Mercenary Troops Research Articles

Changing Attitudes to the Army's Role in French Society

THE ARMED FORCES, whose existence protects the integrity, ensures the prestige and serves the ends of a civil society, can be seen as a mere instrument, or as an emanation of this society. The former approach characterized pre-revolutionary Europe, in which all dynasties recruited mercenary troops whilst relying on the nobility's tradition of service to the sovereign and quest for military glory to provide the cadres of their armies. The second was exemplified under the Revolution by the nation-in-arms endeavouring to repel the onslaught of a European coalition. To a new kind of warfare, directed against the principles on which the organization of the civil society rested, corresponded a new kind of army. Since it was no longer separated from the community, it was bound to reflect the divisions existing therein and to become involved in internal political upheavals. Even when military intervention in the political sphere was ordered or prompted by the government of the country, as was repeatedly the case in the last years of the revolutionary period, it created a dangerous precedent. The republican ideal of a national army resulted in making the army responsible for the fate of the State, even though it did not seek this responsibility. Therefore one of the contradictions latent in this ideal led to bona-

Venice and the Uskoks of Senj: 1537-1618

D URING THE YEARS 1615-18 the Uskok War was waged in northeastern Italy between the Republic of Venice, supported by mercenary troops from England, Holland, and the Protestant regions of the empire, and the Catholic forces mustered in support of Archduke Ferdinand of Styria, soon to become king of Bohemia and second German emperor of that name. The immediate occasion, providing the name for this conflict, was the activity of the piratical Uskoks, descendants of the military colonists settled in Croatia by the first emperor Ferdinand. It is to the history of these men and their relations with Venice that this article is devoted. The Uskoks, a name commonly used during the sixteenth century for the hardy and warlike Christian refugees fronm the Tuikish occupied areas of the Balkans, originally were settled in Croatia-Slavonia to provide the Hapsburg lands with a cheap but effective screen against Turkish incursions.' Freed by special charters from the usual manorial obligations, the Uskoks were liable to continuous military service as frontier guards and light troops. Starting with a

The Germans in Pennsylvania

How often had I heard of the German immigrants in the United States as being thrifty, reliable, honest, God-fearing people, and desirable neighbors who had contributed much to the welfare of our country. I turned to the histories used in both the elementary and the high schools to trace historically the contribution of German peoples. I never failed to find that the Hessians had fought on the side of the English during the Revolutionary War. Histories describe the eventful Christmas Eve, when the Hessians were carousing, and also the attack and the defeat of these mercenary troops. Generally in a short paragraph, given somewhat later, I would find a short statement or paragraph about the services Von Steuben rendered to Washington at Valley Forge. I also learned incidentally about the training the raw recruits underwent during the eventful, cruel winter under Von Steuben's guidance. During the Civil War I generally read something about General Siegel and Carl Schurz and with that, comment on the contribution of the German peoples in America ended. I have listened to the jeers of people who without provocation speak disparagingly of the Heinies in the United States and then go on to tell of the capacity of the Heinie to drink beer, eat pretzels and devour sauerkraut. I then thought of the people of German blood who have come into our home. They were polite; their children, born in the United States, spoke excellent English even though their parents spoke with a slight accent. These same parents were respected members of their community. I resented the implication that generally was intended when people said, Oh, that's Heinie.

Mercenary troops

Mercenary troops

ΣϒΝΤΕΛΕΙΑ ΤΙΡΩΝΩΝ

Modern inquiries into the history of the Roman army have elucidated the fact that there were two periods in the evolution of the Roman recruiting-system, whether of the Roman legions or of the auxiliary troops. The first period embraced the first two centuries of the Roman Empire, while the second began with Diocletian. The most characteristic features of the first period were as follows: recruiting of legions among the town population or territories attributed to a town; recruiting of auxiliary troops chiefly among the population of non-municipal territories; prevalence of the idea of conscription, which remained as a matter of fact chiefly theoretical as far as the legions were concerned, the latter consisting chiefly of volunteers; granting of Roman citizenship to soldiers who were serving in the legions at the moment of their being enrolled, and the receiving of Roman citizenship by the soldiers of auxiliary troops after the completion of their period of service; absence of any form of compulsion in the recruiting system. The second period presents entirely different features. The distinction between legions and auxiliary troops vanished almost completely, as both were recruited chiefly among the rural population; for the idea of conscription as the fulfilment of the duty of citizenship was substituted either the idea of military service for money, the idea of mercenary troops, or the idea of compulsory military service, this service being treated in the same way as the compulsory levying of taxes.