Franjo Tudjman, the first President of Croatia, was a prominent political figure known for leading the country to independence in the early 1990s. Born in Veliko Trgovisce in 1922, Tudjman served as an officer in the Yugoslav People's Army before joining the Croatian Spring movement in the 1970s. He founded the Croatian Democratic Union in 1989, advocating for Croatian sovereignty. Tudjman's leadership during the Croatian War of Independence secured the nation's freedom from Yugoslavia in 1991. Despite controversy surrounding his rule, Tudjman's legacy as a key figure in Croatia's history remains.