Editing Conscription (section)

===In modern times===
{{see also|Remplacement}}
[[File:Louis-Léopold Boilly - Departure of the Conscripts in 1807 - WGA02349.jpg|thumb|Painting depicting the ''[[Departure of the Conscripts in 1807]]'' by [[Louis-Léopold Boilly]] ]]
Modern conscription, the massed military enrollment of national citizens ({{lang|fr|[[levée en masse]]}}), was devised during the [[French Revolution]], to enable the [[French First Republic|Republic]] to defend itself from the attacks of European monarchies. Deputy [[Jean-Baptiste Jourdan]] gave its name to the 5 September 1798 Act, whose first article stated: "Any Frenchman is a soldier and owes himself to the defense of the nation." It enabled the creation of the {{lang|fr|[[Grande Armée]]}}, what [[Napoleon I of France|Napoleon Bonaparte]] called "the nation in arms", which overwhelmed European professional armies that often numbered only into the low tens of thousands. More than 2.6&nbsp;million men were inducted into the French military in this way between the years 1800 and 1813.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Conscription |encyclopedia=Encarta |publisher=Microsoft |url=http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761561714/conscription.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091028164817/http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761561714/Conscription.html |archive-date=2009-10-28 }}</ref>

The defeat of the [[Prussian Army]] in particular shocked the [[Kingdom of Prussia|Prussian]] establishment, which had believed it was invincible after the victories of [[Frederick the Great]]. The Prussians were used to relying on superior organization and tactical factors such as order of battle to focus superior troops against inferior ones. Given approximately equivalent forces, as was generally the case with professional armies, these factors showed considerable importance. However, they became considerably less important when the Prussian armies faced Napoleon's forces that outnumbered their own in some cases by more than ten to one. [[Gerhard von Scharnhorst|Scharnhorst]] advocated adopting the {{lang|fr|levée en masse}}, the military conscription used by France. The {{lang|de|Krümpersystem}} was the beginning of short-term compulsory service in Prussia, as opposed to the long-term conscription previously used.<ref>Dierk Walter. ''Preussische Heeresreformen 1807–1870: Militärische Innovation und der Mythos der "Roonschen Reform"''. 2003, in Citino, p. 130</ref>
[[File:Branka 1863.JPG|thumb|left|Conscription of Poles to the Russian Army in 1863 (by [[Aleksander Sochaczewski]])]]
In the [[Russian Empire]], the military service time "owed" by serfs was 25 years at the beginning of the 19th century. In 1834 it was decreased to 20 years. The recruits were to be not younger than 17 and not older than 35.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.roots-saknes.lv/Army/military_service_.htm |title=Military service in Russia Empire |publisher=roots-saknes.lv |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304072619/http://www.roots-saknes.lv/Army/military_service_.htm |archive-date=2016-03-04 }}</ref> In 1874 Russia introduced universal conscription in the modern pattern, an innovation only made possible by the abolition of [[serfdom in Russia|serfdom]] in 1861. New military law decreed that all male Russian subjects, when they reached the age of 20, were eligible to serve in the military for six years.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.let.leidenuniv.nl/tcimo/tulp/Research/ARMING.htm |title=Conscription and Resistance: The Historical Context archived from the original |date=2008-06-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080603141235/http://www.let.leidenuniv.nl/tcimo/tulp/Research/ARMING.htm |archive-date=2008-06-03 |access-date=2008-03-24 }}</ref>

In the decades prior to World War I universal conscription along broadly Prussian lines became the norm for European armies, and those modeled on them. By 1914 the only substantial armies still completely dependent on voluntary enlistment were those of Britain and the United States. Some colonial powers such as France reserved their conscript armies for home service while maintaining professional units for overseas duties.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Slavin |first1=David Henry |title=Colonial Cinema and Imperial France, 1919–1939: White Blind Spots, Male Fantasies, Settler Myths |date=2001 |publisher=JHU Press |isbn=978-0-8018-6616-6 |page=140 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LdRkEwagRlgC&pg=PA140 |language=en |quote=Conscripts guarded the home front, while European professionals were sent overseas}}</ref>

====World Wars====
[[File:Young men registering for military conscription, New York City, June 5, 1917.jpg|thumb|Young men registering for conscription during [[World War I]], New York City, June 5, 1917]]

The range of eligible ages for conscripting was expanded to meet national demand during the [[World war|World Wars]].
In the United States, the [[Selective Service System]] drafted men for World War I initially in an age range from 21 to 30 but expanded its eligibility in 1918 to an age range of 18 to 45.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/163.html |title=Records of the Selective Service System (World War I) |date=15 August 2016 }}; see also [[Selective Service Act of 1917]] and [[Selective Training and Service Act of 1940]].</ref> In the case of a widespread [[mobilization]] of forces where service includes homefront defense, ages of conscripts may range much higher, with the oldest conscripts serving in roles requiring lesser mobility.{{Citation needed|date=March 2021}}

Expanded-age conscription was common during the Second World War: in Britain, it was commonly known as "call-up" and extended to age 51. [[Nazi Germany]] termed it {{lang|de|[[Volkssturm]]}} ("People's Storm") and included boys as young as 16 and men as old as 60.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.lonesentry.com/articles/volkssturm/index.html |title=The German Volkssturm from Intelligence Bulletin |date = February 1945|website=LoneSentry.com }}</ref> During the Second World War, both Britain and the Soviet Union conscripted women. The United States was on the verge of drafting women into the Nurse Corps because it anticipated it would need the extra personnel for its planned invasion of Japan. However, the Japanese surrendered and the idea was abandoned.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/military-international/ |work=[[CBC News]] |title=CBC News Indepth: International military |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130518040804/http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/military-international/ |archive-date=18 May 2013 }}</ref>

[[File:RIAN archive 662758 Recruits entering Voroshilov Barracks.jpg|thumb|upright|Soviet conscripts in Moscow after [[Nazi Germany]] [[Eastern Front (World War II)|invaded the Soviet Union]], 1941]]
During the [[Operation Barbarossa|Great Patriotic War]], the [[Red Army]] conscripted nearly 30 million men.<ref>{{Citation | first = ГФ [Krivosheev, GF] | last = Кривошеев | title = Россия и СССР в войнах XX века: потери вооруженных сил. Статистическое исследование |trans-title=Russia and the USSR in the wars of the 20th century: losses of the Armed Forces. A Statistical Study | language = ru}}.</ref>