Conscription facts for kids
Conscription, also called draft, is when a government forces people to join the armed forces. Usually, only men are conscripted, but in Israel, women are as well. A soldier who has been forced to serve in the army is called a conscript.
Conscription may or may not be compulsory. If compulsory, it may be resisted. Usually, exceptions are allowed. Since men in their late teens and twenties are the main objective, conscription clashes with higher education, and exceptions may be allowed.
The first large, modern conscript army was the French Grand Army after the French Revolution. Conscription became a common way of making up the armies after the French Revolution. Almost all the powerful armies in the world except United Kingdom were conscript armies. During the World Wars even the British Army were mostly conscripts.
Problems
Conscription armies are large, but they are often poorly equipped and trained and have poor morale. In combat they usually suffer many casualties. Usually conscripts serve with little pay and many are treated little better than slaves. Conscription can be considered as a form of forced labour. In many countries, young men who refuse to join the army are sentenced to prison. Many people "dodged" or illegally avoided conscription during the Vietnam War in the United States.
There are arguments for conscription. Some see it as fair, since everyone shares the burden of service. A small country with few people can make up a large enough army by conscription. If a country is in the midst of hostile neighbours and war can break up at any time, or if the country is a buffer state (= is located between two military blocks), training all available young people as soldiers can be a good idea.
The alternatives for conscription are militia system, as in Switzerland, or professional army made up from volunteers. The United States gave up conscription during the Cold War. The Vietnam War proved so unpopular that the Army no longer wanted conscripts, but volunteers, which have better motivation to serve. Most other Western World countries followed the American example and gave up conscription. Some American countries now have all-volunteer army and in Europe universal conscription remains only in some countries like Finland, Russia and Turkey.
In Germany, conscription for the Bundeswehr was removed in July 2011 after a long discussion in the German Bundestag.
People who oppose conscription because of pacifism idea are called conscientious objectors. Some countries draft conscientious objectors, but give them jobs where they will not have to fight in combat.
Images for kids
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Painting depicting a battle during the Ōnin War
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Ottoman janissaries
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Conscription of Poles to the Russian Army in 1863 (by Aleksander Sochaczewski)
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Young men registering for conscription during World War I, New York City, June 5, 1917
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USSR conscripts, Moscow, 1941
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Female Israeli soldiers
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A terracotta soldier with his horse, China, 210–209 BC
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Conscription duty as Royal Life Guards in Copenhagen
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Finnish conscripts swearing their military oath at the end of their basic training period
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Evzones of the Presidential Guard in front of the Greek Parliament armed with M1 Garands
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Swedish conscripts in 2008
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See also
In Spanish: Conscripción para niños
