Sergeant major in the context of "Josip Broz Tito"

Josip Broz (7 May 1892 – 4 May 1980), commonly known as Tito (/ˈtiːtoʊ/ TEE-toh), was a Yugoslav communist revolutionary and politician. During World War II, he led the Yugoslav Partisans, often regarded as the most effective resistance movement in German-occupied Europe. Tito led Yugoslavia as prime minister from 1943 to 1963, and as president from 1953 until his death in 1980. The political ideology and policies promulgated by Tito are known as Titoism.

Tito was born to a Croat father and a Slovene mother in Kumrovec in present-day Croatia, then part of 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 Russians during World War I, he was sent to a work camp in the Ural Mountains. Tito participated in some events of the Russian Revolution in 1917 and the subsequent Russian Civil War. Upon his return to the Balkans in 1920, he entered the newly established Kingdom of Yugoslavia, where he joined the Communist Party of Yugoslavia. Having assumed de facto control over the party by 1937, Tito was formally elected its general secretary in 1939 and later its president, the title he held until his death. During World War II, after the Nazi invasion of the area, he led the Yugoslav guerrilla movement, the Partisans (1941–1945). By the end of the war, the Partisans, with the Allies' backing since late 1943, took power in Yugoslavia.