Croatian National Guard

The Croatian National Guard (Zbor narodne garde, ZNG) was the name of the first modern Croatian military force. Croatian president Franjo Tuđman signed to law the Decree of Formation of the Croatian National Guard on April 20, 1991 which became the first professional armed forces with defence and training duties in the new post-Communist Croatia.

These forces formed within the framework of the Croatian Ministry of the Interior, and under the command of the Croatian Ministry of Defence which on September 21 formed the Command of the Croatian National Guard.

The first brigade of the ZNG was presented to the Croatian public in a special ceremony on May 28 with a march, the handing out of flags to the soldiers and the recitation of oaths at NK Zagreb's stadium in the Croatian capital. By August 12 four brigades had been formed. Croatian defence forces at this time had approximately 60,000 members, with 30,000 under the Interior Ministry's command.

The ZNG was formed as a response to the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) refusing to provide support to Croatia's existing Territorial Defense forces in efforts to quell civil unrest by a rebellion by Croatian Serb police led by Milan Martić in Knin against the Croatian government beginning in 1990, who had begun their revolt in anticipation of the Croatian government preparing for independence from Yugoslavia. The Yugoslav government by 1990 was politically dominated by the Serbian government of Slobodan Milošević and pro-Milosevic Serb members of the Yugoslav government such as Borisav Jović, that rejected Croatian President Franjo Tuđman's offer of Croatia being willing to accept a loose confederal post-Communist Yugoslavia as a condition for which Croatia would be willing to remain within Yugoslavia, and instead Serbia supported the Serb rebels and the JNA made plans to overthrow the Croatian government.

On November 3, 1991 the Croatian National Guard was officially renamed to the Croatian Army (HV).

Brigades
The following guards brigades were formed between 1990 and 1992. They originally acted as elite Croatian Army combat units during the 1991–1995 Croatian War of Independence. In the 2000s peacetime reorganization of the Croatian Armed Forces they were either disbanded or reduced to battalion-sized units, later integrated into the present-day Motorized Guard Brigade and Armored Guard Brigade.


 * 1st Guards Brigade ("Tigers", active 1990–2008)
 * 2nd Guards Brigade ("Thunders", active 1991–2008)
 * 3rd Guards Brigade ("Martens", active 1991–2003)
 * 4th Guards Brigade ("Spiders", active 1991–2008)
 * 5th Guards Brigade ("Falcons", active 1992–2003)
 * 7th Guards Brigade ("Pumas", active 1992–2003)
 * 9th Guards Brigade ("Wolves", active 1992–2008), initially designated as 6th