The Financial Incentives of War

Volunteers to Fight Our Wars, #2

There are essentially two ways to staff the armies of the world: conscription and voluntary service. Military service is a genuinely popular choice for young men in districts afflicted by poverty. Financial incentives, such as enlistment bonuses or promises of an education, may also lure those from slightly more favorable economic backgrounds into the armed forces. Perhaps not as common knowledge is the fact that governments have used similar tactics in their attempts to get foreign governments to commit forces to war for a common objective. Some men also volunteer in foreign armies because of ideological reasons, to flee a life of crime, or to satisfy some personal aim. Well-paid mercenaries, however, are motivated by their personal acquisitions, mostly in the form of money and not in what they can do for the state.

This book examines poverty and the effects of financial need on voluntary military enlistment; financial incentives such as promises of enlistment bonuses and an education; and mercenaries and private contractors lured into military service by the promise of large sums of money. The material in this book is excerpted from For God, Gold, and Glory: A History of Military Service and Man’s Search for Power, Wealth, and Adventure, also by Martina Sprague. The full series comprises the following books:

1. The Forces of War: Patriotism, Tradition, and Revenge

2. The Financial Incentives of War: Poverty Draft, Mercenaries, and Volunteers in Foreign Armies

3. The Propaganda of War: Personal Transformation and the Search for Adventure

4. The Glory of War: The Way to Historical Immortality

5. The Reality of War: Boredom, Disillusion, and Desertion