Franjo Tuđman

Croatian politician, soldier, president and historian (1922–1999)

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Lived 1922–1999, aged 77

Wikipedia
66 languages
Cross-language footprint
Era
1922–1999
Aged 77
Awards
18
recognised works

Summary

Updated 2026-09-07

Led Croatia from Yugoslav republic to independent state through a war that carved new borders and drove mass displacement. The ICTY found he shared in a joint criminal enterprise for ethnic cleansing in Bosnia, though it issued no conviction.

Biography

About

Franjo Tuđman was born in Veliko Trgovišće in 1922 and fought with the Yugoslav Partisans during World War II. After the war he rose to major general in the Yugoslav People's Army by 1960, then left the military to become a historian, earning a doctorate in 1965 and teaching at the Zagreb Faculty of Political Sciences. He was imprisoned in 1972 for his role in the Croatian Spring reform movement and spent the late communist years in relative obscurity. In 1989 he founded the Croatian Democratic Union, which won Croatia's first parliamentary elections in 1990, making him president. He pushed th…

Voice

In their own words

Sourced, dated quotes from Franjo Tuđman

Franjo Tuđman

said1999

It is not only others who are to blame for all our evils. Nor will in any circumstances only others shape our destiny.

— Source (1999)

Franjo Tuđman

said5 Oct 1991

In this difficult moment and at a historical turning point, I call on you, brothers and sisters, to fulfill your sacred duty in defending the homeland.

— "Address to the Croatian people following the Serbian aggression against the Republic of Croatia" (5 October 1991)

Franjo Tuđman

said30 May 1990