Conscription: Mandatory Military Service and Its Global Impacts

By Fouad Sabry

What is Conscription

Conscription is the state-mandated enlistment of people in a national service, mainly a military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it continues in some countries to the present day under various names. The modern system of near-universal national conscription for young men dates to the French Revolution in the 1790s, where it became the basis of a very large and powerful military. Most European nations later copied the system in peacetime, so that men at a certain age would serve 1 to 8 years on active duty and then transfer to the reserve force.

How you will benefit

(I) Insights, and validations about the following topics:

Chapter 1: Conscription

Chapter 2: Soldier

Chapter 3: Conscientious objector

Chapter 4: Selective Service System

Chapter 5: Conscription in Australia

Chapter 6: Military service

Chapter 7: Conscription in the United States

Chapter 8: Conscription in Germany

Chapter 9: Conscription in Greece

Chapter 10: Reservist

(II) Answering the public top questions about conscription.

Who this book is for

Professionals, undergraduate and graduate students, enthusiasts, hobbyists, and those who want to go beyond basic knowledge or information for any kind of Conscription.

• Language: English
• Publisher: One Billion Knowledgeable
• Release date: Jun 19, 2024

Book preview

Chapter 1: Conscription

In the United States, the term conscription refers to the state-mandated enlistment of individuals in a national service, most commonly a military duty. In other countries, the term draft is used. Conscription has been around since ancient times, and in certain nations it is still practiced into the current day under a variety of different titles. It was during the French Revolution in the 1790s when the present system of nearly universal national conscription for young men was established. This system served as the foundation for a military that was exceedingly vast and powerful. During times of peace, the majority of European nations eventually adopted the system, which stipulated that men of a specific age would serve between one and eight years of active duty before transitioning to the reserve force.

Conscription is controversial for a range of reasons, including conscientious objection to military engagements on religious or philosophical grounds; political objection, for example to service for a disliked government or unpopular war; sexism, in that historically men have been subject to the draft in the most cases; and ideological objection, for example, to a perceived violation of individual rights. It is possible for individuals who are drafted to avoid serving their country by, in some cases, fleeing the country and seeking asylum in another nation. Some selection systems are designed to accommodate these attitudes by offering alternative duty outside of combat-operations duties or even outside of the military. For example, Finland's siviilipalvelus (alternative civil service) and Austria, Germany, and Switzerland's Zivildienst (compulsory community service) are examples of such selection systems. There are a number of nations that compel male soldiers to serve not only in the armed forces but also in paramilitary organizations. These agencies are devoted to providing domestic only services similar to those of the police, such as internal troops, border guards, or non-combat rescue responsibilities, such as civil defense.

Many states have stopped using the practice of conscripting their citizens as of the year 2023, and instead rely on professional troops that are comprised of volunteers. The capacity to rely on such an arrangement, on the other hand, is contingent upon a certain degree of predictability with regard to the requirements of war-fighting as well as the amount of hostilities that are taking place. In spite of the fact that many states have done away with compulsory military service, they nonetheless maintain the authority to reinstate it in times of crisis or conflict.

Ilkum was the name of the conscription system that was utilized by the Babylonian Empire during the time of Hammurabi (1791–1750 BC). Individuals who were qualified for the program were obligated to serve in the royal army during times of international conflict. They were instead forced to give labor for other tasks of the state so that the state could continue to function during times of peace. Individuals who were subject to this service were granted the right to possess land in exchange for their service. Possibly, this right did not pertain to the ownership of land in general, but rather to particular land that was provided by the state.

The laws of feudalism that were in effect on the European continent, Peasants were required to adhere to a system that was imposed by landlords throughout the medieval period, People who are freemen, commoners, and noblemen and are between the ages of 15 and 60 and live in rural areas or urban locations, were called upon to do military service whenever it was necessary to do so by either the monarch or the local lord, transporting the guns and armor in accordance with their level of disposable income.

The levies fought as footmen in the battle, sergeants, and men at arms under local superiors appointed by the king or the local lord such as the arrière-ban in France.

Arrière-ban denoted a general levy, a situation in which the King of France (or the constable and the marshals) issued a call to arms to all of the able-bodied males living in the Kingdom of France who were between the ages of 15 and 60.

Men were summoned by the bailiff (or the sénéchal in the south).

Bailiffs were military and political administrators who were appointed by the King to oversee and provide governance for a certain region within a province in accordance with the King's directives and instructions.

The individuals who were summoned in this manner were then summoned by the lieutenant, who was the representative of the King and the military governor over an entire province that included a number of bailiwicks, castellanies and seneschalties are both.

All men from the richest noble to the poorest commoner were summoned under the arrière-ban and they were supposed to present themselves to the King or his officials.

Some contemporary authors assert that the only people who were allowed to serve in the military in Europe were the landowning minor nobles. These thegns were the land-holding nobility of the time, and they were forced to serve for a predetermined number of days each year while armed with their own armor and weapons. It is a ridiculous fantasy to consider the fyrd as a predecessor to a modern national army that is composed of all ranks of society, according to the historian David Sturdy, who has advised against making such a comparison:

The bizarre idea that peasants and small farmers banded together to form a national army or fyrd is a persistent ancient belief that was conceived of by antiquarians in the late eighteenth or early nineteenth centuries in order to justify universal military conscription.

According to a ruling issued by the Shogun in 1393, moneylenders in feudal Japan were excused from payment of religious or military taxes, a yearly tax payment in exchange for.

The Ōnin War weakened the shogun and levies were imposed again on money lenders.

Common people were subject to this overlordism, which was arbitrary and unpredictable.

Despite the fact that the money lenders were not in a poor financial position, A number of overlords exploited them for financial gain.

Levies became essential to the overlord's continued existence as a ruling class, permitting the ruler to impose levies at his own discretion.

The tansen tax on agricultural land was one of these charges, and it was used to cover ceremonial expenses.

To finance the reconstruction of the Ise Grand Shrine, a Yakubu takumai tax was imposed on all land, Moreover, a munabechisen tax was levied on each and every house.

At that point in time, Commoners in Kyoto were able to obtain land through the use of usury, and in the year 1422, the shogun threatened to reclaim the land of those commoners who had failed to pay their levies.

Beginning in the 820s and 830s, the Abbasid caliph al-Mu'tasim established the corps of Turkic slave-soldiers, also known as ghulams or mamluks. This was the beginning of the widespread use of the system of military slaves in the Middle East. The Turkish troops quickly came to dominate the government, establishing a pattern throughout the Islamic world of a ruling military class that was frequently divided by ethnicity, culture, and even religion by the majority of the population. This paradigm reached its pinnacle in the Mamluks of Egypt and the Janissary corps of the Ottoman Empire, both of which were institutions that lasted until the early 19th century.

Around the middle of the fourteenth century, Murad I, the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, cultivated personal army that were loyal to him, with a slave army called the Kapıkulu.

The new military was constructed by recruiting Christian children from territories that had recently been captured, in particular from geographically remote regions of his kingdom, in a system known as the devşirme (translated gathering or converting).

The children that were held captive were coerced into converting to Islam.

Over a period of several years, the Sultans provided the young lads with training.

Advanced warrior skills were taught to those individuals who demonstrated exceptional potential in the realm of combat skills, to be placed in the personal service of the Sultan, as well as become members of the Janissaries, the elite branch of the Kapıkulu.

There were a number of notable military commanders who served the Ottoman Empire, in addition to the majority of the imperial administrators and officials at the highest levels of the Empire, such as Pargalı İbrahim Pasha and Sokollu Mehmet Paşa, this method was used to recruit them.

It was the Mamluks of Egypt throughout the Middle Ages who were comparable to the Janissaries in terms of their genesis and the means by which they developed. In most cases, the Mamluks were non-Muslim children from Iran and Turkey who had been kidnapped or purchased as slaves from the shores of the Barbary region. In order to prepare the young men and boys to become Islamic soldiers who served the Muslim caliphs and the Ayyubid sultans during the Middle Ages, the Egyptians integrated them and trained them during the course of their lives. In Baghdad around the ninth century, the first mamluks were employed by the Abbasid caliphs. They evolved into a powerful military caste throughout the course of time. Several times, they were successful in seizing power; for instance, they ruled Egypt from the year 1250 to the year 1517.

Beginning in the year 1250, the Bahri dynasty, which had its roots in the Kipchaks, had been in control of Egypt. The Caucasus slaves comprised an elite corps of troops and served in the army. They were brought from the Caucasus. The Burgi dynasty was established as a result of their eventual uprising in Egypt. The Mamluks were able to successfully conquer the Christian Crusader fortresses that were located in the Holy Land thanks to their superior fighting prowess, their massive Islamic armies, and their overwhelming numbers. When it came to preventing the Mongol Ilkhanate of Persia and Iraq from entering Egypt, the Mamluks were the most successful defense organization.

Modern conscription, the massed military enlistment of national citizens (levée en masse), conceived of at the time of the French Revolution as, for the purpose of improving the Republic's ability to defend itself against the assaults of European monarchs.

This act, which was passed on September 5, 1798, was given its name by Deputy Jean-Baptiste Jourdan, whose first article stated: Any Frenchman is a soldier and owes himself to the defense of the nation. It enabled the creation of the Grande Armée, how Napoleon Bonaparte referred to the nation as the nation in arms, European professional armies, who frequently numbered barely in the low tens of thousands, were defeated by this.

Beginning in the year 1800 and continuing until the year 1813, this method was used to recruit more than 2.6 million men into the French military.

At the beginning of the 19th century, the amount of time that serfs within the Russian Empire were owed to serve in the military was specified to be 25 years. In 1834, the age limit was lowered to twenty years. Each of the recruits was required to be at least 17 years old and no more than 35 years old.

For the sake of satisfying the needs of the nation during the World Wars, the age range that was eligible for conscription was broadened. The United States Selective Service System first conscripted males for World War I in the age range of 21 to 30 years old. However, in 1918, the eligibility requirements were modified to include men in the age range of 18 to 45 years old. ".

On the occasion of the Great Patriotic War, the Red Army enlisted the services of approximately thirty million men.

Human rights advocates for men, A significant number of libertarians in the United States are opposed to the practice of conscription and advocate for the elimination of the Selective Service System. They contend that the act of imposing persons into the armed forces constitutes involuntary servitude.

It is possible to argue that considering the cost-to-benefit ratio, the practice of conscription during times of peace is not worth it.

He thought that it was the responsibility and privilege of every citizen to engage in the defense of the entire society, and that it was a sign of moral decline to leave the business to professionals. Jean-Jacques Rousseau advocated fiercely against professional armies because he considered that it was a sign of moral decline to leave the business to trained professionals. The evolution of the Roman Republic, which came to an end at the same time as the Roman Army transitioned from a conscripted army to a professional force, served as the foundation for his belief.

It is believed by the British military that in a professional force, one company that is sent for active duty in peacekeeping corresponds to three companies that are not active at home. The budget for the military is used to pay the salaries of each individual. Volunteers from a trained reserve, on the other hand, will continue to work in their civilian employment while they are not currently deployed.

Comparatively, the practice of conscription from among the male population has been ubiquitous throughout history; nevertheless, women have only been recruited to join the armed forces in a few countries throughout the course of history. According to the conventional viewpoint, serving in the military is both a test of one's manhood and a rite of passage from the stage of boyhood to that of manhood. Recently, this viewpoint has been called into question on the grounds that it breaches gender equality. As a result, a number of nations, particularly those in Europe, have extended their mandatory military service requirements to include women.

Bolivia and Sweden are two examples of countries that engage in the practice of actively recruiting women to serve in the armed forces. Beginning in 1941, women were included in the scope of conscription in the United Kingdom during World War II. However, due to the fact that all women who had children who were dependent on them were excused from the requirement, and a large number of women were privately left in jobs like as teaching or nursing, the number of women who were conscripted was relatively low.

Individuals whose personal views are incompatible with military duty or, more commonly, with any role in the armed services are considered to be conscientious objectors.

Male citizens of the Republic of Austria who are between the ages of 17 and 50, and specialists who are between the ages of 65 and 65, are required to serve in the military. On the other hand, in addition to mobilization, conscription calls for basic military training in the Bundesheer that lasts for a period of six months and can be completed by individuals up to the age of 35. For those who choose not to participate in this program, they are required to perform community service for a period of nine months.

Since 1994, Belgium has not had a mandatory military