Conscription

Conscription is the compulsory enrollment of people into a country’s armed forces, usually for a fixed period. Governments use it to raise military forces beyond those supplied by volunteers.

Selective Service System: The United States agency that maintains a registration system for potential military conscription. It illustrates how a government can prepare an administrative system for a possible draft.
Levée en masse: The 1793 French revolutionary decree that mobilized the population and resources for national defense. It became a landmark model of mass military mobilization by a modern state.
Volunteer military: An armed force whose members enlist voluntarily rather than through compulsory service. It is the principal alternative for states deciding how to recruit armed forces.
Vietnam War draft: The United States conscription system used to supply personnel for the Vietnam War era. Its exemptions and deferments made the unequal burdens of a draft highly visible.
Military exemption: A legal release from compulsory military service granted for specified reasons. Exemptions define which people a conscription system excludes from service.
French Revolutionary Wars: A series of conflicts between France and European powers from 1792 to 1802. Military emergencies during these wars helped drive France toward mass conscription.
Professional army: A standing military force staffed by career soldiers who receive regular training and pay. Professional armies rely on long-term volunteers instead of short-term compulsory enrollment.
Anti-war movement: A political movement opposing a particular war or militarism more broadly. Opposition to the Vietnam-era draft helped strengthen protest against the war.
Conscientious objector: A person who refuses military service because of deeply held moral, religious, or ethical beliefs. Conscientious objection tests whether conscription accommodates opposition to bearing arms.
Napoleonic Wars: A series of European conflicts involving Napoleonic France from 1803 to 1815. Napoleon expanded conscription into a powerful means of sustaining large armies.

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