alt Hacker NewsAgreed, the article contained a lot of speculation and not many historical examples. It was more about what the author thought “made sense” than what reality was.
It was also quite long winded. Probably could have been summarized to maybe 3 reasons. Oddly enough I don’t see “money” mentioned, at least not simply, and that should probably be reason #1
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I guess it’s so long-winded you never made it to the four paragraph section, about 20 paragraphs and two subheadings in, about economic motivations for recruitment?
> The first place most modern folks’ mind goes, of course, is to pattern this task off of their own jobs and so to assume that these fellows are under arms because they are paid to be, which I am going to term the employment principle.
I do think it's worth looking at a few of his other posts (I'm a fan) to lend some credence to this one speficially. The more history-focused (so not aimed at worldbuilders) pieces are consistently well-sourced in a way that most blogs aren't, and he has a pretty long history of this same level of care.
Does that make him infallible? Of course not. But it does mean I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt here.
You're right about reason #1. And you've probably heard about strong contenders for #2 and #3.
There's a famous quote attributed to the Italian military commander Gian Giacomo Trivulzio in 1499.
When asked by King Louis XII of France what preparations were needed to invade the Duchy of Milan, Trivulzio responded: "To carry out war, three things are necessary: money, money, and yet more money."
Why would "money" be necessary?
https://acoup.blog/2025/01/03/collections-coinage-and-the-ty...
If you think its quite long winded taken note it's title includes PART 1
> Oddly enough I don’t see “money” mentioned, at least not simply
"the entitlement principle (service as the flip-side of the coin for some set of rights or status)" and
the employment principle (separate from the vocational principle). We may sum it up with, “recruits show up purely as an economic transaction: service for money” – it’s a job.
Close enough.
> and that should probably be reason #1
Article goes on to explain that:
it is fairly rare for pre-modern armies to function purely ‘as a job.’
Which makes sense: humanity's history of picking fights with fellow humans goes back much further than the history of money itself. And even where they overlap, there's other reasons for recruits to enter an army.
Much of pre-modern societies were organised around master-servant, slavery, nobility, family clans & related concepts. Free market economies with individuals striving to maximize the amount of gold nuggets in their pouch, is a relatively recent concept.