Conscription
Conscription refers to the practice of a government requiring its citizens, typically adult males, to serve in the military. This system has historical roots, with ancient societies like Greece and Rome implementing obligatory military service for male citizens. Modern conscription emerged during the French Revolution, as a response to the need for a large, mobilized army. This approach significantly influenced the nature of warfare and linked military service to national identity and citizenship.
In the United States, conscription first occurred during the Civil War and later evolved with the establishment of the Selective Service system during World War I, which allowed for a more organized draft process. The draft was utilized extensively again during World War II, but faced significant opposition during the Vietnam War, leading to its eventual end in 1972. Since then, the U.S. military has relied primarily on volunteers, although discussions about reinstating conscription have emerged periodically. Globally, many nations utilize some form of limited conscription, and in recent years, some have begun incorporating women into their draft systems. The practice remains a complex and often contentious issue, reflecting broader societal values and military needs.
Conscription
Conscription is the power of a government to force people, usually adult males, to serve in the military. Mandatory military service has existed in many societies and periods throughout history, but its modern use began with the French Revolution (1789–92). Conscription has often been presented as an obligation of citizenship.
Greece and Rome
In Greece and the Roman Republic, military service was obligatory for adult male citizens. Military service was episodic, with men serving a few months each year during wartime. After the collapse of the Roman Republic and its replacement with the imperial government, Rome employed standing professional armies. From the Roman Empire (27 b.c.e.-476 c.e.) until the French Revolution, armies were considered the domain of the sovereign.
Origins of Modern Conscription
Conscription reappeared during the French Revolution. Perceiving the revolution in danger, the government ordered complete mobilization of the nation. The use of masses of untrained Frenchmen changed the nature of war. The new French armies sought direct engagement and destruction of enemy armies. Perhaps more important was the impact of military service on Frenchmen. French citizens who fought for the revolution became emotionally attached to the revolution and to France. The wars of France became affairs of the nation instead of affairs of the government.
In response to the new style of war, most continental powers also adopted conscription, although of a more limited nature. After 1815, all European nations attempted to revert to smaller professional armies, but the rise of a unified Germany in the second half of the century led most nations to increase the size of their military. Governments increasingly depended on mass armies of conscripts, linking citizenship and nationalism with military service.
Conscription in the United States
The United States first employed conscription during the American Civil War (1861–65), when first the Confederate government (1862) and later the Union government (1863) passed laws that allowed their armies to force individuals to serve. The Union government adopted conscription as a threat to the states to raise their quotas of troops. States that raised enough troops through local pressures and incentives were spared the ordeal of conscription. Most volunteer and regular army soldiers considered conscription shameful, arguing that the conscript and the convict were equally worthless. The use of soldiers with authority to compel military service ran counter to US emphasis on civilian control and volunteerism. Communities and individuals resisted the patrols of soldiers sent out to enforce conscription. The results were dismal. Fewer than one in twenty soldiers entered the army through conscription.
When the United States entered World War I (1914–18), it turned to conscription to create the massive army it needed. After considering the failure of conscription during the Civil War, the government created a Selective Service system run at the community level by civilians. The new conscription laws reflected the Progressive desires for a logically ordered society. Adult males would serve where the government needed them. Selective Service committees, informally called draft boards, considered the number of dependents and role in the economy of a potential selectee, as drafted men were called, before placing him in a category. In the summer of 1917, the government ended all voluntary enlistments and conscription became an honorable way to serve. Conscription in the United States ended with the Armistice in November 1918 and the US military again depended on individual volunteers for long-term service.
Shortly after the outbreak of World War II in the autumn of 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked for and received permission to begin the first peacetime conscription in US history. Originally, selectees were to serve for one year and not serve outside of the western hemisphere or US possessions in the Pacific. The length of service was later extended to eighteen months, but the United States entered the war before the selectees were discharged. During World War II (1939–45), some twelve million men entered the military through Selective Service.
After World War II, the United States relied on a mixture of volunteers and conscripts to fill its military. President Lyndon B. Johnson’s attempt to cause as little disruption as possible to the economy while waging war in Vietnam and his desire to maintain middle-class support for his administration led to a number of programs that allowed wealthy and better-educated men to avoid conscription.
As a result, disproportionate numbers of poor, minority, and young men were drafted. College deferments, created to allow middle-class young men to postpone military service until after college, had the effect of filling colleges with large numbers of students with a personal and increasingly desperate interest in ending the war and conscription before their graduation. Widespread opposition to conscription during the Vietnam War ended the national consensus on mandatory military service. In 1972, conscription ended, although congressional authority for it remained into 1973.
The End of US Conscription
The end of the draft resulted from domestic politics more than military realities, but from 1972 through the end of the twentieth century, the United States depended on a completely voluntary military. Following the collapse of détente in 1979, President Jimmy Carter asked for and received from Congress a reinstatement of registration with Selective Service by men between eighteen and twenty-five years of age, although no conscription took place. By 1999, Congress began debating abolishing registration and cutting all funds for Selective Service or, alternatively, reinstating conscription to fill the ranks drained by opportunities within the civilian economy.
In the twentieth century, most nations have relied on limited conscription to fill their militaries. In the early 1990s, after the end of the Cold War (1945–91), European nations began a trend toward smaller, long-term, professional armies. This reflected the increased technical and specialized skills needed in modern wars as well as the decreased need for mass armies.
Some countries, particularly those that are not democratic, also have laws requiring women to be drafted into compulsory military service as well. As of 2016, these countries included Eritrea, Israel, North Korea, and Norway (the first member country of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to conscript women). Because of the harsh conditions in Eritrea, including a dictatorial regime accused of human-rights violations, and the mandatory conscription for both men and women, many citizens of the country, which is almost perpetually in a state of war with the larger Ethiopia, have fled as refugees.
In the United States in 2016, following the opening of combat positions to women in the previous year, the Senate voted to have a provision in the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act requiring women to register for the draft in times of war along with men after turning eighteen. However, when the bill reached a combined House and Senate committee, the provision was ultimately withdrawn in favor of reviewing the practicality of and need for the Selective Service system altogether.
Bibliography
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Chambers, John Whiteclay II. To Raise an Army: The Draft Comes to Modern America. New York: Free Press, 1991.
Flynn, George O. The Draft, 1940–1973. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1993.
Geary, James W. We Need Men: The Union Draft in the Civil War. De Kalb: Northern Illinois University Press, 1991.
Moore, Albert Burton, and Sproat, John S. Conscription and Conflict in the Confederacy. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1996.
Stevis, Matina, and Joe Parkinson. "Thousands Flee Isolated Eritrea to Escape Life of Conscription and Poverty." The Wall Street Journal, 2 Feb. 2016, www.wsj.com/articles/eritreans-flee-conscription-and-poverty-adding-to-the-migrant-crisis-in-europe-1445391364. Accessed 24 Jan. 2017.