After the suppression of the 1848 uprising, the square was named after the emperor-loyal folk hero Joseph Jelačić von Bužim and kept this name even after the collapse of the Danube monarchy. Only with the renewed victory of Yugoslavia against Austria in the Second World War was the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia under Tito in the fight against the German-friendly and anti-Communism parts of the Croatian population as well as against the remnants of Ustascha fascism the name of the square in Platz der Republik (Trg Republike) changed. In Zagreb, the vast majority saw this as a curtailment of Croatian identity and nationality. After Tito's death and the collapse of communism, the renaming was welcomed as an expression of liberation. The name is undisputed today.
On the square is the large equestrian statue of Ban Josip Jelačić. The sculpture was created by Austrian artist Anton Dominik Fernkorn and inaugurated on October 19, 1866. The general's saber pointed demonstratively in the direction of Budapest. In 1947, the statue was removed by the then communist government of Yugoslavia, as Jelačić was not considered a historical figure because he was an Imperial Loyalist and a leader in the suppression of the 1848 revolution. Antun Bauer saved the statue from destruction by hiding it in the basement of the Gliptoteka gallery. On October 16, 1990, just before Croatia gained independence, the statue was re-erected in its original place and the square was given back its old name. However, the direction of the statue has been changed: the general's saber now points south, away from the old enemy Hungary.