Army. I INTRODUCTION Army, military land forces of a nation, assembled, drilled, disciplined,
Publié le 10/05/2013
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disappearance for several centuries of large standing armies in Europe.
A Middle Ages
Feudalism was based on a concept of local defense, each baron or landowner governing land that had been given him by the king, and each lord having his ownpersonal protective forces recruited from among men who worked for him.
In return, each lord and his men were pledged to annual service to the monarch and couldbe called on in special instances, as in the defense of Christendom during the Crusades.
National armies thus began to appear again.
The Crusades emphasized theneed for organization and discipline in opposing a common enemy; as a result, large forces of foot soldiers were constituted.
Although the introduction of gunpowder,supported by the use of crossbows and other weapons, changed the character of war, the ambition of the individual knight engaging in personal combat with his sworddiminished the effective use of the army as a unified force.
Throughout Europe during the 14th century, when firearms were introduced ( see Artillery), mercenary professional soldiers were recruited by the highest bidder.
Such companies, varying in strength from tens to thousands, were the forerunners of modern professional armies.
The present Swiss Guard of the Vatican is a directsuccessor of a 15th-century mercenary company.
Among other extant survivors of the mercenary army, one of the most renowned is the French Foreign Legion,organized in 1831 for service outside France and composed of diverse ethnic groups.
It has seen service in combat all over the world.
B Armies in the 16th to 18th Centuries
Spain is considered the first modern European country to have established a standing army.
The nucleus of this 16th-century force was four infantry regiments of 7000men bearing pikes and firearms.
Sweden under King Gustav II Adolph conscripted an army to serve in the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648).
The king improved military efficiency by organizing six or more150-man companies into regiments and combat brigades and enforcing strict discipline, which in turn made possible increased mobility.
Artillery was integrated into thecavalry and infantry formations.
Under Louis XIV, the French army organized a quartermaster department to perform supply functions, and training and inspection of the troops were standardized.
By1678 France's standing forces numbered more than 200,000 soldiers.
Marshal Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban designed a system for attacking fortified places,improved a system of defensive fortification, and created the first modern corps of engineers ( see Fortification and Siege Warfare).
Britain's first regular army, established by Oliver Cromwell in 1645, consisted of 14,000 infantry and 7600 mounted men and heavy artillery.
The use of the ring bayonet (invented about 1689), attached by loose rings to the muzzle of a flintlock musket, enabled John Churchill, first Duke of Marlborough, to dispense with pikemenand increase the number of musketeers ( see Bayonet).
Infantrymen thus became self-sufficient.
The techniques of modern warfare were greatly advanced in the 18th century by the theories and stratagems of the great military leader Frederick the Great of Prussia.Under his guidance the Prussian army was formed into one of the most efficient forces known up to that time.
C Napoleon
The army of the French Revolution possessed a mobile, well-equipped artillery branch and an infantry with a high degree of morale.
The military engineer Lazare Carnotin 1792 instituted a nationwide draft of citizens into the first all-arms divisions (infantry, artillery, and cavalry) whose aim was the total destruction of the enemy.
In1798, under Napoleon I, military conscription was made compulsory by law.
Every male between 21 and 25 years of age was liable to four years of service.
Napoleon'sinitial contribution to the citizen army of France was in the area of artillery improvements.
Subsequently, he established himself as perhaps the world's foremost militarystrategist, able to muster an army of 200,000 to 500,000 men and to demonstrate that this massive force could move speedily, along separate roads, live off the landwithout fixed depots, and in concentrated units take an enemy by surprise.
Napoleonic campaigns are classics that are still studied.
D Origin and Development of the U.S.
Army
Colonial militias were the first American forces during the American Revolution to do battle with the British.
Their lack of reliability, however, caused Congress, at theurging of George Washington, to create the Continental Army on June 14, 1775.
The army achieved a maximum strength of about 23,550 active-duty troops inSeptember 1778.
On June 2, 1784, however, Congress abolished the army on the basis that “standing armies in time of peace are inconsistent with the principles ofrepublican government....” In 1789 the War Department was established to oversee and administer military forces.
After the revolution, Congress again authorized asmall standing army to guard United States frontiers, and in 1802 it established the United States Military Academy at West Point to train regular army officers.
Statemilitias, however, provided the main manpower resource during the American Civil War—when military conscription was first adopted and then abolished.
Until WorldWar I, and the establishment of the draft, federalized state troops and volunteers provided the manpower needed in times of crisis.
The first peacetime conscription wasinstituted in 1940, continued throughout the Korean and Vietnam wars, and ended on January 27, 1973; the Military Selective Service Act expired June 30, 1973.
Sincethat time U.S.
military power has depended on an all-volunteer force.
See Conscription; Selective Service; United States Army.
E The Changing Army
The Women's Army Auxiliary Corps of the U.S., authorized by an act of Congress on May 14, 1942, was renamed the Women's Army Corps, or WAC, on July 1, 1943.WAC personnel served with the army ground-aid and service forces, as well as in the administrative and technical services and in the General Staff Corps.
The firstoverseas WAC contingent reached North Africa in January 1943.
At its peak in 1945, the corps had a strength of more than 100,000; in 1948 the corps was accordedpermanent status in both the regular army and the organized Army Reserve Corps.
Although blacks had served in the armed forces since colonial times, they were relegated to segregated units and assigned service duties as opposed to combat duties.In 1948 President Harry Truman signed an executive order for the integration of blacks into all branches of the armed forces, and the process of desegregation of themilitary was begun.
See African American History.
The importance of guerrilla warfare was demonstrated on all fronts during World War II.
The subsequent spread of nationalistic or ideological brushfire wars furtherpromoted the use of guerrilla tactics and strategy.
World War II also demonstrated the operational utility of airborne troops; such units were first used by the USSRagainst Finland from 1939 to 1940, and in 1940 by the Germans in Holland, Denmark, Norway, Belgium, and France.
Mountain warfare was employed on a wide front between Italy and Austria-Hungary in World War I, involving specially trained alpine troops using skis.
In World War IIthe Germans used mountain divisions in their campaign in Norway, and Soviet troops versed in winter warfare played a critical role during that war.
Modern counterparts of the mercenary armies of former centuries are the 20th-century international armies such as the 15-nation UN force that fought in Korea from.
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