'Military' has two broad meanings. In its first sense, it refers to soldiers and soldiering. In its second sense, it refers to
armed forces as a whole. Over the years, military units have come in all shapes and sizes. They have been as small as a handful of medieval peasants banded together for battle under their feudal lord or as large as the invasion force created in 1944 for D-Day. They can be as rigidly organized as the
impis of
Shaka Zulu or virtually autonomous like the
Knights Templar during the
Crusades. Some states - for instance,
Sparta or more recently
Prussia - have even placed military prowess at the heart of government.
The business of soldiering is as old as recorded history itself. Some of the most enduring images of the classical world portray the power and feats of antiquity's military leaders. The
Battle of Kadesh in
1274 BC was the one of the defining points of pharoah
Ramesses II's reign and is celebrated in bas relief on his monuments.
[1] A thousand years later, the first emperor of unified China,
Qin Shi Huang, was so determined to impress the gods with his military might that he was buried with an army of terracotta soldiers.
[2] The Romans were keen on military matters, leaving to posterity many treatises and writings as well as a large number of lavishly carved triumphal arches and columns celebrating their victories.
In our own era, world wars and countless other major conflicts have changed the political landscape beyond recognition. Empires have come and gone; states have grown and expired. Enormous social changes have been wrought and military power continues to dominate international politics. The role of the military today is as central to society as it ever was.
Etymology and some definitions
The first recorded use of 'military' in English, spelled ''militarie'', was in 1585.
[Oxford English Dictionary (2nd edition) Oxford: 1994] It comes from the Latin ''militaris'' (from Latin ''miles'' meaning "soldier", that is, someone skilled in arms, or engaged in military service or in warfare).
[Compact Oxford Dictionary online] [Merriam Webster Dictionary online]
As an adjective, 'military' originally applied only to soldiers and soldiering, but it soon broadened to apply to land forces, in general, and anything to do with their business.
The names of both the
Royal Military Academy (1741) and
United States Military Academy (1802) reflect this. However, about this time, it started to be applied to armed forces as a whole
and nowadays expressions like "military service", "military intelligence" and "military history" reflect this broader meaning.
As a noun, 'the military' usually refers generally to a country's armed forces or sometimes, more specifically, to the senior officers running them.
Military science
Military science is the study of warfare in all its aspects. By focusing on aspects of warfare - for instance, its technical, psychological, and practical components - it aims to improve the prospect of success in combat.
Organization
Guerilla structure
Armed forces may be organized as ''standing forces'' (e.g.
regular army), which describes a professional army that is engaged in no other profession than preparing for and engaging in warfare. In contrast, there is the ''citizen army''. A citizen army (also known as a
militia or
reserve army) is only mobilized as needed. Its advantage lies in the fact that it is dramatically less expensive (in terms of wealth, manpower, and opportunity cost) for the organizing
society to support. The disadvantage is that such a "citizen's army" is less well trained and organized.
A compromise between the two has a small cadre of professional
NCOs (non-commissioned officers) and officers who act as a skeleton for a much larger force. When war comes, this skeleton is filled out with conscripts or reservists (former full-time soldiers who volunteer for a small stipend to occasionally train with the cadre to keep their military skills intact), who form the wartime unit. This balances the pros and cons of each basic organization, and allows the formation of huge armies (in terms of millions of combatants), necessary in modern large scale
warfare.
Intelligence
Timeline
CIA Factbook on Intelligence. ''Click on the image for a summary description.''
Military intelligence can be defined as the process of gathering of information about the enemy threats, strengths and weaknesses. Intelligence activities are conducted at all levels from tactical to strategic, during peacetime and in war. The process of intelligence has four phases: collection, analysis, processing and dissemination. In the United Kingdom, these are known as Direction, Collection, Processing and Dissemination. The most elementary military intelligence is the collection of
order-of-battle data which consists of information about the basic structure of a military and the amount of weaponry.
[3]
Strategy and tactics
Armenian foot soldiers wearing the traditional Mithraic caps.
The line between strategy and tactics is easily blurred, and deciding which is which can sometimes be a matter of personal judgment. Very broadly, strategy is deciding what to attack; tactics is deciding how to attack it. In other words, strategy is the thought, and tacts is the deed. The conversion of stategy into tactics is sometimes called the
operational art.
'Military strategy' concerns itself with the conduct of
warfare, the movement and disposition of forces, and the deception of the enemy. The term comes from the
Greek ''
strategos'', strategy was seen as the "art of the
general". Military strategy is usually long term, and takes the broad view.
'Military tactics' concerns itself with the methods for engaging and defeating an enemy in
battle. The term is derived from the
Greek ''Taktikē'', (meaning literally "matters pertaining to arrangement"
). Military tactics are usually shorter-term, and are focused on the specific task in hand.
One of the oldest surviving military literary works is ''
The Art of War'' by the
Chinese philosopher Sun Tzu.
[4] Written in the
6th century BC, the 13-chapter book has had a huge influence on Eastern and Western military planning, business tactics, and beyond.
Both the Classical Greeks and Romans wrote prolifically on military campaigning. Amongst the best known works are
Julius Caesar's commentaries on the
Gallic Wars and the
Roman Civil war, written about
50 BC. Two major works on tactics come from the late Roman period: ''Taktike Theoria'', by
Aelianus Tacticus, and ''
De Re Militari'' ("On military matters") by
Vegetius. ''Taktike Theoria'' examined Greek battle methods, and was most influential in the
Byzantine world and during the
Golden Age of Islam. ''De Re Militari'' formed the basis of European military tactics until the late
17th century. Perhaps its most enduring maxim is "let he who desires peace prepare for war."
In his seminal book titled ''
On War'', the
Prussian general and leading expert on modern military strategy
Carl von Clausewitz defined military strategy as "the employment of battles to gain the end of war."
[5] According to Clausewitz, "strategy forms the plan of the War, and to this end it links together the series of acts which are to lead to the final decision, that, is to say, it makes the plans for the separate campaigns and regulates the combats to be fought in each."
[6] Hence, he placed political aims above military goals, ensuring
civilian control of the military. Military strategy was one of a triumvirate of "arts" or "sciences" that governed the conduct of warfare: the others being
military tactics, the execution of plans and manœuvering of forces in battle; and
military logistics, the maintenance of an army.
Military tactics can take the form of
ambushes,
encirclements,
frontal assaults,
air assaults,
hit-and-run (which is used mainly by
guerilla rebels) and in some cases
suicide attacks. Often, deception, in the form of
military camouflage or misdirection using
decoys, is used to confuse the enemy. A major military tactic that came to prominence in the
19th and early
20th century is
trench warfare. This was mainly employed in
World War I in the
Gallipoli campaign and the
Western Front. Trench warfare often turned to a stalemate, because in order to attack an enemy entrenchment soldiers had to run through an exposed "
no man's land" under heavy fire from an entrenched enemy.
Logistics
Military logistics is the management and planning of the
supply chain.
Military transport is part of logistics. It would pertain to equipment trans-shipped via a sister service, or an individual detached for a technical school operated by a sister service, or the travel orders and authorization of such an individual to proceed via a sister services vehicles, as well as the loan of vehicles (
staff cars,
Hum-Vees,
military trucks) operating from the primary base command.
Technology and equipment
When
Stone Age man first took a sliver of flint to tip his spear, he was applying technology to improve his
weaponry. Since then, the advance of mankind and the advance in weaponry has been irretrievably linked. Stone weapons gave way to
bronze, and then bronze to
iron. With each technological change has come an advantage: sharper weapons, harder weapons, more durable weapons.
The
Greeks and
Romans brought technology to the front with the invention and development of
siege engines. Then came the
age of chivalry, with
knights - mounted on
destriers and encased in ever-more sophisticated
armour - dominating the field. In the meantime, in China,
gunpowder had been invented and was increasingly being used in military applications. It was the arrival of
cannon in Europe and advanced versions of the
long bow and
cross bow - which all had armour-piercing capability - that put an end to the dominance of the armoured knight. After the long bow (which required great skill and strength to use), came the
musket (which could be used effectively by anyone after short training). In time, the successors to muskets and cannon, in the form of
rifles and
artillery would become core battlefield technology.
As the speed of technological advance accelerated in the civilan world, so warfare became more
industralised. The newly-invented
machine gun and
repeating rifle brought awesome new fire power to the battlefield and in part explains the high casualty rates of the
American Civil War. The next big breakthrough was the new highly-mobile, recoilless field gun, the French ''
Soixante-Quinze'' in the 1970s. During
World War I, the need to break the deadlock of the trenches saw the rapid development of many new technologies, particularly in
military aviation and
tanks.
World War II however, perhaps marked the most frantic period of weapons development in the history of humanity. Massive numbers of new designs and concepts were fielded, and all existing technologies were improved between 1939 and 1945. It was during this time that the
atomic bomb was created.
After World War II, with the onset of the
Cold War, the constant technological development of new weapons was institutionalized, as participants engaged in a constant race to develop weapons and counter-weapons. This constant state of weapons development continues into the modern era, and remains a constant draw on the resources of most nations.
Ultimately, the most powerful of all invented weapons is the
MIRV ICBM armed with
nuclear warheads.
Not all military technology has proved practical in the long term. Two such inventions, the ''parachute hat'' and the ''gun helmet'', failed to catch on. The gun helmet was fitted with a rifle but the ''recoil broke a man's neck during early trials''.
[7] A more recent example is the ''
gay bomb'' that could purportedly ''turn enemy soldiers into homosexuals and make them more interested in sex than fighting''.
[8]
Military history
Military history is often considered to be the
history of all
conflicts, not just the history of proper militaries. It differs somewhat from the
history of war with military history focusing on the people and institutions of war-making while the history of war focuses on the evolution of war itself in the face of changing
technology,
governments, and
geography.
Military history has a number of purposes. One main purpose is to learn from past accomplishments and mistakes so as to more effectively wage war in the future. Another is to create a sense of tradition which is used to create cohesive military forces. Still another may be to learn to prevent wars more effectively.
Military and society
The relationship between the military and the society it serves is a complicated and ever-evolving one. Much depends on the nature of the society itself and whether it sees the military as important (as for example in time of threat or war) or a burdensome expense (as typified by defence cuts in time of peace).
Doctrine, ideology and ethics
An example of military zones - Map of
Argentina's military zones (1975-1983)
Militarist ideology is the
doctrinal view of a
society as being best served (or more efficient) when it is
governed or guided by concepts embodied in the ''culture, doctrine, system,'' or ''people'' of the military.
Under the justification of potential application of
force, militarism asserts that a
civilian population is dependent upon — and thereby subservient to —the needs and goals of its military. Militarism is sometimes contrasted with the concepts of
comprehensive national power and
soft power and
hard power.
Most nations have a separate
code of law which regulates certain activities allowed only in war, and provides a code of law applicable only to a
soldier in war (or 'in
uniform' during peacetime). An early exponent was
Hugo Grotius, whose ''Rights of War and Peace'' (1625) had a major impact of the humanitarian development of warfare. His theme was echoed by
Gustavus Adolphus, the Swedish king-general (1594–1632).
Modern-day ethical constraints are much more developed. For instance, the
Geneva Conventions concern themselves with the treatment of civilians and prisoners of war. International protocols restrict or ban the use of certain weapons, notably nuclear and biological warfare. International conventions define what constitutes a war crime and provides for prosecution of war crimes. Individual countries also have elaborate codes of military practice, an example being the United states'
Uniform Code of Military Justice.
Military actions are sometimes justified by furthering a humanitarian cause. The term ''
military humanism'' is used to refer to such actions.
Antimilitarism
Antimilitarism is a doctrine opposed to war between states in particular and, of course,
militarism. Following
Hegel's exploration of the relationship between
history and violence, antimilistarists argue that there are different types of violence, some of which can be said to be legitimate and others non-legitimate.
Anarcho-syndicalist Georges Sorel advocated the use of violence as a form of
direct action, calling it "revolutionary violence", which he opposed in ''Reflections on Violence'' (1908) to the violence inherent in
class struggle. Sorel thus followed the International Workers' Association (IWA, aka the First International) theorization of
propaganda of the deed.
War, as violence, can be distinguished into inter-states' war and
civil war, in which case class struggle is, according to antimilitarists theorists, a primordial component. Hence,
Marx's influence on antimilitarist doctrine will come upon as no surprise, even though it would be doubtful to make Marx accountable for the whole antimilitarist tradition. However, it would also be unwise to believe in the myth of an eternal antimilitarist spirit, present in all places and time, since modern military institution is a historic achievement, related to the formation, in the 18th and 19th centuries, of nation-states.
Napoleon's invention of
conscription is a fundamental progress in the organization of state armies. Later,
Prussian militarism would be exposed by 19th century social theorists.
Depictions of the military
Soldiers and armies have been at the heart of popular culture since the beginnings of recorded history. In addition to the countless images of military leaders in heroic poses from
antiquity, they have been an enduring source of inspiration in literature. Not all of this has been entirely complementary and the military have been lampooned or ridiculed as often as they have been idolised. The classical Greek writer,
Aristophanes, devoted an entire comedy, the
Lysistrata, to a strike organised by military wives where they withhold sex from their husbands to keep them from going to war.
In Medieval Europe, tales of
knighthood and
chivalry - the officer class of the period - captured the popular imagination. Writers and poets like
Taliesin,
Chrétien de Troyes and
Thomas Mallory wrote tales of derring-do featuring
Arthur,
Guinevere,
Lancelot and
Galahad. (Even today, books and films about the
Arthurian legend and the
Holy Grail continuing to appear.} A century or so later, in the hands of writers such as
Jean Froissart,
Miguel Cervantes and
William Shakespeare, the fictional knight
Tirant lo Blanch and the real-life
condottieri John Hawkwood would be juxtaposed against the fantastist
Don Quixote and the carousing
Sir John Falstaff. In just one play,
Henry V, Shakespeare provides a whole range of military characters, from cool-headed and clear-sighted generals, to captains, and common soldiery.
Medieval view: Richard II of England meets rebels
The rapid growth of
movable type in the late 16th and early 17th centuries saw an upsurge in private publication. Political
pamphlets became popular, often lampooning military leaders for political purposes. A pamphlet directed against
Prince Rupert of the Rhine is a typical example. During the 19th century, irreverence was at its height and for every elegant military gentleman painted by the master-portraitists of the European courts (for example,
Gainsborough,
Goya and
Reynolds), there are the sometimes affectionate and sometimes savage caricatures of
Rowland and
Hogarth.
This continues in the following century, with publications like
Punch in the British Empire and
Le Père Duchesne in France, poking fun at the military establishment. This extended to media other print too. An enduring example is the
Major-General's Song from the
Gilbert and Sullivan light opera,
Pirates of Penzance, where a senior army officer is satirised for his enormous fund of irrelevant knowledge.
The increasing importance of
cinema in the early 20th century provided a new platform for depictions of military subjects. During the First World War, although heavily censored,
newsreels enabled those at home to see for themselves a heavily-sanitized version of life in the
front line. About the same time, both
pro-war and
anti-war films came to the
silver screen. One of the first films on
military aviation,
Hell's Angels broke all box office records on its release in 1929. Soon,
war films of all types were showing throughout the world.
The First World War was also responsible for a new kind of military depiction, through poetry. Hitherto, poetry had been used mostly to glorify or sanctify war.
The Charge of the Light Brigade by
Alfred, Lord Tennyson, with its galloping hoofbeat rhythm, is a prime late Victorian example of this, though
Rudyard Kipling had written a scathing reply,
The Last of the Light Brigade, criticising the poverty in which many Light Brigade veterans found themselves in old age. Instead, the new wave of poetry, from the
War poets, was written from the point of view of the disenchanted trench soldier. Leading war poets include:
Siegfried Sassoon,
Wilfred Owen,
John McCrae,
Rupert Brooke,
Isaac Rosenberg and
David Jones. A similar movement occurred in literature, producing a slew of novels on both sides of the Atlantic including notably
All Quiet on the Western Front and
Johnny Got His Gun. A much-later satirical take on World War I is provided by the film,
Oh! What a Lovely War.
The
propaganda war that accompanied World War II invariably depicted the enemy in unflattering terms. Both the
Soviet Union and
Nazi Germany excelled in producing heroic images, placing their soldiers in a semi-mythical context. Examples of this exist not only in posters but also in the films of
Leni Reifenstahl and
Sergei Eisenstein. Alongside this, World War II also inspired films as varied as
Bridge on the River Kwai,
The Longest Day,
Catch-22,
Saving Private Ryan, and
The Sea Shall Not Have Them. The next major event, the
Korean War inspired a long-running television series
M
★ A
★ S
★ H. With the
Vietnam War, the tide of balance turned and its films - notably
Apocalypse Now,
Good Morning Vietnam,
Go Tell the Spartans and
Born on the Fourth of July - have tended contain critical messages.
There's even a nursery rhyme about war, the
Grand Old Duke of York, ridiculing a general for his inability to command any further than marching his men up and down a hill. The huge number of songs focusing on war include
And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda and
Universal Soldier.
An idealised image invites Dutchmen to join the SS
Caricature Japanese soldier in a US propaganda poster
Nazi Poster depicting American "liberators" as monster
.jpg)
North Korean soldier from the 1950s
Joseph Heller's anti-war novel, ''
Catch-22''
Militaria
Militaria are another way of depicting the military. Militaria are
antique artifacts or
replicas of military history people, firearms, swords, badges, etc collected for their historical significance. Today, the collecting of militaria items such as
toy soldiers,
tin soldiers,
military models is an established hobby among many groups of people.
Other uses of "Military"
★ 'Military procurement' refers to common regulations and requirements for a ship or a detached unit to requisition and draw on a base's facilities (housing, pay, and rations for detached personnel), supplies (most commonly food stocks or materials, and vehicles) by the service running a primary base; e.g. Army units detached to or staging through an
air base, a
vessel calling at a port near an army or air base, an army unit drawing supplies from a naval base.
★ Military strength is a term that describes a
quantification or reference to a nation's standing military forces or the capacity for fulfillment of that military's role. For example, the military strength of a given country could be interpreted as the number of individuals in its
armed forces, the destructive potential of its
arsenal, or both.
★
★ For example, while
China and
India maintain the largest armed forces in the world, the
U.S. Military is considered to be one of the world's strongest, although the certainty of such a claim cannot be ascertained without a detailed analysis of opposing military forces in relation to one another as well as taking into account the field(s) of
battle and
tactics used in such a conflict.
★ 'Military
force' is a term that might refer to a particular unit, a
regiment or
gunboat deployed in a particular locale, or as an aggregate of such forces (Example: "In the
Gulf War the
United States Central Command controlled ''military forces'' (units) of each of the five military services of the United States.")
★ A
military brat is a colloquial term for a child with at least one parent who served full-time in the armed forces. Children of armed forces members may move around to different military bases or international postings, which gives them an unusual childhood. Unlike common usage of the term ''brat'', when it is used in this context, it is not necessarily a derogatory term.
See also
External links
★
Global Security
★
Military Resources
★
Military Portal
★
Federation of American Scientists
★
Global security evolution: The presentation of the Eurocorps-Foreign Legion concept at the European Parliament in June 2003
References and notes
1. [Image:Ramesseum bataille de Kadesh.jpg Ramesses II at Kadesh]
2. [image:Terrakotta 2006 3.jpg Massed ranks of Qin Shi Huang's terra cotta soldiers]
3. Silent Warfare: understanding the world of intelligence, , Abram N., Shulsky, Potomac Books Inc, 2002,
4. ''The Art of War''
5. The New Encyclopaedia Britannica, , Robert, MacHenry, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Incorporated, 1993,
6. ''On War'' by General Carl von Clausewitz
7. Patently absurd
8. Washington Post ''Sunshine Project''
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