Home guard is a title given to various military organizations at various times, with the implication of an emergency or reserve force raised for local defense.
The term "home guard" was first officially used in the American Civil War, starting with units formed by German immigrants in Missouri, and may derive from possible historical use of the term Heimwehr ("home guard") to describe units officially known as Landwehr ("country guard"), or from an attempted translation of landwehr.
Country | Name | Active | |
---|---|---|---|
Sweden | Swedish Home Guard | 1940– | |
Norway | Norwegian Home Guard | 1946– | |
Denmark | Danish Home Guard | 1949– | |
Estonia | Estonian Defence League | 1918–1940, 1990– | |
Germany | Heimatschutz of Bundeswehr | 1965–2007, 2019– | |
Latvia | Latvian National Guard | 1991– | |
Lithuania | Lithuanian National Defence Volunteer Forces | 1991– | |
India | Indian Home Guard | 1962– | |
Sri Lanka | Sri Lankan Home Guard | 1986– | |
Poland | Polish Territorial Defense Force | 2017– | |
United States | State defense forces of State governments and Territory governments | 1917– | |
Ukraine | Territorial Defense Forces | 2022– |
Home guard is a title given to various military organizations at various times, with the implication of an emergency or reserve force raised for local defense.
The term "home guard" was first officially used in the American Civil War, starting with units formed by German immigrants in Missouri, and may derive from possible historical use of the term Heimwehr ("home guard") to describe units officially known as Landwehr ("country guard"), or from an attempted translation of landwehr.
Country | Name | Active | |
---|---|---|---|
Sweden | Swedish Home Guard | 1940– | |
Norway | Norwegian Home Guard | 1946– | |
Denmark | Danish Home Guard | 1949– | |
Estonia | Estonian Defence League | 1918–1940, 1990– | |
Germany | Heimatschutz of Bundeswehr | 1965–2007, 2019– | |
Latvia | Latvian National Guard | 1991– | |
Lithuania | Lithuanian National Defence Volunteer Forces | 1991– | |
India | Indian Home Guard | 1962– | |
Sri Lanka | Sri Lankan Home Guard | 1986– | |
Poland | Polish Territorial Defense Force | 2017– | |
United States | State defense forces of State governments and Territory governments | 1917– | |
Ukraine | Territorial Defense Forces | 2022– |