14-MAY-1922 :- BIRTH OF Franjo Tuđman, 1st President of Croatia

Franjo Tuđman 

(14 May 1922 – 10 December 1999) was a Croatian politician, historian and major general of the Yugoslav Army. Following the country's independence from Yugoslavia he became the first President of Croatia.

In his youth he fought during World War II as a member of the 10th Zagreb Corps of the Yugoslav partisans, later attaining the rank of major general of the Yugoslav Army in 1960. After his military career, he received a doctorate in history in 1965 and worked as a historian until coming into conflict with the regime. He lived relatively anonymously in the following years until the end of communism, whereupon he began his political career by founding the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) in 1989.

HDZ won the first Croatian parliamentary elections in 1990, and Tuđman became the President of the Presidency of SR Croatia. As president Tuđman pressed for the creation of an independent Croatia. On 19 May 1991 an independence referendum was held, which was approved by 93 percent of voters, and on 25 June 1991 Croatia declared its independence from Yugoslavia. Tuđman led Croatia during its War of Independence that ended in 1995 and was one of the signatories of Dayton Agreement that put an end to the Bosnian War. He was re-elected president in 1992 and 1997 and remained in power until his death in 1999.