He was of medium height, clean-shaven, with tanned regular features and iron-gray hair.

He had a very firm mouth and alert blue eyes.

He was wearing a dark semi-military tunic and breeches without any badges. A neat spotted tie

added the only touch of colour. Hello and welcome to hero or villain with me, Roger Morehouse

and Patrick Bishop.

This is the Battleground series in which we take a look at some of the most controversial figures of military history

and try to decide which side of the ledger they fall on, hero or villain.

Now those words we opened with were written by Fitzroy McLean, British liaison officer in

wartime Yugoslavia, and that should give you a clue as to who we're talking about this week.

Our subject today is rather forgotten in the West, but was once one of the titans of Central Europe

and one of the acknowledged leaders of the so-called non-aligned movement, the third way during the Cold War between the capitalist world

and the communist bloc dominated by the Kremlin.

We are, of course, talking about Yossip Tito,

wartime leader of the communist partisans and later president of Yugoslavia

until his death in 1980.

It's interesting the way that he's remembered, isn't it?

Roger, in contemporary Balkans, i.e. the successor states to what was Yugoslavia.

I think you had an experience this summer, you all last sort of driving through the region and noticing those contrasts.

Yeah, absolutely.

We drove down from sort of northwest to southeast all the way through Slovenia, Croatia, and then Serbia.

And it was really interesting because you can see the old fractures of Yugoslavia. I mean, Yugoslavia had a sort of logic to it, historically, to some extent,

and culturally and linguistically and so on, but then there were definite fault lines within it.

...