Militia
Militia (general)
A militia is a group of citizens organized to provide military service. It is usually a supplementary or reserve army, composed of non-professional soldiers and not necessarily supported or sanctioned by the government, thereby distinguishing from the regular army of a nation. It can serve to supplement the regular military as an irregular reserve, or it can oppose it, for example to resist a military coup.
The term militia can also denote the entire able-bodied population of a nation that can be called upon to defend itself against an enemy.
Militia (right wing movement)
There is also a political movement that calls itself the citizens' 'militia' and is based on the common law concept of an armed citizenry. These are not formally linked to a state or to the Federal government, and often oppose the Federal government because of what they consider oppressive policies. In the West most, but not all Militants are opposed to illegal immigration, and several espouse white supremacy. The movement in the United States peaked in the early 1990s, but has declined in popularity after the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, on April 19, 1995. The FBI has published its report on the militia movement and has determined that the movement is not a threat to the national security of the United States.
Militia (left wing movement
The left wing militias fall mostly under the guise of 'freedom fighters' and run the gamut of left and far left causes, from the New Peoples' Patriot party to The Liberation Army to the various self-styled Red Brigades. Once the Soviet Union fell not much has been heard of these left wing militias.
U.S. and England
For much of the history of England, the military was controlled by Parliament, which had access to the resources to maintain a standing army. At various times, The Crown and Parliament were in strong disagreement, but Parliament's economic ability to use the army was counterbalanced by the Crown's traditional ability to call out the militia. As long as the army's weapons were not radically more powerful than the militia's, this balance of power was effective.
The English Bill of Rights (1689) declared, amongst other rights: \n:"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 defence suitable to their conditions and as allowed by law;"
\nThe early
Puritan colonists of America considered the militia an important social structure, necessary to defend their colonies from
Native American attacks. All able-bodied white males were expected to be members of the town militia.
In the
American Revolutionary War, colonial militiamen or armed citizens agreed to turn out for
service at a minute's notice. The term
minutemen is used especially for the men who were enrolled (
1774) for such
service by the
Massachusetts provincial
congress. These were also known as the "valiant farmers" who
fought against the
British at
Lexington and
Concord.
The Framers of the
United States, in keeping with this tradition, gave Congress the power to "provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the Militia," as well as, and in distinction to, the power to raise an army and a navy. The
Second Amendment to the United States Constitution may have been intended to formalize this balance between the "well-regulated" militia and organized military forces. Considerable controversy exists in the US over this amendment, however, and the ability of even a well-regulated militia to resist a modern army is debatable.
The
United States Code, Title 10 (Armed forces), section 311 (Militia: Composition and Classes), paragraph (a) states "The militia of the United States consists of all able-bodied males at least 17 years of age and, except as provided in section 313 of title 32, under 45 years of age who are, or who have made a declaration of intention to become, citizens of the United States and of female citizens of the United States who are members of the
National Guard."
The National Guard is the largest of the state militia forces in the United States. It is under both Federal and state control, and both the President of the United States and the state governor can call upon the National Guard. Many National Guard units have recently served in
Iraq. This can lead to problems for states that also face internal emergencies while the Guard is deployed overseas. Many of the states, such as
New York and
Maryland have organized state militia forces or
State Guards which are under the control of the governor of a state and used to augment the National Guard.
Switzerland
One of the most famous and ancient militia are the Swiss militia. It is not widely recognized, but
Switzerland is the most militaristic society on Earth, maintaining more than twice as many active-duty soldiers per capita as the next-most-militaristic country,
Israel, and a trained, mobilizable reserve militia of 36% of the total population. However, it should be noted that Switzerland has a long tradition of political and military
neutrality.
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Canada
In Canada the word
militia refers to the part-time army reserve component of the
Canadian Armed Forces. Officers and soldiers in the militia train for one or two weekends a month and for two weeks a year. They can also volunteer for service with the regular forces including peacekeeping missions overseas.
Most Canadian cities have one or more militia units. Often these 'regiments' perpetuate famous Canadian regiments that are no longer required as part of the regular forces.
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Australia
Militia was an alternate name for the Australian 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 artllery 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.
As a result of the ban on foreign service, and traditional ties to Britain, during
World War One and
World War Two, 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 "real" military operations.
Nevertheless, Militia units distinguished themselves and suffered extremely high casualties in the
South West Pacific Theatre of World War Two, in
New Guinea, which was then an Australian territory. In mid-1942 they fought in two significant battles: the exploits of the 39th (Militia) Battalion, many of them very young and poorly trained, in the rearguard action on the
Kokoda Track are celebrated military achievements, as is the contribution of the 7th Militia 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, if 65% of the 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.
After the war, CMF units continued to form the bulk of the peacetime army, although with the creation of standing infantry units — such as the Royal Australian Regiment — from
1947, 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.
Some militia units:
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Category:Military terms
