The human society has been accompanied by numerous perils and crises throughout history. The society has had to respond adequately to newly emergent crises in order to protect citizens, material goods and the natural environment. The Homeland Security System Act is founded on the coordinated action by bodies within the homeland security system in the execution of tasks and activities related to security risk management and crisis response. The police and judicature, together with the defense and civil protection systems, constitute the basic element of a contemporary country’s national security system. Despite explicit legal obligations, deficiencies in the existing system have been noticed. The shortcomings of the civil protection system have resulted in complete reliance of homeland security on resources and capabilities of the Ministry of Defence. So as to teach defense mechanisms to the society, it is necessary to develop a general national security concept which will be based on societal security. The development of societal security is attained first and foremost through awareness raising and implementation on all education levels in the Republic of Croatia. The role of the armed forces in the socialization for the defense function rests on the development of the community’s societal security. The conducted research highlights the significance of the components within the educational and defence systems in the development of crisis management systems in the Republic of Croatia.