Tito's Leg Refusal Ends a Nation

In 1980, doctors told Yugoslav leader Josip Broz Tito that amputating his infected leg could save his life. Tito reportedly declared he would rather take his own life than lose the limb and initially refused the procedure. His eventual death soon after created a power vacuum that weakened the state and helped set the stage for Yugoslavia's breakup in the decades that followed.

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