Did mercenaries still exist?

[leftyhunter]

So I volunteer to join the infantry because I can't find a job and have a family to feed so need the money and that makes me a mercenary?

Pretty much since now one is just desperate because being an infantryman isn't all that lucrative. If one would not of joined if one could get a better paying civilan job then yes since financial motivation is the sole reason for joining the army then one would be a mercenary.
Not that being a mercenary is or is not honorable. If one has no choice other then crime to feed his family then oh well that's just how the cookie crumbles and kids need food and shoes so be it.
Now joining ones nations army would not be as lucrative as being a mercenary fighting overseas.
Leftyhunter

 

[leftyhunter]

I'm sorry Leftyhunter, I really don't see how you can justify that.

Nothing to justify. Post Spanish Civil War some young Spaniards joined the FFL or face living in a squalid refugee camp in France. Desperate times call for desperate choices.
Leftyhunter

 

[MikeyB]

The Hessians where not mercenaries.
The British crown paid Hesse-Kassel to deploy part if its armies in support of the British.
That was completely normal in the 18th century.

At the Battle of the Boyne in Ireland in 1690 a good part of the danish army was involved... It was simply rented by William III.
At Blenheim in 1704 we again see part of the danish army... again rented.

One of the things that helped Brandenburg (Prussia) become a regional power was that it had a very good army. So other states paid them large sums of money for fighting on their side in wars. For some of the smaller German states renting out its army became part of how the state generated a income.
And the British paid Hesse-Kassel money for simply having a big army... so they could rent it if needed.
The men where still enlisted soldiers in the army of Hesse-Kassel.

It should be noted that during this period it was not in any way uncommon to be serving in a army from another state than where you where born.

During the Napoleonic wars the brits paid most of their allies money to help them keep larger armies in the field than they would otherwise have been able to.
And this is still being done... with UN missions the most comparable example.

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During the civil war there where attempts at recruiting men in Europe. The idea was to get men who where thinking about immigrating anyway. The union pay the trip and a big enlistment bonus. So if you survive the war, you will be way better off then if you had to pay your own way.
This is closer to mercenaries. But they are still enlisting at the same basic conditions as any american. And in the same units.


Obviously enlisting none citizens is done today also...


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edit: typos

Were any of the non-British troops fighting with Great Britain at Waterloo "rented"?

 

[Llewellyn]

Well it's pretty simple ;

right - but intellectually I make Homer Simpson look like Einstein

 

[Llewellyn]

Were any of the non-British troops fighting with Great Britain at Waterloo "rented"?

There was a coalition of armies facing the French at Waterloo, British, Prussian, Belgian Dutch and so forth, but I suppose the nearest answer to your question would be King's German Legion. Mind you, they were Hanoverians, and King George III retained his status, style and titles of Elector of Hannover, so maybe their allegiance to him rules them out as proper mercenaries.

 

[Irishtom29]

So I volunteer to join the infantry because I can't find a job and have a family to feed so need the money and that makes me a mercenary?

Not if you're in the army of your own nation. But if you fight for pay in the army of another nation, or in a private army, you're a mercenary. But soldiering for pay in the army of your homeland makes you simply a professional soldier.

The 19th Century American regular army had a large number of immigrants, mostly Irish and Germans. But they weren't mercenaries if they were, or intended to be Americans.

The Swiss in the Papal Guard are mercenaries and date back to the mercenary companies and armies of late Medieval Europe. Looking at them is a window to the past, such as the Imperial sack of Rome in 1527 when Pope Clement and his Swiss had to fight their way down the passageway from the Vatican to the Castel Sant Angelo.

 

[Peace Society]

Obviously enlisting none citizens is done today also...

Non-citizens enlist in today's armed forces and often then become citizens.

 

[Llewellyn]

rk

Non-citizens enlist in today's armed forces and often then become citizens.

Satisfactory service of a full term in the FFL earns you French citizenship.

 

[Llewellyn]

The Swiss in the Papal Guard are mercenaries and date back to the mercenary companies and armies of late Medieval Europe. Looking at them is a window to the past, such as the Imperial sack of Rome in 1527 when Pope Clement and his Swiss had to fight their way down the passageway from the Vatican to the Castel Sant Angelo.

The French Kings had a Swiss Guard too. They (1000 of them) died to a man when the Mob stormed the Tuileries on 10 August 1792.
There is a sad memorial to them in Lucerne, Switzerland, of a dying, wounded lion (representing the Guard) protecting the French King's Standard. The inscription reads "HELVETIORUM FIDEI AC VIRTUTI" – Literally "Swiss Faith and Virtue," but might be interpreted colloquially as "To the Faith and Courage of the Swiss."

 

[jackt62]

So I volunteer to join the infantry because I can't find a job and have a family to feed so need the money and that makes me a mercenary?

Of course not. The other qualification is that a mercenary must have the expertise as a professional military person who is essentially selling his expertise as a business proposition.

 

[jackt62]

My favorite bounty jumper is Duane Pressly who twice joined a Confederate Mississippi Cavalry Regiment and absconded with his issued horse and lived to tell the tale.
Perhaps you heard of his great grandson.
Leftyhunter

So did Elvis (or actually his father or grandfather) change the spelling of his last name because of that past?

 

[leftyhunter]

So did Elvis (or actually his father or grandfather) change the spelling of his last name because of that past?

No actually they kept it and somehow Duane never got caught.
Leftyhunter

 

[leftyhunter]

Of course not. The other qualification is that a mercenary must have the expertise as a professional military person who is essentially selling his expertise as a business proposition.

Actually having prior experience is not in the UN definition. Having the will or ability to fight for financial compensation should be enough to quality one has a mercenary. An employer may or may not need a skilled mercenary.
Leftyhunter

 

[jackt62]

Actually having prior experience is not in the UN definition. Having the will or ability to fight for financial compensation should be enough to quality one has a mercenary. An employer may or may not need a skilled mercenary.
Leftyhunter

Interesting, but I would still go for the guy with the expertise particularly if I wanted to stage a coup or capture a diamond mine. Seen too many movies!

 

[leftyhunter]

Interesting, but I would still go for the guy with the expertise particularly if I wanted to stage a coup or capture a diamond mine. Seen too many movies!

No doubt and yes employers of mercenaries pay a premium for experience but sometimes one can only afford what can afford.
Leftyhunter