Militia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Militia is the activity of one or more citizens organized to provide defense or paramilitary service, or those engaged in such activity. The word can have five somewhat different meanings:
- Defense activity, as well as those engaged in it, when it is defense of the public, its territory, property, and laws
- The entire able-bodied male population of a community, town, or state, which can be called to arms against an invading enemy, to enforce the law, or to respond to a disaster
- A private, non-government force, not necessarily directly supported or sanctioned by its government
- An official reserve army, composed of citizen soldiers, also called an Army Reserve, National Guard, or State Defense Forces
- The national police forces in Russia, and other former CIS countries, or the former Soviet Union: Militsiya
In any of these cases, a militia is distinct from a regular army. It can serve to supplement the regular military, or it can oppose it, for example to resist a military coup. In some circumstances, the "enemies" against which a militia is mobilized are domestic political opponents of the government, such as strikers. In many cases the role, or even the existence of a militia, is controversial. For these reasons legal restrictions may be placed on the mobilization or use of militia.
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[edit] Etymology
The term "militia" is derived from Latin roots:
- miles /MEE-lace/ : a fighter or warrior
- -itia /EE-tee-ah/ : a state, quality, condition, or activity
In its original sense, therefore, militia meant "the state, quality, condition, or activity of being a fighter or warrior." It can be thought of as "combattant activity", "the fighter frame of mind", "the militant mode", "the soldierly status", or "the warrior way".
In common usage, a "militia" is a body of private persons who respond to an emergency threat to public safety, usually one that requires an armed response, but which can also include ordinary law enforcement or disaster responses. The act of bringing to bear arms contextually changes the status of the person, from peaceful citizen, to warrior citizen. The militia is the sum total of persons undergoing this change of state.
Persons are usually said to engage in militia in response to a "call up" by any person aware of the threat requiring the response, and thence to be in "called up" status until the emergency is past. There is no minimum size to militia, and a solitary act of defense, including self-defense, can be thought of as one person calling up himself to defend the community, represented by himself or others, and to enforce the law. See citizen's arrest.
Militia service is distinguished from military service in that the latter is normally a commitment for a fixed period of time, probably at least a year, for a salary. Militia persons are normally expected to provide their own weapons, equipment, or supplies, although they may later be compensated for losses or expenditures.
The original meaning of the Latin word is "military activity", or, since the ancient Romans had the same people fight crime or respond to disasters, "defense activity". In the idiom of English during the 18th century, the same word would often be used for an activity and for those who engage in it, so "militia" meant both defense activity and those who engage in it, whether as individuals or in concert with others. In later times the term has come to be used mainly to refer to armed groups, but it would be a mistake to use it that way in discussions of the concept in the U.S. Constitution.
A related concept is the jury, which can be regarded as a specialized form of militia convened to render a verdict in a court proceeding (trial jury) or to investigate a public matter and render a presentment or indictment (grand jury).
[edit] Australia
Militia was an alternative name for the Citizens' Military Forces (CMF), the reserve units of the Australian Army between 1901 and 1980. After Australian federation, the six former colonial militias were merged to form the CMF. Initially the CMF infantry forces formed the vast bulk of the Australian Army, along with standing artillery and engineer units.
The Defence Act of 1903 granted the Australian federal government the powers to conscript men of military age for home defence. However, these powers were unpopular and were used only for short periods at a time. The government was also forbidden by law from deploying the CMF outside Australian territories, or using it in strikes and other industrial disputes.
As a result of the ban on foreign service, during World War I and World War II, all-volunteer Australian Imperial Forces were formed for overseas deployment. CMF units were sometimes scorned by AIF soldiers as "chocolate soldiers" or "chockos", because "they would melt under the pressure" of military operations; or in an alternative version of the story of the origin of this term, as a result of the 1930s' uniforms of Militia soldiers, these soldiers were considered by AIF volunteers and some civilians as soldiers only for show like the soldiers in garish 19th-century dress uniforms shown on tins of chocolates that were commonly sold in Australia in the 1930s, hence the name "chocolate-tin soldiers" for Militia members.
Nevertheless, some Militia units distinguished themselves in action against the Empire of Japan during the Pacific War, and suffered extremely high casualties. In mid-1942 Militia units fought in two significant battles, both in New Guinea, which was then an Australian territory. The exploits of the young and poorly trained soldiers of the 39th (Militia) Battalion during the rearguard action on the Kokoda Track remain celebrated to this day, as is the contribution of the 7th Brigade at the Battle of Milne Bay.
Later in the war, the law was changed to allow the transfer of Militia units to the 2nd AIF; of these Militia units, 65% of their personnel had volunteered for overseas service. Another change allowed Militia units to serve anywhere south of the Equator in South-East Asia. Consequently they also saw action against Japanese forces in the Dutch East Indies.
In addition to the CMF, the Volunteer Defence Corps, a volunteer force modeled on the British Home Guard, was formed in 1940 and had a strength of almost 100,000 men across Australia at its peak.
After the war, CMF units continued to form the bulk of the peacetime army, although the creation of standing infantry units — such as the Royal Australian Regiment — from 1947, meant that the regular army grew in importance. By 1980, when the name of the CMF was changed to the Army Reserve, the regular army was the more significant force.
[edit] Canada
In Canada the title "Militia" historically referred to the land component of the armed forces, both regular (full time) and reserve. In 1940 the Permanent Active Militia and Non-Permanent Active Militia were renamed to become the Canadian Army. The term Militia continued from then to the present day to refer to the part-time army reserve component of the Canadian Forces. Currently, Militia troops usually train one night a week and every other weekend of the month, except in the summer; summertime training may consist of courses, individual call outs, or concentrations (unit and formation training of 1 to 2 weeks' duration). In addition, primary reserve members are increasingly used for voluntary service as augmentation to the regular force overseas - usually NATO or United Nations missions. Most Canadian cities have one or more militia units.
[edit] People's Republic of China
PRC's Militia, a mass force engaged in daily production under the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CCP), forms part of the Chinese armed forces. Under the command of the military organs, it undertakes such jobs as war preparation services, security and defense operation tasks and assistance in maintaining social order and public security.[1]
[edit] France
The first notable militia in French history was the resistance of the Gauls to invasion by the Romans until they were defeated by Julius Caesar.
The next notable militia was organized and led by Joan of Arc until her capture and execution in 1431. It settled the succession to the Franch crown and laid the basis for the formation of the modern nation of France.
During World War II under German occupation, militia usually called the French Resistance emerged to conduct a guerrilla war of attrition against German forces and prepare the way for the D-Day Allied Invasion of France.
[edit] Germany
The name Freikorps (German for "Free Corps") was originally applied to voluntary armies. The first freikorps were recruited by Frederick II of Prussia during the Seven Years' War. The freikorps were regarded as unreliable by regular armies, so that they were mainly used as sentries and for minor duties.
However, after 1918, the term was used for far-right paramilitary organizations that sprang up around Germany as soldiers returned in defeat from World War I. They were one of the many Weimar paramilitary groups active during that time. They received considerable support from Gustav Noske, the German Defence Minister who used them to crush the Spartakist League with enormous violence, including the murders of Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg on January 15, 1919. They were also used to put down the Bavarian Soviet Republic in 1919. They were officially "disbanded" in 1920, resulting in the ill-fated Kapp Putsch in March 1920.
Some future members and, indeed, leaders of the Nazi Party were members of a Freikorps, including Ernst Röhm, future head of the Sturmabteilung or SA, and Rudolf Höß, the future Kommandant of Auschwitz.
[edit] Israel
The earliest historical record of militia is found in the Old Testament and particularly the Book of Judges, when the Israelites fought as militia against threatening neighboring tribes. A prominent instance of that was the militia led by Deborah against the Caananites.
In modern times there is a universal military service requirement for male Israeli citizens that leaves most of them in the reserves of the Israeli Defense Forces, authorized to keep certain military weapons in their homes and workplaces.
[edit] Italy
Ancient Rome required her male citizens to serve as needed for defense, law enforcement, and disaster response, the activity from which the term "militia" is derived. Roman militia united Italy under Roman rule and fought the Punic Wars against Carthage. The practice of militia was replaced by a standing army largely through the reforms of Gaius Marius.
In the Medieval and Renaissance period while Italy was divided into contending city-states, militia were important for the survival of such states. Machiavelli wrote in his Discourses on Livy that militia were critical for the survival of a free republic.
The Italian patriot Garibaldi organized and led various militia, such as i Mille, from about 1848 until Italy was united in 1870, sometimes acting with official sanction and sometimes independently.
[edit] New Zealand
Many localised Militia saw service, together with British Imperial troops, during the New Zealand land wars. The Militia were disbanded and reformed as the Territorial Army in 1911.
[edit] Switzerland
One of the most famous and ancient militias is the Swiss Armed Forces. Switzerland long maintained, proportionally, the second largest military force in the world, with about half the proportional amount of reserve forces of the Israeli Defence Force, a militia of some 33% of the total population. Article 58.1 of the 1999 Swiss constitution provides that the armed forces (armee) is "in principle" organized as a militia, implicitly allowing a small number of professional soldiers. In 1995, the number of soldiers was reduced to 400,000 (including reservists, amounting to some 5.6% of the population) and again in 2004, to 200,000 (including 80,000 reservists, or 2.7% of the population). However, the Swiss Militia continues to consist of the entire adult male population, with voluntary participation by women and children, required to keep an automatic rifle and ammunition at home and to periodically engage in combat and marksmanship training.
The Swiss Militia was admired by the American Founders, who regarded it as a model for the militia system they provided for in the U.S. Constitution.
[edit] United Kingdom
[edit] Origins
The obligation to serve in the militia in England is enshrined in common law, and dates back to Anglo-Saxon times, when the militia was known as the fyrd. (The definition of a freeman was that he was "mootworthy and fyrd worthy".) The common law tradition stated that all males between fifteen and fifty were liable to be called out and embodied in one of two forces. The first was the posse commitatus, an ad-hoc body gathered together by a law officer to apprehend lawbreakers, and the second was the militia, a military body required to preserve internal order or defend the locality against an invader. It should be noted that the latter could only be embodied by a royal warrant.
[edit] Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries
With the decay of the feudal system and the military revolution of the sixteenth century, the militia began to become an important institution in English life. It was organised on the basis of the shire county, and was one of the responsibilities of the Lord Lieutenant, a royal official (usually a trusted nobleman). Each of the county hundreds was likewise the responsibility of a Deputy Lieutenant, who relayed orders to the justices of the peace or magistrates. Every parish furnished a quota of eligible men, whose names were recorded on muster rolls. Likewise, each household was assessed for the purpose of finding weapons, armour, horses, or their financial equivalent, according to their status. The militia was supposed to be mustered for training purposes from time to time, but this was rarely done. The militia regiments were consequently ill-prepared for an emergency, and could not be relied upon to serve outside their own counties.
This state of affairs concerned many people. Consequently, an elite force was created, composed of members of the militia who were prepared to meet regularly for military training and exercise. These were formed into trained band regiments, particularly in the City of London, where the Artillery Garden was used as a training ground. The trained bands performed an important role in the English Civil War on the side of parliament, in marching to the raise the siege of Gloucester.
Except for the London trained bands, both sides in the Civil War made little use of the militia, preferring to recruit their armies by other means.
[edit] Political Issues
Until the late 17th century, at various times, the Crown and Parliament were in strong disagreement.The English Civil War left a rather unique military legacy. Both Whigs and Tories were united in distrusting the creation of a large standing army. The former feared that it would be used as an instrument of royal tyranny. The latter had memories of the New Model Army and the anti-monarchical social and political revolution that it brought about. Consequently, both preferred a small standing army to prosecute foreign wars, a large navy as the first line of national defence, and a militia composed of their neighbours as a second line of defence and to preserve domestic order.
Consequently, the English Bill of Rights (1689) declared, amongst other things: "that the raising or keeping a standing army within the kingdom in time of peace, unless it be with consent of Parliament, is against law..." and "that the subjects which are Protestants may have arms for their defense suitable to their conditions and as allowed by law." This implies that they are fitted to serve in the militia, which was intended to serve as a counterweight to the standing army and preserve civil liberties against the use of the army by a tyrannical monarch or government.
The Crown still (in the British constitution) controls the use of the army. This ensures that officers and enlisted men swears an oath to a politically neutral head of state, and not to a politician. The standing army subsists on annual financial votes by parliament. The Mutiny Act is renewed on an annual basis by parliament. If it lapses, the legal basis for enforcing discipline disappears, and soldiers lose their legal indemnity for acts committed under orders.
[edit] Eighteenth Century and Napoleonic Wars
The Militia Act of 1757 created a more professional force. Better records were kept, and the men were selected by ballot to serve for longer periods. Proper uniforms and better weapons were provided, and the force was 'embodied' from time to time for training sessions. The Act did not apply in Scotland. This was resented by some and the Militia Club, soon to become the Poker Club, was formed to promote the raising of a Scottish militia. This and several other Edinburgh clubs became the crucible of the Scottish Enlightenment.
The militia was widely embodied at various times during the French and Napoleonic Wars. It served at various vulnerable locations, and was particularly stationed on the South Coast and in Ireland. Several camps were held at Brighton, where the militia regiments were reviewed by the Prince Regent. (This is the origin of the song 'Brighton Camp'.)The militia could not be compelled to serve overseas, but it was seen as a training reserve for the army, as bounties were offered to men who opted to 'exchange' from the militia to the regular army.
[edit] Nineteenth Century
Although muster rolls were prepared as late as 1820, the element of compulsion was abandoned, and the militia was transformed into a volunteer force. It was intended to be seen as an alternative to the army. Men would volunteer and undertake basic training for several months at an army depot. Thereafter, they would return to civilian life, but report for regular periods of military training (usually on the weapons ranges) and an annual two week training camp. In return, they would receive military pay and a financial retainer, a useful addition to their civilian wage. Of course, many saw the annual camp as the equivalent of a paid holiday. The militia thus appealed to agricultural labourers, colliers and the like, men in casual occupations, who could leave their civilian job and pick it up again.
The militia must not be confused with the volunteer units created in a wave of enthusiasm in the second half of the nineteenth century. In contrast with the volunteer movement, they were considered rather plebean.
[edit] The Special Reserve
The militia was transformed into the special reserve by the military reforms of Haldane in the reforming post 1906 Liberal government. The militia was now reorganised into the third battalions (sometimes fourth as well) of the county regiments of the regular army. (The Volunteers became the Territorial Army in 1908.) Upon mobilisation, the special reserve units would be formed at the depot and continue training while guarding vulnerable points in Britain. The special reserve units remained in Britain throughout the First World War, but their rank and file did not, since the object of the special reserve was to supply drafts of replacements for the overseas units of the regiment. The original militiamen soon disappeared, and the battalions became training units pure and simple.
The Special Reserve reverted to its militia designation in 1921, then to Supplementary Reserve in 1924, though the units were effectively placed in "suspended animation" until disbanded in 1953.
[edit] The Militiamen
The name was briefly revived in 1939, in the aftermath of the Munich Crisis. Leslie Hore-Belisha, the then minister of war, wished to introduce conscription, an unheard of thing in peacetime. It was thought that calling them militiamen, would make this more acceptable, and render them distinct from the rest of the army. Ony single men of a certain age group were conscripted (they were given a free suit of civilian clothes as well as a uniform), and after serving for about a year, would be discharged into the reserve. Although the first intake were called up, the war broke out soon after, and the militiamen lost their identity in the rapidly expanding army.
[edit] Modern survivals
Three units still maintain their militia designation in the British Army, two in the Territorial Army and one in the Army Cadet Force. These are the Royal Monmouthshire Royal Engineers (formed in 1539), the Jersey Field Squadron (The Royal Militia Island of Jersey) (formed in 1337), and the Royal Alderney Militia (created in the 13th Century and reformed in 1984). Additionally, the Atholl Highlanders are a (ceremonial) private army maintained by the Duke of Atholl — they are the only legal private "army" in the United Kingdom.
[edit] United States
There is a long history of militia in the United States, starting before the country became a country, with the colonial militias normally consisting of all adult male citizens of a community, town, or local region. This practice was continued after the signing of the U.S. Constitution, and remained relatively unchanged until the late 1800s. Central to the complete concept of "militia" as used by the American Founders in the second amendment of the Constitution was that it be "well-regulated", which meant well-trained and well-organized, but not necessarily by government. Thus, the term would not have been properly used to refer to an armed, unruly mob, but only to persons who behave in a responsible, law-enforcing mode, and who might act to control an armed, unruly mob as an "insurrection".
After the Civil War, state guard units composed of select militia were created. After 1903, the militia was divided into two groups, unorganized and organized. Organized units were created from portions of the former state guards and became state National Guard units. Some states later created State Defense Forces for assistance in local emergencies. Privately organized militias, not affiliated with any government organization, and usually formed by citizens suspicious of the activities and politics of Federal and state governments, blossomed in the mid 1990s.
The Constitutional Militia Movement consists of citizen groups who espouse strict construction of the U.S. Constitution according to the original understanding and intent of the Founding Fathers of the United States, especially in regard to the right to keep and bear arms (see Second Amendment to the United States Constitution). Constitutional Militias train in the proper and safe use of firearms, that they may be effective if called upon to uphold liberty, protect the people in times of crisis (i.e. disasters such as Hurricane Katrina), or to defend against invasion and terrorism. U.S. Constitution, Art. I Sec. 8 Cl. 15 & 16.
According to Title 10, USC, Section 311, all able bodied males between the ages of 17 and 45 not serving in the armed forces or state national guard units are considered the unorganized militia, as well as all commissioned female officers of state national guard units.
"That the People have a right to keep and bear Arms; that a well regulated Militia, composed of the Body of the People, trained to arms, is the proper, natural, and safe Defense of a free state..." --George Mason, declaration of "the essential and unalienable Rights of the People," later adopted by the Virginia ratification convention, 1788.
[edit] Private militia organizations
Private militia organizations are organized militia groups which may or may not be condoned by their respective government. Traditionally, they are organized into county units with the county sheriff serving as county militia commander, if he is willing, or election of a commander by those who attend musters if not. Most private militia groups are armed or espouse the use of arms, however some groups (mostly U.S. groups) espouse political protest and more peaceful means of bringing about political change, and take up arms only for traditional or ideological reasons, or as a protest against restrictions on such activities.
[edit] Left-wing militias
Left-wing militias generally consider themselves to be freedom fighters and espouse various causes, from national liberation movements in regions under foreign occupation, to civil insurrection - as with, for example, the Red Brigades - and guerrilla activity in Central America. As their funding and armament in the 20th century came almost entirely from the Soviet Union, Maoist China (1949-1976) and other Marxist-Leninist states, many of these organizations declined in their activities during the 1990s, as these governments fell or changed their nature.
[edit] List of militias
[edit] Official army units
- 48th Highlanders of Canada
- Mississauga Horse
- 39th (Militia) Battalion
- United States National Guard
- South Alberta Light Horse
- Les Fusiliers Mont-Royal
- Rogers' Rangers The forerunner of Modern "ranger" units
- The Poolesville Militia
[edit] State sponsored militias
- Virginia Militia
- Swiss Army
- State Defense Forces
- Blackshirts
- Texas State Guard
- New Hampshire Militia
- Ohio Military Reserve
[edit] Private Militias
- Mississippi Minuteman [1]
[edit] Worldwide
- Badr Organization
- Hezbollah (Lebanon)
- Janjaweed (Sudan)
- Kadyrovites (Chechnya, Russia)
- Lebanese Forces
- Mahdi Army (Iraq)
- Tatenokai (Japan)
- Irish Republican Army (Ireland)
- Euskadi ta askatasuna (Basque country)
- Ulster Volunteer Force and Ulster Defence Association (Northern Ireland)
[edit] See also
- Guerilla
- Paramilitary
- Armed Forces
- [United States Militia Association] [2]
- [Modern Minuteman] [3]
- Constitutional Defense - Extensive collection of materials on militia and the right to keep and bear arms.
- American Minuteman - An online forum for members of unorganized militias in the U.S.
- Militia Information Service (www.militia.info)
- militsiya (Eastern European police)
- Irregular military
- One Definition of militia
