War for Profit: Private Militaries in History

From the dawn of civilization, national governments have taken on the responsibility for waging war as a core part of their justification for rule. For the most part, the warriors that make up these fighting forces do so out of a sense of loyalty to family, community, and country.
There are some fighting forces, however, that exist outside of government control and fight for riches rather than patriotism.

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Credit:
Show Created by Daniel Turner (B.A. (Hons) in History, University College London)
Script: Robert de Graaf
Narrator: Christian H. Miles

[ZeFluffyKnight]

I know PMC Wagner is the hot topic right now but I am suprised Blackwater wasn't mentioned. Pretty much the American equivalent.

[HeisenbergFam]

"no doubt private armies will continue to the future"
Seeing the current state of certain wars, 110% scientifically accurate statement

[kursk_kuku]

“Whatever you need, General Shepherd. You got a blank check.” -SecDef, Modern Warfare 2

[weldonwin]

Fun Fact: Benjamin Franklin straight up HATED the United States Continental Army, because he regarded them as being mercenaries. He considered ANY full time professional soldiers to be mercenaries, even soldiers belonging to official national militaries and thus regarded the Continental army as unreliable and self-serving. By contrast, he regarded the TRUE defenders of the nation to be civilian militias, who he was convinced would make up for any lack of training and experience with patriotic zeal, to defend their homes and families. It is worth noting that these militias of Minutemen, played very little actual role in the American Revolution militarily, but did serve a useful role in morale and in building the American national identity.

[LGDXJawsdakiller]

"War has changed. It’s no longer about nations, ideologies, or ethnicity. It’s an endless series of proxy battles fought by mercenaries and machines. War – and its consumption of life – has become a well-oiled machine." -An old killer, hired to do some wet work.

[neofulcrum]

Greed and violence. A deadly combination when sent into battlefields.

[mercenarygundam]

As long as there is man, there will be violence.
As long as there is violence, there will be war.
And as long as there is war... we will always have a job.
— Anonymous Mercenary

[MagicKnivesGaming]

Was always obsessed with PMC’s growing up, initially when I joined the army I thought about getting into private military contracting afterwards given how good the money is, but then realizing I’d rather not die in a foreign country given the huge hazard pay involved, I decided to go with the next best thing which was armed security/armoured truck guard :$ 🔫👍🏻

[TFScoutfan]

As an Ork player, I agree that, indeed, we do need more dakka.

[Scalespirit]

Belarus played it somewhat well on this part. They get Wagner as something of a honor guard/troubleshooters for regime while looking like they defied Russia.

[BJtheBassist]

Hideo Kojima took 17 hours to explain all of this instead of 10 minutes.

[SimonUdd]

Fun fact the Swedish word for mercenaries (Lego knäckt) has its origins in the German landsknecht. Knäkt has also become synonymous with solider and is the Swedish name for the jack in a deck of cards

[robertaylor]

One important correction: foreign legions aren’t considered mercenaries under the Geneva convention, provided that they aren’t paid more than the national army.

[rdsyafriyar]

"It’s a complete mess everywhere, there’s no discipline. The army has everything, but there is absolutely no control, while there is an absolute paranoid gap between that which is happening in the trenches, and that which they know and think about in headquarters." - Yevgeny Prigozhin

[robgraham]

Machiavelli warned abut the use of mercenaries. "If an able man he will fail you either by aspiring to his own greatness or by oppressing others against your will. If he is not an able man he will generally ruin you."

[jck_copr]

In the words of a literal video game character:

“As long as there’s two people left on the planet; someone is gonna want someone dead.” - The Sniper (TF2)


The fact that a character from a game (who is a contractor) literally predicted the future of warfare being contractors vs contractors is just ironically funny

[joem]

No Executive Outcomes? They’re like the staple for all modern PMCs and definitely the most influential

[TheRealAldrius]

Geneva Convention Bans Mercenaries:

The rest of the world: Are we a joke to you? *proceeds to rename mercs to PMCs*

The Swiss Guard: Eh, we don't care.

[DjDeadpig]

Still waiting for the day that the leader of the Wagner to “mysteriously die of poisoning whilst falling of a skyscraper”.

[normaluser]

That Thumbnail is dangerous. Watch your home for the next few days, Wagner might be pressed