Military history of Croatia
During Domagoj's reign piracy was a common practice, which earned him a title of The worst duke of Slavs (Latin: pessimus dux Sclavorum).
First Croatian king Tomislav defeated the Magyar mounted invasions of the Arpads in battle and forced them across the Drava River.
At the peak of his reign, according to Byzantine emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitos' De Administrando Imperio, written around 950, Tomislav could raise a vast military force composed out of 100,000 infantrymen and 60,000 horsemen and a sizable fleet of 80 large ships and 100 smaller vessels.
King Dmitar Zvonimir of Croatia took the hard line against the Byzantine Empire and joined the Normans in wars against Byzantium.
[7] In wake of Hasan Pasha's Great Offensive on Croatia in 1592, Croatian sabor drafted a law on General Insurrection.
[9] Both authors emphasized advantages of Ottoman light cavalry in comparison with European heavy knights due to their superior mobility and visibility.
[10] At the beginning of the 19th century, many Croatian troops (as a part of the Austrian imperial army) fought in the Napoleonic Wars against the French Grande Armée.
[12] At the end of the first half of the 19th century, following in the wake of the French revolution, Croatian romantic nationalism emerged to counteract the non-violent but apparent Germanization and Magyarization.
Croatian Ban Josip Jelačić cooperated with the Austrians in quenching the Hungarian Revolution of 1848 by leading a military campaign into Hungary.
[18] Croatian troops, including Home Guard units under command of baron Josip Filipović[20] took part in Austro-Hungarian campaign in Bosnia and Herzegovina of 1878.
18th Split Infantry Division, commanded by Lieutenant field marshal Stjepan Jovanović participated in Austro Hungarian southern thrust into Herzegovina in August 1878.
Some of notable Croatian commanders of that time were Field Marshal Svetozar Boroević, General Stjepan Sarkotić and Admiral Maximilian Njegovan.
After it was clear that Austria-Hungary had lost World War I, the Austrian government decided to give much of the Austro-Hungarian Navy fleet, to the newly formed State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs.
Soon, the Fleet was attacked and dismembered by the Italian Regia Marina and the flagship SMS Viribus Unitis was sunk along with his captain and commander of Navy of the newly formed state, admiral Janko Vuković.
Major issue was Serbian tradition of corporal punishment, which was unknown in former Austro-Hungarian lands and which caused much resistance when introduced.
[28] As Axis forces overran Kingdom of Yugoslavia in April War of 1941, Croatian fascists Ustaše under Gernan-Italian sponsorship arrived to Zagreb and proclaimed Independent State of Croatia (NDH).
[29] Almost immediately, Ustaše started a campaign of mass terror (and genocide) against large Serb population in NDH, as well as Jews, Romani and anti-fascist Croats.
[30] However, when Hitler started his Operation Barbarossa in June 1941, Croatian communists responded by launcing an uprising, thus giving Serbs of NDH a chance to escape the Ustaše persecution by joining their ranks.
Besides them, there were also Ustaše militia (Ustaška vojnica) - an official paramilitary arm of Ustaša movement, virtually independent of regular army and mostly consisting of volunteers.
[40] Except for NOVJ and NDH loyal units, Greater Serbian Chetnik Royalist detachments also operated in the country committing massacres against non-Serb population.
With Croatian Territorial Defense (TO) weapons being locked by the Federal Army, Croatia saw urgent need to form its own armed forces.
[47] Croatian troops at a time despite being well motivated, were just a "loosely organized and hastily trained" light infantry force supported with limited number of tanks and artillery.
[47] On 3 November 1991 ZNG was formally renamed to Croatian Army (HV)[48] Nonetheless, after successfully defending Croatia in 1991, Croatians continued to improve their army in following years by creating their own doctrine, military culture and professional troops with the main aim of retaking self proclaimed Republic of Serbian Krajina, a separatist proto-state.
[49] In 1994, Croatian Army also established NCO school in Zadar for its all-professional Guards brigades[49] whose main purpose was conducting offensive operations.
[50] These brigades were as follows: In terms of equipment, the HV also acquired more heavy weapons such as: Argentinian CITER 155 mm field guns, Romanian APR-40 rocket launchers, 21 MiG 21 fighter jets and 8 Mi-24 Hind helicopter gunships.
[51] Croatians also domestically produced their own UAVs (such as: MAH-1, MAH-2 and BL M-99 "Bojnik"), used for scouting enemy positions and guiding artillery fire.
[56] Foreign Arabic mujahideen fighters (formerly participating in conflicts in Afghanistan and Pakistan) arrived to Bosnia and Herzegovina across Croatia in two waves.
[61] As Serb forces tightened their grip on Bihać, by the late 1994, Croatians assessed potential fall of enclave as a threat to its own strategic position and threatened to intervene in the matter.
[62] Croatians feared that if Bihać falls the Serb forces engaged in the siege would be able to redeploy to wider Karlovac area, where territory of Croatia was only ten kilometers deep before Slovenian border.
[63] In order to deter Serbs from further attacking Bihać, as well as to improve its own positions arount Knin, Croatians launched Operation Winter '94 in late 1994.
