Mercenaries: Soldiers of Fortune, from Ancient Greece to Today#s Private Military Companies - Softcover

Lanning, Michael Lee Col.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0345469232 ISBN 13: 9780345469236

Publisher: Presidio Press, 2005

Synopsis

SOLDIERS OF $$

Privateers, contract killers, corporate warriors. Contract soldiers go by many names, but they all have one thing in common: They fight for money and plunder rather than liberty, God, or country. Now acclaimed author and war vet Michael Lee Lanning traces the compelling history of these fighting machines–from the “Sea Peoples” who fought for the pharaohs’ greater glory to today’s soldiers for hire from private military companies (PMCs) in Iraq and Afghanistan.

What emerges is a fascinating account of the men who fight other people’s wars–the Greeks who built an empire for Alexander the Great, the Nubians who accompanied Hannibal across the Alps, the Irish who became the first to go global in their search for work. Soldiers of fortune have always had the power to change the course of war, and Lanning examines their pivotal roles in individual battles and in the rise and fall of empires.

As the employment of contract soldiers spreads in Iraq and America’s War on Terrorism–the U.S. paid $30 billion to PMCs in 2003 alone–Mercenaries offers a valuable inside look at a system that appears embedded in our nation’s future.

Includes eight pages of photographs

About this title

About the Author:

Michael Lee Lanning retired from the U.S. Army as a lieutenant colonel after more than twenty years’ service. During his assignment to Vietnam, he served as both an infantry platoon leader and a company commander in the 199th Infantry Brigade (Light). He is the author of fourteen books, including Inside the LRRPs, Inside Force Recon, and Inside the Crosshairs.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.:

1
 
First Mercenaries
 
They go by many names—mercenaries, soldiers of fortune, wild geese, hired guns, legionnaires, contract killers, hirelings, condottieri, contractors, and corporate warriors—these men who have fought for money and plunder rather than for cause or patriotism. Soldiers of fortune have always played significant roles in warfare, they are present on the battlefields of today, and they certainly will be a part of whatever combat occurs in the future.
 
For centuries the marching song and drinking toast of these hired soldiers has been, “Long live war, long live death, long live the cursed mercenary.” On land, in the air, and on the sea, these soldiers of fortune have influenced kingdoms, religions, and peoples of all nations since the beginning of time.
 
Humans have roamed the earth for about a million years, and their presence long predates their ability to create lasting records. Nothing exists to prove exactly when men first adapted stones and clubs as tools for hunting and weapons for fighting their neighbors over choice hunting grounds, caves, water sources, or women. Except for a few cave paintings, there are no archives of man’s activities until about five thousand years ago.
 
Based on these five thousand years or so of recorded history, there is no reason to think that early man was any different from his modern counterpart in the preparation for and execution of war. Whether for territorial expansion, personal gain, or just the pure pleasure of it, war is most certainly as old as mankind itself—and as warfare evolved, so did the profession of soldiering for hire.
 
Archaeologists can provide insights into the long period of unrecorded history. The occasional fire pit, rock chip, or bone fragment prove man’s existence, but little is known about his daily life or his eventual evolution into bands that warred with each other.
 
A rare look at early man occurred with the discovery in 1991 of a frozen corpse in an Alpine glacier at 10,500 feet on the Italian/Austrian border. Testing showed that what became known as the Iceman died about 5,300 years previously. Scientists initially thought the Iceman, nicknamed Otzi, had likely frozen to death in an early season snowstorm, but they could not explain why he was leaving a lush valley to make a difficult mountain crossing so late in the season. At first it was assumed that Otzi was a hunter armed with a copper-blade ax, a quiver of arrows, and a stone knife. More recent investigations have proven the Iceman to be a warrior who died not as a result of the cold, but at the hands of multiple enemies.
 
In 2001, Italian researchers discovered an arrowhead embedded in Otzi’s shoulder. Further investigation revealed that both of his hands had cuts. Blood tests on the residue from the Iceman’s arrows and knife showed that at least three men had fought against the lone warrior on the mountaintop. Just why he was crossing the mountains or why his enemies killed him remains a mystery. Regardless, the world’s oldest existing corpse is that of a warrior who died in direct combat.
 
There is no record of the first mercenary, but the profession was born the first time three required conditions were met: one, a war to fight; two, someone or a group preferring to pay for a substitute; and three, a fighter or a group of them willing to hire out to do the fighting. Wars raged, men died, kingdoms fell, and mercenaries fought long before anyone developed a desire or method to make a permanent record of these events. Even when records began to be kept, mercenaries received little attention in the battle archives. As would be the case throughout the future, the victors recorded the results of warfare, and few leaders have ever desired reports that detract from themselves and their own great accomplishments.
 
The earliest existing records of organized warfare are in the Standard of Ur, exhibited at the British Museum in London, and in the Stele of Vultures, housed at the Louvre in Paris. Both of these relics originated in the third millennium B.C. in the region of modern Kuwait and southwestern Iraq, known then as Sumeria. The multipaneled Standard of Ur, composed of shell and lapis lazuli inlaid on wood and made about 2650 B.C., depicts men of all walks of life, including charioteers and armed soldiers, leading what appear to be prisoners of war to their king.
 
Although likely several hundred years older, the Stele of Vultures is not as well preserved. One fragment from the original stone memorial displays soldiers wearing helmets and carrying spears. Another portion, which provides the relic its name, shows vultures carrying off the heads of vanquished enemies.
 
Although neither of these relics documents the use of mercenaries, the first written fragmented records of actual combat do reflect the use of hired soldiers. In about 3000 B.C. Upper and Lower Egypt united to form the Egyptian Empire. During the next five hundred years the Egyptians began construction of the Great Pyramids and then ruled the entire region with little opposition for the next thousand years.
 
Around 1479 B.C., the Mitanni and other tribes along the Euphrates River united under the leadership of the King of Kadesh and challenged Egypt’s control over the regions of modern Palestine and Syria. Egyptian King Thutmose III responded by marching an army of about twenty-five thousand against the enemy alliance. The two armies met at Megiddo, where the Egyptians proved victorious.
 
While the Battle of Megiddo ensured Egyptian hegemony over the region for the next several centuries, the lasting significance of the fight is that it is the earliest warfare in which chroniclers accompanied the army and recorded details of the campaign. Unfortunately, from this first record of warfare few details survive. The story of the campaign was recorded on a roll of leather and later stored in the Temple of Amon. Unfortunately, the scroll itself was later either destroyed or lost, but there are sufficient references to it in other documents to verify its existence. None of these references, however, provide details on the actual fight or the presence of mercenaries on either side.
 
Because of the size of King Thutmose’s army and his kingdom, however, it can be assumed that at least some of his warriors served for money rather than for any loyalty to the kingdom. What is known for certain is that over the next two centuries the Egyptians actively recruited mercenaries and began to make them an integral part of their army.
 
There were two primary reasons for the increase in Egypt’s use of hired soldiers. First, as Egypt increased in wealth and power, its citizens preferred to enjoy their riches rather than face the hardships of the battlefield and the possible loss of limbs or life. Second, large numbers of poor and/or displaced tribes were readily available to fight for money. The Nubians of North Africa provided the greatest numbers of “local” talent for the Egyptian ranks, but the largest and most influential groups of mercenaries for the pharaohs’ armies came from tribes in the Aegean Islands and along the Anatolian coast.
 
These tribes, collectively known as “Sea Peoples,” apparently fled across the Mediterranean or by eastern land routes because of widespread famine in their homelands. The exact origins of these refugees are unknown, as is their ultimate fate. None of the tribes maintained their individual histories for a significant period after their arrival in Africa, and they either assimilated or died out over the next few centuries. Even the name Sea Peoples is a modern label and was first used in 1881 by historian Gaston Maspero as a collective name for the wandering tribes.
 
The Egyptians did not greet the Sea Peoples as future citizens but rather as an immediate source of soldiers. New arrivals from across the Mediterranean joined the army for sustenance as well as payment. The tribe largest in numbers and importance was the Sherdens. Based on what little archaeological evidence is available, the Sherdens called their homeland Shardana in Anatolia, even though they had already migrated to Sardinia and Corsica before journeying to Egypt. The primary skills they brought were those of warriors. Too small in numbers to challenge the Egyptians, they readily became soldiers for hire.
 
Little is known about the early military activities of Sherden, Nubian, and other tribes in Egypt. While at least some number of mercenaries served in the Battle of Megiddo, there is no proof of the large-scale use of hired soldiers until the Battle of Kadesh in about 1290 B.C. This battle also marks the earliest conflict from which sufficient details survived to allow succeeding generations to know the numbers, formations, and tactics of the participants.
 
While Egyptians were enjoying their riches and power, a group of people known as Hittites established a kingdom in Asia Minor in what is today Syria. The Hittites took control of various Egyptian territories and advanced into present-day Lebanon and Israel. King Ramses II assembled his army and marched eastward to defend his kingdom. Although Egyptian nobles still occupied most of the leadership positions, the ranks were filled with Nubians, Sherdens, and other soldiers who fought for money rather than for loyalty to Egypt.
 
Ramses II finally met the Hittites along the Orontes River near the town of Kadesh in present-day Syria. Neither side was able to gain an advantage, and both armies soon retreated from the battlefield. Although Ramses returned home with reports of a great victory, primarily brought about by his claim of personal leadership and bravery, the Battle of Kadesh was indecisive at best. The major influence of the brief fight was to introduce self-promotion and positive public relations to warfare—and to show that mercenaries were to be an important factor in future battles.
 
Ramses II and the succeeding pharaohs employed mercenaries in all aspects of military operations. Within a century after the Battle of Kadesh, few Egyptians served in the pharaoh’s army in any capacity. The comfortable, prosperous Egyptian citizens enjoyed the benefits of their positions with no desire to serve as soldiers to defend their privileges. Egyptian leaders, recognizing the threat of an army composed of outsiders who fought for money rather than loyalty to the pharaoh, offered land grants and other rewards to assimilate the mercenaries into the general population.

About this edition

• Publisher: Presidio Press
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0345469232
• ISBN 13: 9780345469236
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Number of pages: 296