balkanization. In May 1913, with storm clouds gathering, Josip Bros liked thousands of young men as conscripted into the Austro Hungarian army. It will later be suggested, chiefly by himself, that he was forcibly press ganged, but this seems A reinvention in the 25th Croatian Home Guard Regiment. Bros appears well suited to army life. A good soldier, he is personable, has assorted trade skills, is a multilinguist and can suck up a bit of hardship.

[Expert / Historian]

Tito himself seems to have been a pretty loyal Habsburg soldier. He doesn't like the Kariorviks, the ruling family of Serbia, the Habsburgs. He does have time for.

There were some Croats who refused to serve in the army. But he doesn't refuse to serve. He actually seems to have quite enjoyed his military career.

[Narrator / Historian]

His fencing abilities get him noticed. He's a runner up in the all army championships. He also takes advantage of alpine training to become a proficient skier. Bit of a star, Brose is pegged instantly as non commissioned officer material and fast tracked. At 21 years old, he becomes the youngest staff sergeant in the Austro Hungarian army. It's Sunday morning, June 28, 1914. We're in the Bosnian town of Sarajevo on the banks of the Milyacka River. The town has a largely Muslim population, betraying its Ottoman heritage, its skyline dotted with minarets and the domes of mosques. Though its populace seemed largely loyal to its Habsburg overlords in 1908, controversially, they stepped in to make bodies near a protectorate. The streets are packed, the crowd in a flag waving celebratory mood there to greet today's royal visitors, the heir to the Austrian throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie. Franz Ferdinand is 50 years old, seemingly another Habsburg clone with his mustache and plumed hat. But underneath the imperial trappings, the Archduke is actually a realist, fully aware of the fragility of the region. He is a would be facilitator of Balkan self determination, a modernizer, and also in a bit of a domestic pickle. As only the third in line to the throne, the Archduke had avoided scrutiny of his romantic life. His marriage to Sophie, a mere lady in waiting, a commoner, had never been of particular concern. But due to the unexpected deaths of his two older brothers, Franz Ferdinand finds himself elevated to the imperial box seat. And with a wife that the House of Habsburg determines to be a deeply unsuitable Empress, Sophie finds herself ostracized by the establishment. She is a ghost, barred from royal functions, recognized only as the spouse of the Emperor to be when he's acting in a military capacity, inspecting troops in an imperial outpost, say, somewhere like Bosnia. For Mr. And Mrs. Franz Ferdinand, Sarajevo had presented itself as a rare grand day out. And June 28th quaintly happens to be their wedding anniversary. Amid simmering political tensions, however, this seems now, to be an unwise excursion, Franz Ferdinand has been warned not to travel. The Serbs, it seems, have not taken well to the Bosnia Bosnian annexation. There is the specter of terrorism, but the wheels, both figuratively and literally, are already in motion. And so, on that sunny Sunday morning, having run his eye over a local Bosnian regiment, the Archdukes Greff and Stift, Limmer Open Top takes a turn on the Miladska's cobbled embankment. There is confusion, misdirection and other farcical twists to this tragic tale, including someone lobbing a bomb at the royal motorcade and disabling one of the vehicles. But then, at 10:45am by the Latin Bridge, a 19 year old student named Gavrilo Princip jumps up of the royal limo's running with his automatic pistol. He fires two shots at point blank range. Franz Ferdinand and Sophie are sitting ducks,

[Expert / Historian]

I guess, as they say in the gangster movies. Nothing personal, but yes, it really was the spark in the tinderbox. Obviously the gears were in motion for the First World War throughout Europe and it happened in Bosnia. But it wasn't ultimately a Bosnian problem.

[Narrator / Historian]

Princip is in fact a Bosnian Serb. He is one of seven assassins lining the route, agents of a Serbian revolutionary movement, the Black Hand.

[Expert / Historian]

The sad thing about Franz Ferdinand is that if he hadn't been assassinated, you'd have had a federation of the Balkans. Galicia would have been in it, the Poles would have their kingdom, Hungarians would have their kingdom, the Croats would have their kingdom. And so you had a Balkan federation. And that would have been a very different outcome from what then subsequently happened.

[Narrator / Historian]

Within the hour, both Franz Ferdinand and Sophie will be pronounced dead. And the chain of events that follows has been fodder for history students ever since. Austria, Hungary bombards Belgrade, Russia, Serbia's patron mobilizes its army, prompting Austria's ally Germany to respond. Likewise, Faced with a war on two fronts against Russia and its ally France, Germany attempts a preemptive knockout blow against the French, violating Belgian neutrality. Britain, with obligations both to Belgium and its partners France and Russia in the Triple Entente, joins the fray. The world and Sergeant Josip Bross are going to war. If the war had been prosecuted differently, Josipros could have found himself as a Croat soldier, fighting directly against and killing Serbs, in which case a whole new narrative might have to have been constructed. He is posted temporarily to the Serbian front, something he will later downplay.

[Expert / Historian]

He fights for Austria, Hungary against Serbia in 1914. Now this is an aspect of his biography which will become rather uncomfortable when he comes to power in Yugoslavia, the idea that he has actually fought against the Serbs.

[Narrator / Historian]

It's probably with retrospective relief that in early 1915 his unit is redeployed to the Carpathians, the mountain range which curves around Austria, Hungary's eastern border. It's here that Brose's regiment beds in to hold off the Imperial Russian Army. It may not seize the popular imagination in the same way as the trench warfare of the Western Front, but the mountain campaigns fought with the Russians and later in the Alps against the Italians are every bit as brutal. A series of frostbitten high altitude slogs. A war of relentless artillery bombardment and savage hand to hand combat in the ice and snow. A White War, as it will be dubbed. There are further complications. It's patently obvious that the Austro Hungarian army is not a happy camp. There is discord in the ranks, resentment by the perceived lesser nationalities, a sense that they are held in low esteem by their Austro Hungarian officers, deliberately under provisioned, deemed expendable. Tito will later protest that as a Croatian he always objected to the Austro Hungarian cause, that he was on the verge of desertion or defection. In truth, all evidence suggests that Sergeant Josip Brouss enters into combat with gusto and is well regarded by his superiors. But on March 25, 1915, on the slopes of Bukovina, his unit is caught in a cavalry skirmish on the wrong end of a mounted charge by troops from Asian Circassia. Amid the gunfire and slashing blades, a Circassian cavalrymen throw thrusts his lance low, skewering Brose in the back with a deep wound under his left shoulder blade. Bros collapses, seemingly a goner.

[Expert / Historian]

He's actually penetrated by a lance from a Circassian lancer and has the nightmare of watching as the prisoners and the wounded are butchered by the Circassians until the regular Russian troops arrive and stop the butchery. His life is saved.

[Narrator / Historian]

The young Croatian sergeant is patched up at a field post and placed on a hospital train heading east. It will take two weeks to reach its destination. A torturous journey skirting battle lines and passing through endless pine forests. But the train will eventually pull into the town of Kazan, deep in The Russian interior, 500 miles east of Moscow. The Russians treat Broze well. The building being used as the prison hospital is actually an old monastery set on the island of Sviatsk in the Volga river. It has a calming, recuperative air about it. Here the war seems remote, an intangible thing. Certainly the guards and hospital staff do not look upon Broz as if he were the enemy. For him there is an endless supply of literature and plenty of time on his hands. He immerses himself in self education.

[Expert / Historian]

He was taught Russian in the hospital by two young Russian girls who came to see him and they bought books by T and so forth. Tolstoy. And he learned in the end to speak Russian like a native.

This starts a whole new chapter of his life as he finds himself deep in the Russian interior, just as he had done as a teenager, where he embraced the opportunities of work and travel and language. He continues to do this as a prisoner of war, starts to read in Russian, has relationships with Russians using his newfound skills.

[Narrator / Historian]

It's patently obvious to this Croatian interloper that there's something rotten to Russia's core. And the people he meets are not shy about telling him so. This is not about ethnicity, not about nationalism or borders. It's the struggle of a people in servitude and bondage and for whom the Great War is seen as a futile adventure, the straw that has broken the camel's back. Radicals whisper of a political movement, one that preaches equality and shared ownership. They declare themselves Bolsheviks, devotees of a creed espoused by a man named Vladimir Lenin. Some of them here remember Lenin. He'd been a student, a rabble rouser, right there at Kazan University, a bit of a local hero. Bouts of pneumonia and typhus set back Broze's recovery. But after a year or so he's released to a POW camp at Kungur in the Urals. There he's put to work in a railway gang, mending the train tracks. It's a less convivial setup than the monastery. Guards are wont to steal the prisoners. Red Cross parcels. With his old union inclinations to the fore rose protests about it and for his pains is sent to a local prison. But that February 1917, events are about to veer off on a brand new trajectory. A crowd storms the jail and throws open the gates. Many of the inmates are political prisoners now to be set free. Rumors that have been spreading among the convicts are confirmed as fact that on the eastern front, Russian soldiers are laying down their arms and walking home, rejecting the very notion of the war. And that after mass protests on the streets of St. Petersburg, Petrograd, the Tsar has abdicated. Russia is now a republic ruled by a provisional government. Lenin, the great prophet, has returned from exile. There is chaos. It's a golden opportunity for Broze to make an escape. Though he's returned to the camp, it's now virtually unguarded. Hearing that a train is heading to Petrograd, he simply strolls down to the rail yard to stow away in a goods wagon. Even better. An old Bolshevik sympathizer, a Pole, has given Bros the address of his his son in the capital. He can lie low there while he figures out his next move.

[Expert / Historian]

The Crocs tick. It's 1917 and he makes his way to Petrograd. And he gets caught up in the events that were known as the July Days. The Bolsheviks actually come to power in October, but they make an attempt to seize power in July 1917.

[Narrator / Historian]

When Bros arrives that summer, he finds Petrograd, a city in utter turmoil. On the streets, mobs mill about demanding the fall of the new Provisional government. It seems the perfect cover for getting out of the country altogether. Proze is put a short step to going home via Finland, then part of the Russian Empire. Only Josip Broz doesn't go home, not yet. For he is about to bag a ringside seat for a key event in history. It's July 17, 1917. We're on Nevsky Prospekt, Petrograd, the most fashionable avenue in the capital, or it was before the war. Thousands have taken to the streets. Troops now under the command of the Provisional Government are doing their best to maintain order. There have been pitched battles running throughout the day. And then the Russian 1st Machine Gun Regiment trundles onto the scene. Protesters are mown down without mercy. And Bros is witness to it all.

[Expert / Historian]

Peter spent time in Petrograd. He was there for the Russian Revolution, not as a participant, but as an observer. And of course, that helped radicalize him. He actually saw it firsthand.

[Narrator / Historian]

Unfortunately, he's made himself too conspicuous in the police crackdown. He's arrested not for being an escaped powder, but for being a suspected Bolshevik, a now far greater crime. Confessing his true identity seems the safer bet. And so, after three weeks held in a Petrograd fortress, Bros is dispatched east again, back to his camp. But he's learned enough about the security by now, or lack of it, to know just where to jump the train. At the station in Yekaterinburg, he gives his guards the slip and scans the departure board. With his fluent Russian, he buys a ticket to the furthest destination that any other train is headed, Omsk, Siberia. So skilled is he at passing himself off as an ordinary citizen, Broz bluffs his way through numerous questionings by guards and police. As the coaches roll along the taiga,

[Expert / Historian]

the shape shifting, shape changing qualities of Tito were always at his disposal. And so when authorities come for Tito, whether Austrian or Russian or what have you, very suspiciously, he can pose as a German, he can pose as a Russian, and they can't actually tell. We're talking about a incredibly clever man who had hardly any formal education and yet he was extraordinarily intelligent, resourceful.

[Narrator / Historian]

But the train never reaches its destination. On the way, it's held up by a unit of armed Bolsheviks, or Red Guards as they now style themselves. Civil war has indeed broken out. The Reds need every available person to aid their struggle against the counter revolutionaries, the so called Whites. Key to that is the guarding of the very strategic route upon which BROS is currently traveling, the Trans Siberian Railway.

[Expert / Historian]

The situation is really becoming very fluid and he finds himself in a part of Russia which is already in Bolshevik hands, Whether in late 1918, early 1919, it's all a little bit obscure, but what we see here clearly is an exposure to revolution. We see an exposure to the nuts and bolts of how you make a revolution happen, what it looks like on the ground, the practicalities, and I think this is something which is going to have a definite impact on Tito's life going forward.

[Narrator / Historian]

And so Sergeant Josiproz, formerly of the Austro Hungarian army, becomes Comrade Josipros of the Russian Revolutionary Red Guard. The October Revolution of 1917 has changed everything. It turns out in Petrograd, the Bolsheviks have seized control. Russia is out of the European war, but out in the Styx, it's a proverbial Wild west or Wild East, a struggle between Reds and Whites. Even more so from 1918, with the ad hoc execution of Tsar Nicholas II and his family. Fearing revolutionary contagion, European military units have been dispatched to Russia to restore order. The Red's adversaries out in Siberia are the pro entente Czech Legion, made up ironically of Austro Hungarian POWs and deserters. Broz is part of the Red Guard that goes on to take Omsk and establish it as a Bolshevik regional capital. He is now part of a movement that has been rebranded as the Communist Party, though a white resurgence will see Omsk fall and Broz go into hiding. While on the run, Broz meets a local girl, Pelagia Bolosova, or polka. He is 27. She controversially is 14, maybe 15, though he will later claim 17. When order is restored, they will return to omsk and in January 1920 get married with it. For Broz comes a decision. After five years away, it is finally time to go home. It's an epic voyage by land and sea of over 3,000 miles. But that September, when Josip Broz and a now pregnant Polka step off the train in Kumarwitz, it's into an unfamiliar world. Sadly, Bros learns his mother has since died. His father too is absent. He's moved away, abandoning the farm altogether. Perhaps more discombobulating is the notion that the the country Josip Broz was born into, the country he fought for, no longer exists. Thanks to the Treaty of Versailles, Austria, Hungary, sclerotic vanquished, has been euthanized and Croatia is now part of a brand new entity, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. What a mouthful. Its citizens prefer something else, a name that will become the kingdom's official title in due course. The land of the South Slavs, Yugoslavia. In the next episode, an assassination in Marseille plunges the Balkans into turmoil. Pegged as a troublemaker, pursued by the authorities, the shape shifting Bros flees to Russia. There he will be retooled as a Soviet agent dispatched by Moscow, he will return home with a new mission and a new name. Tito. That's next time. You can listen to the next two episodes of Real Dictators right now, without waiting and without adverts by joining Noiser Plus. Click the banner at the top of the feed or follow the link in the episode description.