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Amanda McGuirt's avatar

Thank you for this article! I read a lot of sci-fi, but I tend to lose track of plots with warfare because I don't know the different types of armies and characters and event all blur together

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bean's avatar

I think there's a lot more diversity in the word "mercenary" than you go into here. I should probably write this up at greater length, but here's something I wrote many years ago on SSC, breaking down different types of mercenaries:

1. A private company that basically has its own private army, which it rents out to states. Think of the Condottieri, Targon’s Toughs, or Hammer’s Slammers.

2. A unit which is essentially part of a regular military, but which is made up of soldiers from a country that isn’t the military’s own. The Gurkhas and the French Foreign Legion are the most prominent modern examples.

3. A unit that belongs to one country, and is sold to another. (The Hessians of the American revolution.) Arguably includes a lot of the current UN peacekeeping forces.

4. A unit that is raised by a country in wartime, and contains whoever is willing to show up and fight. (Typical during the early modern era, probably also things like Carthage.)

5. (Modern) A company that is technically private, but that is employed by a government to provide armed force. Usually staffed by citizens of the country. Distinguished from 1 by the fact that they’re essentially agents of a given government, and can't set out on their own. Blackwater.

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