Esvard Kardeli said it best: "Yugoslav historians are reminded that, while they should continue unswervingly to defend the true principles of Marx and Lenin, they must at the same time refute Soviet revisionism and the idea that all wisdom in the world of socialism emanates from the Soviet Union." Vucinich 45. This was indeed an odd situation. Until this point in time, every communist state had without exception supported the Soviet Union. As stated before, however, the experience of the Yugoslavs during WWII was much different than that of other Eastern European countries. Had the Soviets played a major role in removing the Germans, there is no doubt in my mind that Yugoslavia would have been behind the "Iron Curtain" like the rest of the communist states for the majority of the cold war. Under the rule of Tito however, things would not work out the way the Soviets had planned. .
Using his natural charisma and impressive war record, Josip Tito was able to do what few leader in history have been able to do. Tito united people who hated each other. Tito was able to bring the Serbs, Croat, and Montenegrins. Many westerns at first cheered the news that Tito was giving the Soviets trouble, but were surprised to discover that Yugoslavia was still a communist state. I can imagine that many people asked the question: "Well if they"re not affiliated with the Russians then why aren't they a capitalist democracy?" Given the time period, this seems like a reasonable question. The world was after all divided into two major powers and every other country was affiliated with one or the other. To ask this question, however, is to completely miss the reason why Tito and the rest of Yugoslavia severed ties with the Soviets in the first place. .
Yugoslavia under the leadership of Tito was the odd man out. He believed that one did not have to side with either one of the super powers. The brilliance behind this is two fold.