The Patriotic Guards (Gărzile Patriotice)

Guards equipped with WWII weapons; here the Czechoslovak ZBvz30

The Patriotic Guards (Gărzile Patriotice) were paramilitary formations in the Socialist Republic of Romania from 1968 to 1989.

Young female Guards posing with rifles next to an industrial complex

The Patriotic Guards were formed under Nicolae Ceaușescu as an armed force under the direct control of the Romanian Communist Party to provide additional defence and support in the event of an invasion of Romania. Membership included both men and women and adolescents as young as middle school age, with a peak of approximately 700,000 members across Romania in 1989.

They were formed after condemning the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia during the Prague Spring, conducted the Soviet Union, the Polish People's Republic, the People's Republic of Bulgaria, and the Hungarian People's Republic. Romania was a member of the Warsaw Pact but did not participate in the invasion as Ceaușescu tried to pursue a political line independent from the Soviets.

Ceaușescu appealed to anti-Sovietism within the Romanian population to ask for resistance against the threat of a Soviet invasion against Romania. The Romanian nationalist themes he used had their immediate effect in rallying large portions of the public, who began organizing and arming themselves under the direction of the ruling Romanian Communist Party (PCR).

In December 1989, during the Romanian Revolution, Ceaușescu attempted to mobilise the Patriotic Guards against anti-government protesters. However, the pace of events and the breadth of hostility to his regime outstripped this plan. Many Patriotic Guard members, who like most other Romanians were fed up with Ceauşescu's failed economic policies and suffering from declining living standards, actually joined the protesters.