The banovinas of Yugoslavia, established in 1929, deliberately avoided following ethnic or religious boundaries which resulted in the country's ethnic Croats, like other ethnic groups, being divided among several banovinas. Following a struggle within the unitary Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Croat leaders won autonomy for a new ethnic-based banovina with the Cvetković-Maček Agreement.

Tito had a slight but distinguishable Russian accent which he never managed to get rid of. Speculation has it that the real Tito died during the Spanish Civil War and was replaced by an NKVD agent - the new Tito. These theories were popular in Yugoslavia from 1945 up until the break with Stalin in 1948. Evidence cited pointed to Yugoslav policy which seemed to be dictated from Moscow.

Here's an extract from a CIA report from 1945:

In foreign affairs, as in internal affairs, Russia is the lodestone governing Tito's policies. In every international issue, whether it is the direct concern of Yugoslavia or not, Tito and his press assiduously follow Moscow's lead. In fact, Tito and his followers exhibit a servility toward the Kremlin which contrasts strangely with their otherwise dynamic individuality. It is enough for Moscow to express a view and the Belgrade press reprints it in toto, adding a few biting words of its own. Under these circumstances it is no small wonder that in Belgrade one finds no evidence of a corps of Russian agents directing the activities of individual ministries or agencies. Should the necessity arise for specific guidance, no doubt a brief message from Stalin to Tito would suffice.

Following the break with Stalin in 1948, Tito embarked on a policy of rapprochement with NATO which culminated in discussions about whether to admit Yugoslavia into the organization or not. Milutinovic maintained that Tito was ready to enter the organization but that the Americans were weary of accepting a potential Trojan horse into their back yard.

That said... I have no idea where the truth really stands.

The theory that Tito was in fact not Croatian is also put forward by these insiders. They mention, for example, that nobody in Kumrovac - Tito's alleged place of birth - actually recognised or knew Tito. Other circumstantial evidence is that after WWII, President Tito never met his mother, who was still alive.

You could go back even further and show that Serbia was once established on the territory of Bosnia and had control of 50% of the Dalmatian coast.

The point is that the national borders that we see today emerging from ex-Yugoslavia are those that Tito drew up in 1943.

Tito's personal files, which were considered Russian state secret for over 70 years and held in Stalin's archives (currently the Presidential Archives of the Kremlin) have recently been made public. According to these documents, which detail a large part of the Komintern's activities, Tito is said to have participated in the Spanish Civil War. This is something that Tito consistently omitted from his numerous biographies. The mistery was all the greater considering that all the other veterans of the Spanish Civil War proudly promoted theur roles in this endeavour, considered to be a great achievement.

Tito, on the other hand, consistently avoided the subject like the plague. He had only two public phrases to share with the world about the Spanish Civil War. Namely, in a biography for Life Magazine - 5 May 1959, he is reported as saying : "Although there are rumours to the contrary, I am not a veteran of the Spanish Civil War, even though I would have liked to be. I was in Spain only on one occasion, briefly, when I spent a day in Madrid". A year later, Tito instructed the author of his biography, Vladimir Dedijer, who had helped him prepare the article for Life Magazine, to make no mention whatsoever of these two sentences in a book published in Yugoslavia in 1953.

Indeed, all journalists were prohibited from engaging in public speculations about his role in the Spanish Civil War. The Moscow Presidential Archives, which are off limites to foreigners, recently transferred a number of documents concerning Tito to the Rissian National Archive of Socio-Political History. Tito's political heritage can as of now be found in a single place, accessible to both Russian and foreign researchers.

We can at last come to grips with one of Tito's most closely kept secrets. A reporter from « Novosti » informs us that his research has uncovered a document which clearly confirms that "... Josip Broz Tito participated in the Spanish Civil War from 1936 to 1939.". And so we uncover another of the Grate Magician's secrets, which has been a source of conjecture for many decades throughout the world and in Yugoslavia.

Speculation was increasingly public near the end of Tito's life when in a book about him entitled "Great Achievements" was published containing a letter he wrote in late 1937 to Moscow in which he suggested that Moscow accept a Croat Communist - Ivan Krajačića, for "specialised political instruction" claiming that Krajačića had proven his valour during the Spanish Civil War. Tito made another recommendation on the same grounds for Slovenian Communist Josip Kopinič.

Another document was found in which Tito's closest associate, Edvard Kardelj claimed that he remembers how the Leader of the Yugoslav Communists spoke well of the Slovenian Communist Franc Rozman, whom he remembered as a good man from the Spanish Civil War.

Tito's participation in the Spanish Civil War was also confirmed by the Chief of the Spanish Communists Dolores Ibaruri. Nevertheless, Toto consistently negated his presence in Spain.

Now that the truth has finally been uncovered in the Russian archives, the natural question that arises is why Tito so vehemently negated his participation in a War that all others openly bragged about. The most logical answer is that Tito wanted to cover up his real role in this war, which wasn't one of combat but of "special actions" which would have polluted his otherwise rich biography.