Yugoslavia was a country.
Yugoslavia ( Jugoslavija / Југославија , Jugoslavija , Југославија ) was a country in Southeast Europe during most of the 20th century . The country was named after the South Slavic peoples and constituted their first union , following centuries in which the territories had been part of the Ottoman Empire and Austria-Hungary . Partisan leader Josip Broz Tito ruled the country as president until his death in 1980 . In 1963 , the country was renamed again as the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia ( SFRY ) . After an economic and political crisis in the 1980s and the rise of nationalism , Yugoslavia broke up along its republics ' borders , at first into five countries , leading to the Yugoslav Wars .