The Croatian War of Independence was fought from 1991 to 1995 between Croat forces loyal to the Government of Croatia—which had declared independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY)—and

Serb and Yugoslav People's Army forces
The JNA was initially formed during World War II to carry out guerrilla warfare against occupying Axis forces. The success of the Partisan movement led to the JNA basing much of its operational strategy on guerrilla warfare, as its

On 25 October 1991, Yugoslav Air Force pilot Rudolf Perešin flew his MiG-21R to Austria and defected. He later fought on behalf of Croatian forces in the war, ultimately dying after being shot down in 1995.
On 4 February 1992, air

During the war
While Serbia and Croatia never declared war on each other, Serbia was directly and indirectly involved in the

Political changes in Yugoslavia
In the 1970s, Yugoslavia's socialist regime became severely splintered into a liberal-decentralist nationalist faction led by Croatia and Slovenia that supported a decentralized federation to give greater autonomy to Croatia and

1991: Open hostilities begin
First armed incidents
Ethnic hatred grew as various incidents fueled the propaganda machines on both sides. During his

Assessment of type and name of the war
The standard term applied to the war as directly translated from Croatian is Homeland war (Croatian: Domovinski rat), while the term Croatian War of Independence is also used. Early English sources also called it the