Gojko Šušak (1945-1998) – The Victorious Minister of Defense and His Role in the Establishment of the Croatian State

Abstract

The article presents the most important events in the life of Gojko Šušak. In Croatian historiography, there is still not a single scientific paper written about the life and work of Croatian Minister of Defense Gojko Šušak in the Homeland War, not to mention a complete synthesis. The article is based mainly on scientific literature and on the basis of that literature a research basis was made to study Šušak's contribution to the establishment of the Republic of Croatia, the structure of the Croatian army and finally the victory in the Homeland War and the end of the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The article is conceived in such a way that it chronologically deals with the most important events from Šušak's life, which include the period of his youth, activities and life in Canada, and finally the political duty he performed as Minister of Defense during the Homeland War. Consequently, we present a chapter in which the media-intelligence war against Šušak is analyzed, who was the target of journalistic-intelligence attacks at the time of his duty, and these attacks have not stopped even today. He is criticized for his attitude towards Bosnia and Herzegovina, ie towards Croats and the Croatian Republic of Herceg Bosna. Precisely because of these accusations by political opponents in the Republic of Croatia, Šušak was targeted by the Hague Tribunal in 1997, but this legal battle was lost by the Hague Tribunal in a short period of time. The article emphasizes Šušak's formation of the Croatian Army and the legacy he left as Minister of Defense.