Ivan Gosnjak (10 June 1909-8 February 1980) was the Federal Secretary of People's Defense of Yugoslavia from 14 January 1953 to 18 May 1967, succeeding Josip Broz Tito and preceding Nikola Ljubicic.
Biography[]
Ivan Gosnjak was born on 10 June 1909 in Ogulin, Croatia and Slavonia, Austria-Hungary. He joined the Communist Party of Yugoslavia in 1933, and he was a Captain in the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War with other communist volunteers from Yugoslavia. In July 1942, he joined Josip Broz Tito's Yugoslav Partisans during World War II in the struggle against Nazi Germany's occupying forces, and in 1943 he was given command of all Croatian partisans. After the war, he served as Minister of Defense under Tito, and he retired from the army in 1974 and died in 1980 in Belgrade at the age of 70.