Home guard is a title given to various military organizations at various times, with the implication of an emergency or reserve force raised for local defense.
The term "home guard" was first officially used in the American Civil War, starting with units formed by German immigrants in Missouri, and may derive from possible historical use of the term Heimwehr ("home guard") to describe units officially known as Landwehr ("country guard"), or from an attempted translation of landwehr.
| Country | Name | Active | |
|---|---|---|---|
 Canada | Canadian Rangers | 1942– | |
 Denmark | Danish Home Guard | 1949– | |
 |  Estonia | Estonian Defence League | 1918–1940, 1990– |
 |  Germany | Heimatschutz of Bundeswehr | 1965–2007, 2019– |
 |  India | Indian Home Guard | 1962– |
 |  Latvia | Latvian National Guard | 1991– |
 |  Lithuania | Lithuanian Riflemen's Union | 1918–1940, 1989– |
 | Lithuanian National Defence Volunteer Forces | 1991– | |
 | Lithuanian Armed Forces Military Commandant's Offices Command | 2025– | |
 |  Norway | Norwegian Home Guard | 1946– |
 |  Poland | Polish Territorial Defense Force | 2017– |
 Sri Lanka | Sri Lankan Home Guard | 1986– | |
 |  Sweden | Swedish Home Guard | 1940– |
 |  Ukraine | Territorial Defense Forces | 2022– |
 |  United States | State defense forces of State governments and Territory governments | 1917– |
