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MILITIA (Fr. milice, Ger. Miliz, from...

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Originally appearing in Volume V18, Page 449 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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MILITIA (Fr. milice, Ger. Miliz, from See also:Lat. See also:miles, soldier, militia, military service)  , a See also:term used generally for organized military forces which are not professional in See also:character and not permanently embodied . All See also:ancient armies, with the exception of the See also:personal See also:guards of their leaders, were militias or See also:national levies, remaining under arms for the See also:war or the See also:campaign and returning to their See also:ordinary occupations at the See also:close of each military See also:episode . Militias such as those of the See also:Greek See also:city-states and that of See also:Rome were of course highly trained to the use of arms; so were the See also:barbarian " nations in arms "; which overcame the professionalized See also:Roman armies of the See also:Empire; and although in the Eastern Empire these new fighting elements were absorbed into a fully organized See also:regular See also:arm, in the See also:West the tribal See also:militia See also:system gradually See also:developed into See also:feudalism . The See also:noble and the See also:knight indeed spent the greater See also:part of their lives in the See also:field and devoted themselves from their youth to the cult of arms, but the feudal tenantry, who were See also:bound to give See also:forty days' war service and no more, and the burghers who, somewhat later in the See also:history of See also:civilization, formed the efficient garrisons of the walled towns were true militias . The See also:English See also:Yeomanry indeed almost ruled the battlefield . In the 15th See also:century the introduction of firearms began to weigh down the See also:balance in favour of the professional soldier . See also:Artillery was always the arm of the specialist . The development of See also:infantry, " See also:fire-See also:power," with the See also:early See also:arquebus and See also:musket, called for the highest skill and steadiness in the individual soldier, and See also:cavalry too adopted the new weapon in the See also:form of See also:long and expensive See also:wheel-See also:lock pistols . In the new military organization there was no See also:place for the unprofessional soldier . The role of the unprofessional combatant, generally speaking, was that of an insurgent—harassing small detachments of the enemy, cutting off stragglers, and plundering convoys . Towards the end of the first See also:civil war in See also:England (1645) the See also:country-folk banded themselves together to impose a See also:peace on the two warring armies, but their menace was without effect, and they were easily disarmed by See also:Fairfax and See also:Cromwell, who did not even trouble to hold them as prisoners .

End of Article: MILITIA (Fr. milice, Ger. Miliz, from Lat. miles, soldier, militia, military service)
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