page_title: Josip Broz Tito
section_title: Pre-World War I
hierarchical_section_title: Josip Broz Tito / Early life / Pre-World War I
caption_attribution_description: Birth house of Josip Broz TITO
context_page_description: Josip Broz, commonly known as Tito, was a Yugoslav communist revolutionary and statesman, serving in various roles from 1943 until his death in 1980. During World War II, he was the leader of the Partisans, often regarded as the most effective resistance movement in occupied Europe. He also served as the President of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 14 January 1953 to 4 May 1980.
  Broz was born to a Croat father and Slovene mother in the village of Kumrovec, Austria-Hungary. Drafted into military service, he distinguished himself, becoming the youngest sergeant major in the Austro-Hungarian Army of that time. After being seriously wounded and captured by the Imperial Russians during World War I, he was sent to a work camp in the Ural Mountains. He participated in some events of the Russian Revolution in 1917 and the subsequent Civil War. Upon his return to the Balkans in 1918, Broz entered the newly established Kingdom of Yugoslavia, where he joined the Communist Party of Yugoslavia. He later was elected as General Secretary, later President, of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia.
context_section_description: Josip Broz was born on 7 May 1892 in Kumrovec, a village in the northern Croatian region of Hrvatsko Zagorje. At the time it was part of the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia within the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He was the seventh or eighth child of Franjo Broz (1860–1936) and Marija née Javeršek (1864–1918). His parents had already had a number of children die in early infancy. Broz was christened and raised as a Roman Catholic. His father, Franjo, was a Croat whose family had lived in the village for three centuries, while his mother Marija, was a Slovene from the village of Podsreda. The villages were 16 kilometres (10 mi) apart, and his parents had married on 21 January 1881. Franjo Broz had inherited a 4.0-hectare (10-acre) estate and a good house, but he was unable to make a success of farming. Josip spent a significant proportion of his pre-school years living with his maternal grandparents at Podsreda, where he became a favourite of his grandfather Martin Javeršek. By the time he returned to Kumrovec to begin school, he spoke Slovene better than Croatian, and had learned to play the piano. Despite his "mixed parentage", Broz identified as a Croat like his father and neighbours.
  In July 1900, at the age of eight, Broz entered primary school at Kumrovec. He completed four years of school, failing the 2nd grade and graduating in 1905. As a result of his limited schooling, throughout his life Tito was poor at spelling. After leaving school, he initially worked for a maternal uncle, and then on his parents' family farm. In 1907, his father wanted him to emigrate to the United States, but could not raise the money for the voyage. 
  Instead, aged 15 years, Broz left Kumrovec and travelled about 97 kilometres (60 mi) south to Sisak, where his cousin Jurica Broz was doing army service. Jurica helped him get a job in a restaurant, but Broz was soon tired of that work. He approached a Czech locksmith, Nikola Karas, for a three-year apprenticeship, which included training, food, and room and board. As his father could not afford to pay for his work clothing, Broz paid for it himself. Soon after, his younger brother Stjepan also became apprenticed to Karas.
  During his apprenticeship, Broz was encouraged to mark May Day in 1909, and he read and sold Slobodna Reč (Free Word), a socialist newspaper. After completing his apprenticeship in September 1910, Broz used his contacts to gain employment in Zagreb. At the age of 18, he joined the Metal Workers' Union and participated in his first labour protest. He also joined the Social Democratic Party of Croatia and Slavonia.
  He returned home in December 1910. In early 1911 he began a series of moves in search of work, first seeking work in Ljubljana, then Trieste, Kumrovec and Zagreb, where he worked repairing bicycles. He joined his first strike action on May Day 1911. After a brief period of work in Ljubljana, between May 1911 and May 1912, he worked in a factory in Kamnik in the Kamnik–Savinja Alps. After it closed, he was offered redeployment to Čenkov in Bohemia. 
  On arriving at his new workplace, he discovered that the employer was trying to bring in cheaper labour to replace the local Czech workers, and he and others joined successful strike action to force the employer to back down.
  Driven by curiosity, Broz  moved to Plzeň, where he was briefly employed at the Škoda Works. He next travelled to Munich in Bavaria. He also worked at the Benz car factory in Mannheim, and visited the Ruhr industrial region. By October 1912 he had reached Vienna. He stayed with his older brother Martin and his family, and worked at the Griedl Works before getting a job at Wiener Neustadt. There he worked for Austro-Daimler, and was often asked to drive and test the cars. During this time he spent considerable time fencing and dancing, and during his training and early work life, he also learned German and passable Czech.
caption: Tito's birthplace in the village of Kumrovec, Croatia.
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