Croatians are an old nation dating from 7th century. We had a brief time around 925BC when our first King was crowned that we were a sovereign nstion. Then we entered a pact in 1102 with Hungarians and been without sovereignty and for almost a 1000 years. Many wars were fought on our lands, spanning from ottoman empire, venetians, Austrians and Hungarians. So we were pretty skilled in war. That's why napoleon said it when he conquered Europe for a brief time at the start of the 19th century. :)