War and Peace
‹ 5 · Outline · 7 ›
6.Soldiers, armies and military organization
6a.Mercenaries and auxiliaries versus native troops
See also: Citizen 4b
Herodotus, An Account of EgyptVol. 33
- p. 70Assyrian invasion met by an unarmed force of shopkeepers and artisans after the warrior class refuses to fight; the enemy is routed.read · scan
- p. 76With Greek mercenaries and Egyptian supporters he overthrows the eleven kings and wins Egypt.read · scan
- p. 83–84Battle at Momemphis: mercenaries fight well but are worsted by numbers.read · scan
Aristophanes, The FrogsVol. 8
- p. 449–451Those who supply the enemy's armaments or betray the fleet are among those warned off.read · scan
Niccolò Machiavelli, The PrinceVol. 36
- p. 40Mercenary and auxiliary soldiers are useless and dangerous: disunited, cowardly before foes, and deserting in war; Italy's ruin stems from them.read · scan
- p. 41–42Mercenary captains are untrustworthy if able and ruinous if not; states relying on their own arms succeed, as history shows.read · scan
- p. 42–43Examines Florentine and Venetian reliance on captains and mercenary armies, and how Venice declined when it abandoned its own methods of war.read · scan
- p. 43Mercenary arms bring slow, small gains but sudden, huge losses; Venice had to kill Carmagnola, and Italy's fragmentation led to hired foreign soldiers.read · scan
- p. 44Mercenary captains made war bloodless and easy to spare themselves danger, bringing Italy into servitude and contempt.read · scan
- p. 45Auxiliary troops are more dangerous than mercenaries: if they lose you are undone, if they win you become their prisoner.read · scan
- p. 46Cesare Borgia and Hiero show that a ruler's reputation and safety rest on troops of his own; David rejected Saul's armour.read · scan
- p. 47France and Rome declined by using mercenaries; without national arms no princedom is safe.read · scan
- p. 68–69New princes arm their subjects, avoid mercenaries, and keep arms in own soldiers' hands; divided cities fall to invaders.read · scan
- p. 78–79Defective arms explain the fall of Italian lords; Philip of Macedon held out against Rome through warlike spirit.read · scan
Sir Thomas More, UtopiaVol. 36
- p. 189–191Treasure is kept to hire foreign soldiers, since they would rather risk strangers than countrymen, and enemies can be bought or set against each other.read · scan
- p. 215Utopians sow dissension, incite neighbours and hire mercenaries so as to spare their own citizens.read · scan
- p. 215Zapolete mercenaries fight for the highest wages, changing sides; Utopians use them as expendable soldiers before their own citizens.read · scan
Christopher Marlowe, Edward the SecondVol. 46
- p. 57–59Exiled queen and nobles seek foreign arms and allies at Hainault to fight the English king by the sword.read · scan
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, A Discourse upon the Origin and the Foundation of the Inequality among MankindVol. 34
- p. 224–225Mercenary defenders and imposts make the husbandman quit the plough for the sword; soldiers turn on fellow citizens.read · scan
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, EgmontVol. 19
- p. 297–298Contrast of merry native militia with stiff Spanish soldiers who seem task-masters.read · scan
The Declaration of IndependenceVol. 43
- p. 152–153Charges of waging war, burning towns, hiring foreign mercenaries; Britons held enemies in war, friends in peace.read · scan
Alessandro Manzoni, I Promessi Sposi (The Betrothed)Vol. 21
- p. 469–470Describes mercenary armies of the Thirty Years' War, driven by plunder, with no discipline and late pay; Wallenstein's men.read · scan
Thomas Babington Macaulay, MachiavelliVol. 27
- p. 373Commerce and manufactures make war insupportable to sedentary citizens, so hired troops replace militia, as in Greece.read · scan
- p. 374Italian warfare became a separate profession with heavy cavalry; mercenaries became universal until Swiss pikemen overturned the tactics.read · scan
- p. 375A standing army gives soldiers an interest in the state; Italy's mercenaries were common property, serving any bidder and turning on late masters.read · scan
- p. 375–376Mercenary armies made Italian war bloodless and indecisive, since soldiers might soon serve their enemies; battles were less dangerous than civil tumults.read · scan
- p. 390–391Machiavelli blames mercenary military system for Italy's ruin and studies war to organize a national militia.read · scan
6b.Standing armies and militia
Pliny the Younger, Letters of PlinyVol. 9
- p. 371–373Concern with troop numbers and soldiers remaining at their standards.read · scan
Niccolò Machiavelli, The PrinceVol. 36
- p. 10–11Standing troops cost the whole country hardship and make enemies.read · scan
- p. 22Lacking faithful troops, such princes have no secure power.read · scan
- p. 85Machiavelli urges national troops and new infantry discipline, analysing weaknesses of Swiss and Spanish soldiers to defeat foreigners.read · scan
Sir Thomas More, UtopiaVol. 36
- p. 142Idle retainers are defended as material for armies; More replies that thieves and soldiers are alike and hired standing armies plague France.read · scan
- p. 142Standing armies are pernicious: they must seek war to keep practiced, and have overrun Rome, Carthage and others.read · scan
Benvenuto Cellini, The Autobiography of Benvenuto CelliniVol. 31
- p. 86Pope Clement declares war on Florence; the city organises its militia and prepares defence.read · scan
Ambroise Paré, Journeys in Diverse PlacesVol. 38
- p. 12–13Militia mobilized with artillery in Brittany to repel an English landing.read · scan
Francis Bacon, Essays, Civil and MoralVol. 3
- p. 51–52Soldiers living in a body with donatives are dangerous, as janizaries and praetorians; dispersed training is safe.read · scan
Christopher Marlowe, Edward the SecondVol. 46
- p. 33–35Edward resolves to levy men against the barons; they prepare arms and send heralds to defy the king.read · scan
- p. 47–48Spencer arrives with four hundred soldiers to defend the king.read · scan
Thomas Dekker, The Shoemaker's HolidayVol. 47
- p. 471Companies of Londoners are mustered and paid for the king's wars in France.read · scan
- p. 471–474Eyre and Firk plead that pressed soldier Ralph, newly married, be spared from the French wars; Lacy says the mayor's levy cannot be changed.read · scan
- p. 474–475Ralph is sent to fight; Eyre praises his swordsmanship while Lacy says his country's quarrel requires him to go.read · scan
- p. 475Eyre and the journeymen send Ralph off to fight the French with coins and cheers.read · scan
Philip Massinger, A New Way to Pay Old DebtsVol. 47
- p. 941–943Wellborn asks for a company under Lovell's command to serve king and country.read · scan
Sir Henry Vane, A Healing QuestionVol. 43
- p. 126–127The army and military forces are the welfare and safety of the whole body after the late wars.read · scan
The Instrument of GovernmentVol. 43
- p. 113–114Establishes a standing army and navy of 30,000 men for defence and security.read · scan
George Halket, PoemsVol. 41
- p. 571–572Jamie has been taken away, apparently pressed for service.read · scan
Benjamin Franklin, His AutobiographyVol. 1
- p. 105Facing danger from Spain and France with no militia, Franklin urges union and discipline for defense in his pamphlet Plain Truth.read · scan
- p. 105–106Ten thousand associators arm, form regiments and drill; a battery is built and cannon procured, Franklin serving as common soldier.read · scan
- p. 125Union would have avoided troops, taxation and the bloody contest.read · scan
- p. 138–139Franklin raises troops, builds forts and organizes a voluntary militia for frontier defense against Indian attack.read · scan
- p. 144The militia forms companies and artillery, and is broken when England repeals the law.read · scan
- p. 151Frontier defense funding is the stake; troops are withheld unless the colony provides for defense.read · scan
Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of NationsVol. 10
- p. 447Cost of military force varies by stage of society; hunters need none, and standing army is superior to militia.read · scan
- p. 448Standing army civilizes barbarous countries and sustains internal peace, as under Peter the Great.read · scan
- p. 472Feudal tenures maintained soldiers at their own or their lords' expense.read · scan
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, EgmontVol. 19
- p. 288–289The king favors garrisons and a powerful army to overawe burghers rather than conciliation.read · scan
The Declaration of IndependenceVol. 43
- p. 151–152Standing armies in peacetime, quartered troops and a military set above civil power are denounced.read · scan
Articles of ConfederationVol. 43
- p. 160Restricts state treaties, warships and standing forces in peacetime, requiring a disciplined militia.read · scan
- p. 164Congress builds a navy and requisitions state troop quotas, which states raise and equip.read · scan
George Washington, Washington's Farewell AddressVol. 43
- p. 237Union spares the states wars among themselves and the need for overgrown military establishments.read · scan
Constitution of the United StatesVol. 43
- p. 194–195Militia arms and restrictions on quartering soldiers in peace and war.read · scan
Abraham Lincoln, Emancipation ProclamationVol. 43
- p. 324–325Freed men will be received into armed service; act justified by military necessity.read · scan
6c.Discipline, obedience and mutiny
See also: Government 6c
Confucius, The Sayings of ConfuciusVol. 44
- p. 44–45Good man teaching people seven years makes them fit for arms; untaught soldiers cast away.read · scan
Herodotus, An Account of EgyptVol. 33
- p. 18Egyptian warrior garrisons, left unrelieved for three years, revolt and defect to Ethiopia.read · scan
Plato, CritoVol. 2
- p. 39–40Soldiers must not yield or leave rank in battle but do what the city orders.read · scan
Marcus Tullius Cicero, Letters of CiceroVol. 9
- p. 133–135Cicero reports assembling the army, restoring order after mutiny, and positioning his camp against the Parthian threat.read · scan
Plutarch, AlcibiadesVol. 12
- p. 124–126The army is dispirited and mutiny feared; Alcibiades foils the surrender of Messena.read · scan
Plutarch, CaesarVol. 12
- p. 295Caesar hurries on the war in winter; his weary soldiers complain of endless campaigning then repent.read · scan
Plutarch, AntonyVol. 12
- p. 355Casualties from the engagement, and the soldiers' exemplary obedience and endurance as an army.read · scan
- p. 359Antony follows Mithridates's advice to reach the river; panic and marauding in the camp are quelled by a halt.read · scan
Epictetus, The Golden Sayings of EpictetusVol. 2
- p. 162–163Military service used as analogy for obedience to God.read · scan
Niccolò Machiavelli, The PrinceVol. 36
- p. 62–63Soldiers preferred warlike, harsh princes; people loved peace and sober rulers.read · scan
- p. 66–67Soldiers' power over Roman emperors versus modern princes lacking standing armies; the army kills Maximinus at the siege.read · scan
Benvenuto Cellini, The Autobiography of Benvenuto CelliniVol. 31
- p. 98Cellini's brother serves among the Duke's soldiers; brawling men-at-arms are urged to seize a captain from the guard.read · scan
William Harrison, A Description of Elizabethan EnglandVol. 35
- p. 305Martial law is proposed against vagabonds as enemies of the commonwealth.read · scan
Sir Henry Vane, A Healing QuestionVol. 43
- p. 125Army and people should unite against the common enemy, removing jealousy and division.read · scan
- p. 126Unity of army and honest party would secure them against the common enemy, as the late king found when deserted.read · scan
John Dryden, Dedication of the AeneisVol. 13
- p. 14–15Homer's moral: allied states need union, army discipline and obedience; discord between Agamemnon and Achilles ruins the Greeks.read · scan
- p. 15Discord's bad effects and unity's good effects: Hector slain, Troy must fall; Rome threatened by Carthage.read · scan
John Dryden, All for Love; or, The World Well LostVol. 18
- p. 29Soldiers refuse to march or fight for Cleopatra, though loyal to Antony; Ventidius pleads for the legions.read · scan
Sir Richard Steele, The Spectator ClubVol. 27
- p. 85The captain's military career gave him adventures and habits of command and obedience.read · scan
Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in FranceVol. 24
- p. 341Burke questions the army's discipline and whom it is to obey, the third cementing principle of the new republics.read · scan
- p. 341–342The war minister reports the army threatening anarchy, regiments violating respect for laws, king and oaths, showing the state of France's military under the Assembly.read · scan
- p. 342–343Burke deplores mutiny and collapse of military discipline; officers murdered, army must be a mere instrument of government.read · scan
- p. 345Feasting soldiers with civic clubs will not restore military discipline; makes good citizens the French way but poor soldiers.read · scan
- p. 348Mixing soldiers with seditious clubs weakens the bond between soldiers and officers, making a real army impossible.read · scan
- p. 349–350Mutinous officers await a popular general who conciliates the soldiery.read · scan
- p. 350Obedience between officer and soldier is the critical link of military subordination, destroyed by the Assembly.read · scan
- p. 356An anarchic army cannot secure obedience of an anarchic people; the military weapon will snap in the hand.read · scan
Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, Minna von Barnhelm, or The Soldier's FortuneVol. 26
- p. 350–351Soldiers' discipline and stiff military formality; the Sergeant behaves as if on parade, like wooden dolls.read · scan
Alessandro Manzoni, I Promessi Sposi (The Betrothed)Vol. 21
- p. 212An officer hesitates to use troops against an unarmed crowd, fearing to exasperate them; a mob's violence contrasts with restraint.read · scan
- p. 223–224Spanish soldiers, tardily useful, help disperse the mob and clear a passage; Ferrer wryly rebukes the officer's poor assistance.read · scan
- p. 268Soldiers with levelled guns behind barricades turn back the crowd.read · scan
Thomas Carlyle, Inaugural Address at EdinburghVol. 25
- p. 382Drilled soldiers show that rough, ignorant men can be trained into a potent obedient machine.read · scan
6d.The soldier in peacetime
Sir Thomas More, UtopiaVol. 36
- p. 142Maimed soldiers are left unable to work; war is said to justify keeping idle men.read · scan
William Harrison, A Description of Elizabethan EnglandVol. 35
- p. 369Soldiers returning from service disdain labour and become idle rogues, so war breeds them.read · scan
Christopher Marlowe, Edward the SecondVol. 46
- p. 8–9The soldier is dismissed with scorn; Gaveston has no war and no use for veterans.read · scan
Thomas Dekker, The Shoemaker's HolidayVol. 47
- p. 498–500Ralph returns lame from the French wars, the wars having left him impotent and unable to work.read · scan
Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, Minna von Barnhelm, or The Soldier's FortuneVol. 26
- p. 301–302Just complains peace has made landlords disrespectful of soldiers.read · scan
- p. 310–311Werner, restless in peace, eagerly plans to fight the Turks in Persia, since a soldier must be a soldier.read · scan
- p. 311–313Werner recalls his battle service and wishes to go to Persia with his old officer.read · scan
- p. 318–319The landlord blames discharged officers for living as if war would last forever and disregarding mine and thine.read · scan
- p. 338–339Tellheim says a soldier should fight for his country or a cause, not wander aimlessly like a butcher's apprentice.read · scan
- p. 353–354Peace has made many officers superfluous.read · scan
- p. 359–360Werner eagerly proposes serving again where there is war.read · scan
- p. 360–361Werner cheers at the prospect of a famous war in Persia and going soldiering again.read · scan
- p. 366–367He became a soldier from whim and party feeling, and now wants only to be a peaceful man.read · scan
Robert Burns, Poems and SongsVol. 6
- p. 122–124Old soldier recounts wars and lost limbs, still ready to follow the drum; peace reduced the camp-follower to beggary.read · scan
Alessandro Manzoni, I Promessi Sposi (The Betrothed)Vol. 21
- p. 8Spanish garrison soldiers quartered at Lecco, oppressing the locals under a satirical guise of teaching modesty.read · scan
Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, Household TalesVol. 17
- p. 185Peace leaves the soldier dismissed with no trade but fighting.read · scan
Hans Christian Andersen, TalesVol. 17
- p. 348–349A soldier returning from the wars is introduced marching home.read · scan
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