Introduction
Conscription means compulsory enrolment in the armed forces and has a history of centuries in several parts of the world. Mass conscription has played a major role in helping major powers display their strength on the armed front and overcome their enemies. Historically, conscription has been used a means to ensure the country has enough numbers to counter threats and defeat their borders. Even though conscription has been part of the national policy for several kingdoms of the past, the United States did draft before the start of the Civil War. As the South seceded, the Confederate states called conscription to protect their lands, businesses and practices from the Union, and the Union followed by having their own conscription that helped them to win wars (Hummel 29). Conscription has a history of providing certain advantages such as promotion of nationalism, unity and equity, ensures high levels of governmental participation, maintains active military force, and helps in developing strong defensive force; which in combination has helped major powers win wars.
Role of Conscription in Winning Wars
Strong Defensive Force
One of the prime reasons for major powers to have mass conscription was to ensure they had strong defensive force to defend the nation and fight their enemies. Mass conscription ensured that all healthy citizens were enlisted in the military with the sole aim on overpowering enemies with their sheer numbers. Mass conscription meant the country had enough soldiers to meet demands of war and conflicts. At times, the total numbers itself helped in countries to keep their opponents in check. Large defensive force ensured that other countries and kingdoms remained threatened of possible attacks and helped in developing leverage over opponents (Hummel 64). For example: mass conscription helped Nazi Germany to overpower many of its neighbouring countries in the Second World War. Mass conscription aimed at ensuring that countries had sufficient military protection maintained during peace time or war time.
If other countries plan an attack, mass conscription has been used as an effective tool for creating a large base of the volunteer army that can help in outnumbering enemies and fighting on different fronts. Conscription allows the country to take advantage of their populace and recruit healthy individuals who further the nation’s defense needs. Even today, mass conscription is used as a means to develop strong military force. In Israel, men and women are required to serve in the armed forces since the country’s formation in 1948. The Mass conscription policy helps the small Jewish country to fight wars against much larger countries around them (Abramson). Volunteer military personnel have been a reason behind the existence of Israel in the Middle East, where they have been attacked by their neighbours several times and have managed to defeat them comprehensibly.
Promotes Nationalism
Mass conscription has a direct consequence of making enlistees feel proud of their country. Conscription can help people feel a sense of entitlement to their country’s intentions. Whether it was Nazi Germany or the United States military, the draftees felt they were fighting for a cause and many of them strongly believed in the achievement of their country’s goals. Conscription is designed for the purpose of making people feel like patriots when they are fighting against enemies and protecting their country’s interests. The feeling of patriotism is shared among the masses as they feel their country needs them and rejecting the draft would mean betraying their nation (Horowitz and Levendusky 527). Few people can think of betraying their country and agree to join the draft as a matter of pride, meaning the country is able to attract the healthy and the young to fight wars.
The thought of conscription can also make people feel closer to their nation and its identity. Many feel proud to fight for their nation and achieve the objectives set by their leaders. An example of it can be seen in several young Germans joining the draft to fight for Hitler and several youth from the allied forces seeking honour to fight against the Nazis. Serving nation brings respect and honour for many and those who perish are seen as martyrs. Even though the risk of life is great, it still attracts man volunteers as they desire the respect and honour from the society around them. Therefore, many youngsters are motivated during the war to fight for their country and their motivation translates into war victories for the drafting countries.
Maintains Active Military Force
There are direct advantages of mass conscription as it helps in maintaining active military force of the country. The two main advantages of the conscription system are: firstly, it helped in creating a large group of militarily trained manpower that could be useful in quickly augmenting a standing force in case of a war or emergency. For instance: In 1914, German army expanded from 808,280 and reached 3.502,700 within the space of 12 days. Secondly, when faced with a long conflict, the draft system provided the organizational framework needed for deployment of a country’s entire manpower as soldiers of the state. Conscript forces helped nations to utilize their forces. For instance: 55 percent of men in Bulgaria and Italy between the age of 18-50 years were drafted. The proportions were much higher in Serbia, where 63 percent joined the draft (Watson).
In an ideal-typical mass conscripted army, soldiers are expected to recognize they have to fulfil their duty as civilians and willingly obey nation’s call to arms (Krebs 9). As civilians, they are expected to attack, invade, plan, and strategize to defeat the enemy through warfare. The draftees participate as members of the army and loyal citizens of their nation, furthering the national objectives. When a country is able to develop a large pool of willing individuals fighting for a cause they have the power to achieve their objectives as they have an ongoing supply of armed and trained individuals that can reinforce the war front. Conscription ends up giving a country the power to fight for long term on the war front as they get the manpower needed to win wars.
Promotes Unity and Equality among Citizens
Mass conscription means people from different class, religion, colour, profession, sex, etc. end up joining the armed forces. Anyone who is deemed healthy is enlisted in the armed forces and no one is exempted from facing wars. When it comes to war, people from different backgrounds are brought together as the country requires extra soldiers to further its objectives (Krebs 9). When people from different backgrounds are brought together by one policy, it brings all people at the equal pedestal as they all are assigned the same objective. Conscription can also mean that people from inferior backgrounds are assigned the leadership of superior backgrounds, meaning it disrupts social order and draftees are seen as military men who are serving their nation. The formation of equality among men creates a commotion that helps in driving them towards their objective. All men have the same objective shared with the country, helping them to create a strong enough force that helps them win wars. Conscription unifies the body politic and helps average Americans to transcend past their class, racial, and ethnic particularities.
The equality of the proceedings also ensures that unity is promoted among the men as they are fighting for the country and its objectives. Joining the draft also means that people from different backgrounds are trained together and given similar treatment by their superiors. Draftees end up spending time together as they eat together and carry out their drills together, and start speaking the same language. The draftees share the same experiences as they serve their country and strive towards achieving a victory for their nation. The injuries, perished friends, and the time spent on the war front creates a bond between the soldiers that drives many sacrifice their lives to ensure their country wins the war (Kingsbury). Due to the unity developed through conscription, countries are able to win wars as people are fighting not only for their nation, families and themselves, but for their brothers fighting along with them on the field.
Ensures High Levels of Governmental Participation With every able citizen joining the armed forces when war or conflict strikes, the public becomes more watchful and aware of their government’s decision. The citizens give additional attention as their national security and lives are under threat during war time. With the level of risk involved and many of their family members fighting on the war front, people expect government to have a stern approach to their problems. People end up expecting that government action resonate their concern and perform their task of leadership keeping in mind the issues that are at stake. People start developing respect for those fighting on the war front and expect that government do their best to help them and ensure they come back as heroes. Since the government is expected to be as involved as the soldiers fighting the war, the level of involvement from the government remains intact as they are the ones who enforce mass conscription. Therefore, the government ends up spending money on soldiers and providing them food, ammunition, medicine and support to help them win wars.
Conclusion
Mass conscription has been an important part of war policy for several governments and countries for past centuries. Conscription has played a significant role in ensuring major powers are able to win wars. Conscription firstly allows countries to develop strong defense forces that they use to protect their borders and fight enemies abroad. Conscription also ensures that the major powers are able to utilize their manpower and reinforce their army to prolong the wars. Conscription also ensures that governments end up remaining involved throughout the war or conflict as they are concerned about the manpower they have sent to fight and the family members of the draftees that expect they come back. Conscription is also helpful in ensuring that unity and equality is promoted among the draftees, which makes them fight as a team for the same cause. Above all, conscription helps major powers to win wars as it promotes nationalism among the volunteers who aim to return home as heroes.
Works Cited
Abramson, Larry. "Women in Combat: Some Lessons From Israel's Military. NPR. NPR.org, 16 May 2013. Web. 8 Sept. 2016.
Horowitz, Michael C., and Matthew S. Levendusky. "Drafting Support for War: Conscription and Mass Support for Warfare." The Journal of Politics 73.2 (2011): 524-534. Print.
Hummel, Jeffrey R. "The American Militia and the Origin of Conscription: A Reassessment." Journal of Libertarian Studies 15.4 (2001): 29-77. Print.
Kingsbury., Alex. From patriotism to pragmatism--why Americans enlist. US News. usnews.com. 21 October 2010. Web. 7 September 2016.
Krebs, Ronald R. "Myths of the All-Volunteer Force: Rethinking Military Recruitment and the Fate of the Citizen-Soldier." University of Minnesota. umn.edu, n.d. Web.
Watson, Alexander. "Recruitment: Conscripts and Volunteers During World War One." The British Library. bl.uk, n.d. Web. 8 Sept. 2016.
