Pre-Modern Armies for Worldbuilders, Part I: Why They Fight
4 hours ago
- #military history
- #societal structures
- #recruitment systems
- The series will explore how military systems reflect civilian societies, focusing on pre-industrial armies and their recruitment, financing, leadership, and cohesion.
- Recruitment principles include employment (paid service), entitlement (linked to rights like citizenship), vocational (warrior class or all-warrior societies), and clientage (obligations to superiors), each tied to societal structure.
- Societal factors such as being agrarian, state existence, aristocracy type, and peasant-aristocrat relationships determine feasible military systems and recruitment methods.
- Common pitfalls in fictional worlds include armies that don't align with societal structures, like professional forces in societies lacking administrative capacity.
- Pre-modern armies typically rely on non-employment principles like entitlement or clientage, with professional armies being rare due to high state capacity and revenue requirements.
- Historical examples illustrate recruitment principles: Roman Republic (entitlement), steppe nomads (all-warrior vocational), medieval knights (warrior class), and Carolingian levies (clientage).
- The series will link to previous posts and emphasize bibliography, with key readings on pre-industrial societies and warfare.