Editing Mercenary (section)

====17th and 18th centuries====
[[File:Bondi brennandi hus.jpg|thumb|A peasant begs a mercenary for mercy in front of his burning farm during the [[Thirty Years' War]].]]

During the 17th and 18th centuries, extensive use was made of foreign recruits in the now regimented and highly drilled armies of Europe, beginning in a systematized way with the [[Thirty Years' War]]. Historian [[Geoffrey Parker (historian)|Geoffrey Parker]] notes that 40,000 Scotsmen (about fifteen percent of the adult male population) served as soldiers in Continental Europe from 1618 to 1640.<ref>Geoffrey Parker (2001). [https://books.google.com/books?id=qy8y8rHgucoC&pg=PA17 ''Europe in crisis, 1598–1648''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230215134451/https://books.google.com/books?id=qy8y8rHgucoC&pg=PA17&dq=&hl=en |date=15 February 2023 }}. Wiley-Blackwell. p. 17. {{ISBN|0631220283}}</ref>
After the signing of the [[Treaty of Limerick]] (1691) the soldiers of the Irish Army who left Ireland for France took part in what is known as the ''[[Flight of the Wild Geese]]''. Subsequently, many made a living from fighting in continental armies, the most famous of whom was [[Patrick Sarsfield, 1st Earl of Lucan|Patrick Sarsfield]], who, having fallen mortally wounded at the [[Battle of Landen]] fighting for the French, said "If this was only for Ireland".<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://indigo.ie/~wildgees/sarsfiel.htm|title=Wild Geese Heritage Museum and Library|author=Patrick Sarsfield|website=indigo.ie|access-date=23 December 2006|archive-date=28 October 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061028071137/http://indigo.ie/~wildgees/sarsfiel.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

The brutality of the Thirty Years' War, in which several parts of Germany were ransacked by the mercenary troops, and left almost unpopulated, led to the formation of standing armies of professional soldiers, recruited locally or abroad. These armies were active also in peacetime. The formation of these armies in the late 18th century led to professionalization and standardization of clothing (uniforms), equipment, drill, weapons, etc. Since smaller states like the Dutch Republic could afford a large standing army, but could not find enough recruits among its own citizens, recruiting foreigners was common. Prussia had developed a form of conscription, but relied in wartime also on foreign recruits, although the regulations stated that no more than one third of the recruits were to be foreign. Prussian recruiting methods were often aggressive, and resulted more than once in conflicts with neighbouring states. The term mercenary gained its notoriety during this development, since mercenaries were—and now are—often seen as soldiers who fight for no noble cause, but only for money, and who have no loyalty than to the highest bidder, as opposed to the professional soldiers who takes an oath of loyalty and who is seen as the defender of the nation.{{Citation needed|date=November 2019}}

The mercenary soldiers thus fell out of favour and was replaced by the professional soldier. To augment the army, major European powers like France, Britain, the Dutch Republic and Spain contracted regiments from Switzerland, the Southern Netherlands (modern day Belgium), and several smaller German states. About a third of the infantry regiments of the French Royal Army prior to the [[French Revolution]] were recruited from outside France. The largest single group were the twelve Swiss regiments (including the [[Swiss Guard]]). Other units were German and one [[Irish Brigade (French)|Irish Brigade]] (the "[[Flight of the Wild Geese#French service|Wild Geese]]") had originally been made up of Irish volunteers. By 1789 difficulties in obtaining genuinely Irish recruits had led to German and other foreigners making up the bulk of the rank and file. The officers however continued to be drawn from long established Franco-Irish families. During the reign of Louis XV there was also a Scottish ({{lang|fr|[[Garde Écossaise]]}}), a Swedish ({{lang|fr|[[Royal-Suédois]]}}), an Italian (Royal-Italien) and a Walloon (Horion-Liegeois) regiment recruited outside the borders of France. The foreign infantry regiments comprised about 20,000 men in 1733, rising to 48,000 at the time of the [[Seven Years' War]] and being reduced in numbers thereafter.{{Citation needed|date=November 2019}}

[[File:Scottish mercenaries in the Thirty Years War.jpg|thumb|The [[Scottish Highlands|Scottish Highlander mercenaries]], known as [[Redshank (soldier)|Redshanks]] in Ireland, in the service of [[Gustavus Adolphus]] of Sweden; 1631 German engraving]]

The Dutch Republic had contracted several Scots, Swiss and German regiments in the early 18th century, and kept three Scots, one Walloon, and six Swiss regiments (including a Guard regiment raised in 1749) throughout the 18th century. The Scots regiments were contracted from Great Britain, but as relations between Britain and the Republic deteriorated, the regiments could no longer recruit in Scotland, leading to the regiments being Scots in name only until they were nationalized in 1784.{{Citation needed|date=November 2019}} [[Patrick Gordon]], a Scottish mercenary fought at various times for Poland and Sweden, constantly changing his loyalty based on who could pay him the best, until he took up Russian service in 1661.<ref>Fedosov, Dmitry (2004). "Cock of the East: A Gordon Blade Abroad". pp. 1–10 in Ljubica and Mark Erickson (eds.), ''Russia: War, Peace and Diplomacy'', London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, p. 6</ref> In August 1689, during a coup d'état attempt in Moscow against co-tsar [[Peter the Great]] led by the [[Sophia Alekseyevna of Russia|Sophia Alekseyevna]] in the name of the other co-tsar, the intellectually disabled [[Ivan V of Russia|Ivan V]], Gordon played the decisive role in defeating the coup and ensuring Peter's triumph.<ref>Fedosov, Dmitry (2004). "Cock of the East: A Gordon Blade Abroad". pp. 1–10 in Ljubica and Mark Erickson (eds.), ''Russia: War, Peace and Diplomacy'', London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, p. 9</ref> Gordon remained one of Peter's favorite advisers until his death.

The Spanish Army also made use of permanently established foreign regiments. These were three [[Flight of the Wild Geese#Spanish service|Irish regiments]] (Irlanda, Hiberni and Ultonia); one Italian (Naples) and five Swiss (Wimpssen, Reding, Betschart, Traxer and Preux). In addition one regiment of the [[Spanish Royal Guard|Royal Guard]] including Irishmen as ''Patten'', ''McDonnell'' and ''Neiven'', was recruited from [[Walloon Guards|Walloons]]. The last of these foreign regiments was disbanded in 1815, following recruiting difficulties during the [[Napoleonic Wars]]. One complication arising from the use of non-national troops occurred at the [[Battle of Bailén]] in 1808 when the "red Swiss" (so-called from their uniforms) of the invading French Army clashed bloodily with "blue Swiss" in the Spanish service.{{Citation needed|date=November 2019}}

During the [[American Revolutionary War]], the British government hired several regiments from German principalities to supplement the Army. They became known to revolutionaries as [[Hessian (soldier)|Hessians]] and were portrayed by propagandists as mercenaries. However, they were auxiliaries and do not meet the definition of mercenary.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Showlater |first=Dennis |date=2007-09-05 |title=Hessians: The Best Armies Money Could Buy |url=https://www.historynet.com/hessians-the-best-armies-money-could-buy/ |access-date=2024-06-06 |website=HistoryNet}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-12-19 |title=Hessians |url=https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/hessians |access-date=2024-06-06 |website=American Battlefield Trust}}</ref>