Militia
A militia is defined as an armed force composed of civilian volunteers, historically serving both political and military purposes. The concept dates back to ancient Greece, where citizen-soldiers known as hoplites participated in both governance and warfare. Throughout history, numerous cultures, including those in medieval Europe and Asia, have relied on civilian militias during emergencies. In the United States, the English militia tradition laid the groundwork for the National Guard and similar forces, which were formalized in the early 20th century. However, the term "militia" has also been associated with controversy, particularly concerning unofficial paramilitary groups that emerged in the U.S. during the 19th and 20th centuries. The militia movement gained traction in the 1990s, fueled by anti-government sentiment and debates over gun rights, especially in light of the Second Amendment. Internationally, militias continue to play significant roles, particularly in regions with unstable governments, where they may operate as alternative military forces or proxies. The ongoing discourse around militias often intersects with issues of governance, civil rights, and public safety, reflecting diverse perspectives and concerns.
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Militia
A militia is an armed force raised from a civilian population. The first militiamen were the hoplites of the ancient Greek city-states, citizen-soldiers who served in politics as well as in battle. During the Middle Ages, it was not uncommon to muster civilians into service during times of emergency. The same practice was followed in many parts of the world, including China and Japan before 1603.
The English militia tradition, with roots in Anglo-Saxon law, would form the basis for the militia system in the United States as well as other countries once part of the British Empire. Although militia performed well in the Seven Years’ War (1756–1763), particularly in its American phase; the French and Indian War (1754–1763); and the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), it was becoming increasingly apparent that their lack of formal military training made them a liability. In the nineteenth century, Britain and the United States instituted militia forces whose members agreed to regular training on their own time. These ultimately became the US National Guard and the British Territorial Force/Army. At the turn of the twenty-first century, no nation, save Switzerland, fully depended on militia for its security.
Much debate and controversy has surrounded the formation of militias, especially those not officially sanctioned by the government or military. Such paramilitary groups have often been involved in controversial issues throughout US history. Examples include the Bleeding Kansas conflicts between loosely organized proslavery and antislavery forces in Kansas in the 1850s and the politically-motivated activities of private militias in the American South after the US Civil War (1861–65). The Militia Act of 1903 (or Dick Act) attempted to clarify the role of militias by establishing the official National Guard units for each state and identifying all able-bodied male citizens aged seventeen to forty-five as members of the unorganized militia.
However, by the 1980s and 1990s a militia movement appeared that took the idea of the unorganized militia to the extreme. Supporters of the militia movement advocated the importance of private citizens retaining weapons, ostensibly to support the federal armed forces and state National Guards but also to oppose government forces if needed. The movement's ideology led to the formation of various private militias, many with radical antigovernment views; estimates placed the number of private militia members at anywhere from 40,000 to 250,000 at the movement's peak in the mid 1990s. Support for the militia movement declined somewhat after antigovernment sentiment was widely blamed for the Oklahoma City bombing carried out by militia enthusiast Timothy McVeigh in 1995. However, some observers claimed that militias began to proliferate again in the twenty-first century in the wake of the global financial crisis and the election of President Barack Obama in 2008, enabled by the recruiting potential of the Internet, especially social media.
The debate over militia groups in the United States is often closely associated with the debate over gun control. The 2008 US Supreme Court decision in District of Columbia v. Heller, a landmark case regarding individuals' gun ownership, referenced the use of the term "militia" in the Second Amendment to the US Constitution as encompassing both government-sanctioned militias and militias formed by civilians. The ruling weakened gun-control advocates' argument that gun ownership could be limited to official armed forces such as the National Guard.
In the twenty-first century militias also remained important in conflicts throughout the world. Notably, nations with weak centralized governments or militaries often saw a proliferation of militias, whether organized by various factions against the existing government or used by those in power as a proxy for official armed forces. Examples include the tribal and ethnic factions in Iraq, the prominent militia groups in Indonesia, and the Revolutionary Guard and the Basij militia in Iran.
Bibliography
Ahram, Ariel I. Proxy Warriors: The Rise and Fall of State-Sponsored Militias. Stanford: Stanford UP, 2011. Print.
Berlatsky, Noah. Militias. Detroit: Greenhaven, 2012. Print.
Cohen, Raphael S. Demystifying the Citizen Soldier. Santa Monica: RAND, 2015. Print.
Gellman, Barton. "The Secret World of Extreme Militias." Time. Time, 30 Sept. 2010. Web. 14 Dec. 2015.
Herrera, Ricardo A. For Liberty and the Republic: The American Citizen as Soldier, 1775–1861. New York: New York UP, 2015. Print.
Labi, Nadya. "Rogue Element." New Yorker. Condé Nast, 26 May 2014. Web. 14 Dec. 2015.