View source for Conscription

{{Short description|Compulsory enrollment into national or military service}}
{{Redirect2|Conscript|the draft||Conscript (disambiguation)|and|The draft (disambiguation)}}
[[File:Conscription_map_of_the_world.svg|alt=|thumb|upright=2.2|{{legend|#8cd19d|No armed forces}}  {{legend|#5cacc4|No enforced conscription}} {{legend|#6600ff|Active conscription system, but less than 20% people who are fit for service are conscripted}}{{legend|#ff5254|Active conscription}} {{legend|#b9b9b9|No information}}]]
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'''Conscription''', also known as '''the draft''' in the [[American English]], is the practice in which the compulsory enlistment in a [[national service]], mainly a [[military service]], is enforced by law.<ref name="mw">{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/conscription |title=Conscription |date=13 September 2023 |dictionary= Merriam-Webster Online }}</ref> Conscription dates back to [[Ancient history|antiquity]] and it continues in some countries to the present day under various names. The modern system of near-universal national conscription for young men dates to the [[French Revolution]] in the 1790s, where it became the basis of a very large and powerful [[military]]. Most [[Europe]]an nations later copied the system in peacetime, so that men at a certain age would serve 1 to 8 years on [[active duty]] and then transfer to the [[military reserve force|reserve force]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=McIntosh |first=Matthew |date=2018-02-08 |title=A History of Military Conscription in Europe |url=https://brewminate.com/a-history-of-military-conscription-in-europe/ |access-date=2025-06-09 |website=Brewminate: A Bold Blend of News and Ideas |language=en-US}}</ref>

Conscription is controversial for a range of reasons, including [[Conscientious objector|conscientious objection]] to military engagements on religious or philosophical grounds; political objection, for example to service for a disliked government or unpopular war; [[conscription and sexism|sexism]], in that historically men have been subject to the draft in the most cases; and ideological objection, for example, to a perceived violation of individual rights. Those conscripted may [[Draft evasion|evade service]], sometimes by leaving the country,<ref>{{cite news |url=http://archives.cbc.ca/war_conflict/vietnam_war/topics/348/ |title=Seeking Sanctuary: Draft Dodgers |newspaper= CBC Digital Archives }}</ref> and seeking [[Right of asylum|asylum]] in another country. Some selection systems accommodate these attitudes by providing [[alternative service]] outside [[combat]]-operations roles or even outside the military, such as {{lang|fi|[[siviilipalvelus]]}} (alternative civil service) in [[Finland]] and {{lang|de|[[Zivildienst]]}} (compulsory community service) in [[Austria]] and [[Switzerland]]. Several countries conscript male soldiers not only for armed forces, but also for paramilitary agencies, which are dedicated to [[police]]-like ''domestic-only'' service like [[Internal Troops|internal troops]], [[border guard]]s or ''non-combat'' [[rescue|rescue duties]] like [[civil defence]].

As of 2025, many states no longer conscript their citizens, relying instead upon professional militaries with [[volunteer military|volunteers]]. The ability to rely on such an arrangement, however, presupposes some degree of predictability with regard to both war-fighting requirements and the scope of hostilities. Many states that have abolished conscription still, therefore, reserve the power to resume conscription during wartime or times of crisis.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/second-world-war-wwii/ <!--Bot repaired link--> |title=World War II |encyclopedia=[[The Canadian Encyclopedia]] |publisher=Historica Canada |location=Toronto |date=15 July 2015}}</ref> States involved in wars or interstate rivalries are most likely to implement conscription, and democracies are less likely than autocracies to implement conscription.<ref name="WY">{{Cite journal|last1=Asal|first1=Victor|last2=Conrad|first2=Justin|last3=Toronto|first3=Nathan|s2cid=9019768|date=2017-08-01|title=I Want You! The Determinants of Military Conscription|journal=Journal of Conflict Resolution|language=en|volume=61|issue=7|pages=1456–1481|doi=10.1177/0022002715606217|issn=0022-0027}}</ref> With a few exceptions, such as Singapore and Egypt, former British colonies are less likely to have conscription, as they are influenced by British anti-conscription norms that can be traced back to the [[English Civil War]]; the [[United Kingdom]] abolished conscription in 1960.<ref name="WY" /> [[Conscription in the United States]] has not been enforced since 1973. Conscription was ended in most European countries, with the system still being in force in [[Scandinavia|Scandinavian countries]], Finland, Switzerland, Austria, Greece, Cyprus, Turkey and several countries of the former [[Eastern Bloc]].

==History==

===In pre-modern times===

====Ilkum====
Around the reign of [[Hammurabi]] (1791–1750 [[Before Christ|BC]]), the [[Babylonian Empire]] used a system of conscription called ''Ilkum''. Under that system those eligible were required to serve in the royal army in time of war. During times of peace they were instead required to provide labour for other activities of the state. In return for this service, people subject to it gained the right to hold land. It is possible that this right was not to hold land ''per se'' but specific land supplied by the state.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Early Mesopotamia Society and Economy at the Dawn of History |last=Postgate |first=J.N. |year=1992 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=0-415-11032-7 |page=[https://archive.org/details/earlymesopotamia00post/page/242 242] |url=https://archive.org/details/earlymesopotamia00post/page/242}}</ref>

Various forms of avoiding military service are recorded. While it was outlawed by the [[Code of Hammurabi]], the hiring of substitutes appears to have been practiced both before and after the creation of the code. Later records show that Ilkum commitments could become regularly traded. In other places, people simply left their towns to avoid their Ilkum service. Another option was to sell Ilkum lands and the commitments along with them. With the exception of a few exempted classes, this was forbidden by the Code of Hammurabi.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Early Mesopotamia Society and Economy at the Dawn of History |last=Postgate |first=J.N. |year=1992 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=0-415-11032-7 |page=[https://archive.org/details/earlymesopotamia00post/page/243 243] |url=https://archive.org/details/earlymesopotamia00post/page/243}}</ref>

===Medieval period===

====Medieval levies====

Under the [[feudalism|feudal]] laws on the European continent, landowners in the medieval period enforced a system whereby all [[peasants]], [[Serfdom#Freemen|freemen]] commoners and [[noblemen]] aged 15 to 60 living in the countryside or in urban centers, were summoned for military duty when required by either the king or the local lord, bringing along the weapons and armor according to their wealth. These levies fought as footmen, sergeants, and men at arms under local superiors appointed by the king or the local lord such as the [[arrière-ban]] in France. Arrière-ban denoted a general levy, where all able-bodied males age 15 to 60 living in the Kingdom of France were summoned to go to war by the King (or the constable and the marshals). Men were summoned by the bailiff (or the sénéchal in the south). [[Bailiff]]s were military and political administrators installed by the King to steward and govern a specific area of a province following the king's commands and orders. The men summoned in this way were then summoned by the lieutenant who was the King's representative and military governor over an entire province comprising many [[bailiwick]]s, seneschalties and castellanies. All men from the richest noble to the poorest commoner were summoned under the arrière-ban and they were supposed to present themselves to the King or his officials.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Arri%C3%A8re+ban|title=arrière-ban|publisher=The Free Dictionary|access-date=17 September 2012}}</ref><ref>Nicolle, D. (2000). French Armies of the Hundred Years' War (Vol. 337). Osprey Publishing.</ref><ref>Nicolle, D. (2004). Poitiers 1356: The capture of a king (Vol. 138). Osprey Publishing.</ref><ref>Curry, A. (2002). Essential Histories–The Hundred Years' War. Nova York, Osprey.</ref>

In medieval [[Scandinavia]] the ''leiðangr'' ([[Old Norse language|Old Norse]]), ''leidang'' ([[Norwegian language|Norwegian]]), ''leding'', ([[Danish language|Danish]]), ''ledung'' ([[Swedish language|Swedish]]), ''lichting'' ([[Dutch language|Dutch]]), ''expeditio'' ([[Latin]]) or sometimes ''leþing'' ([[English language|Old English]]), was a levy of free farmers conscripted into coastal fleets for seasonal excursions and in defence of the realm.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Williams |first=D. G. E. |date=1997-01-01 |title=The Dating of the Norwegian leiðangr System: A Philological Approach |url=https://www.jbe-platform.com/content/journals/10.1075/nowele.30.02wil |journal=NOWELE. North-Western European Language Evolution |language=en |volume=30 |issue=1 |pages=21–25 |doi=10.1075/nowele.30.02wil |issn=0108-8416|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

The bulk of the [[History of Anglo-Saxon England|Anglo-Saxon English]] army, called the ''[[fyrd]]'', was composed of part-time English soldiers drawn from the freemen of each county. In the 690s laws of [[Ine of Wessex]], three levels of fines are imposed on different social classes for neglecting military service.<ref>{{cite book |last=Attenborough |first=F. L. |title=Laws of the Earliest English Kings |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1974|orig-date=1922 |isbn=9780404565459 |url=https://archive.org/stream/lawsofearliesten00grea#page/52}}</ref>

Some modern writers claim military service in Europe was restricted to the landowning minor nobility. These [[thegn]]s were the land-holding aristocracy of the time and were required to serve with their own armour and weapons for a certain number of days each year. The historian David Sturdy has cautioned about regarding the ''fyrd'' as a precursor to a modern national army composed of all ranks of society, describing it as a "ridiculous fantasy":

<blockquote>The persistent old belief that peasants and small farmers gathered to form a national army or ''fyrd'' is a strange delusion dreamt up by antiquarians in the late eighteenth or early nineteenth centuries to justify universal military conscription.<ref>Sturdy, David ''Alfred the Great'' Constable (1995), p. 153</ref></blockquote>

[[File:Shinnyodō engi, vol.3 (part).jpg|thumb|Painting depicting a battle during the Ōnin War]]
In [[feudal Japan]] the [[shogun]] decree of 1393 exempted [[money lender]]s from religious or military levies, in return for a yearly tax. The [[Ōnin War]] weakened the shogun and levies were imposed again on money lenders. This [[overlord]]ism was arbitrary and unpredictable for commoners. While the money lenders were not poor, several overlords tapped them for income. Levies became necessary for the survival of the overlord, allowing the lord to impose taxes at will. These levies included ''tansen'' tax on [[agricultural land]] for ceremonial expenses. Y''akubu takumai'' tax was raised on all land to rebuild the [[Ise Grand Shrine]], and ''munabechisen'' tax was imposed on all [[house]]s. At the time, land in [[Kyoto]] was acquired by commoners through [[usury]] and in 1422 the shogun threatened to repossess the land of those commoners who failed to pay their levies.<ref>{{cite book| last = Gay | first = Suzanne | year = 2001| title = The Moneylenders of Late Medieval Kyoto| pages = 111| publisher = University of Hawaii Press| isbn = 9780824864880}}</ref>

==== Military slavery ====
{{Main|History of slavery in the Muslim world|Slavery in the Ottoman Empire}}
{{Further|Arab slave trade|Barbary slave trade|Ottoman wars in Europe|Turkish Abductions}}
[[File:Janissary Recruitment in the Balkans-Suleymanname.jpg|thumb|230px|right|Registration of [[Christians|Christian boys]] for the ''[[Devşirme|tribute in blood]]''. Ottoman miniature painting, 1558.<ref>{{cite web |first=Matrakci |last=Nasuh |url=http://warfare.netau.net/Ottoman/Suleymanname/Janissary_Recruitment_in_the_Balkans.htm |title=Janissary Recruitment in the Balkans |year=1588 |work=Süleymanname, Topkapi Sarai Museum, Ms Hazine 1517 |access-date=2015-02-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181203143244/http://warfare.netau.net/Ottoman/Suleymanname/Janissary_Recruitment_in_the_Balkans.htm |archive-date=2018-12-03 |url-status=dead }}</ref>]]

The system of military [[Slavery|slaves]] was widely used in the [[Middle East]], beginning with the creation of the corps of [[Turkic peoples|Turkic]] [[History of slavery in the Muslim world|slave-soldiers]] (''[[ghulam]]s'' or ''[[mamluk]]s'') by the [[Abbasid caliph]] [[al-Mu'tasim]] in the 820s and 830s. The [[Mamluk]]s ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|m|æ|m|l|uː|k}}; {{langx|ar|مملوك|mamlūk}} (singular), {{lang|ar|مماليك}}, ''mamālīk'' (plural);<ref name="Ayalon 2012">{{cite encyclopedia |author-last=Ayalon |author-first=David |author-link=David Ayalon |year=2012 |orig-date=1991 |title=Mamlūk |editor1-last=Bosworth |editor1-first=C. E. |editor1-link=Clifford Edmund Bosworth |editor2-last=van Donzel |editor2-first=E. J. |editor2-link=Emeri Johannes van Donzel |editor3-last=Heinrichs |editor3-first=W. P. |editor3-link=Wolfhart Heinrichs |editor4-last=Lewis |editor4-first=B. |editor4-link=Bernard Lewis |editor5-last=Pellat |editor5-first=Ch. |editor5-link=Charles Pellat |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopaedia of Islam#2nd edition, EI2|Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition]] |location=[[Leiden]] |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |volume=6 |doi=10.1163/1573-3912_islam_COM_0657 |isbn=978-90-04-08112-3}}</ref> translated as "one who is owned",{{refn|<ref name="Levanoni 2010">{{cite book |last=Levanoni |first=Amalia |year=2010 |chapter=Part II: Egypt and Syria (Eleventh Century Until the Ottoman Conquest) – The Mamlūks in Egypt and Syria: the Turkish Mamlūk sultanate (648–784/1250–1382) and the Circassian Mamlūk sultanate (784–923/1382–1517) |editor-last=Fierro |editor-first=Maribel |title=The New Cambridge History of Islam, Volume 2: The Western Islamic World, Eleventh to Eighteenth Centuries |location=[[Cambridge]] and New York City |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |pages=237–284 |doi=10.1017/CHOL9780521839570.010 |isbn=978-1-139-05615-1 |quote=The Arabic term ''mamlūk'' literally means 'owned' or 'slave', and was used for the [[White people|White]] [[Turkish people|Turkish]] [[History of slavery in the Muslim world|slaves]] of [[Turkic mythology|Pagan origins]], purchased from Central Asia and the [[Eurasian steppes]] by [[Islam and politics|Muslim rulers]] to serve as soldiers in their armies. Mamlūk units formed an integral part of Muslim armies from the third/ninth century, and Mamlūk involvement in government became an increasingly familiar occurrence in the [[Middle Ages|medieval]] Middle East. The road to absolute rule lay open before them [[Egypt in the Middle Ages|in Egypt]] when the Mamlūk establishment gained military and political domination during the reign of the [[Ayyubid dynasty|Ayyūbid ruler of Egypt]], al-Ṣāliḥ Ayyūb (r. 637–47/1240–49).}}</ref><ref name="OxfordBusinessGroup">{{cite web |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Warrior kings: A look at the history of the Mamluks |url=https://oxfordbusinessgroup.com/overview/warrior-kings-look-history-mamluks |year=2012 |work=The Report – Egypt 2012: The Guide |publisher=Oxford Business Group |pages=332–334 |access-date=1 March 2021 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200925104321/https://oxfordbusinessgroup.com/overview/warrior-kings-look-history-mamluks |archive-date=25 September 2020 |quote=The Mamluks, who descended from non-Arab [[History of slavery in the Muslim world|slaves]] who were naturalised to serve and fight for ruling Arab dynasties, are revered as some of the greatest warriors the world has ever known. Although the word ''mamluk'' translates as "one who is owned", the Mamluk soldiers proved otherwise, gaining a powerful military standing in [[Muslim world|various Muslim societies]], particularly [[Egypt in the Middle Ages|in Egypt]]. They would also go on to hold political power for several centuries during a period known as the [[Mamluk Sultanate (Cairo)|Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt]]. [...] Before the Mamluks rose to power, there was a [[History of slavery in the Muslim world|long history of slave soldiers in the Middle East]], with many recruited into Arab armies by the [[Abbasid Caliphate|Abbasid rulers]] of [[Baghdad]] in the ninth century. The tradition was continued by the dynasties that followed them, including the [[Fatimids]] and [[Ayyubids]] (it was the Fatimids who built the foundations of what is now Islamic [[Cairo]]). For centuries, the rulers of the Arab world recruited men from the lands of the [[Caucasus]] and Central Asia. It is hard to discern the precise ethnic background of the Mamluks, given that they came from a number of ethnically mixed regions, but most are thought to have been [[Turkic peoples|Turkic]] (mainly [[Kipchaks|Kipchak]] and [[Cumans|Cuman]]) or [[Peoples of the Caucasus|from the Caucasus]] (predominantly [[Circassians|Circassian]], but also [[Armenians|Armenian]] and [[Georgians|Georgian]]). The Mamluks [[Conscription#Military slavery|were recruited forcibly to reinforce the armies]] of Arab rulers. As outsiders, they had no local loyalties, and would thus fight for whoever owned them, not unlike [[mercenaries]]. Furthermore, the Turks and Circassians had a ferocious reputation as warriors. The slaves were either purchased or abducted as boys, around the age of 13, and brought to the cities, most notably to Cairo and its [[Cairo Citadel|Citadel]]. Here [[Forced conversion#Islam|they would be converted to Islam]] and would be put through a rigorous military training regime that focused particularly on [[horsemanship]]. A code of behaviour not too dissimilar to that of the [[Medieval Europe|European knights]]' [[Code of Chivalry]] was also inculcated and was known as ''[[Furusiyya]]''. As in many military establishments to this day the authorities sought to instil an esprit de corps and a sense of duty among the young men. The Mamluks would have to live separately from the local populations in their garrisons, which included the Citadel and [[Rhoda Island]], also in Cairo.}}</ref>}} meaning "[[History of slavery in the Muslim world|slave]]"){{refn|<ref name="Ayalon 2012"/><ref name="Levanoni 2010"/><ref name="Britannica" />}} were non-[[Arabs|Arab]], ethnically diverse (mostly [[Turkic peoples|Turkic]], [[Peoples of the Caucasus|Caucasian]], [[Eastern Europe|Eastern]] and [[Southeast Europe|Southeastern European]]) [[History of slavery in the Muslim world|enslaved]] [[mercenaries]], [[slave-soldier]]s, and [[freed slave]]s who were assigned high-ranking military and administrative duties, serving the ruling Arab and [[Ottoman dynasty|Ottoman]] dynasties in the [[Muslim world]].{{refn|<ref name="Levanoni 2010"/><ref name="OxfordBusinessGroup"/><ref name="Freamon 2019">{{cite book |author-last=Freamon |author-first=Bernard K. |year=2019 |chapter=The 'Mamluk/Ghulam Phenomenon' – Slave Sultans, Soldiers, Eunuchs, and Concubines |editor-last=Freamon |editor-first=Bernard K. |title=Possessed by the Right Hand: The Problem of Slavery in Islamic Law and Muslim Cultures |location=[[Leiden]] |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |series=Studies in Global Slavery |volume=8 |pages=219–244 |doi=10.1163/9789004398795_006 |isbn=978-90-04-36481-3 |s2cid=191690007 |quote=[[Ibn Khaldun]] argued that in the midst of the decadence that became the hallmark of the later [[Abbasid Caliphate]], providence restored the "glory and the unity" of the Islamic faith by sending the Mamluks: "loyal  helpers, who were brought from the House of War to the House of Islam under the rule of slavery, which hides in itself a divine blessing." His expression of the idea that slavery, considered to be a degrading social condition to be avoided at all costs, might  contain "a divine blessing", was the most articulate expression of [[Islamic views on slavery|Muslim thinking on slavery]] since the [[Early history of Islam|early days of Islam]]. Ibn Khaldun's general observation about the paradoxical nature of slavery brings to mind [[Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel|Hegel]]'s reflections on the subject some five hundred years later. The great philosopher observed that, in many instances, it is the slave who ultimately gains the independent consciousness and power to become the actual master of his or her owner. The Mamluk/Ghulam Phenomenon is a good historical example of this paradox.}}</ref><ref name="Stowasser 1984">{{cite journal |author-last=Stowasser |author-first=Karl |date=1984 |title=Manners and Customs at the Mamluk Court |journal=[[Muqarnas (journal)|Muqarnas]] |volume=2 |issue=The Art of the Mamluks |location=[[Leiden]] |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |pages=13–20 |doi=10.2307/1523052 |jstor=1523052 |issn=0732-2992 |s2cid=191377149 |quote=The Mamluk slave warriors, with an empire extending from [[Libya]] to the [[Euphrates]], from [[Cilicia]] to the [[Arabian Sea]] and the [[Sudan]], remained for the next two hundred years the most formidable power of the [[Eastern Mediterranean]] and the Indian Ocean – champions of [[Sunni orthodoxy]], guardians of [[Holiest sites in Islam|Islam's holy places]], their capital, Cairo, the seat of the Sunni caliph and a magnet for scholars, artists, and craftsmen uprooted by the [[Mongol invasions and conquests|Mongol upheaval in the East]] or drawn to it from all parts of the Muslim world by its wealth and prestige. Under their rule, Egypt passed through a period of prosperity and brilliance unparalleled since the days of the [[Ptolemies]]. [...] They ruled as a military [[aristocracy]], aloof and almost totally isolated from the native population, Muslim and non-Muslim alike, and their ranks had to be replenished in each generation through fresh imports of slaves from abroad. Only those who had grown up outside Muslim territory and who entered as slaves in the service either of the [[sultan]] himself or of one of the Mamluk [[emir]]s were eligible for membership and careers within their closed military caste. The offspring of Mamluks were free-born Muslims and hence excluded from the system: they became the ''awlād al-nās'', the "sons of respectable people", who either fulfilled scribal and administrative functions or served as commanders of the non-Mamluk ''ḥalqa'' troops. Some two thousand slaves were imported annually: [[Kipchaks|Qipchaq]], [[Azeris]], [[Uzbeks|Uzbec Turks]], [[Mongols]], [[Pannonian Avars|Avars]], [[Circassians]], [[Georgians]], [[Armenians]], [[Greeks]], [[Bulgars]], [[Albanians]], [[Serbs]], [[Hungarians]].}}</ref><ref name="Poliak 1942">{{cite book |author-last=Poliak |author-first=A. N. |orig-year=1942 |year=2005 |chapter=The Influence of C̱ẖingiz-Ḵẖān's Yāsa upon the General Organization of the Mamlūk State |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YVGdl09xAp4C&pg=PA27 |editor-last=Hawting |editor-first=Gerald R. |title=Muslims, Mongols, and Crusaders: An Anthology of Articles  |series=Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London |volume=10 |issue=4 |location=London & New York |publisher=[[Routledge]] |pages=27–41 |doi=10.1017/S0041977X0009008X |isbn=978-0-7007-1393-6 |jstor=609130 |s2cid=155480831 |access-date=1 March 2021 |archive-date=2 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240102092303/https://books.google.com/books?id=YVGdl09xAp4C&pg=PA27#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref>}} The most enduring Mamluk realm was the [[knight]]ly military class in [[Egypt in the Middle Ages|medieval Egypt]], which developed from the ranks of [[slave-soldier]]s.{{refn|<ref name="Levanoni 2010"/><ref name="OxfordBusinessGroup"/><ref name="Britannica"/><ref name="Stowasser 1984"/>}} Originally the Mamluks were [[History of slavery in the Muslim world|slaves]] of [[Turkic peoples|Turkic origins]] from the [[Eurasian Steppe]],{{refn|<ref name="Levanoni 2010"/><ref name="OxfordBusinessGroup"/><ref name="Britannica"/><ref name="Stowasser 1984"/><ref name="Poliak 1942"/><ref name="FH" /><ref name="Isichei 1997 192">{{cite book |last=Isichei |first=Elizabeth |year=1997 |title=A History of African Societies to 1870 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofafrican00isic |url-access=registration |access-date=8 November 2008 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/historyofafrican00isic/page/192 192]}}</ref>}} but the institution of military slavery spread to include [[Circassians]],{{refn|<ref name="OxfordBusinessGroup"/><ref name="Stowasser 1984"/><ref name="Poliak 1942" /><ref name="FH" /><ref>{{cite book|last=McGregor|first=Andrew James|title=A Military History of Modern Egypt: From the Ottoman Conquest to the Ramadan War|year=2006|publisher=[[Greenwood Publishing Group]]|isbn=978-0-275-98601-8|page=[https://archive.org/details/militaryhistoryo00andr/page/15 15]|quote=By the late fourteenth century, [[Circassians]] from the [[North Caucasus]] region had become the majority in the Mamluk ranks.|url=https://archive.org/details/militaryhistoryo00andr/page/15}}</ref>}} [[Abkhazians]],<ref>А.Ш.Кадырбаев, Сайф-ад-Дин Хайр-Бек – абхазский "король эмиров" Мамлюкского Египта (1517–1522), "Материалы первой международной научной конференции, посвященной 65-летию В.Г.Ардзинба". Сухум: АбИГИ, 2011, pp. 87–95</ref><ref>Thomas Philipp, Ulrich Haarmann (eds), ''The Mamluks in Egyptian Politics and Society''. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998), pp. 115–116.</ref><ref>Jane Hathaway, ''The Politics of Households in Ottoman Egypt: The Rise of the Qazdaglis''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997, pp. 103–104.</ref> [[Georgians]],{{refn|<ref name="OxfordBusinessGroup"/><ref name="Stowasser 1984"/><ref>"Relations of the Georgian Mamluks of Egypt with Their Homeland in the Last Decades of the Eighteenth Century". Daniel Crecelius and Gotcha Djaparidze. ''Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient'', Vol. 45, No. 3 (2002), pp. 320–341. {{ISSN|0022-4995}}</ref><ref name="bbs">{{Google books|pCC4ffbOv_YC|page=19|Basra, the failed Gulf state: separatism and nationalism in southern Iraq}} By Reidar Visser</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Hathaway|first=Jane|title=The Military Household in Ottoman Egypt|journal=International Journal of Middle East Studies|date=February 1995|volume=27|issue=1|pages=39–52|doi=10.1017/s0020743800061572|s2cid=62834455 }}</ref>}} [[Armenians]],{{refn|<ref name="OxfordBusinessGroup"/><ref name="Stowasser 1984"/><ref name="Poliak 1942"/><ref name="Walker, Paul E. 2002">Walker, Paul E. ''Exploring an Islamic Empire: Fatimid History and its Sources'' (London, I. B. Tauris, 2002)</ref>}} [[Russians]],<ref name="Poliak 1942" /> and [[Hungarians]],<ref name="Stowasser 1984" /> as well as peoples from the [[Balkans]] such as [[Albanians]],<ref name="Stowasser 1984"/><ref name="István Vásáry 2005"/> [[Greeks]],<ref name="Stowasser 1984"/> and [[South Slavs]]{{refn|<ref name="Stowasser 1984"/><ref name="István Vásáry 2005">István Vásáry (2005) Cuman and Tatars, Cambridge University Press.</ref><ref name="T. Pavlidis 2011">T. Pavlidis, ''A Concise History of the Middle East'', Chapter 11: "Turks and Byzantine Decline". 2011</ref>}} (''see'' [[Saqaliba]]). They also recruited from the [[Egyptians]].<ref name="FH">{{cite book |author-last=Richards |author-first=Donald S. |year=1998 |chapter=Chapter 3: Mamluk amirs and their families and households |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WoPF9T4ZiWsC&pg=PA32 |editor1-last=Philipp |editor1-first=Thomas |editor2-last=Haarmann |editor2-first=Ulrich |title=The Mamluks in Egyptian Politics and Society |location=[[Cambridge]] and New York  |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |series=Cambridge Studies in Islamic Civilization |pages=32–54 |isbn=978-0-521-03306-0 |access-date=4 April 2023 |archive-date=4 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230404201934/https://books.google.com/books?id=WoPF9T4ZiWsC&pg=PA32 |url-status=live }}</ref> The "Mamluk/{{shy}}Ghulam Phe{{shy}}nom{{shy}}enon",<ref name="Freamon 2019"/> as [[David Ayalon]] dubbed the creation of the specific warrior class,<ref>{{cite book|first=David|last=Ayalon|author-link=David Ayalon|title=The Mamlūk military society|year=1979|publisher=Variorum Reprints|isbn=978-0-86078-049-6}}</ref> was of great political importance; for one thing, it endured for nearly 1,000 years, from the 9th century to the early 19th century.

Over time, Mamluks became a powerful military knightly class in various [[Muslim world|Muslim societies]] that were controlled by dynastic Arab rulers.{{refn|<ref name="Levanoni 2010"/><ref name="OxfordBusinessGroup"/><ref name="Britannica"/><ref name="Stowasser 1984"/><ref name="FH" />}} Particularly in [[Egypt]] and [[Syria]],{{refn|<ref name="Levanoni 2010"/><ref name="OxfordBusinessGroup"/><ref name="Britannica"/><ref name="FH" />}} but also in the [[Ottoman Empire]], [[Levant]], [[Iraq|Mesopotamia]], and India, mamluks held political and military power.<ref name="Stowasser 1984"/> In some cases, they attained the rank of [[sultan]], while in others they held regional power as ''[[emir]]s'' or ''[[bey]]s''.<ref name="FH" /> Most notably, Mamluk factions seized the sultanate centered on [[Egypt]] and [[Syria]], and controlled it as the [[Mamluk Sultanate (Cairo)|Mamluk Sultanate]] (1250–1517).{{refn|<ref name="Levanoni 2010"/><ref name="OxfordBusinessGroup"/><ref name="Britannica"/><ref name="FH" />}} The Mamluk Sultanate famously defeated the [[Ilkhanate]] at the [[Battle of Ain Jalut]]. They had earlier fought the western European Christian [[Crusades|Crusaders]] in 1154–1169 and 1213–1221, effectively driving them out of Egypt and the Levant. [[Fall of Ruad|In 1302]] the Mamluk Sultanate formally expelled the last Crusaders from the Levant, ending the era of the Crusades.<ref name="Stowasser 1984"/><ref>{{cite web|last=Asbridge|first=Thomas|title=The Crusades Episode 3|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01bqy7r/The_Crusades_Victory_and_Defeat/|publisher=BBC|access-date=5 February 2012|archive-date=3 February 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120203092957/http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01bqy7r/The_Crusades_Victory_and_Defeat|url-status=live}}</ref> While Mamluks were purchased as property,{{refn|<ref name="Levanoni 2010"/><ref name="OxfordBusinessGroup"/><ref name="Britannica"/><ref name="Stowasser 1984"/><ref name="FH" />}} their status was above ordinary slaves, who were not allowed to carry weapons or perform certain tasks.{{refn|<ref name="Levanoni 2010"/><ref name="OxfordBusinessGroup"/><ref name="Britannica"/><ref name="FH" />}} In places such as Egypt, from the [[Ayyubid dynasty]] to the time of [[Muhammad Ali of Egypt]], mamluks were considered to be "true lords" and "true warriors", with social status above the general population in [[Egypt]] and the [[Levant]].<ref name="Stowasser 1984"/> In a sense, they were like [[History of slavery in the Muslim world|enslaved]] [[mercenaries]].{{refn|<ref name="Levanoni 2010"/><ref name="OxfordBusinessGroup"/><ref name="Britannica"/><ref name="FH" /><ref name="Behrens-Abouseif, Doris 2008">Behrens-Abouseif, Doris. ''Cairo of the Mamluks: A History of Architecture and Its Culture''. New York: Macmillan, 2008.{{ISBN?}}{{page needed|date=September 2024}}</ref>}}

In the middle of the 14th century, Ottoman sultan [[Murad I]] developed personal troops to be loyal to him, with a slave army called the ''[[Kapıkulu]]''. The first units in the Janissary Corps [[Slavery in the Ottoman Empire|were formed from prisoners of war and slaves]], probably as a result of the sultan taking his traditional one-fifth share of his army's plunder in kind rather than monetarily; however, the continuing [[Exploitation of labour|exploitation]] and enslavement of ''[[dhimmi]]'' peoples (i.e., [[Kafir|non-Muslims]]), predominantly [[Balkans|Balkan]] [[Christianity in the Ottoman Empire|Christians]],<ref name="Glassé 2008"/> constituted a continuing abuse of subject populations.<ref name="Ágoston-Masters 2009"/><ref name="Glassé 2008"/><ref name="Wittek 1955"/>{{sfn|Nicolle|1983|p=7}} For a while, the [[Ottoman government]] supplied the Janissary Corps with recruits from the ''[[devşirme]]'' system of [[Ghilman|child levy]] enslavement.<ref name="Radushev">{{Cite journal|last=Radushev|first=Evgeni|date=2008 |title="Peasant" Janissaries?|journal=Journal of Social History|volume=42|issue=2|pages=447–467 |doi=10.1353/jsh.0.0133 |jstor=27696448 |s2cid=201793634 |issn=0022-4529}}</ref> Children were drafted at a young age and soon turned into [[Military slavery|slave-soldiers]] in an attempt to make them loyal to the [[Ottoman sultan]].<ref name="Ágoston-Masters 2009"/><ref name="Glassé 2008"/><ref name="Wittek 1955"/> The social status of ''devşirme'' recruits took on an immediate positive change, acquiring a greater guarantee of governmental rights and financial opportunities.<ref name="Radushev" /> In poor areas officials were bribed by parents to make them take their sons, thus they would have better chances in life.{{Sfn|Nicolle|1983|p=8}} Initially, the Ottoman recruiters favoured [[Greeks]] and [[Albanians]].<ref name="JA">{{Cite web|url=https://albanianstudies.weebly.com/janissaries.html|title=Janissaries|website=My Albanian studies|access-date=2018-10-03|archive-date=2018-10-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181003181708/https://albanianstudies.weebly.com/janissaries.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Albania - Albanians under Ottoman Rule|website=countrystudies.us|url=http://countrystudies.us/albania/18.htm|access-date=2018-10-03|archive-date=2011-08-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110807031904/http://countrystudies.us/albania/18.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> The [[Ottoman Empire]] [[Ottoman wars in Europe|began its expansion into Europe]] by invading the European portions of the [[Byzantine Empire]] in the 14th and 15th centuries up until the [[Fall of Constantinople|capture of Constantinople]] in 1453, establishing Islam as the state religion of the newly founded empire. The [[Ottoman Turks]] further expanded into [[Southeastern Europe]] and consolidated their political power by invading and conquering huge portions of the [[Serbian Empire]], [[Second Bulgarian Empire|Bulgarian Empire]], and the remaining territories of the [[Byzantine Empire]] in the 14th and 15th centuries. As borders of the Ottoman Empire expanded, the ''[[devşirme]]'' system of [[Ghilman|child levy]] enslavement was extended to include [[Armenians]], [[Bulgarians]], [[Croats]], [[Hungarians]], [[Serbs]], and later [[Bosniaks]],<ref>Joseph von Hammer, Geschichte des osmanischen Reiches</ref><ref>John V. A. Fine Jr., When Ethnicity Did Not Matter in the Balkans: A Study of Identity in Pre-Nationalist Croatia, Dalmatia, and Slavonia in the Medieval and Early-Modern Periods</ref><ref>Shaw, Stanford (1976). History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey, Volume I</ref><ref>Murphey, Rhoads (2006) [1999]. Ottoman Warfare, 1500-1700.{{page needed|date=October 2022}}</ref><ref>Nasuh, Matrakci (1588). "Janissary Recruitment in the Balkans"</ref> and, in rare instances, [[Romanians]], [[Georgians]], [[Circassians]], [[Ukrainians]], [[Polish people|Poles]], and southern [[Russians]].<ref name="JA" /> A number of distinguished military commanders of the Ottomans, and most of the imperial administrators and upper-level officials of the Empire, such as [[Pargalı İbrahim Pasha]] and [[Sokollu Mehmet Paşa]], were recruited in this way.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/med/lewis1.html |first=Bernard |last=Lewis |title=Race and Slavery in the Middle East |publisher=Chapter readings for class at Fordham University |access-date=2008-03-24 |archive-date=2001-04-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010401012040/http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/med/lewis1.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> By 1609, the Sultan's ''Kapıkulu'' forces increased to about 100,000.<ref>{{cite book|first=Halil|last=Inalcik|editor1=A. Ascher, B. K. Kiraly|editor2=T. Halasi-Kun|title=The Mutual Effects of the Islamic and Judeo-Christian Worlds: The East European Pattern|publisher=Brooklyn College|year=1979|chapter=Servile Labor in the Ottoman Empire|chapter-url=http://coursesa.matrix.msu.edu/~fisher/hst373/readings/inalcik6.html|at=sec. In the Service of the State and Military Class|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170504102244/http://coursesa.matrix.msu.edu/~fisher/hst373/readings/inalcik6.html|archive-date=4 May 2017}}</ref>

[[File:Three Mamelukes with lances on horseback.jpg|thumb|230px|left|[[Ottoman army in the 15th–19th centuries|Ottoman]] Mamluk lancers, early 16th century. [[Etching]] by [[Daniel Hopfer]] ({{circa|1526–1536}}), [[British Museum]], London.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1845-0809-1342 |title=Mamalucke (Mamelukes) |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=2021 |website=www.britishmuseum.org |location=London |publisher=[[British Museum]] |access-date=3 March 2021 |archive-date=29 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210929062808/https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1845-0809-1342 |url-status=live }}</ref>]]
The [[Slavery in the Ottoman Empire|slave trade in the Ottoman Empire]] supplied the ranks of the [[Army of the classical Ottoman Empire|Ottoman army]] between the 15th and 19th centuries.<ref name="Ágoston-Masters 2009">{{cite encyclopedia |last=Ágoston |first=Gábor |year=2009 |editor1-last=Ágoston |editor1-first=Gábor |editor2-first=Bruce |editor2-last=Masters |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire |chapter=Devşirme (Devshirme) |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QjzYdCxumFcC&pg=PA183 |location=[[New York City|New York]] |publisher=[[Facts On File]] |pages=183–185 |isbn=978-0-8160-6259-1 |lccn=2008020716 |access-date=16 September 2024}}</ref><ref name="Glassé 2008">{{cite book |editor-last=Glassé |editor-first=Cyril |year=2008 |chapter=Devşirme |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=focLrox-frUC&pg=PA115 |title=The New Encyclopedia of Islam |location=[[Lanham, Maryland]] |publisher=[[Rowman & Littlefield]] |edition=3rd |page=115 |isbn=978-1-4422-2348-6 |quote='''Devshirme.''' The [[Military slavery|conscription system]] used by the [[Ottoman Turks|Ottomans]]. It consisted of taking male children from [[Dhimmi|subject]] [[Christianity in the Ottoman Empire|Christian populations]], chiefly in the [[Balkans]], [[Forced conversion#Islam|forcibly converting them to Islam]], and raising them to join the ranks of an elite military corps, the Janissaries, or to enter [[Ottoman government|other branches of government service]]. The [[Devşirme|boy-levy]] (''devshirme'') was carried out largely by force, but to be taken by it held out such promise of a brilliant future that Ottomans sometimes tried to slip their own children into it. [[List of Ottoman grand viziers|Many of the Viziers]] came from the higher levels of the pageboy training. At first every fifth boy was drafted in a levy carried out every four or five years, but later every able-bodied boy between the ages of ten and fifteen was liable to be taken in a draft carried out annually. The ''devshirme'' system became obsolete in the 17th century.}}</ref><ref name="Wittek 1955">{{cite journal |last=Wittek |first=Paul |date=1955 |title=Devs̱ẖirme and s̱ẖarī'a |journal=[[Bulletin of the School of Oriental & African Studies]] |location=[[Cambridge]] |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] on behalf of the [[School of Oriental and African Studies]], [[University of London]] |volume=17 |issue=2 |pages=271–278 |doi=10.1017/S0041977X00111735 |jstor=610423 |s2cid=153615285 |oclc=427969669}}</ref> They were useful in preventing both the [[slave rebellion]]s and the [[Decline and modernization of the Ottoman Empire|breakup of the Empire itself]], especially due to the [[Rise of nationalism in the Ottoman Empire|rising tide of nationalism among European peoples]] in its Balkan provinces from the 17th century onwards.<ref name="Ágoston-Masters 2009"/> Along with the Balkans, the [[Black Sea Region]] remained a significant source of high-value slaves for the Ottomans.<ref name="Fynn-Paul 2023">{{cite encyclopedia |author-last=Fynn-Paul |author-first=Jeffrey |date=23 June 2023 |title=Slavery and the Slave Trade, 1350–1650 |url=https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/display/document/obo-9780195399301/obo-9780195399301-0515.xml |encyclopedia=[[Oxford Bibliographies Online]] |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |location=[[Oxford]] and [[New York City|New York]] |doi=10.1093/obo/9780195399301-0515 |isbn=978-0-19-539930-1 |access-date=18 September 2024|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Throughout the 16th to 19th centuries, the [[Barbary coast|Barbary States]] sent [[Barbary pirates|pirates to raid]] nearby parts of Europe [[History of slavery in the Muslim world|in order to capture Christian slaves to sell]] at [[Barbary slave trade|slave markets]] in the [[Muslim world]], primarily in [[North Africa]] and the [[Slavery in the Ottoman Empire|Ottoman Empire]], throughout the [[Renaissance]] and [[early modern period]].<ref name="bbc.co.uk">{{cite news |last1=Davis |first1=Robert |title=BBC - History - British History in depth: British Slaves on the Barbary Coast |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/empire_seapower/white_slaves_01.shtml |access-date=18 July 2023 |work=www.bbc.co.uk |date=17 February 2011}}</ref> According to historian Robert Davis, from the 16th to 19th centuries, Barbary pirates captured 1 million to 1.25 million Europeans as slaves, although these numbers are disputed.<ref name="bbc.co.uk" /><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2004/mar/11/highereducation.books|title=New book reopens old arguments about slave raids on Europe|last1=Carroll|first1=Rory|date=2004-03-11|work=The Guardian|access-date=2017-12-11|issn=0261-3077}}</ref> These slaves were captured mainly from the crews of captured vessels,<ref>Milton, G (2005) White Gold: The Extraordinary Story of Thomas Pellow And Islam's One Million White Slaves, Sceptre, London</ref> from coastal villages in [[Spain]] and [[Portugal]], and from farther places like the [[Italian Peninsula]], [[France]], or [[England]], the [[Netherlands]], [[Ireland]], the [[Azores Islands]], and even [[Turkish Abductions|Iceland]].<ref name="bbc.co.uk"/> For a long time, until the early 18th century, the [[Crimean Khanate]] maintained a [[Crimean slave trade|massive slave trade with the Ottoman Empire and the Middle East]].<ref>"[http://www2.econ.hit-u.ac.jp/~areastd/mediterranean/mw/pdf/18/10.pdf The Crimean Tatars and their Russian-Captive Slaves] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130605131551/http://www.econ.hit-u.ac.jp/~areastd/mediterranean/mw/pdf/18/10.pdf |date=2013-06-05}}" (PDF). Eizo Matsuki, ''Mediterranean Studies Group at Hitotsubashi University.''</ref> The Crimean Tatars frequently mounted raids into the [[Danubian Principalities]], [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth|Poland–Lithuania]], and [[Tsardom of Russia|Russia]] to enslave people whom they could capture.<ref name="Britannica">{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.britannica.com/blackhistory/article-24157 |title=Historical survey > Slave societies |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica Online]]}}</ref>

Apart from the effect of a lengthy period under Ottoman domination, many of the subject populations [[Forced conversion#Islam|were periodically and forcefully converted to Islam]]<ref name="Ágoston-Masters 2009"/><ref name="Glassé 2008"/><ref name="Wittek 1955"/> as a result of a deliberate move by the Ottoman Turks as part of a policy of ensuring the loyalty of the population against a potential [[Venetian Republic|Venetian]] invasion. However, Islam was spread by force in the areas under the control of the [[Ottoman sultan]] through the ''[[devşirme]]'' system of [[Ghilman|child levy]] enslavement,<ref name="Ágoston-Masters 2009"/><ref name="Glassé 2008"/><ref name="Wittek 1955"/> by which [[Ethnic groups in Europe|indigenous European]] [[Christians|Christian boys]] from the [[Balkans]] (predominantly [[Albanians]], [[Bulgarians]], [[Croats]], [[Greeks]], [[Romanians]], [[Serbs]], and [[Ukrainians]]) were taken, levied, subjected to [[forced circumcision]] and [[Forced conversion#Islam|forced conversion to Islam]],<ref name="Ágoston-Masters 2009"/><ref name="Glassé 2008"/><ref name="Wittek 1955"/> and incorporated into the [[Ottoman army in the 15th–19th centuries|Ottoman army]],<ref name="Ágoston-Masters 2009"/><ref name="Glassé 2008"/><ref name="Wittek 1955"/> and ''[[jizya]]'' taxes.<ref name="Ágoston-Masters 2009"/><ref name="Wittek 1955"/><ref>Basgoz, I. & Wilson, H. E. (1989), The educational tradition of the Ottoman Empire and the development of the Turkish educational system of the republican era. Turkish Review 3(16), 15</ref> Radushev states that the recruitment system based on child levy can be bisected into two periods: its [[Army of the classical Ottoman Empire|first, or classical period]], encompassing those first two centuries of regular execution and utilization to supply recruits; and a [[Ottoman military reforms|second, or modern period]], which more focuses on its [[Decline and modernization of the Ottoman Empire|gradual change, decline, and ultimate abandonment]], beginning in the 17th century.<ref name="Radushev" />

In later years, Ottoman sultans turned to the [[Barbary Pirates]] to supply the Janissary Corps. Their attacks on ships off the coast of Africa or in the Mediterranean, and subsequent capture of able-bodied men for ransom or sale provided some captives for the Ottoman state. From the 17th century onwards, the ''[[devşirme]]'' system became obsolete.<ref name="Glassé 2008"/> Eventually, the Ottoman sultan turned to foreign volunteers from the warrior clans of [[Circassians]] in southern Russia to fill the Janissary Corps. As a whole the system began to break down, the loyalty of the Jannissaries became increasingly suspect. The Janissary Corps was abolished by [[Mahmud II]] in 1826 in the [[Auspicious Incident]], in which 6,000 or more were [[Capital punishment|executed]].<ref>{{cite book |first=Lord |last=Kinross |author-link=Patrick Balfour, 3rd Baron Kinross |year=1977 |title=The Ottoman Centuries: The Rise and Fall of the Turkish Empire |location=London |publisher=Perennial |isbn=978-0-688-08093-8 |url=https://archive.org/details/ottomancenturies00kinr |pages=456–457}}</ref> On the [[Barbary Coast|western coast of Africa]], Berber Muslims captured [[Kafir|non-Muslims]] to put to work as laborers. In [[Morocco]], the Berbers looked south rather than north. The Moroccan sultan [[Moulay Ismail]], called "the Bloodthirsty" (1672–1727), employed a corps of 150,000 [[Trans-Saharan slave trade|black slaves]], called the "[[Black Guard]]". He used them to coerce the country into submission.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/med/lewis1.html |author=Lewis |title=Race and Slavery in the Middle East |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1994 |access-date=2008-03-24 |archive-date=2001-04-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010401012040/http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/med/lewis1.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===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 = G. F. | last = Krivosheev | 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>

==Arguments against conscription==
{{Hatnote|This section focuses primarily on the United States and not a worldwide view.}}

===Sexism===
{{Main|Sexism and conscription}}

[[Men's rights movement|Men's rights activists]],<ref>{{cite book |last1=Messner |first1=Michael A. |title=Politics of Masculinities: Men in Movements |date=20 March 1997 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-0-8039-5577-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nG8MGcopgWQC&pg=PA41 |language=en |pages=41–48}}</ref><ref name="BoydLongwood1996">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VSrhNzWb6sIC&pg=PR17|title=Redeeming men: religion and masculinities|publisher=[[Westminster John Knox]] Press|year=1996|isbn=978-0-664-25544-2|editor=Stephen Blake Boyd|page=17|quote=In contradistinction to profeminism, however, the men's rights perspective addresses specific legal and cultural factors that put men at a disadvantage. The movement is made up of a variety of formal and informal groups that differ in their approaches and issues; Men's rights advocates, for example, target sex-specific military conscription and judicial practices that discriminate against men in child custody cases.|editor2=W. Merle Longwood|editor3=Mark William Muesse}}</ref> [[Feminism|feminists]],<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Stephen|first1=Lynn|title=Making the Draft a Women's Issue|journal=Women: A Journal of Liberation|date=1981|volume=8|issue=1|url=http://voices.revealdigital.com/cgi-bin/independentvoices?a=d&d=BGJGDDE19761001.1.59&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN---------------1|access-date=28 March 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Lindsey|first1=Karen|editor1-last=McAllister|editor1-first=Pam|title=Reweaving the Web of Life: Feminism and Nonviolence|date=1982|publisher=New Society Publishers|isbn=0865710163|chapter=Women and the Draft|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/reweavingwebofli00mcal|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/reweavingwebofli00mcal}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Levertov|first1=Denise|title=Candles in Babylon|date=1982|publisher=New Directions Press|isbn=9780811208314|chapter-url=http://www.ndbooks.com/book/candles-in-babylon/|chapter=A Speech: For Antidraft Rally, D.C. March 22, 1980|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/candlesinbabylon00leve}}</ref> and opponents of discrimination against men<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/sexes/archive/2013/05/when-men-experience-sexism/276355/|title=When Men Experience Sexism|date=May 29, 2013|access-date=April 26, 2015|website=[[The Atlantic]]|last=Berlatsky|first=Noah|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150105151244/http://www.theatlantic.com/sexes/archive/2013/05/when-men-experience-sexism/276355/|url-status=live|archive-date=January 5, 2015}}</ref><ref name="SS" />{{Rp|102}} have criticized military conscription, or compulsory military service, as [[sexist]]. The National Coalition for Men, a [[Men's rights movement|men's rights group]], [[National Coalition for Men v. Selective Service System|sued]] the US [[Selective Service System]] in 2019, leading to it being declared unconstitutional by a US Federal Judge.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Pager|first=Tyler|date=2019-02-24|title=Drafting Only Men for the Military Is Unconstitutional, Judge Rules|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/24/us/military-draft-men-unconstitutional.html|access-date=2020-06-13|issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Pager|first=Tyler|date=2019-02-24|title=Drafting Only Men for the Military Is Unconstitutional, Judge Rules|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/24/us/military-draft-men-unconstitutional.html|access-date=2020-08-05|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> The federal district judge's opinion was unanimously overturned on appeal to the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit|U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Federal appeals court: Male-only draft is constitutional|website=[[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]]|url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/federal-appeals-court-male-draft-constitutional-72350218}}</ref> In September 2021, the House of Representatives passed the annual Defense Authorization Act, which included an amendment that states that "all Americans between the ages of 18 and 25 must register for selective service." This amendment omitted the word "male", which would have extended a potential draft to women; however, the amendment was removed before the National Defense Authorization Act was passed.<ref>{{Cite news|title=House passes defense bill with commission to investigate Afghanistan failures, mandate that women register for draft|language=en-US|newspaper=Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/house-defense-authorization-bill/2021/09/23/ef9c05d2-1bc9-11ec-a99a-5fea2b2da34b_story.html|access-date=28 October 2021|issn=0190-8286}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Turner|first=Trish|date=24 July 2021|title=New legislation would require women, like men, to sign up for potential military draft|url=https://abc7chicago.com/10907316/|access-date=28 October 2021|website=ABC7 Chicago|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Behrmann|first=Savannah|date=8 December 2021|title=Lawmakers kill measure that would have required women to register for the Selective Service|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2021/12/08/lawmakers-kill-provision-requiring-women-register-draft/6433960001/|access-date=22 January 2022|website=USA Today|language=en}}</ref>

Feminists have argued, first,  that military conscription is sexist because wars serve the interests of what they view as the [[patriarchy]]; second, that the military is a sexist institution and that conscripts are therefore indoctrinated into sexism; and third, that conscription of men normalizes violence by men as socially acceptable.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Michalowski|first1=Helen|title=Five feminist principles and the draft|journal=Resistance News|date=May 1982|issue=8|page=2}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Neudel|first1=Marian Henriquez|title=Feminism and the Draft|journal=Resistance News|date=July 1983|issue=13|page=7}}</ref> Feminists have been organizers and participants in resistance to conscription in several countries.<ref>{{cite periodical |title=Letters from draft-age women about why they wouldn't register for the draft |periodical=Resistance News |date=1 March 1980 |issue=2|page=6}}</ref><ref>{{cite periodical |title=Gestation: Women and Draft Resistance |periodical=Resistance News|date=November 1982|issue=11}}</ref><ref>{{cite periodical |title=Women and the resistance movement |periodical=Resistance News|date=8 June 1986|issue=21}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=No to Equality in Militarism! (Statement of the feminist collective TO MOV co-signed by the Association of Greek Conscientious Objectors)|url=http://antimili-youth.net/articles/2016/02/no-equality-militarism|website=Countering the Militarisation of Youth|publisher=War Resisters International|access-date=28 March 2016}}</ref>

Conscription has also been criticized on the ground that, historically, only men have been subjected to conscription.<ref name="SS">{{Cite book|title=The Second Sexism: Discrimination Against Men and Boys|last=Benatar|first=David|publisher=[[John Wiley & Sons]]|isbn=978-0-470-67451-2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vdIrkGLHLPsC|author-link=David Benatar|access-date=April 26, 2015|date=May 15, 2012}}</ref><ref>Goldstein, Joshua S. (2003). [https://books.google.com/books?id=XUAsskBg8ywC&pg=PA108 "War and Gender: Men's War Roles – Boyhood and Coming of Age"]. In Ember, Carol R.; Ember, Melvin ''Encyclopedia of Sex and Gender: Men and Women in the World's Cultures''. Volume 1. [[Springer Science+Business Media|Springer]]. p. 108. {{ISBN|978-0-306-47770-6}}. Retrieved April 25, 2015.</ref><ref>Kronsell, Anica (June 29, 2006). [https://books.google.com/books?id=qVcV-JBhoVUC&pg=PA113 "Methods for studying silence: The 'silence' of Swedish conscription"]. In Ackerly, Brooke A.; Stern, Maria; [[Jacqui True|True, Jacqui]] ''Feminist Methodologies for International Relations''. [[Cambridge University Press]]. p. 113. {{ISBN|978-1-139-45873-3}}. Retrieved April 25, 2015.</ref><ref>{{Cite thesis|title=Multicultural Citizens, Monocultural Men: Indigineity, Masculinity, and Conscription in Ecuador|last=Selmeski|first=Brian R.|year=2007|isbn=978-0-549-40315-9|publisher=[[Syracuse University]]|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nv8_omV87vkC&pg=PA149|page=149|access-date=April 25, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=The Changing Face of European Conscription|last=Joenniemi|first=Pertti|publisher=[[Ashgate Publishing]]|year=2006|isbn=978-0-754-64410-1|pages=142–49|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hwaa7jKmE_IC&pg=PA149|access-date=April 25, 2015}}</ref> Men who opt out or are deemed unfit for military service must often perform alternative service, such as [[Zivildienst]] in [[Austria]], [[Germany]] and [[Switzerland]], or pay extra taxes,<ref>{{Cite web|title=RS 661.1 Ordonnance du 30 août 1995 sur la taxe d'exemption de l'obligation de servir (OTEO)|url=https://www.admin.ch/opc/fr/classified-compilation/19950245/index.html|access-date=2020-06-13|website=www.admin.ch}}</ref> whereas women do not have these obligations. In the US, men who do not register with the Selective Service cannot apply for citizenship, receive federal financial aid, grants or loans, be employed by the federal government, be admitted to public colleges or universities, or, in some states, obtain a driver's license.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Korte|first=Gregory|title=For a million U.S. men, failing to register for the draft has serious, long-term consequences|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/04/02/failing-register-draft-women-court-consequences-men/3205425002/|access-date=2020-06-13|website=USA Today|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Selective Service {{!}} USAGov|url=https://www.usa.gov/selective-service|access-date=2020-06-13|website=www.usa.gov|language=en}}</ref>

===Involuntary servitude===
[[File:Anti Civil War Draft Rioters in Lexington Avenue New York 1863.jpg|thumb|200px|Rioters attacking a building during the [[New York City draft riots|New York anti-draft riots]] of 1863]]
Many [[American libertarian]]s oppose conscription and call for the abolition of the [[Selective Service System]], arguing that [[impressment]] of individuals into the armed forces amounts to [[involuntary servitude]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dehnbase.org/lpus/library/platform/catm.html|title=Conscription and the Military|work=Libertarian Party|publisher=www.dehnbase.org}}</ref> For example, [[Ron Paul]], a former U.S. [[Libertarian Party (United States)|Libertarian Party]] presidential nominee,  has said that conscription "is wrongly associated with [[patriotism]], when it really represents slavery and involuntary servitude".<ref>U.S. Representative [[Ron Paul]] [http://antiwar.com/paul/?articleid=5651 Conscription Is Slavery], antiwar.com, January 14, 2003.</ref> The philosopher [[Ayn Rand]] opposed conscription, opining that "of all the statist violations of individual rights in a mixed economy, the military draft is the worst. It is an abrogation of rights. It negates man's fundamental right—the right to life—and establishes the fundamental principle of [[statism]]: that a man's life belongs to the state, and the state may claim it by compelling him to sacrifice it in battle."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://aynrandlexicon.com/lexicon/draft.html|title=Draft|work=aynrandlexicon.com|access-date=15 October 2016}}</ref>

In 1917, a number of radicals{{who|date=May 2021}} and anarchists, including [[Emma Goldman]], challenged the new draft law in federal court, arguing that it was a violation of the [[Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Thirteenth Amendment]]'s prohibition against slavery and involuntary servitude. However, the [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]] unanimously upheld the constitutionality of the draft act in the case of ''[[Arver v. United States]]'' on 7 January 1918, on the ground that the [[Constitution of the United States|Constitution]] gives [[United States Congress|Congress]] the power to [[declare war]] and to raise and support armies. The Court also relied on the principle of the reciprocal rights and duties of citizens. "It may not be doubted that the very conception of a just government in its duty to the citizen includes the reciprocal obligation of the citizen to render military service in case of need and the right to compel."<ref>John Whiteclay Chambers II, ''To Raise an Army: The Draft Comes to Modern America'' (1987) pp. 219–20</ref>

===Economic===
It can be argued that in a [[benefit–cost ratio|cost-to-benefit ratio]], conscription during peacetime is not worthwhile.<ref>Henderson, David R. "[http://econjwatch.org/issues/volume-2-issue-2-august-2005 The Role of Economists in Ending the Draft]" (August 2005).</ref> Months or years of service performed by the most fit and capable subtract from the productivity of the economy; add to this the cost of training them, and in some countries paying them. Compared to these extensive costs, some would argue there is very little benefit; if there ever was a war then conscription and basic training could be completed quickly, and in any case there is little threat of a war in most countries with conscription. In the United States, every male resident is required by law to register with the [[Selective Service System]] within 30 days following his 18th birthday and be available for a draft; this is often accomplished automatically by a motor vehicle department during licensing or by voter registration.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Seago |first=Laura |date=2009 |title=Automatic Registration in the United States: The Selective Service Example |url=https://www.brennancenter.org/sites/default/files/2019-08/Report_Automatic-Registration-in-the-US-Selective-Service-Example.pdf |journal=Brennan Center for Justice}}</ref>

According to [[Milton Friedman]] the cost of conscription can be related to the [[parable of the broken window]] in anti-draft arguments. The cost of the work, military service, does not disappear even if no salary is paid. The work effort of the conscripts is effectively wasted, as an unwilling workforce is extremely inefficient. The impact is especially severe in wartime, when civilian professionals are forced to fight as amateur soldiers. Not only is the work effort of the conscripts wasted and productivity lost, but professionally skilled conscripts are also difficult to replace in the civilian workforce. Every soldier conscripted in the army is taken away from his civilian work, and away from contributing to the economy which funds the military. This may be less a problem in an agrarian or pre-industrialized state where the level of education is generally low, and where a worker is easily replaced by another. However, this is potentially more costly in a [[post-industrial society]] where educational levels are high and where the workforce is sophisticated and a replacement for a conscripted specialist is difficult to find. Even more dire economic consequences result if the professional conscripted as an amateur soldier is killed or maimed for life; his work effort and productivity are lost.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://oll.libertyfund.org/?option=com_staticxt&staticfile=show.php%3Ftitle=2136&chapter=195469&layout=html&Itemid=27#c_NIR_1360-016_footnote_nt1046 |title=Why Not a Volunteer Army? |access-date=September 11, 2008 |first=Milton |last=Friedman |year=1967 |work=New Individualist Review|author-link=Milton Friedman }}</ref>

==Arguments for conscription==

===Political and moral motives===
{{Further|Social contract|Social solidarity|Active citizenship}}
[[File:Conscription in Iran 3.jpg|thumb|left|[[Conscription in Iran]]]]

[[Classical republicanism|Classical republicans]] promoted conscription as a tool for maintaining [[Civil control of the military#Composition of the military|civilian control of the military]], thereby preventing usurpation by a select class of [[warrior]]s or [[Mercenary|mercenaries]]. [[Jean Jacques Rousseau]] argued vehemently against professional armies since he believed that it was the right and privilege of every citizen to participate to the defense of the whole society and that it was a mark of moral decline to leave the business to professionals. He based his belief upon the development of the [[Roman Republic]], which came to an end at the same time as the [[Roman Army]] changed from a conscript to a professional force.<ref>[[s:The Social Contract|Rousseau, J-J. Social Contract.]] Chapter "The Roman Comitia"</ref> Similarly, [[Aristotle]] linked the division of armed service among the populace intimately with the political order of the state.<ref>[[s:Politics (Aristotle)/Book 6|Aristotle, Politics, Book 6]] Chapter VII and [[s:Politics (Aristotle)/Book 4|Book 4]] Chapter XIII.</ref> [[Niccolò Machiavelli]] argued strongly for conscription<ref>{{Cite book|title=Machiavelli, Marketing and Management|first1=Phil|last1=Harris|first2=Andrew |last2=Lock |first3=Patricia |last3=Rees |publisher=Routledge |year=2002 |isbn=9781134605682 |pages=10}}</ref> in ''[[The Prince]]'' and ''[[The Art of War (Machiavelli book)|The Art of War]]'' and saw the professional armies, made up of mercenary units, as the cause of the failure of societal unity in Italy.<ref name="ozio">{{cite journal |last1=Dolman |first1=Everett Carl |title=Obligation and the Citizen-Soldier: Machiavellian Virtú Versus Hobbesian Order |journal=Journal of Political & Military Sociology |date=1995 |volume=23 |issue=2 |page=195 |jstor=45294067 |issn=0047-2697}}</ref>

Other proponents, such as [[William James]], consider both mandatory military and [[national service]] as ways of instilling maturity in young adults.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.constitution.org/wj/meow.htm |title=The Moral Equivalent of War |first=William |last=James |year=1906 |access-date=2008-10-17 |archive-date=2020-05-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200526203149/https://www.constitution.org/wj/meow.htm }}</ref> Some proponents, such as [[Jonathan Alter]] and [[Mickey Kaus]], support a draft in order to reinforce social equality, create social consciousness, break down class divisions and allow young adults to immerse themselves in public enterprise.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.newsweek.com/1995/07/30/cop-out-on-class.html |title=Cop Out on Class |first=Jonathan |last=Alter |newspaper=Newsweek}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2010/03/12/interview_with_mickey_kaus_104743.html |title=Interview with Mickey Kaus |publisher=realclearpolitics.com }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.reason.com/archives/1995/10/01/overcoming-merit |title=Overcoming Merit |first=Virginia |last=Postrel |date=October 1995 |author-link=Virginia Postrel }}</ref> This justification forms the basis of Israel's [[The People's Army Model|People's Army Model]]. [[Charles Rangel]] called for the reinstatement of the draft during the [[Iraq War]] not because he seriously expected it to be adopted but to stress how the socioeconomic restratification meant that very few children of upper-class Americans served in the all-volunteer American armed forces.<ref>{{Cite magazine|title=Rangel: It's Time for a War Tax and a Reinstated Draft|url=https://time.com/3403976/rangel-draft-tax/|access-date=2021-09-30|magazine=Time|language=en}}</ref>
{{Clear}}

===Economic and resource efficiency===
{{Further|Industrial warfare|Total war|War effort}}
It is estimated by the [[British Armed Forces|British military]] that in a professional military, a company deployed for active duty in peacekeeping corresponds to three inactive companies at home. Salaries for each are paid from the military budget. In contrast, volunteers from a trained reserve are in their civilian jobs when they are not deployed.<ref>{{Cite book
|first=Gustav
|last=Hägglund
|title=Leijona ja kyyhky
|year=2006
|publisher=Otava
|language=fi
|isbn=951-1-21161-7
}}</ref>

Under the [[Total defence|total defense]] doctrine, conscription paired with periodic [[Refresher training (military)|refresher training]] ensures that the entire able-bodied population of a country can be mobilized to defend against invasion or [[Military aid to the civil community|assist civil authorities]] during emergencies. For this reason, some European countries have [[Peace dividend#Europe|reintroduced]] or debated reintroducing conscription during the onset of the [[Russian invasion of Ukraine]].

[[Military Keynesianism|Military Keynesians]] often argue for conscription as a [[job guarantee]]. For example, it was more financially beneficial for less-educated young Portuguese men born in 1967 to participate in conscription than to participate in the highly competitive job market with men of the same age who continued to higher education.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Card|first1=David|last2=Cardoso|first2=Ana Rute|s2cid=55247633|title=Can Compulsory Military Service Raise Civilian Wages? Evidence from the Peacetime Draft in Portugal|journal=American Economic Journal: Applied Economics|date=October 2012|volume=4|issue=4|pages=57–93|doi=10.1257/app.4.4.57|hdl=10261/113437|url=https://digital.csic.es/bitstream/10261/113437/4/AEJAppl_20110228_final_manuscript.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221010/https://digital.csic.es/bitstream/10261/113437/4/AEJAppl_20110228_final_manuscript.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-10 |url-status=live}}</ref>

== Drafting of women ==
{{see also|Conscription and sexism|Women in the military}}
[[File:Women in military - Obligation 2024.svg|thumb|upright=1.4|
Conscription of women (2024)
{{Legend|#ff9955|Service voluntary for both men and women}}
{{Legend|#55ff55|Conscription for both men and women}}
{{Legend|#5fd38d|Selective conscription for both men and women}}
{{Legend|#80e5ff|Conscription for men, women may volunteer}}
{{Legend|#87cdde|Selective conscription for men, women may volunteer}}
{{Legend|#b3b3b3|No data, no military, or no women allowed.}}
]]
[[File:HK-416_Norway.jpg|thumb|Norwegian woman soldier. [[Norway]] became, in 2015, the first [[NATO]] member to have a legally compulsory national service for both men and women, and the first country in the world to draft women on the same formal terms as men.]]
[[File:Flickr - Israel Defense Forces - Karakal Winter Training (1).jpg|thumb|Female Israeli soldiers]]

Throughout history, women have only been conscripted to join armed forces in a few countries, in contrast to the universal practice of conscription from among the male population. The traditional view has been that military service is a [[initiation rite|test of manhood]] and a [[rite of passage]] from boyhood into manhood.<ref>{{Cite book
| first=Ben
| last=Shephard
| title=A War of Nerves: Soldiers and Psychiatrists in the Twentieth Century
| publisher=Harvard University Press
| year=2003
| isbn=978-0-674-01119-9
| page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=We1HZDUTpdEC&pg=PA18 18]
| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=We1HZDUTpdEC
}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book
| title=Encyclopedia of sex and gender: men and women in the world's cultures
| volume=2
| first1=Carol R.
| last1=Ember
| first2=Melvin
| last2=Ember
| publisher=Springer
| year=2003
| isbn=978-0-306-47770-6
| pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=oGasFR3USxYC&pg=PA108 108–109]
| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oGasFR3USxYC
}}</ref> In recent years, this position has been challenged on the basis that it violates [[gender equality]], and some countries, have extended conscription obligations to women.

In 2006, eight countries ([[China]], [[Eritrea]], [[Israel]], [[Libya]], [[Malaysia]], [[North Korea]], [[Peru]], and [[Taiwan]]) conscripted women into military service.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news2/background/military-international/ |title=Women in the military — international |work=CBC News |date=30 May 2006 |access-date=15 January 2025}}</ref>

[[Norway]] introduced female conscription in 2015, making it the first [[NATO]] member to have a legally compulsory national service for both men and women,<ref name="UC">{{Cite web|url=https://www.forsvaret.no/en/news/archive/universal-conscription|title=Universal Conscription|date=11 June 2015|publisher=Norwegian Armed Forces|access-date=26 July 2024}}</ref> and the first country in the world to draft women on the same formal terms as men.<ref>Šťastníková, Štěpánka (13 July 2023). [https://www.securityoutlines.cz/rethinking-conscription-the-scandinavian-model/ "Rethinking Conscription: The Scandinavian Model"]. ''Security Outlines''. Retrieved 29 January 2025.</ref> In practice only motivated volunteers are selected to join the army in Norway.<ref name="NM">{{cite web|url=http://www.dw.com/en/norways-military-conscription-becomes-gender-neutral/a-17995882|title=Norway's military conscription becomes gender neutral|work=Deutsche Welle|access-date=15 October 2016}}</ref>

[[Conscription in Sweden|Sweden]] introduced female conscription in 2010, but it was not activated until 2017. This made Sweden the second nation in Europe to draft women, and the second in the world (after Norway) to draft women on the same formal terms as men.<ref name="CW">{{Cite journal |last1=Persson |first1=Alma|last2=Sundevall |first2=Fia |date=2019-03-22 |title=Conscripting women: gender, soldiering, and military service in Sweden 1965–2018 |journal=Women's History Review|volume=28|issue=7|pages=1039–1056|doi=10.1080/09612025.2019.1596542|issn=0961-2025|doi-access=free}}</ref>

[[Denmark]] has extended conscription to women from 2027 but then brought forward military service to 2025, also on a gender-neutral model.<ref name="Olsen">{{Cite web |last=Olsen |first=Jan M. |title=Denmark wants to conscript more people for military service – including women |url=https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/denmark-conscript-people-military-service-including-women-time-108073545 |access-date=2024-03-13 |website=ABC News |language=en |agency=Associated Press}}</ref><ref>[https://www.fmn.dk/globalassets/fmn/dokumenter/nyheder/2024/-aftale-om-fuld-ligestilling-i-vaernepligten-under-forsvarsforliget-2024-2033-.pdf Dokumenter]</ref><ref>[https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/indland/ligestilling-og-laengere-tid-i-troejen-forstaa-den-nye-vaernepligt Ligestilling og længere tid i trøjen: Forstå den nye værnepligt]</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=AFP |first=Staff Writer With |date=2025-03-26 |title=Denmark Brings Forwards Women's Military Service |url=https://thedefensepost.com/2025/03/26/denmark-women-military-service/ |access-date=2025-03-26 |website=The Defense Post |language=en-US}}</ref>

[[Conscription in Israel|Israel]] has universal female conscription, although it is possible to avoid service by claiming a religious exemption and over a third of Israeli women do so.<ref name="cbccami">{{cite news|url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/military-international/|title=Women in the military – international|date=May 30, 2006|work=CBC News Indepth: International military|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130913015451/http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/military-international/|archive-date=September 13, 2013}}</ref><ref name="theecono">{{cite web|url=http://ethesis.helsinki.fi/julkaisut/eri/hecer/disc/106/theecono.pdf|title=The Economic Costs and the Political Allure of Conscription|access-date=2008-06-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080624234828/http://ethesis.helsinki.fi/julkaisut/eri/hecer/disc/106/theecono.pdf|archive-date=2008-06-24}} (see footnote 3)</ref><ref>[http://forward.com/articles/121173/abuse-of-idf-exemptions-questioned/ "Abuse of IDF Exemptions Questioned"]. ''The Jewish Daily Forward''. 16 December 2009
</ref>

[[Conscription in Finland|Finland]] introduced voluntary female conscription in 1995, giving women between the ages of 18 and 29 an option to complete their military service alongside men.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Naisten vapaaehtoinen asepalvelus – Puolustusvoimat – Intti edessä – Intti.fi |url=https://intti.fi/naisten-vapaaehtoinen-asepalvelus|access-date=2021-04-12|website=intti.fi|language=fi-FI}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Oy|first=Edita Publishing|title=FINLEX –Säädösmuutosten hakemisto: 194/1995|url=https://finlex.fi/fi/laki/smur/1995/19950194|access-date=2021-04-12|website=finlex.fi|language=fi|archive-date=2021-07-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210712221940/https://www.finlex.fi/fi/laki/smur/1995/19950194|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In [[China]], military law allows for the conscription of men and women, but in practice people serving are volunteers, given that China's large population (of over a billion) permits meeting its military targets with volunteers. Nevertheless, provinces reserve their right to conscript people, if their quotas are not met by volunteers.<ref>https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/field/military-service-age-and-obligation/</ref><ref>https://time.com/6245036/taiwan-conscription-military-comparison</ref>

[[Sudan]]ese law allows for conscription of women, but this is not implemented in practice.<ref name="wri-irg_org">{{cite web|url=http://www.wri-irg.org/programmes/world_survey/country_report/en/Sudan|title=World Resisters International: Sudan, Country Report|date=7 March 2024 |publisher=[[War Resisters' International]]}}</ref>

In the [[British Empire in World War II|United Kingdom during World War II]], beginning in 1941, women were brought into the scope of conscription but, as all women with dependent children were exempt and many women were informally left in occupations such as nursing or teaching, the number conscripted was relatively few.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NWAzKA6ihUEC|title=Conscription in Britain, 1939–1964: the militarisation of a generation|first=Roger|last=Broad|publisher=Taylor & Francis|year=2006|isbn=978-0-7146-5701-1|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=NWAzKA6ihUEC&pg=PA244 244]}}<br />
^ {{Cite web|title=Conscription into military service|url=http://www.ppu.org.uk/learn/infodocs/st_conscription_l.html|website=Peace Pledge Union|access-date=2009-06-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090329105943/http://www.ppu.org.uk/learn/infodocs/st_conscription_l.html|archive-date=2009-03-29}}</ref> Most women who were conscripted were sent to the factories, although some were part of the  [[Auxiliary Territorial Service]] (ATS), [[Women's Land Army]], and other women's services. None were assigned to combat roles unless they volunteered.<ref name="Jeremy A. Crang 2008, pp. 381">Jeremy A. Crang, "'Come into the Army, Maud': Women, Military Conscription, and the Markham Inquiry", ''Defence Studies'', November 2008, Vol. 8 Issue 3, pp. 381,–95; statistics from pp. 392–93</ref> In contemporary United Kingdom, in July 2016, all exclusions on women serving in Ground Close Combat (GCC) roles were lifted.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.army.mod.uk/news-and-events/|title=News & Events|website=www.army.mod.uk|access-date=2019-02-12|archive-date=2016-03-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304074637/http://www.army.mod.uk/news/24844.aspx|url-status=live}}</ref>

In the [[Conscription in the Soviet Union|Soviet Union]], there was never conscription of women for the [[Soviet Armed Forces|armed forces]], but the severe disruption of normal life and the high proportion of civilians affected by [[World War II]] after the German invasion attracted many volunteers for "[[Eastern Front (World War II)|The Great Patriotic War]]".<ref>{{Cite book
| title=Women at war, 1939–45
| first1=Jack
| last1=Cassin-Scott
| first2=Angus
| last2=McBride
| publisher=Osprey Publishing
| year=1980
| isbn=978-0-85045-349-2
| pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=gPUtcFooPNoC&pg=PA33 33–34]
| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gPUtcFooPNoC
}}{{Dead link|date=February 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Medical doctors of both sexes could and would be conscripted (as officers). Also, the Soviet university education system required Department of Chemistry students of both sexes to complete an [[ROTC]] course in [[Weapons of mass destruction|NBC defense]], and such female reservist officers could be conscripted in times of war.

The United States came close to drafting women into the [[Nurse Corps]] in preparation for a planned [[Operation Downfall|invasion of Japan]].<ref>{{Cite news
| url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,775362,00.html
| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090423010321/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,775362,00.html
| archive-date=April 23, 2009
| title=Draft Women?
| date=January 15, 1945
| magazine=Time
| access-date=2008-08-12
}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Kalisch|first1=PA|author2=Kalisch PA|author3=Kalisch BJ|year=1973|title=The women's draft. An analysis of the controversy over the nurses' Selective Service Bill of 1945|journal=Nursing Research|volume=22|issue=5|pages=402–413|doi=10.1097/00006199-197309000-00004|pmid=4580476}}<!-- |access-date=2008-08-12 --></ref>

In 1981 in the [[Conscription in the United States|United States]], several men filed lawsuit in the case ''[[Rostker v. Goldberg]]'', alleging that the [[Selective Service Act of 1948]] violates the [[Due Process Clause]] of the [[Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Fifth Amendment]] by requiring that only men register with the [[Selective Service System]] (SSS). The [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]] eventually upheld the Act, stating that "the argument for registering women was based on considerations of equity, but Congress was entitled, in the exercise of its constitutional powers, to focus on the question of military need, rather than 'equity.'"<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/historics/USSC_CR_0453_0057_ZS.html |title=Rostker v. Goldberg |publisher= Cornell Law School |access-date=26 December 2006 }}</ref> In 2013, Judge [[Gray H. Miller]] of the [[United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas]] ruled that the Service's men-only requirement was unconstitutional, as while at the time ''Rostker'' was decided, women were banned from serving in combat, the situation had since changed with the 2013 and 2015 restriction removals.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/02/24/military-draft-judge-rules-male-only-registration-unconstitutional/2968872002/ |title= With women in combat roles, a federal court rules the male-only draft unconstitutional |last1= Korte |first1=Gregory |date=Feb 24, 2019 |work= [[USA Today]] |access-date= February 24, 2019}}</ref> Miller's opinion was reversed by the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit|Fifth Circuit]], stating that only the Supreme Court could overturn the Supreme Court precedence from ''Rostker''. The Supreme Court considered but declined to review the Fifth Circuit's ruling in June 2021.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://thehill.com/changing-america/respect/equality/539575-supreme-court-asked-to-declare-the-all-male-military-draft |title= Supreme Court asked to declare the all-male military draft unconstitutional |last1=Kelly |first1=Alexandra |date=Feb 19, 2021 |work= [[The Hill (newspaper)|The Hill]] |access-date= February 23, 2021}}</ref> In an opinion authored by Justice [[Sonia Sotomayor]] and joined by Justices [[Stephen Breyer]] and [[Brett Kavanaugh]], the three justices agreed that the male-only draft was likely unconstitutional given the changes in the military's stance on the roles, but because Congress had been reviewing and evaluating legislation to eliminate its male-only draft requirement via the National Commission on Military, National, and Public Service (NCMNPS) since 2016, it would have been inappropriate for the Court to act at that time.<ref>{{cite web | url  =https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/07/supreme-court-wont-hear-case-challenging-male-only-draft-registration.html | title = Supreme Court won't hear case arguing military draft registration discriminates against men | first = Tucker | last=  Higgens | date = June 7, 2021 | access-date = June 7, 2021 | work = [[CNBC]] }}</ref>

On 1 October 1999, in [[Conscription in Taiwan|Taiwan]], the [[Judicial Yuan]] of the Republic of China in its Interpretation 490 considered that the physical differences between males and females and the derived role differentiation in their respective social functions and lives would not make drafting only males a violation of the [[Constitution of the Republic of China]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.judicial.gov.tw/constitutionalcourt/EN/p03_01.asp?expno=490 |title=Judicial Yuan Interpretation 490 |work=translated by Jiunn-rong Yeh |access-date=2008-01-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080603180450/http://www.judicial.gov.tw/constitutionalcourt/EN/p03_01.asp?expno=490 |archive-date=2008-06-03 }}</ref>{{Verify source|type=(see discussion)|date=September 2010}} Though women are not conscripted in Taiwan, [[transsexual]] persons are exempt.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nca.gov.tw/04/showdit.asp?sid=&%A7%C7%B8%B9=393 |title=Attachment of the standard of the class of physical condition of a draftee |publisher=Conscription Agency, Ministry of the Interior |language=zh |access-date=2008-01-28 |archive-date=2021-04-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210414230300/https://www.nca.gov.tw/04/showdit.asp?sid=&%A7%C7%B8%B9=393 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In 2018, the [[Netherlands]] started including women in its draft registration system, although conscription is not currently enforced for either sex.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.dutchnews.nl/news/2018/10/girls-to-be-included-in-military-service-register-from-next-year/| title = Girls to be included in military service register from next year| date = 3 October 2018}}</ref> [[France]] and [[Portugal]], where conscription was abolished, extended their symbolic, mandatory day of information on the armed forces for young people - called [[Defence and Citizenship Day (France)|Defence and Citizenship Day]] in France and Day of National Defence in Portugal – to women in 1997 and 2008, respectively; at the same time, the military registry of both countries and obligation of military service in case of war was extended to women.<ref>[https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/codes/section_lc/LEGITEXT000006071335/LEGISCTA000006137883/#LEGISCTA000006137883 Code du Service National]</ref><ref>[https://www.portugal.gov.pt/pt/gc21/area-de-governo/defesa-nacional/informacao-adicional/dia-da-defesa-nacional.aspx Dia de Defesa Nacional]</ref>

==Conscientious objection==
{{Main|Conscientious objection|Antimilitarism|Conscientious objection throughout the world}}
A [[conscientious objector]] is an individual whose personal beliefs are incompatible with [[Armed forces|military service]], or, more often, with any role in the armed forces.<ref>On July 30, 1993, explicit clarification of the [[International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights]] Article 18 was made in the United Nations [[Human Rights Committee]] general comment 22, Para. 11: {{cite web|url=http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/FreedomReligion/Pages/IstandardsI3k.aspx|title=Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief. Framework for communications. Conscientious Objection|publisher=Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights|access-date=2012-05-07|archive-date=2017-09-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170926040943/http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/FreedomReligion/Pages/IstandardsI3k.aspx}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CCPR.aspx|title=International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; See Article 18|publisher=Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights|access-date=2008-05-15}}</ref> In some countries, conscientious objectors have special legal status, which augments their conscription duties. For example, Sweden allows conscientious objectors to choose a service in the weapons-free [[civil defense]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Att vara vapenfri|url=https://www.pliktverket.se/monstring-och-varnplikt/monstring/att-vara-vapenfri|access-date=2022-02-24|website=www.pliktverket.se|language=sv}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Total defence service, civilian service|url=https://www.krisinformation.se/en/hazards-and-risks/hojd-beredskap-och-krig/total-defence-service|access-date=2025-04-06|website=Krisinformation.se|date=6 March 2025 |publisher=Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250317142313/https://www.krisinformation.se/en/hazards-and-risks/hojd-beredskap-och-krig/total-defence-service|archive-date=2025-03-17}}</ref>

The reasons for refusing to serve in the military are varied. Some people are conscientious objectors for religious reasons. In particular, the members of the historic [[peace churches]] are [[pacifism|pacifist]] by doctrine, and [[Jehovah's Witnesses]], while not strictly pacifists, refuse to participate in the armed forces on the ground that they believe that Christians should be neutral in international conflicts.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.jw.org/en/news/legal/legal-resources/information/packet-conscientious-objection-military-service/|title=Conscientious Objection to Military Service {{pipe}} Information Packet|website=JW.ORG}}</ref>

==By country==
{{Main|Military service}}
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{| class="wikitable sortable mw-collapsible"<!--
 NOTE: Conscription column should always begin with "Yes", "No", or "sources differ" for proper sorting -->
|+Conscription by country – Examples
! width="170" |Country
! Conscription<ref name="NM-conscription">{{cite web | url=http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/mil_con-military-conscription | title=Nationmaster: Conscription | publisher= Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Geneva, Switzerland, 1997. Data collected from the nations concerned, or as otherwise indicated}}</ref>
! Sex

|-
| {{flag|Afghanistan}}
| style="background:#ddf;" | Yes
| N/A

|-
| {{flag|Albania}}
| style="background:#dff;" | No (abolished in 2010)<ref>{{cite web | last=Koci | first=Jonilda | title=Albania to abolish conscription by 2010 | url=http://www.setimes.com/cocoon/setimes/xhtml/en_GB/features/setimes/features/2008/08/21/feature-03 | date=August 21, 2008 | publisher=SETimes | access-date=4 September 2010}}</ref>
| N/A

|-
| {{flag|Algeria}}
| style="background:#ddf;" | Yes
| Male

|-
| {{flag|Angola}}
| style="background:#ddf;" | Yes
| Male

|-
| {{flag|Antigua and Barbuda}}
| style="background:#dff;" | No
| N/A

|-
| {{flag|Argentina}} ''[[Conscription in Argentina|(see details)]]''
| style="background:#dff;" |No. Voluntary; conscription may be required for specified reasons per Article 19 of Public Law No.24.429 promulgated on 5 January 1995.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ley 24.429 del 14/12/94 |url=https://servicios.infoleg.gob.ar/infolegInternet/anexos/0-4999/802/norma.htm |access-date=2023-10-15 |website=servicios.infoleg.gob.ar}}</ref>
| N/A

|-
| {{flag|Armenia}}
| style="background:#ddf;" | Yes
| Male

|-
| {{flag|Australia}} [[Conscription in Australia|''(see details)'']]
| style="background:#dff;" | No (abolished by parliament in 1972)<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/cib/1999-2000/2000cib07.htm | title=Current Issues Brief 7 1999–2000 – Military Conscription: Issues for Australia | first=Gary | last=Brown | publisher=Parliamentary library; Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Group | date=October 12, 1999 | access-date=2007-08-10 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070819121822/http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/cib/1999-2000/2000cib07.htm | archive-date=August 19, 2007 }}</ref>
| N/A

|-
| {{flag|Austria}}
| style="background:#ddf;" | Yes ([[alternative service]] available)<ref>{{cite web | title=Official information website|url=http://www.bmi.gv.at/cms/zivildienst/zugang/start.aspx }}</ref>
| Male

|-
| {{flag|Azerbaijan}}
| style="background:#ddf;" | Yes
| Male

|-
| {{flag|Bahamas}}
| style="background:#dff;" | No
| N/A

|-
| {{flag|Bahrain}}
| style="background:#dff;" | No
| N/A

|-
| {{flag|Bangladesh}}
| style="background:#dff;" | No (but can volunteer for service in [[Bangladesh Ansar]])
| N/A

|-
| {{flag|Barbados}}
| style="background:#dff;" | No
| N/A
|-
| {{flag|Belarus}}
| style="background:#ddf;" | Yes
| Male
|-
| {{flag|Belgium}}
| style="background:#dff;" | No (suspended in 1992; service not required of draftees inducted for 1994 military classes or any thereafter)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://radio2.be/lees/al-25-jaar-geen-verplichte-legerdienst-meer|title=Al 25 Jaar Geen Verplichte Legerdienst Meer!|publisher=Radio 2|access-date=2022-10-14}}</ref>
| N/A
|-
| {{flag|Belize}}
| style="background:#dff;" | No. Laws allow for conscription only if volunteers are insufficient, but conscription has never been implemented.<ref name="the-world-factbook-fields-2024">{{cite web | url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/field/military-service-age-and-obligation/ | title=The World Factbook: Military service age and obligation | publisher=[[CIA]] | access-date=2024-08-20 | archive-date=2024-07-23 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240723085953/https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/field/military-service-age-and-obligation/ }}</ref>
| N/A

|-
| {{flag|Benin}}
| style="background:#ddf;" | Yes
| Male and female

|-
| {{flag|Bhutan}}
| style="background:#dff;" |No<ref name="the-world-factbook-fields-2024"/>
| N/A

|-
| {{flag|Bolivia}}
| style="background:#ddf;" | Yes (whenever annual number of volunteers falls short of government's goal)<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.nationmaster.com/country/bl-bolivia/mil-military | title=South America > Bolivia > Military | publisher=nationmaster.com }}</ref>
| Male and female

|-
| {{flag|Bosnia and Herzegovina}}
| style="background:#dff;" | No (abolished on 1 January 2006)<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.setimes.com/cocoon/setimes/xhtml/en_GB/features/setimes/special/dayton/peacekeeping/feature-11 | title=NATO and the Defence Reform Commission: partners for progress | publisher=setimes.com}}</ref>
| N/A

|-
| {{flag|Botswana}}
| style="background:#dff;" | No
| N/A

|-
| {{flag|Brazil}} [[Conscription in Brazil|''(see details)'']]
| style="background:#ddf;" | Yes, but almost all recruits have been volunteers in recent years.<ref name="Brasil">{{Cite web | url=http://www.brasil.gov.br/cidadania-e-justica/2013/11/publicidade-sobre-isencao-no-servico-militar-e-proibida | title=Publicidade sobre isenção no serviço militar é proibida | last=Brasil | first=Portal | website=Portal Brasil | language=pt-BR | access-date=2016-07-19}}</ref> ([[Alternative service]] is cited in Brazilian law,<ref>[http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/leis/l4375.htm Lei No 4.375, de 17 de Agosto de 1964.] – Military Service Law at government's official website</ref> but a system has not been implemented.)<ref name="Brasil" />
| Male

|-
| {{flag|Brunei}}
| style="background:#dff;" | No
| N/A

|-
| {{flag|Bulgaria}}
| style="background:#dff;" |No (abolished by law on 1 January 2008)<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.wri-irg.org/programmes/world_survey/country_report/en/Bulgaria | title=Country report and updates: Bulgaria22 October 2008 |website=War Resisters' International | date=22 October 2008 }}</ref>
| N/A

|-
| {{flag|Burkina Faso}}
| style="background:#dff;" | No
| N/A

|-
| {{flag|Burundi}}
| style="background:#dff;" | No
| N/A

|-
| {{flag|Cambodia}}
| style="background:#ddf;" | Yes
| Male

|-
| {{flag|Cameroon}}
| style="background:#dff;" | No
| N/A

|-
| {{flag|Canada}} ''[[Conscription in Canada|(see details)]]''
| style="background:#dff;" | No. Legislative provision making all men of military age a [[Canadian militia#British-rule and post-Confederation|Reserve Militia]] member was removed in 1904.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://faculty.marianopolis.edu/c.belanger/quebechistory/encyclopedia/HistoryoftheCanadianMilitia-TheMilitiaofCanada-Canadianhistory.htm|title=History of the Canadian Militia|website=faculty.marianopolis.edu|access-date=14 July 2024|publisher=Marianopolis College|year=2006|first=Claude|last=Bélanger}}</ref> Conscription into a full-time military service took place in both world wars, with 1945 being the last year conscription was practice.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/conscription|title=Conscription in Canada|last1=Granatstein|first1=J. I.|last2=Jones|first2=Richard|last3=de Bruin|first3=Tabitha|first4=Andrew|last4=McIntosh|date=29 June 2022|access-date=15 July 2024}}</ref>
| N/A

|-
| {{flag|Cape Verde}}
| style="background:#ddf;" | Yes (selective compulsory military service)
| Male and female

|-
| {{flag|Central African Republic}}
| style="background:#dff;" | No
| N/A

|-
| {{flag|Chad}}
| style="background:#ddf;" | Yes
| Male

|-
| {{flag|Chile}}
| style="background:#ddf;" | Yes
| Male

|-
| {{flag|China}}
| style="background:#dff;" | No, however Male citizens 18 years of age and over are required to register for military service in [[People's Liberation Army]] recruiting offices (registration exempted for residents of Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions).<ref>{{cite web | url=http://wri-irg.org/programmes/world_survey/country_report/en/China | title=Country report and updates: China |website=[[War Resisters' International]] | date=15 March 1998 | quote=All male citizens must register at the local PLA office in the year they reach the age of 18. Local governments get annual recruitment quotas, and local PLA offices select recruits according to medical and political criteria and military requirements. Call-up for military service then takes place at the age of 18.}}</ref><ref name="Kang2015" /><ref name="times_china" /><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.66law.cn/laws/1532152.aspx |title=中国服兵役是强制的吗 |website=66 Lawyer Consultant |date=8 March 2023}}</ref>
| N/A

|-
| {{flag|Colombia}}
| style="background:#ddf;" | Yes
| Male

|-
| {{flag|Comoros}}
| style="background:#dff;" | No
| N/A

|-
| {{flag|Congo}}
| style="background:#dff;" | No (ended in 1969)
| N/A

|-
| {{flag|Côte d'Ivoire}}
| style="background:#ddf;" | Yes (conscription is reportedly not enforced)
| Male and female

|-
| {{flag|Croatia}}
| style="background:#dff;" | No. Abolished by law in 2008, announced reintroduction by mid-2025.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.setimes.com/cocoon/setimes/xhtml/en_GB/newsbriefs/setimes/newsbriefs/2007/10/05/nb-07 | title=Croatia to abolish conscription military service sooner | date=May 10, 2007 | work=Southeast European Times | access-date=2008-05-30 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://apnews.com/article/croatia-military-draft-balkans-f6e5577b55f7741de2f831de89d534a2 | title=Croatia to reintroduce compulsory military draft as regional tensions soar | date=August 16, 2024 | work=AP News | access-date=2024-11-03 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.vecernji.hr/vijesti/odgoden-pocetak-sluzenja-obveznog-vojnog-roka-1803333 | title=Ipak ne kreće od 1. siječnja: Odgođen početak služenja obveznog vojnog roka | date=September 26, 2024 | work=Večernji list | access-date=2024-11-28 }}</ref>

| Male
|-
| {{flag|Cuba}}
| style="background:#ddf;" | Yes
| Male and female

|-
| {{flag|Cyprus}} [[Conscription in Cyprus|''(see details)'']]
| style="background:#ddf;" | Yes ([[alternative service]] available)
| Male

|-
| {{flag|Czech Republic}}
| style="background:#dff;" | No (abolished in 2005)<ref>{{cite web | title=Official site of Ministry of defense and armed forces of the Czech Republic | url=http://www.army.cz/scripts/detail.php?id=5762 | publisher=[[Ministry of Defence (Czech Republic)|Ministry of Defence]] and [[Armed Forces of the Czech Republic]] | access-date=2 January 2013}}</ref>
| N/A

|-
| {{flag|Democratic Republic of the Congo}}
| style="background:#dff;" | No
| N/A

|-
| {{flag|Denmark}} [[Conscription in Denmark|''(see details)'']]
| style="background:#ddf;" | Yes ([[alternative service]] available)<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.retsinformation.dk/Forms/R0710.aspx?id=6463 | title=Værnepligtsloven (Law on conscription) | language=da}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.retsinformation.dk/Forms/R0710.aspx?id=6464 | title=Lov om værnepligtens opfyldelse ved civilt arbejde (Law allows fulfillment of conscription duties with civilian work) | language=da}}</ref> 
| Male until 2026; Male and female from 2026.<ref name="Olsen"/>

|-
| {{flag|Djibouti}}
| style="background:#dff;" | No
| N/A

|-
| {{flag|Dominican Republic}}
| style="background:#dff;" | No
| N/A

|-
| {{flag|Ecuador}}
| style="background:#dff;" | No (suspended in 2008)
| N/A

|-
| {{flag|Egypt}} [[Conscription in Egypt|''(see details)'']]
| style="background:#ddf;" | Yes ([[alternative service]] available)
| Male

|-
| {{flag|El Salvador}}
| style="background:#dff;" |No. Legal, not practiced.
| N/A

|-
| {{flag|Equatorial Guinea}}
| style="background:#ddf;" | Yes
| Male

|-
| {{flag|Eritrea}}
| style="background:#ddf;" | Yes (18 months by law, but often extended indefinitely)
| Male and female

|-
| {{flag|Estonia}}
| style="background:#ddf;" | Yes ([[alternative service]] available)
| Male

|-
| {{flag|Eswatini}}
| style="background:#dff;" | No
| N/A

|-
| {{flag|Ethiopia}}
| style="background:#dff;" | No, but the military can conduct callups when necessary.
| N/A

|-
| {{flag|Fiji}}
| style="background:#dff;" | No
| N/A

|-
| {{flag|Finland}} [[Conscription in Finland|''(see details)'']]
| style="background:#ddf;" | Yes ([[alternative service]] available)
| Male

|-
| {{flag|France}}
| style="background:#dff;" |No (suspended during peacetime in 2001).<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.wri-irg.org/programmes/world_survey/country_report/en/France | title=Country report and updates: France |website=War Resisters' International | date= October 23, 2008 }}</ref> A voluntary national service (''[[Service national universel]]'', with the option of military or civil service for men and women) was instituted in 2021.
| N/A

|-
| {{flag|Gabon}}
| style="background:#dff;" | No
| N/A

|-
| {{flag|Gambia}}
| style="background:#dff;" | No
| N/A
|-
| {{flag|Georgia}} [[Conscription in Georgia|''(see details)'']]
| style="background:#ddf;" |Yes<ref>{{Cite web |title=Georgia: New Defense Code Establishes System of Mandatory Military Service |url=https://www.loc.gov/item/global-legal-monitor/2023-12-28/georgia-new-defense-code-establishes-system-of-mandatory-military-service/ |access-date=2024-07-08 |website=Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA}}</ref>
| Male
|-
| {{flag|Germany}} [[Conscription in Germany|''(see details)'']]
| style="background:#dff;" |No (suspended during [[State of Defence (Germany)|peacetime]] by the federal legislature from 1 July 2011)<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/wehrpflg/__2.html | title=WPflG – Einzelnorm | work=gesetze-im-internet.de}}</ref> Reintroduced if volunteers are insufficient.
| N/A

|-
| {{flag|Ghana}}
| style="background:#dff;" | No (abolished in 2023)
| N/A

|-
| {{flag|Greece}} [[Conscription in Greece|''(see details)'']]
| style="background:#ddf;" | Yes ([[alternative service]] available)
| Male

|-
| {{flag|Guatemala}} 
| style="background:#ddf;" |Yes<ref>{{Cite web |title=Instagram |url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/field/military-service-age-and-obligation |access-date=2024-07-25 |website=www.cia.gov}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Guatemala 1993 Chapter V |url=https://www.cidh.org/countryrep/Guatemala93eng/chapter.5.htm |access-date=2024-07-25 |website=www.cidh.org}}</ref>
| Male

|-
| {{flag|Guinea}}
| style="background:#ddf;" | Yes
| Male

|-
| {{flag|Guinea-Bissau}}
| style="background:#ddf;" | Yes
| Male and female

|-
| {{flag|Guyana}}
| style="background:#dff;" | No
| N/A

|-
| {{flag|Haiti}}
| style="background:#dff;" | No
| N/A

|-
| {{flag|Honduras}}
| style="background:#dff;" | No
| N/A

|-
| {{flag|Hungary}}
| style="background:#dff;" |No (peacetime conscription abolished in 2014)<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.wri-irg.org/programmes/world_survey/country_report/en/Hungary | title=Country report and updates: Hungary | date=October 23, 2008 |website=War Resisters' International }}</ref>
| N/A

|-
| {{flag|India}}
| style="background:#dff;" | No
| N/A

|-
| {{flag|Indonesia}}
| style="background:#dff;" | No 
| N/A
|-
| {{flag|Iran}}
| style="background:#ddf;" | Yes
| Male

|-
| {{flag|Iraq}}
| style="background:#dff;" | No (abolished in 2003)
| N/A
|-
| {{IRL}}
| style="background:#dff;" | No
| N/A
|-
| {{flag|Israel}} [[Conscription in Israel|''(see details)'']]
| style="background:#ddf;" | Yes
| Male and female Jews, male Druze and Circassians

|-
| {{flag|Italy}}
| style="background:#dff;" | No (suspended during peacetime in 2005)<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.wri-irg.org/programmes/world_survey/reports/Italy#sdfootnote4sym | author=warresisters | title=Italy | date=23 October 2008 | work=wri-irg.org | publisher=War Resisters International}}</ref>
| N/A

|-
| {{flag|Jamaica}}
| style="background:#dff;" | No
| N/A

|-
| {{flag|Japan}}
| style="background:#dff;" | No (abolished in 1945)<ref>{{cite web | url=http://chartsbin.com/view/1887 | title=Military Conscription Policy by Country | last=ChartsBin | work=chartsbin.com | access-date=15 October 2016 | archive-date=16 October 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161016123751/http://chartsbin.com/view/1887 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Country report and updates |url=https://wri-irg.org/en/programmes/world_survey/country_report/en/Japan |access-date=2023-05-13 |website=War Resisters' International |language=en}}</ref>
| N/A
|-
| {{flag|Jordan}}
| style="background:#ddf;" | Yes (ended in 1992, reinstated in September 2020 for unemployed men)<ref>{{Citation |title=Jordan |date=2023-05-26 |url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/jordan/#military-and-security |work=The World Factbook |access-date=2023-06-14 |publisher=Central lo 99Intelligence Agency |language=en}}</ref>
| Male

|-
| {{flag|Kazakhstan}}
| style="background:#ddf;" | Yes
| Male

|-
| {{flag|Kenya}}
| style="background:#dff;" | No
| N/A

|-
| {{flag|Kuwait}}
| style="background:#ddf;" | Yes<ref>{{cite web | last1=Toumi | first1=Habib | title=Kuwait lawmakers approve military conscription | url=http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/kuwait/kuwait-lawmakers-approve-military-conscription-1.1478464 | website=Gulf News | date=25 March 2015 | access-date=12 August 2015}}</ref>
| Male

|-
| {{flag|Kyrgyzstan}}
| style="background:#ddf;" | Yes
| Male

|-
| {{flag|Laos}}
| style= "background:#dff;" | No
| N/A
|-
|{{flag|Latvia}}
| style="background:#ddf;" |Yes<ref>{{Cite web |title=Compulsory military service to be reintroduced.|url=https://eng.lsm.lv/article/society/defense/05.04.2023-compulsory-military-service-to-be-re-introduced-in-latvia.a503763/ |access-date=2023-04-12 |website=eng.lsm.lv |language=en}}</ref> (abolished in 2007, reintroduced on January 1, 2024)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Frequently asked questions about the State Defence Service {{!}} Aizsardzības ministrija |url=https://www.mod.gov.lv/en/state-defence-service/frequently-asked-questions-about-state-defence-service |access-date=2024-01-07 |website=www.mod.gov.lv |language=en}}</ref>
|Male
|-
| {{flag|Lebanon}}
| style="background:#dff;" |No (abolished in 2007)<ref name="CIA-le">{{Cite CIA World Factbook|country=Lebanon| access-date=2008-05-30 }}</ref>
| N/A

|-
| {{flag|Lesotho}}
| style="background:#dff;" | No
| N/A

|-
| {{flag|Liberia}}
| style="background:#dff;" | No
| N/A

|-
| {{flag|Libya}}
| style="background:#ddf;" | Yes
| Male

|-
| {{flag|Lithuania}}
| style="background:#ddf;" | Yes<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.baltictimes.com/lithuania_welcomes_first_495_volunteers_to_its_army | title=Baltic Times – Lithuania welcomes first 495 volunteers to its army}}</ref> About 3,000&ndash;4,000 conscripts each year must be selected, of  whom up to 10% serve involuntarily.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.karys.lt/bendraukime/naujienos/baigiamas-2019-metu-saukimas-i-nuolatine-privalomaja-pradine-karo-tarnyba/296 | title=Baigiamas 2019 metų šaukimas į nuolatinę privalomąją pradinę karo tarnybą {{pipe}} Karys.lt | access-date=2020-01-18 | archive-date=2020-08-09 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200809013438/https://www.karys.lt/bendraukime/naujienos/baigiamas-2019-metu-saukimas-i-nuolatine-privalomaja-pradine-karo-tarnyba/296 }}</ref>)
| Male

|-
| {{flag|Luxembourg}}
| style="background:#dff;" | No
| N/A

|-
| {{flag|Madagascar}}
| style="background:#dff;" | No
| N/A

|-
| {{flag|Malawi}}
| style="background:#dff;" | No
| N/A

|-
| {{flag|Malaysia}}
| style="background:#dff;" | No.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3299271.stm | title=BBC News – Asia-Pacific – Malaysian youth face call-up | work=bbc.co.uk | date=8 December 2003 | access-date=15 October 2016}}</ref> [[Malaysian National Service]] was suspended from January 2015 due to government budget cuts.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.thestar.com.my/News/Nation/2015/01/20/Budget-Revision-National-Service | title=Budget Revision: National Service 2015 suspended – Nation – The Star Online | work=thestar.com.my | date=20 January 2015 | access-date=15 October 2016}}</ref> It resumed in 2016, then was abolished in 2018. However, in 2023 the government announced its revival pending approval in 2024. National Service Malaysia resumed again in January 2025 for supervised trial training [[Malaysian Armed Forces]] with collaboration various government agencies for the nationhood module.
| Male and female

|-
| {{flag|Maldives}}
| style="background:#dff;" | No
| N/A

|-
| {{flag|Mali}}
| style="background:#ddf;" | Yes
| Male and female

|-
| {{flag|Malta}}
| style="background:#dff;" | No
| N/A

|-
| {{flag|Mauritania}}
| style="background:#dff;" | No (there is a compulsory two-year military service law, but the law has never been enforced in practice.)
| N/A

|-
| {{flag|Mexico}}
| style="background:#ddf;" | Yes
| Male
|-
| {{flag|Moldova}}
| style="background:#ddf;" | Yes<ref>{{Cite web |title=LP1245/2002 |url=https://www.legis.md/cautare/getResults?doc_id=137299&lang=ro# |access-date=2024-08-20 |website=www.legis.md}}</ref>
| Male

|-
| {{flag|Mongolia}}
| style="background:#ddf;" | Yes
| Male

|-
| {{flag|Montenegro}}
| style="background:#dff;" | No
| N/A

|-
| {{flag|Morocco}}
| style="background:#ddf;" | Yes (reintroduced in 2018)<ref>{{cite news | url=http://geographical.co.uk/people/cultures/item/2949-military-conscription | title=Reintroduction of military conscription in Morocco | last=Fitch | first=Chris | publisher=[[Geographical (magazine)|Geographical]] | date=26 October 2018 | access-date=22 November 2018 | archive-date=27 February 2021 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210227080130/http://geographical.co.uk/people/cultures/item/2949-military-conscription }}</ref>
| Male and female
|-
| {{flag|Mozambique}} ''[[Conscription in Mozambique|(see details)]]''
| style="background:#ddf;" | Yes<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.portaldogoverno.gov.mz/por/Cidadao/Servicos/Defesa-e-Seguranca/Recenseamento-e-Incorporacao-Militar | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150814004251/http://www.portaldogoverno.gov.mz/por/Cidadao/Servicos/Defesa-e-Seguranca/Recenseamento-e-Incorporacao-Militar | url-status=dead | archive-date=August 14, 2015 | title=Military census and incorporation | publisher=Mozambique government official website | access-date=2022-01-13 }}</ref>
| Male and female

|-
| {{flag|Myanmar}} [[Conscription in Myanmar|''(see details)'']]
| style="background:#ddf;" | Yes, enforced {{as of|2024|2 | lc=yes}}.<ref name="apnews_com">[https://apnews.com/article/myanmar-military-army-draft-resistance-conflict-conscription-45138c3c465609ff4b4fb39c696252d7 Facing setbacks against resistance forces, Myanmar’s military government activates conscription law]. [[AP News]]. February 10, 2024. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240210233754/https://apnews.com/article/myanmar-military-army-draft-resistance-conflict-conscription-45138c3c465609ff4b4fb39c696252d7|date=February 10, 2024}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=2024-02-10 |title=Myanmar's military government enforces conscription law |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-68261709 |access-date=2024-02-11 |language=en-GB}}</ref>
| Male and female

|-
| {{flag|Namibia}}
| style="background:#dff;" | No
| N/A

|-
| {{flag|Nepal}}
| style="background:#dff;" | No
| N/A

|-
| {{flag|Netherlands}}<br />[[Conscription in the Netherlands|''(see details)'']]
| style="background:#dff;" | No. Active conscription suspended in 1997 (except in [[Curaçao]] and [[Aruba]]).{{Citation needed | date=October 2011}}<ref>Conscription still exists, but compulsory attendance was held in abeyance in 1 January 1997 (effective from 22 August 1996), {{cite web | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070823213741/http://www.statengeneraaldigitaal.nl/thema_dienstplicht.html | archive-date=2007-08-23 | url=http://www.statengeneraaldigitaal.nl/thema_dienstplicht.html | title=Afschaffing dienstplicht | author=(unknown) | publisher=Tweede Kamer (Dutch House of Representatives) and the Koninklijke Bibliotheek (Royal Dutch Library) | date=October 12, 1999 | access-date=2009-07-27 }}</ref>
| Male and female

|-
| {{flag|New Zealand}}
| style="background:#dff;" | No (abolished in December 1972)
| N/A

|-
| {{flag|Nicaragua}}
| style="background:#dff;" | No (abolished in 1990)
| N/A

|-
| {{flag|Niger}}
| style="background:#ddf;" | Yes (selective compulsory military service for unmarried men and women)
| Male and female

|-
| {{flag|Nigeria}}
| style="background:#dff;" | No. However, under Nigeria's National Youths Service Corps Act, graduates from tertiary institutions are required to undertake national service for a year. The service begins with a 3-week military training.
|
|-
| N/A| {{flag|North Korea}}
| style="background:#ddf;" | Yes<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.country-data.com/cgi-bin/query/r-9627.html | title=North Korea, Military Conscription and Terms of Service | publisher=Based on the Country Studies Series by Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress | access-date=2007-08-12}}</ref>
| Male and female

|-
| {{flag|North Macedonia}}
| style="background:#dff;" |No (abolished in 2006)<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.wri-irg.org/node/916 | title=Macedonia: Conscription abolished |website=War Resisters' International  | date=1 June 2006 }}</ref>
| N/A

|-
| {{flag|Norway}}
| style="background:#ddf;" |Yes by law, but in practice people are not forced to serve against their will.<ref name="NM" /> Conscientious objectors have not been prosecuted since 2011; they are simply exempted from service.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.wri-irg.org/node/13541 |website=War Resisters' International |title=Norway: end of substitute service for conscientious objectors}}</ref>
| Male and female

|-
| {{flag|Oman}}
| style="background:#dff;" | No
| N/A

|-
| {{flag|Pakistan}}
| style="background:#dff;" | No
| N/A

|-
| {{flag|Papua New Guinea}}
| style="background:#dff;" | No
| N/A

|-
| {{flag|Paraguay}}
| style="background:#ddf;" | Yes
| Male

|-
| {{flag|Peru}}
| style="background:#dff;" | No (abolished in 1999)
| N/A

|-
| {{flag|Philippines}} [[Conscription in the Philippines|''(see details)'']]
| style="background:#dff;" | No (abolished in 2016){{refn|Nationmaster : Conscription, citing [[Friends World Committee for Consultation]] (FWCC)<ref name="NM-conscription" /> | name=NM-FWCC}}<ref>{{cite web | author = Central Intelligence Agency | title = The World Factbook: Military Service Age and Obligation | url = https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2024.html | access-date = 28 February 2016 | quote = 17–23 years of age (officers 20–24) for voluntary military service; no conscription; applicants must be single male or female Philippine citizens with either 72 college credit hours (enlisted) or a baccalaureate degree (officers) (2013) | author-link = Central Intelligence Agency | archive-date = 22 March 2016 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160322125136/https://www.cia.gov/library//publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2024.html }}</ref>{{refn|Section 4 Article II of the Philippine constitution reads, "The prime duty of the Government is to serve and protect the people. The Government may call upon the people to defend the State and, in the fulfillment thereof, all citizens may be required, under conditions provided by law, to render personal, military or civil service." Section 4 Article XVI of the Philippine constitution reads, "The Armed Forces of the Philippines shall be composed of a citizen armed force which shall undergo military training and serve as may be provided by law. It shall keep a regular force necessary for the security of the State."<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.chanrobles.com/philsupremelaw2.html | title=1987 Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines | publisher=Chan Robles Law Library}}</ref>}}
| N/A

|-
| {{flag|Poland}}
| style="background:#dff;" |No. Suspended in 2012, but military registration is still required.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Minárik |first1=Pavol |title=Polská armáda svolává k odvodovým komisím čtvrt milionu mužů a žen – Novinky |url=https://www.novinky.cz/clanek/zahranicni-polska-armada-svolava-k-odvodovym-komisim-ctvrt-milionu-muzu-a-zen-40458869#dop_ab_variant=0&dop_source_zone_name=novinky.sznhp.box&dop_req_id=iKjSYz24soS-202401291412&dop_id=40458869&source=hp&seq_no=1 |access-date=29 January 2024 |work=www.novinky.cz |date=29 January 2024 |language=cs}}</ref><ref>"[[Ministry of National Defence (Poland)|Poland's defence minister]], Bogdan Klich, said the country will move towards a professional army and that from January, only volunteers will join the [[Polish Armed Forces|armed forces]].", {{cite news | url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/poland/2505447/Poland-ends-army-conscription.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/poland/2505447/Poland-ends-army-conscription.html |archive-date=2022-01-11 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live | title=Poland ends army conscription | first=Matthew | last=Day | date=5 August 2008 | newspaper=telegraph.co.uk | access-date=2009-02-11 | location=London}}{{cbignore}}</ref>
| N/A

|-
| {{flag|Portugal}}
| style="background:#dff;" |No. Peacetime conscription abolished in 2004, but there remains a symbolic military obligation for all 18-year-olds, of both sexes: National Defense Day (''Dia da Defesa Nacional'').<ref name="def">{{cite web | url=http://juventude.gov.pt/Eventos/Cidadania/Paginas/DiaDefesaNacional-epoca2011-2012.aspx | title=Portal da Juventude – Dia da Defesa Nacional – Época 2011–2012 | author=Instituto Português da Juventude | work=juventude.gov.pt | access-date=2012-07-13 | archive-date=2017-10-20 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171020161928/http://juventude.gov.pt/Eventos/Cidadania/Paginas/DiaDefesaNacional-epoca2011-2012.aspx }}</ref>
| Male and female

|-
| {{flag|Qatar}}
| style="background:#ddf;" | Yes<ref>{{cite news |title=Now, military service must for Qatari males between 18 & 35 yrs |date=2018-04-05 |newspaper=Qatar Tribune |url=http://www.qatar-tribune.com/news-details/id/119481}}</ref>
| Male

|-
| {{flag|Romania}}
| style="background:#dff;" | No (stopped in January 2007)<ref>{{Cite web |title=LEGE (A) 395 16/12/2005 – Portal Legislativ |url=https://legislatie.just.ro/Public/DetaliiDocument/168193 |access-date=2024-08-27 |website=legislatie.just.ro}}</ref>
| N/A

|-
| {{flag|Russia}} [[Conscription in Russia|''(see details)'']]
| style="background:#ddf;" | Yes ([[alternative service]] available)
| Male

|-
| {{flag|Rwanda}}
| style="background:#dff;" | No
| N/A

|-
| {{flag|São Tomé and Príncipe}}
| style="background:#ddf;" | Yes
| Male

|-
| {{flag|Saudi Arabia}}
| style="background:#dff;" | No
| N/A

|-
| {{flag|Senegal}}
| style="background:#ddf;" | Yes
| Male and female

|-
| {{flag|Serbia}} [[Conscription in Serbia|''(see details)'']]
| style="background:#dff;" | No. Abolished on January 1, 2011, but will be reintroduced in November 2025.<ref name="VO">{{Cite web |date=2024-09-21 |title=Vučević: Obavezno služenje vojnog roka trebalo bi da počne u septembru 2025. godine |url=https://www.blic.rs/vesti/drustvo/vucevic-obavezno-sluzenje-vojnog-roka-trebalo-bi-da-pocne-u-septembru-2025-godine/lh9gfxr |access-date=2024-10-06 |website=Blic.rs |language=sr}}</ref>
| N/A

|-
| {{flag|Seychelles}}
| style="background:#dff;" | No
| N/A

|-
| {{flag|Sierra Leone}}
| style="background:#dff;" | No
| N/A

|-
| {{flag|Singapore}}
| style="background:#ddf;" | [[National service in Singapore|Yes]]
| Male

|-
| {{flag|Slovakia}}
| style="background:#dff;" |No (abolished on January 1, 2006)<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.epi.sk/zz/2005-570 | title=570/2005 Z. z. Zákon o brannej povinnosti {{!}} Aktuálne znenie | publisher=S.-EPI s r o, AION CS s.r.o | website=epi.sk | language=sk | access-date=2019-05-04}}</ref>
|N/A

|-
| {{flag|Slovenia}}
| style="background:#dff;" |No (abolished in 2003)<ref>{{Cite news | url=http://slonews.sta.si/index.php?id=1542&s=61 | title=Changing the Way Slovenia Sees the Armed Forces | date=November 18, 2003 |work=Slovenia News| access-date=2009-10-13 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110722111252/http://slonews.sta.si/index.php?id=1542&s=61 | archive-date=July 22, 2011 }}</ref>
| N/A

|-
| {{flag|Somalia}}
| style="background:#dff;" | No (conscription of men aged 18–40 and women aged 18–30 is authorized, but not currently used)
| N/A

|-
| {{flag|South Africa}}
| style="background:#dff;" | No (ended in 1994)<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.sahistory.org.za/pages/governence-projects/organisations/ecc/index.htm | title=End Conscription Campaign (ECC) |website=South African History Online | access-date=2011-03-13 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101129223558/http://sahistory.org.za/pages/governence-projects/organisations/ecc/index.htm | archive-date=2010-11-29}}</ref>
| N/A

|-
| {{flag|South Korea}} [[Conscription in South Korea|''(see details)'']]
| style="background:#ddf;" | Yes ([[alternative service]] available). The military service law was established in 1948.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://db.history.go.kr/item/level.do?levelId=dh_009_1948_11_16_0050 | title= Korean history databases}}</ref>
| Male
|-
| {{flag|South Sudan}}
| style="background:#ddf;" | Yes
| Male and female
|-
| {{flag|Spain}}
| style="background:#dff;" |No (abolished by law on 31 December 2001)<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/spain/1332085/Conscription-ends-in-Spain-after-230-years.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/spain/1332085/Conscription-ends-in-Spain-after-230-years.html |archive-date=2022-01-11 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live | title=Conscription ends in Spain after 230 years | date=April 18, 2014| last1=Wilkinson | first1=Isambard }}{{cbignore}}</ref>
| N/A

|-
| {{flag|Sri Lanka}}
| style="background:#dff;" | No
| N/A

|-
| {{flag|Sudan}}
| style="background:#ddf;" | Yes. [[Sudan]]ese law allows for conscription of women, but this is not implemented in practice.<ref name="wri-irg_org" />
| Male and female

|-
| {{flag|Suriname}}
| style="background:#dff;" | No
| N/A

|-
| {{flag|Sweden}}
| style="background:#ddf;" | Yes. Abolished in 2010 but reintroduced in 2017 ([[alternative service]] available)<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.rekryteringsmyndigheten.se/plikten-idag | title=Plikten idag | website=www.rekryteringsmyndigheten.se | access-date=2017-03-09 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170311051108/http://www.rekryteringsmyndigheten.se/plikten-idag | archive-date=2017-03-11 }}</ref>
| Male and female

|-
| {{flag|Switzerland}}
| style="background:#ddf;" | Yes ([[alternative service]] available)<ref>[http://www.zentralstelle-kdv.de/z.php?ID=236 The situation of conscientious objectors in Switzerland – compared with the guidelines of the European Union], zentralstelle-kdv.de {{webarchive | url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150207164014/http://www.zentralstelle-kdv.de/z.php?ID=236 | date=February 7, 2015 }}</ref>
| Male

|-
| {{flag|Syria}}
| style="background:#dff;" | No (abolished in 2024)<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://x.com/blaas083/status/1868318265401057375 | title=لا تجنيد إجباري في سوريا بل سيكون الجيش تطوعي  | website=x.com | access-date=2024-12-15}}</ref>
| N/A
|-
| {{flag|Taiwan}} 
| style="background:#ddf;" | Yes ([[alternative service]] available).<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://english.taipei.gov.tw/docms/index.jsp?categid=2073&recordid=1347 | title=Substitute Service Center |website=Department of Compulsory Military Service, Taipei City Government | access-date=July 25, 2008 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070324052011/http://english.taipei.gov.tw/docms/index.jsp?categid=2073&recordid=1347 | archive-date=March 24, 2007}}</ref><br />According to the Defence Minister, from 2018 there will be no compulsory enrollment for military service;<ref>{{cite web|url=http://focustaiwan.tw/news/aipl/201612120018.aspx|title=Military conscription to stop completely from 2018|work=Focus Taiwan|publisher=Central News Agency|location=Taipei, Taiwan|date=12 December 2016|access-date=14 December 2016|archive-date=29 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180829224103/http://focustaiwan.tw/news/aipl/201612120018.aspx|url-status=dead}}</ref> however, all men born after 1995 will be subject to four months of compulsory military training, increasing to one full year after 2024 (for men born after 2005).<ref>{{cite web |author=三立新聞網 |title=兵役確定延長！邱國正證實「年底前公告」民眾贊同：國家需要 |url = https://www.setn.com/News.aspx?NewsID=1191090 |access-date=2022-10-11}}</ref>
| Male
|-
| {{flag|Tajikistan}}
| style="background:#ddf;" | Yes
| Male

|-
| {{flag|Tanzania}}
| style="background:#ddf;" | Yes (selective conscription for 2 years of public service)
| Male and female

|-
| {{flag|Thailand}}
| style="background:#ddf;" | Yes, but can be exempted if three years of [[Territorial Defense Student]] training are completed. Students who start but do not complete a ''Ror Dor'' course in high school are still permitted to continue coursework for two more years at a university. Otherwise, they face training or must draw a conscription lottery "black card". The government intends to abolish these rules in 2027.<ref>{{Cite web |title="บิ๊กทิน" ชี้ปรับเกณฑ์ทหารแบบสมัครใจเม.ย.67-ลดนายพลปี 70 |url=https://www.thaipbs.or.th/news/content/331255 |access-date=2024-01-07 |website=Thai PBS |language=th}}</ref>
| Male

|-
| {{flag|Timor-Leste}}
| style="background:#ddf;" | Yes (authorized in 2020)
| Male and female

|-
| {{flag|Togo}}
| style="background:#dff;" | No
| N/A

|-
| {{flag|Tonga}}
| style="background:#dff;" | No
| N/A

|-
| {{flag|Trinidad and Tobago}}
| style="background:#dff;" | No
| N/A

|-
| {{flag|Tunisia}}
| style="background:#ddf;" | Yes
| Male and female

|-
| {{flag|Turkey}} [[Conscription in Turkey|''(see details)'']]
| style="background:#ddf;" | Yes<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.trthaber.com/haber/turkiye/yeni-askerlik-kanununa-onay-420705.html|title=Yeni Askerlik sistemi yürürlüğe girdi|website=TRT Haber|language=tr|date=25 June 2019}}</ref> 
| Male

|-
| {{flag|Turkmenistan}}
| style="background:#ddf;" | Yes
| Male

|-
| {{flag|Uganda}}
| style="background:#dff;" | No
| N/A

|-
| {{flag|Ukraine}}
| style="background:#ddf;" | Yes (abolished in 2013, reinstated in 2014 due to the [[Russo-Ukrainian War]])<ref name="BBC News">{{cite news | url=https://metro.co.uk/2022/02/25/man-who-fled-ukraine-on-33foot-says-conscripts-are-dragged-from-families-16176793/ | title=BBC News – Ukraine reinstates conscription as crisis deepens | newspaper=BBC News| date=2 May 2014 }}</ref>
| Male
|-
| {{flag|United Arab Emirates}}
| style="background:#ddf;" | Yes ([[alternative service]] available). Implemented in 2014, compulsory for all male citizens aged 18–30.<ref>{{cite news | last=Salama | first=Samir | url=http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/uae/government/mandatory-national-service-in-uae-approved-1.1344117 | title=Mandatory national service in UAE approved | work=GulfNews.com | date=7 June 2014}}</ref>
| Male
|-
| {{flag|United Kingdom}} [[Conscription in the United Kingdom|''(see details)'']]
| style="background:#dff;" | No. Required from 1916 until 1920 and from 1939 until 31 December 1960 (except for the [[Bermuda Regiment]], abolished in 2018).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-archive/foreign-affairs-committee/fac-pn-35-07-08/|title=Committee Publishes Report on Overseas Territories (item 26)|publisher=[[Parliament of the United Kingdom|UK Parliament]]|date=4 July 2008|accessdate=4 May 2023}}</ref>
| N/A

|-
| {{flag|United States}} [[Conscription in the United States|''(see details)'']]
| style="background:#dff;" | No. Ended in 1973, but registration is still required of all men aged 18–25.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Selective Service System – It's Your Country. Protect it. |url=https://www.sss.gov/ |access-date=2022-11-18 |website=Selective Service System |language=en-US}}</ref>
| N/A

|-
| {{flag|Uruguay}}
| style="background:#dff;" | No
| N/A

|-
| {{flag|Uzbekistan}}
| style="background:#ddf;" | Yes
| Male

|-
| {{flag|Venezuela}}
| style="background:#ddf;" | Yes<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.analitica.com/bitblioteca/venezuela/constitucion_ingles.pdf | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110926123131/http://www.analitica.com/bitblioteca/venezuela/constitucion_ingles.pdf | archive-date=2011-09-26 | title=Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (Promulgation date) | date=December 20, 1999 | publisher=analitica.com | access-date=2009-11-01 | at=Articles 134, 135 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.refworld.org/docid/403dd226c.html | title=Venezuela: Military service, including length of service, existence of alternative forms of service and penalties imposed on those who refuse to serve |website=U.N. Refugee Agency | author=Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada | date=18 December 2003 | access-date=2021-08-14}}</ref>
| Male and female
|-
|{{flag|Vietnam}}
| style="background:#ddf;" | Yes
|Male

|-
| {{flag|Yemen}}
| style="background:#dff;" | No (abolished in 2001)
| N/A

|-
| {{flag|Zambia}}
| style="background:#dff;" | No
| N/A

|-
| {{flag|Zimbabwe}}
| style="background:#dff;" | No
| N/A

|}

=== Austria ===
Every male citizen of the [[Austria|Republic of Austria]] from the age of 17 up to 50, specialists up to 65 years is liable to military service. However, besides mobilization, conscription calls to a six-month long basic military training in the {{lang|de|[[Austrian Armed Forces|Bundesheer]]}} can be done up to the age of 35. For men refusing to undergo this training, a nine-month lasting [[Zivildienst in Austria|community service]] is mandatory.

=== Belgium ===
[[Belgium]] abolished the conscription in 1994. The last conscripts left active service in February 1995. To this day (2019), a small minority of the Belgian citizens supports the idea of reintroducing military conscription, for both men and women.

=== Bulgaria ===
[[Bulgaria]] had conscription for males above 18 until it was ended in 2008.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.wri-irg.org/en/story/2008/bulgaria-conscription-ended | title=Bulgaria: conscription ended |website=War Resisters' International}}</ref> Due to a shortfall in the army of some 5,500 soldiers,<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.plovdiv24.bg/novini/Bylgaria/Purva-stupka-kum-vrushtaneto-na-kazarmata-769722 | title=Първа стъпка към връщането на казармата | date=16 January 2018 }}</ref> parts of the former ruling coalition have expressed their support for the return of conscription, most notably [[Krasimir Karakachanov]]. Opposition towards this idea from the main coalition partner, [[GERB]], saw a compromise in 2018, where instead of conscription, Bulgaria could have possibly introduced a voluntary military service by 2019 where young citizens can volunteer for a period of 6 to 9 months, receiving a basic wage. However, this has not gone forward.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.dnes.bg/politika/2018/01/29/staroto-se-uvolniava-zaicite-revat-i-eto-idva-karakachanova-kazarma.366403 | title=Старото се уволнява, зайците реват... И ето идва... Каракачанова казарма – Dnes.bg }}</ref>

=== Cambodia ===
Since the signing of the Peace Accord in 1993, there has been no official conscription in [[Cambodia]]. Also the National Assembly has repeatedly rejected to reintroduce it due to popular resentment.<ref>{{cite web |last1=UN and Amnesty International |title=Country report and updates: Cambodia |url=https://wri-irg.org/en/programmes/world_survey/country_report/en/Cambodia |website=www.wri-irg.org |date=August 1998}}</ref> However, in November 2006, it was reintroduced. Although mandatory for all males between the ages of 18 and 30 (with some sources stating up to age 35), less than 20% of those in the age group are recruited amidst a downsizing of the armed forces.<ref>{{cite web |author=War Resisters' International |title=Cambodia introduces conscription |url=https://wri-irg.org/en/story/2006/cambodia-introduces-conscription#:~:text=Since%20the%20signing%20of%20the,reintroduce%20conscription%20in%20the%20past.&text=The%20draft%20law%20provided%20for,ages%20of%2018%20and%2035. |website=www.wri-irg.org |date=1 November 2006}}</ref>

===Canada===
{{main|Conscription in Canada}}
Compulsory service in a sedentary militia was practiced in Canada as early as 1669. In peacetime, compulsory service was typically limited to attending an annual muster, although the [[Canadian militia]] was mobilized for longer periods during wartime. Compulsory service in the sedentary militia continued until the early 1880s when Canada's sedentary Reserve Militia system fell into disuse. The legislative provision that formally made every male inhabitant aged 16 to 60 member of the Reserve Militia was removed in 1904, replaced with provisions that made them theoretically "liable to serve in the militia".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://faculty.marianopolis.edu/c.belanger/quebechistory/encyclopedia/HistoryoftheCanadianMilitia-TheMilitiaofCanada-Canadianhistory.htm|title=History of the Canadian Militia|website=faculty.marianopolis.edu|access-date=19 July 2024|publisher=Marianopolis College|year=2006|first=Claude|last=Bélanger}}</ref>

Conscription into a full-time military service had only been instituted twice by the government of Canada, during both world wars. Conscription into the [[Canadian Expeditionary Force]] was practiced in the last year of the First World War in 1918. During the Second World War, conscription for home defence was introduced in 1940 and for overseas service in 1944. Conscription has not been practiced in Canada since the end of the Second World War in 1945.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/conscription|title=Conscription in Canada|last1=Granatstein|first1=J. I.|last2=Jones|first2=Richard|last3=de Bruin|first3=Tabitha|first4=Andrew|last4=McIntosh|date=29 June 2022|access-date=19 July 2024}}</ref>

=== China ===
[[File:Soldier Horse.JPG|thumb|upright|A [[Terracotta Army|terracotta]] soldier with his horse, China, 210–209 BC]]
Universal [[conscription in China]] dates back to the State of [[Qin dynasty|Qin]], which eventually became the Qin Empire of 221 BC. Following unification, historical records show that a total of 300,000 conscript soldiers and 500,000 conscript labourers constructed the [[Great Wall of China]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.chinapage.com/friend/goh/beijing/greatwall/greatwall.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718184726/http://www.chinapage.com/friend/goh/beijing/greatwall/greatwall.html|title=chinapage.com|archive-date=July 18, 2011|website=www.chinapage.com}}</ref> In the following dynasties, universal conscription was abolished and reintroduced on numerous occasions.

{{as of|2011}},<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://eng.mod.gov.cn/publications/2017-03/03/content_4774222.htm | title=Military Service Law of the People's Republic of China (2011 Amendment) [Effective] | last=Panyue | first=Huang | date=March 2017 | website=Ministry of National Defense The People's Republic of China | access-date=2018-10-12 | archive-date=2018-10-24 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181024012315/http://eng.mod.gov.cn/publications/2017-03/03/content_4774222.htm }}</ref> universal military conscription is theoretically mandatory in [[China]], and reinforced by law. However, due to the large population of China and large pool of candidates available for recruitment, the [[People's Liberation Army]] has always had sufficient volunteers, so conscription has not been required in practice.<ref name="china_wri">{{cite web|url=https://wri-irg.org/en/programmes/world_survey/country_report/en/China#:~:text=Conscription%20has%20existed%20since%20the,Republic%20of%20China%20in%201949.&text=Military%20service%20is%20normally%20performed,conscription%20into%20the%20reserve%20forces |title=Country report and updates: China |website=War Resisters' International |date=15 March 1998 }}</ref><ref name="Kang2015">{{cite web|url=http://www.cna.com.tw/news/newsworld/201504020004-1.aspx|title=解放軍地位高 農夫搶當兵(The soldiers of PLA are respected, peasants are scrambling to join the army|publisher=（臺灣）中央社(Central Agent (Taiwan))|author=Kang Shi-ren (康世人)|date=2015-04-02|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20170203162818/http://www.cna.com.tw/news/newsworld/201504020004-1.aspx|archivedate=2017-02-03}}</ref><ref name="times_china">{{cite web|url=https://time.com/6245036/taiwan-conscription-military-comparison/ |title=Taiwan Is Extending Conscription. Here's How Its Military Compares to Other Countries |website=Times |date=6 January 2023 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.163.com/dy/article/HA13UNMI0531CPV5.html |title=很多国家都强制男子服兵役，为什么中国不需要？|website=NetEase News |date=16 June 2022 }}</ref>

===Cuba===
{{Main|Conscription in Cuba}}

=== Cyprus ===
{{Main|Conscription in Cyprus}}
Military service in Cyprus has a deep rooted history entangled with the [[Cyprus problem]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Efthymiou |first=Stratis Andreas |chapter=Nationalism, Militarism and Masculinity After the Construction of the Border |date=2019 |title=Nationalism, Militarism and Masculinity in Post-Conflict Cyprus |pages=23–53 |publisher=Springer International |doi=10.1007/978-3-030-14702-0_2 |isbn=978-3-030-14701-3|s2cid=198621467 }}</ref> Military service in the [[Cypriot National Guard]] is mandatory for all male citizens of the Republic of Cyprus, as well as any male non-citizens born of a parent of [[Greek Cypriots|Greek Cypriot]] descent, lasting from the 1 January of the year in which they turn 18 years of age to 31 December, of the year in which they turn 50.<ref>{{Cite journal | last=Efthymiou | first=Stratis Andreas | s2cid=157301069 | date=2016-10-01 | title=Militarism in post-war Cyprus: the development of the ideology of defence | journal=Defence Studies | volume=16 | issue=4 | pages=408–426 | doi=10.1080/14702436.2016.1229126 | issn=1470-2436| url=http://repository.londonmet.ac.uk/5589/7/Stratis%20Andreas%20Efthymiou.%20Militarism%20in%20post-war%20Cyprus_%20the%20development%20of%20the%20ideology%20of%20defence.%20final%20edit..pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221010/http://repository.londonmet.ac.uk/5589/7/Stratis%20Andreas%20Efthymiou.%20Militarism%20in%20post-war%20Cyprus_%20the%20development%20of%20the%20ideology%20of%20defence.%20final%20edit..pdf |archive-date=2022-10-10 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.army.gov.cy/en/file/Mz7pGiPfUAqhGYAsl9Rd6A%3D%3D%3D/ |title=ΕΘΝΙΚΗΣ ΦΡΟΥΡΑΣ ΝΟΜΟΥΣ ΤΟΥ 1964 ΕΩΣ 2008 |website=www.army.gov.cy |access-date=17 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190609021921/http://www.army.gov.cy/en/file/Mz7pGiPfUAqhGYAsl9Rd6A%3D%3D%3D/ |archive-date=9 June 2019 }}</ref> All male residents of Cyprus who are of military age (16 and over) are required to obtain an [[Travel visa|exit visa]] from the [[Ministry of Defense (Cyprus)|Ministry of Defense]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Άδειες Εξόδου |url=http://www.army.gov.cy/el/page/adeies-eksodou |website=army.gov.cy |publisher=National Guard General Staff |access-date=17 February 2021 |quote=όλοι οι Κύπριοι πολίτες, περιλαμβανομένων και των προσώπων που έχουν οποιοδήποτε από τους δύο γονείς κυπριακής καταγωγής, αλλά δεν έχουν καταστεί πολίτες της Δημοκρατίας, ηλικίας 16 μέχρι και 26 ετών, για να τους επιτραπεί η έξοδος από τη χώρα, απαιτείται όπως επιδεικνύουν στα λιμάνια και αεροδρόμια, άδεια εξόδου η οποία εκδίδεται από το Υπουργείο Άμυνας και τα κατά τόπους Στρατολογικά Γραφεία της Εθνικής Φρουράς. |archive-date=5 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201205023011/http://www.army.gov.cy/el/page/adeies-eksodou }}</ref> Currently, military conscription in Cyprus lasts up to 14 months.

=== Denmark ===
{{Main|Conscription in Denmark}}
[[File:Copenhagen royal guard waiting.jpg|thumb|upright|Conscription duty as [[Royal Life Guards (Denmark)|Royal Life Guards]] in Copenhagen]]

Conscription is known in Denmark since the [[Viking Age]], where one man out of every 10 had to serve the king. [[Frederick IV of Denmark]] changed the law in 1710 to every 4th man. The men were chosen by the landowner and it was seen as a penalty.

Since 12 February 1849, every physically fit man must do military service. According to §81 in the [[Constitution of Denmark]], which was promulgated in 1849: <blockquote>Every male person able to carry arms shall be liable with his person to contribute to the defence of his country under such rules as are laid down by Statute. '''— Constitution of Denmark'''<ref>{{Cite web|url = http://www.parliament.am/library/sahmanadrutyunner/dania.pdf|title = Danish Constitution|website = Parliament}}</ref></blockquote>The legislation about compulsory military service is articulated in the Danish Law of Conscription.<ref>{{Cite web|title = Bekendtgørelse af værnepligtsloven|url = https://www.retsinformation.dk/Forms/R0710.aspx?id=6463|website = Retsinformation|access-date = 2016-02-18}}</ref> National service takes 4–12 months.<ref name="VT">{{Cite web |title=Værnepligt |url=https://www.borger.dk/Sider/Vaernepligt.aspx|website = Borger|access-date = 2016-02-18}}</ref> It is possible to postpone the duty when one is still in full-time education.<ref>{{Cite web|title = Forsvaret|url = http://www2.forsvaret.dk/temaer/vaernepligt/foerforsvaretsdag/Pages/default.aspx#Over6|website = www2.forsvaret.dk|access-date = 2016-02-18|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160222160228/http://www2.forsvaret.dk/temaer/vaernepligt/foerforsvaretsdag/Pages/default.aspx#Over6|archive-date = 2016-02-22}}</ref> Every male turning 18 will be drafted to the 'Day of Defence', where they will be introduced to the Danish military and their health will be tested.<ref>{{Cite web|title = Mødet på Forsvarets Dag|url = http://www2.forsvaret.dk/temaer/vaernepligt/paaforsvaretsdag/Pages/default.aspx|website = Forsvaret|access-date = 2016-02-18|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160224135634/http://www2.forsvaret.dk/temaer/vaernepligt/paaforsvaretsdag/Pages/default.aspx|archive-date = 2016-02-24}}</ref> Physically unfit persons are not required to do military service.<ref name="VT" /><ref>{{Cite web|title = Før Forsvarets Dag|url = http://www2.forsvaret.dk/temaer/vaernepligt/foerforsvaretsdag/Pages/default.aspx|website = Forsvaret|access-date = 2016-02-18|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160222160228/http://www2.forsvaret.dk/temaer/vaernepligt/foerforsvaretsdag/Pages/default.aspx|archive-date = 2016-02-22}}</ref> It is only compulsory for men, while women are free to choose to join the Danish army.<ref>{{Cite web|title = Kvinder i Forsvaret|url = http://www2.forsvaret.dk/temaer/vaernepligt/KvinderIForsvaret/Pages/default.aspx|website = [[Forsvaret.dk]] |access-date = 2016-02-18|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160224154112/http://www2.forsvaret.dk/temaer/vaernepligt/KvinderIForsvaret/Pages/default.aspx|archive-date = 2016-02-24}}</ref> Almost all of the men have been volunteers in recent years,<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.dr.dk/nyheder/indland/19-unge-tvunget-i-militaeret | title=19 unge tvunget i militæret | work=dr.dk | date=13 October 2014 | access-date=15 October 2016}}</ref> 96.9% of the total number of recruits having been volunteers in the 2015 draft.<ref>{{Cite web|title = Værnepligtige|language = da|url = http://forpers.dk/hr/Pages/Vaernepligtige.aspx|website = Forsvarsministeriets Personalestyrelse|access-date = 2016-11-22|archive-date = 2016-11-23|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20161123054025/http://forpers.dk/hr/Pages/Vaernepligtige.aspx}}</ref>

After lottery,<ref>{{Cite web|title = Mødet på Forsvarets Dag|url = http://www2.forsvaret.dk/temaer/vaernepligt/paaforsvaretsdag/Pages/default.aspx#Over6|website = Forsvaret for Danmark|access-date = 2016-02-18|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160224135634/http://www2.forsvaret.dk/temaer/vaernepligt/paaforsvaretsdag/Pages/default.aspx#Over6|archive-date = 2016-02-24}}</ref> one can become a conscientious objector.<ref>{{Cite web|title = Militærnægter|url = https://www.borger.dk/Sider/Militaernaegter.aspx|website = Borger|access-date = 2016-02-18}}</ref> Total objection (refusal from alternative civilian service) results in up to 4 months jailtime according to the law.<ref>{{Cite web|title = Bekendtgørelse af værnepligtsloven | language=da|url = https://www.retsinformation.dk/forms/r0710.aspx?id=6463|website = Retsinformation.de|access-date = 2016-11-22}}</ref> However, in 2014 a Danish man, who signed up for the service and objected later, got only 14 days of home arrest.<ref>{{cite web|title=René vil ikke i militæret: Nu skal han i fængsel|language=da|url=http://nyheder.tv2.dk/samfund/2014-12-14-rene-vil-ikke-i-militaeret-nu-skal-han-i-faengsel|website=Nyheder.TV2.dk|first=Sofie|last=Sparre|date=2014-12-14|access-date=2020-05-02}}</ref>

=== Eritrea ===
{{Excerpt|Conscription in Eritrea}}

=== Estonia ===

Estonia adopted a policy of ''ajateenistus'' (literally "time service") in late 1991, having inherited the concept from [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] legislature. 
According to §124 of the [[Constitution of Estonia|1992 constitution]], "Estonian citizens have a duty to participate in national defence on the bases and pursuant to a procedure provided by a law",<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.riigiteataja.ee/en/eli/530122020003/consolide|title=The Constitution of the Republic of Estonia–Riigi Teataja|website=www.riigiteataja.ee}}</ref> which in practice means that men aged 18–27 are subject to the draft.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://kra.ee/en/national-defence-obligation/have-you-recently-become-an-estonian-citizen/|title=Have you recently become an Estonian citizen?|website=kra.ee}}</ref>

In the formative years, conscripts had to serve an 18-month term. An amendment passed in 1994 shortened this to 12 months. Further revisions in 2003 established an eleven-month term for draftees trained as NCOs and drivers, and an eight-month term for rank & file. Under the current system, the yearly draft is divided into three "waves" – separate batches of eleven-month conscripts start their service in January and July while those selected for an eight-month term are brought in on October.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://mil.ee/en/defence-forces/compulsory-military-service/|title=Conscript service|website=Estonian Defence Forces|date=December 2023 }}</ref> An estimated 3200 people go through conscript service every year.

From 2013, women have been able to voluntarily join the conscription under the same conditions as men, the only difference being the norms of the general fitness tests and a 90-day window during which women can leave the service.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Siplane |first=Andres |date=December 2017 |title=Naised Eesti kaitseväes: motivatsioon, suhtumine, kogemused ja väljakutsed |url=https://icds.ee/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/ICDS_Raport_Naised_Eesti_Kaitsevaes_Andres_Siplane_Detsember_2017.PDF |access-date=7 December 2024}}</ref>

Conscripts serve in all branches of the [[Estonian Defence Forces]] except the [[Estonian Air Force|air force]] which only relies on paid professionals due to its highly technical nature and security concerns. Historically, draftees could also be assigned to the [[Estonian Border Guard|border guard]] (before it switched to an all-volunteer model in 2000), [[:et:Sisekaitse Operatiivrügement|a special rapid response unit]] of the [[Estonian Police|police force]] (disbanded in 1997) or three militarized rescue companies within the [[Estonian Rescue Board]] (disbanded in 2004).

=== Finland ===
{{Main|Conscription in Finland}}
[[File:Suomalainen sotilasvala.jpg|left|thumb|Finnish conscripts swearing their [[military oath]] at the end of their basic training period]]

Conscription in Finland is part of a general compulsion for [[national service|national military service]] for all adult males ({{langx|fi|maanpuolustusvelvollisuus}}; {{langx|sv|totalförsvarsplikt}}) defined in the 127§ of the [[Constitution of Finland]].

Conscription can take the form of military or of civilian service. According to 2021 data, 65%<ref>{{cite web | url=https://yle.fi/a/3-12205199 | title=Koko ikäluokalle yhteiset kutsunnat ja uusi kevyempi palvelusluokka – tällaisia muutoksia komitea esittää asevelvollisuuteen | date=26 November 2021 }}</ref> of Finnish males entered and finished the military service. The number of female volunteers to annually enter armed service had stabilised at approximately 300.<ref>[http://www.puolustusvoimat.fi/wcm/a2fcbb004bc4f18dabeeef82feb3371d/PV_vuke_2011_ENG.pdf?MOD=AJPERES Annual Report 2011. Page 29] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131220080827/http://www.puolustusvoimat.fi/wcm/a2fcbb004bc4f18dabeeef82feb3371d/PV_vuke_2011_ENG.pdf?MOD=AJPERES |date=2013-12-20 }} Finnish Defence Forces</ref> The service period is 165, 255 or 347 days for the rank and file conscripts and 347 days for conscripts trained as [[non-commissioned officer|NCO]]s or reserve officers. The length of civilian service is always twelve months. Those electing to serve unarmed in duties where unarmed service is possible serve either nine or twelve months, depending on their training.<ref>[https://www.finlex.fi/fi/lainsaadanto/2007/1446 Siviilipalveluslaki (1446/2007)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170227090814/http://www.finlex.fi/fi/laki/ajantasa/2007/20071446 |date=2017-02-27 }} (''Civilian service act''), 4§. Retrieved 1-24-2008. {{in lang|fi}}</ref><ref>[https://www.finlex.fi/fi/lainsaadanto/2007/1438 Asevelvollisuuslaki (1438/2007) (''Conscription act''), 37 §. Retrieved 1-24-2008.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151017043631/http://www.finlex.fi/fi/laki/ajantasa/2007/20071438 |date=2015-10-17 }} {{in lang|fi}}</ref>

Any Finnish male citizen who refuses to perform both military and civilian service faces a penalty of 173 days in prison, minus any served days. Such sentences are usually served fully in prison, with no [[parole]].<ref>[https://www.finlex.fi/fi/lainsaadanto/2007/1446 (''Civilian service act''), 74, 81§§. Retrieved 4-17-2013.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151120014427/http://www.finlex.fi/fi/laki/ajantasa/2007/20071446?search%5Btype%5D=pika&search%5Bpika%5D=siviilipalveluslaki#L11P74 |date=2015-11-20 }} {{in lang|fi}}</ref><ref>[https://www.finlex.fi/fi/lainsaadanto/2007/1438 Asevelvollisuuslaki (1438/2007) (''Conscription act''), 118 §. Retrieved 1-24-2008]  {{in lang|fi}}</ref> Jehovah's Witnesses are no longer exempted from service as of 27 February 2019.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://yle.fi/uutiset/osasto/news/jehovahs_witnesses_lose_exemption_from_military_service/10666555 | title=Jehovah's Witnesses lose exemption from military service| date=28 February 2019}}</ref> The inhabitants of demilitarized [[Åland]] are exempt from military service. By the Conscription Act of 1951, they are, however, required to serve a time at a local institution, like the coast guard. However, until such service has been arranged, they are freed from service obligation. The non-military service of Åland has not been arranged since the introduction of the act, and there are no plans to institute it. The inhabitants of Åland can also volunteer for military service on the mainland. As of 1995, women [[History of women in the military#Finland|are permitted]] to serve on a voluntary basis and pursue careers in the military after their initial voluntary military service.

The military service takes place in [[Finnish Defence Forces]] or in the [[Finnish Border Guard]]. All services of the Finnish Defence Forces train conscripts. However, the Border Guard trains conscripts only in land-based units, not in coast guard detachments or in the Border Guard Air Wing. Civilian service may take place in the Civilian Service Center in [[Lapinjärvi (municipality)|Lapinjärvi]] or in an accepted non-profit organization of educational, social or medical nature.

=== Germany ===
{{Main|Conscription in Germany}}

Between 1956 and 2011 conscription was mandatory for all male citizens in the German [[Bundeswehr|federal armed forces]] ({{langx|de|Bundeswehr}}), as well as for the [[Bundesgrenzschutz|Federal Border Guard]] ({{lang|de|Bundesgrenzschutz}}) in the 1970s (see [[Compulsory Border Guard Service|Border Guard Service]]). With the end of the [[Cold War]] the [[Cabinet of Germany|German government]] drastically reduced the size of its armed forces. The low demand for conscripts led to the suspension of compulsory conscription in 2011. Since then, only volunteer professionals serve in the {{lang|de|Bundeswehr}}.

In 2025, Germany began steps towards potentially reintroducing conscription, which had been suspended in 2011. The new policy included compulsory questionnaires for 18-year-old men. Extending the conscription system to women, which is discussed, would require a constitutional change. The government aimes to raise troop numbers to meet NATO commitments, including plans for an additional 100,000 personnel by 2029.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Germany is building a big scary army |url=https://www.economist.com/europe/2025/06/04/germany-is-building-a-big-scary-army |access-date=2025-06-08 |work=The Economist |issn=0013-0613}}</ref>
However, Defense Minister Boris Pistorius explained that, for the time being, mandatory conscription would not return "in the immediate future."<ref>https://www.politico.eu/article/germany-military-ranks-friedrich-merz-draft-parliament-defense/</ref>

=== Greece ===
{{update section|date=March 2017}}
{{Main|Conscription in Greece}}
[[File:Changing of the Guard-Unknown Soldier-Hellenic Army.jpg|thumb|[[Evzones]] of the Presidential Guard in front of the [[Greek Parliament]] armed with M1 Garands]]

Since 1914 [[Greece]] has been enforcing mandatory [[military]] service, currently lasting 12 months (but historically up to 36 months) for all adult men. Citizens discharged from active service are normally placed in the reserve and are subject to periodic recalls of 1–10 days at irregular intervals.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.stratologia.gr/pdf/N.3421-2005.pdf | title=ΕΦΗΜΕΡΙΣ ΤΗΣ ΚΥΒΕΡΝΗΣΕΩΣ ΤΗΣ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΗΣ ΔΗΜΟΚΡΑΤΙΑΣ | access-date=2012-04-10 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120105224001/http://www.stratologia.gr/pdf/N.3421-2005.pdf | archive-date=2012-01-05 }}</ref>

Universal conscription was introduced in Greece during the military reforms of 1909, although various forms of selective conscription had been in place earlier. In more recent years, conscription was associated with the state of general mobilisation declared on 20 July 1974, due to the crisis in [[Cyprus]] (the mobilisation was formally ended on 18 December 2002).

The duration of military service has historically ranged between 9 and 36 months depending on various factors either particular to the conscript or the political situation in the Eastern Mediterranean. Although women are employed by the Greek army as officers and soldiers, they are not obliged to enlist. Soldiers receive no health insurance, but they are provided with medical support during their army service, including hospitalization costs.

[[Greece]] enforces conscription for all male citizens aged between 19 and 45. In August 2009, duration of the mandatory service was reduced from 12 months as it was before to 9 months for the army, but remained at 12 months for the navy and the air force. The number of conscripts allocated to the latter two has been greatly reduced aiming at full professionalization. Nevertheless, mandatory military service at the army was once again raised to 12 months in March 2021, unless served in units in Evros or the North Aegean islands where duration was kept at 9 months. Although full professionalization is under consideration, severe financial difficulties and mismanagement, including delays and reduced rates in the hiring of professional soldiers, as well as widespread abuse of the deferment process, has resulted in the postponement of such a plan.

=== Iran ===
[[File:Soldiers in Kermanshah, Iran-12.jpg|thumb|Assembling and disassembling gun parts by Iranian soldiers with closed eyes.]]
In [[Iran]], all men who reach the age of 18 must do about two years of compulsory military service in the [[Law Enforcement Command of the Islamic Republic of Iran|IR police department]] or [[Islamic Republic of Iran Army|Iranian army]] or [[Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps]].<ref name="BV">{{Cite news |title=سربازی اجباری؛ نیروی کار ارزان در دست نظامیان |language=fa |work=BBC News فارسی |url=https://www.bbc.com/persian/blog-viewpoints-46584364 |access-date=2023-03-16}}</ref> Before the [[Iranian Revolution|1979 revolution]], women could serve in the military.<ref>{{cite book |author-link= |date=October 1973 |title=Middle East Record | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s3torytPXdUC&pg=PA477 |location= |publisher=Dishon |page=477 |isbn=9780470216118}}</ref> However, after the establishment of the Islamic Republic, some Ayatollahs considered women's military service to be disrespectful to women by the [[Pahlavi dynasty|Pahlavi government]] and banned women's military service in Iran.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2011-04-03 |title=مباحثه خواندنی آیت‌الله صافی‌گلپایگانی و آیت‌الله خزعلی در مجلس خبرگان بر سرآموزش نظامی زنان |url=https://www.khabaronline.ir/news/140472/مباحثه-خواندنی-آیت-الله-صافی-گلپایگانی-و-آیت-الله-خزعلی-در-مجلس |access-date=2023-03-16 |website=خبرآنلاین |language=fa}}</ref> Therefore, Iranian women and girls were completely exempted from military service, which caused Iranian men and boys to oppose.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2016-09-13 |title=جام نیوز :: JamNews - دختران ایرانی به سربازی می روند؟ |url=http://www.jamnews.ir/detail/News/236981 |access-date=2023-03-16 |archive-date=2016-09-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160913192500/http://www.jamnews.ir/detail/News/236981 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In Iran, men who refuse to go to military service are deprived of their citizenship rights, such as employment, [[health insurance]],<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-02-10 |title=مرکز پژوهشها - قانون خدمت وظیفه عمومی |url=http://rc.majlis.ir/fa/law/show/90966 |access-date=2023-03-16 |archive-date=2020-02-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200210224726/http://rc.majlis.ir/fa/law/show/90966 |url-status=dead }}</ref> continuing their education at university,<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-08-23 |title=اخطار سازمان وظیفه عمومی: داوطلبان کنکور امسال وضعیت سربازی خود را روشن کنند |url=https://www.khabaronline.ir/news/1424771/اخطار-سازمان-وظیفه-عمومی-داوطلبان-کنکور-امسال-وضعیت-سربازی-خود |access-date=2023-03-16 |website=خبرآنلاین |language=fa}}</ref> finding a job, going abroad, opening a bank account,<ref>{{Cite web |last=tebyan.net |date=2010-07-29 |title=اگر سربازی نروید ... |url=https://article.tebyan.net/132040 |access-date=2023-03-16 |website=fa |language=fa}}</ref> etc.<ref>{{Cite web |title=مشمولان غایب سربازی از دریافت چه خدماتی محروم می‌شوند؟- اخبار پلیس - اخبار اجتماعی تسنیم {{!}} Tasnim |url=https://www.tasnimnews.com/fa/news/1399/11/07/2440153/%D9%85%D8%B4%D9%85%D9%88%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%BA%D8%A7%DB%8C%D8%A8-%D8%B3%D8%B1%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%B2%DB%8C-%D8%A7%D8%B2-%D8%AF%D8%B1%DB%8C%D8%A7%D9%81%D8%AA-%DA%86%D9%87-%D8%AE%D8%AF%D9%85%D8%A7%D8%AA%DB%8C-%D9%85%D8%AD%D8%B1%D9%88%D9%85-%D9%85%DB%8C-%D8%B4%D9%88%D9%86%D8%AF |access-date=2023-03-16 |website=خبرگزاری تسنیم {{!}} Tasnim |language=fa}}</ref> Iranian men have so far opposed mandatory military service and demanded that military service in Iran become a job like in other countries, but the Islamic Republic is opposed to this demand.<ref name="BV" /> Some Iranian military commanders consider the elimination of conscription or improving the condition of soldiers as a security issue and one of [[Ali Khamenei]]'s powers as the commander-in-chief of the armed forces,<ref name="BV" /><ref>{{Cite web |date=2018-03-11 |title=سازمان سربازی ناجا - فرمايشات رهبری |url=http://vazifeh.police.ir/index.jsp?siteid=25&fkeyid=&siteid=25&pageid=5132 |access-date=2023-03-16 |archive-date=2018-03-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180311075553/http://vazifeh.police.ir/index.jsp?siteid=25&fkeyid=&siteid=25&pageid=5132 |url-status=dead }}</ref> so they treat it with caution.<ref>{{Cite news |title=یک قرن با پوتین و کلاه سربازی، از 'قبله عالم' تا 'ولی امر' |language=fa |work=BBC News فارسی |url=https://www.bbc.com/persian/61012214 |access-date=2023-03-16}}</ref> In Iran, usually wealthy people are exempted from conscription.<ref>{{Cite news |last=فردا |first=رادیو |date=2022-01-30 |title=بازگشت فروش خدمت سربازی در ایران؛ این بار تنها برای افراد مرفه |language=fa |work=رادیو فردا |url=https://www.radiofarda.com/a/sale-iran-parliament-military-service/31678149.html |access-date=2023-03-16}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-01-30 |title=پولدارها دوباره سربازی نمی‌روند! |url=https://www.khabaronline.ir/photo/1597709/ببینید-پولدارها-دوباره-سربازی-نمی-روند |access-date=2023-03-16 |website=خبرآنلاین |language=fa}}</ref> Some other men can be exempted from conscription due to their fathers serving in the [[Iran–Iraq War|Iran-Iraq war]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=mizanonline.ir |date=2023-03-16 |title=شرایط دریافت معافیت جانبازی برای مشمولان |url=https://www.mizanonline.ir/fa/news/799659 |access-date=2023-03-16 |website=fa |language=fa}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2019-03-16 |title=معافیت با جانبازی پدر |url=http://vazifeh.police.ir/index.jsp?siteid=25&fkeyid=&siteid=25&pageid=5201 |access-date=2023-03-16 |archive-date=2019-03-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190316080544/http://vazifeh.police.ir/index.jsp?siteid=25&fkeyid=&siteid=25&pageid=5201 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

=== Israel ===
{{Main|Conscription in Israel}}

There is a mandatory military service for all men and women in [[Israel]] who are fit and 18 years old. Men must serve 32 months while women serve 24 months, with the vast majority of conscripts being Jewish.

Some Israeli citizens are exempt from mandatory service:
* Non-Jewish Arab citizens 
* Permanent residents (non-civilian) such as the [[Druze]] of the Golan Heights
* Male Ultra-Orthodox Jews can apply for deferment to study in [[Yeshiva]] and the deferment tends to become an exemption, although some do opt to serve in the military
* Female religious Jews, as long as they declare they are unable to serve due to religious grounds. Most of whom opt for the alternative of volunteering in the national service [[Sherut Leumi]]

All of the exempt above are eligible to volunteer to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), as long as they declare so.

Male [[Druze]] and male [[Circassians|Circassian]] Israeli citizens are liable for conscription, in accordance with agreement set by their community leaders (their community leaders however signed a clause in which all female Druze and female Circassian are exempt from service).

A few male [[Bedouin]] Israeli citizens choose to enlist to the Israeli military in every draft (despite their Muslim-Arab background that exempt them from conscription).

=== Lithuania ===
{{Main|Conscription in Lithuania}}
Lithuania abolished its conscription in 2008.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://svenska.yle.fi/artikel/2015/02/24/litauen-aterinfor-allman-varnplikt |title = Litauen återinför allmän värnplikt| date=24 February 2015 }}</ref> In May 2015, the Lithuanian parliament voted to reintroduce conscription and the conscripts started their training in August 2015.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://svenska.yle.fi/artikel/2015/08/25/varnplikten-ar-tillbaka-i-litauen-hard-konkurrens-om-platserna |title = Värnplikten är tillbaka i Litauen – hård konkurrens om platserna| date=25 August 2015 }}</ref> From 2015 to 2017 there were enough volunteers to avoid drafting civilians.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Savanorių gali užtekti visam šaukimui|language=lt|work=LRT|url=https://www.lrt.lt/naujienos/lietuvoje/2/183526/savanoriu-gali-uztekti-visam-saukimui}}</ref>

=== Luxembourg ===
Luxembourg practiced military conscription from 1948 until 1967.

=== Moldova ===
[[Moldova]] has a 12-month conscription for all males between 18 and 27 years. However, a citizen who completed a military training course at a [[Military departments of civilian universities (Soviet Union and post-Soviet area)#Moldova|military department]] is exempted from conscription.<ref>{{Cite web |title=LEGE Nr. 1245 din 18-07-2002 cu privire la pregătirea cetăţenilor pentru apărarea Patriei |url=https://www.legis.md/cautare/getResults?doc_id=137299&lang=ro |access-date=2024-02-06 |archive-date=2024-02-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240206134627/https://www.legis.md/cautare/getResults?doc_id=137299&lang=ro |url-status=dead }}</ref>

=== Netherlands ===
{{Unreferenced section | date=May 2015}}
{{Main|Conscription in the Netherlands}}
Conscription, which was called "Service Duty" ({{langx|nl|dienstplicht}}) in the [[Netherlands]], was first employed in 1810 by French occupying forces. [[Napoleon]]'s brother [[Louis Bonaparte]], who was [[King of Holland]] from 1806 to 1810, had tried to introduce conscription a few years earlier, unsuccessfully. Every man aged 20 years or older had to enlist. By means of drawing lots it was decided who had to undertake service in the French army. It was possible to arrange a substitute against payment.

Later on, conscription was used for all men over the age of 18. Postponement was possible, due to study, for example. Conscientious objectors could perform an alternative civilian service instead of military service. For various reasons, this forced military service was criticized at the end of the twentieth century. Since the Cold War was over, so was the direct threat of a war. Instead, the Dutch army was employed in more and more peacekeeping operations. The complexity and danger of these missions made the use of conscripts controversial. Furthermore, the conscription system was thought to be unfair as only men were drafted.

In the European part of Netherlands, compulsory attendance has been officially suspended since 1 May 1997.<ref name="DutchSuspended">{{cite web|title=Bestaat er een dienstplicht in Nederland|url=http://www.rijksoverheid.nl/onderwerpen/krijgsmacht/vraag-en-antwoord/bestaat-er-een-dienstplicht-in-nederland.html|access-date=26 December 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141226093348/http://www.rijksoverheid.nl/onderwerpen/krijgsmacht/vraag-en-antwoord/bestaat-er-een-dienstplicht-in-nederland.html|archive-date=26 December 2014}}</ref> Between 1991 and 1996, the Dutch armed forces phased out their conscript personnel and converted to an all-professional force. The last conscript troops were inducted in 1995, and demobilized in 1996.<ref name="DutchSuspended"/> The suspension means that citizens are no longer forced to serve in the armed forces, as long as it is not required for the safety of the country. Since then, the Dutch army has become an all-professional force. However, to this day, every male and – from January 2020 onward – female<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.rijksoverheid.nl/actueel/nieuws/2016/02/02/kaderwet-dienstplicht-wordt-aangepast-voor-vrouwen | title=Kaderwet dienstplicht wordt aangepast voor vrouwen | first=Ministerie van | last=Defensie | work=rijksoverheid.nl | access-date=15 October 2016}}</ref> citizen aged 17 gets a letter in which they are told that they have been registered but do not have to present themselves for service.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.rijksoverheid.nl/onderwerpen/defensiepersoneel/dienstplicht | title=Dienstplicht | date=12 January 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210106011836/https://www.rijksoverheid.nl/onderwerpen/defensiepersoneel/dienstplicht | archive-date=6 January 2021 | url-status=live | access-date=6 January 2021 }}</ref>

=== Norway ===
{{Main|Conscription in Norway}}
Conscription was constitutionally established the 12 April 1907 with ''Kongeriket Norges Grunnlov § 119.''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://lovdata.no/dokument/NL/lov/1814-05-17/KAPITTEL_6#KAPITTEL_6|title=Kongeriket Norges Grunnlov – F. Alminnelige bestemmelser - Lovdata|website=lovdata.no}}</ref> 
{{As of|2016|March}}, [[Norway]] currently employs a weak form of mandatory military service for men and women. In practice recruits are not forced to serve, instead only those who are motivated are selected.<ref>{{cite web | title=Norway's military conscription becomes gender neutral | url=http://www.dw.com/en/norways-military-conscription-becomes-gender-neutral/a-17995882 | access-date=2015-11-24 | publisher=[[Deutsche Welle]]}}</ref> About 60,000 Norwegians are available for conscription every year, but only 8,000 to 10,000 are conscripted.<ref name="Norwegian Armed Forces – Conscription Statistics">{{cite web | url=http://forsvaret.no/om-forsvaret/fakta-om-forsvaret/Sider/tall-og-statistikk.aspx | title=NDF official numbers | publisher=NDF | access-date=2007-07-16 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110112152739/http://forsvaret.no/om-forsvaret/fakta-om-forsvaret/Sider/tall-og-statistikk.aspx | archive-date=2011-01-12 }}</ref> Since 1985, women have been able to enlist for voluntary service as regular recruits. On 14 June 2013 the [[Parliament of Norway|Norwegian Parliament]] voted to extend conscription to women, resulting in universal conscription in effect from 2015.<ref name="UC" /> This made Norway the first [[NATO]] member and first European country to make national service compulsory for both sexes.<ref name="NorwayConscription">{{cite news | title=Norway becomes first NATO country to draft women into military | url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-norway-women-conscription-idUSBRE95D0NB20130614 | access-date=2013-06-15 | work=[[Reuters]] | archive-date=2015-01-28 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150128132614/https://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/14/us-norway-women-conscription-idUSBRE95D0NB20130614 | url-status=live }}</ref> In earlier times, up until at least the early 2000s, all men aged 19–44 were subject to mandatory service, with good reasons required to avoid becoming drafted. There is a right of [[conscientious objection]]. As of 2020 Norway did not reach gender [[social equity|equity]] in conscription with only 33% of all conscripted being women.<ref name="q701">{{cite web | title=A Look at Norway's Approach to Gender-Neutral Conscription | website=SecurityWomen | date=25 July 2024 | url=https://www.securitywomen.org/post/a-look-at-norways-approach-to-gender-neutral-conscription | access-date=26 July 2024}}</ref>

In addition to the military service, the Norwegian government draft a total of 8,000<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.sivilforsvaret.no/Aktuelt/Sistenytt/Sivilforsvaret-75-ar--klar-for-nye-oppgaver | title=Sivilforsvaret 75 år – klar for nye oppgaver – Sivilforsvaret.no | website=www.sivilforsvaret.no | language=no | access-date=2018-08-22 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180822214352/http://www.sivilforsvaret.no/Aktuelt/Sistenytt/Sivilforsvaret-75-ar--klar-for-nye-oppgaver/ | archive-date=2018-08-22 }}</ref> men and women between 18 and 55 to non-military [[Civil defense|Civil defence]] duty.<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.sivilforsvaret.no/s/English | title=The Norwegian Civil Defence – Sivilforsvaret.no | website=www.sivilforsvaret.no | access-date=2018-08-22 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180822214030/http://www.sivilforsvaret.no/s/English/ | archive-date=2018-08-22 }}</ref> (Not to be confused with [[Alternative civilian service]].) Former service in the military does not exclude anyone from later being drafted to the Civil defence, but an upper limit of total 19 months of service applies.<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.sivilforsvaret.no/Tjeneste/Tjenesteplikt/Fritak-fra-tjenesteplikt-i-Sivilfrosvaret | title=Fritak fra tjenesteplikt i Sivilforsvaret – Sivilforsvaret.no | website=www.sivilforsvaret.no | language=no | access-date=2018-08-22 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180822214014/http://www.sivilforsvaret.no/Tjeneste/Tjenesteplikt/Fritak-fra-tjenesteplikt-i-Sivilfrosvaret/ | archive-date=2018-08-22 }}</ref> Neglecting mobilisation orders to training exercises and actual incidents, may impose fines.<ref>{{Cite news | url=https://www.nrk.no/ostlandssendingen/en-av-ti-moter-ikke-1.11492106 | title=En av ti møter ikke | last=Wilden | first=Victoria | work=NRK | access-date=2018-08-22 | language=nb-NO}}</ref>

===Russia===
{{main|Conscription in Russia}}

The [[Russian Armed Forces]] draw personnel from various sources. In addition to [[Conscription in Russia|conscripts]], the [[2022 Russian mobilization]] on account of the [[Russian invasion of Ukraine]] revealed [[Russian irregular units in Ukraine]] and [[Russian penal military units]] as sources of manpower. This adds to the [[BARS (Russia)]], the [[National Guard of Russia]] and the [[Russian volunteer battalions]].

=== Serbia ===
{{Main|Conscription in Serbia}}

{{As of|2011|01|01}}, [[Serbia]] no longer practises mandatory military service. Prior to this, mandatory military service lasted 6 months for men. [[Conscientious objector]]s could however opt for 9 months of [[civil service]] instead.

On 15 December 2010, the [[Parliament of Serbia]] voted to suspend mandatory military service. The decision fully came into force on 1 January 2011.<ref>[http://www.politika.rs/rubrike/Drustvo/Vojska-Srbije-od-sutra-i-zvanicno-profesionalna.lt.html Vojska Srbije od sutra i zvanično profesionalna.] – ''[[Politika]]'' {{in lang|sr}}</ref>

In September 2024, Prime Minister [[Miloš Vučević]] announced that conscription will return in September 2025 with the mandatory military service lasting 75 days.<ref name="VO" /> Civil service will still be possible as an alternative.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Matić |first=Nada |date=21 September 2024 |title=Vojni rok se bliži: Ako radite i dobijete poziv za vojsku, da li šef mora da vas pusti |url=https://www.blic.rs/biznis/privreda/ako-radite-i-dobijete-poziv-za-vojsku-da-li-sef-mora-da-vas-pusti/vhw00d3 |access-date=5 January 2025 |website=[[Blic]] |language=sr}}</ref>

=== Singapore ===
{{Main|National service in Singapore}}

=== South Africa ===
{{Main|Conscription in South Africa}}

There was mandatory military conscription for all white men in South Africa from 1968 until the end of [[apartheid]] in 1994.<ref name="saho">[https://www.sahistory.org.za/dated-event/military-service-becomes-compulsory-white-south-african-men Military service becomes compulsory for White South African men], South African History Online</ref> Under South African defense law, young white men had to undergo two years' continuous military training after they leave school, after which they had to serve 720 days in occasional military duty over the next 12 years.<ref name="nytsa" /> The [[End Conscription Campaign]] began in 1983 in opposition to the requirement. In the same year the [[National Party (South Africa)|National Party]] government announced plans to extend conscription to white immigrants in the country.<ref name="nytsa">[https://www.nytimes.com/1983/12/28/world/south-africa-moving-to-widen-conscription.html SOUTH AFRICA MOVING TO WIDEN CONSCRIPTION] The New York Times. 28 December 1983</ref>

=== South Korea ===
{{Main|Conscription in South Korea}}

=== Sweden ===
{{Main|Conscription in Sweden}}
[[File:Swedish Soldiers Aiming.jpg|thumb|left|Swedish conscripts in 2008]]

[[Sweden]] had conscription ({{langx|sv|värnplikt}}) for men between 1901 and 2010. During the last few decades it was selective.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.forsvarsmakten.se/sv/information-och-fakta/var-historia/artiklar/varnplikt-under-109-ar | title=Värnplikten genom åren | language=sv | publisher=[[Swedish Armed Forces]] | access-date=29 March 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170329170317/http://www.forsvarsmakten.se/sv/information-och-fakta/var-historia/artiklar/varnplikt-under-109-ar | archive-date=29 March 2017}}</ref> Since 1980, women have been allowed to sign up by choice, and, if passing the tests, do military training together with male conscripts. Since 1989 women have been allowed to serve in all military positions and units, including combat.<ref name="CW" />

In 2010, conscription was made gender-neutral, meaning both women and men would be conscripted on equal terms. The conscription system was simultaneously deactivated in peacetime.<ref name="CW" /> Seven years later, referencing increased military threat, the Swedish Government reactivated military conscription. Beginning in 2018, both men and women are conscripted.<ref name="CW" />

=== Taiwan ===
{{Main|Conscription in Taiwan}}
[[Taiwan]], officially the Republic of China (ROC), maintains an active conscription system. All qualified male citizens of military age are now obligated to receive 4-month of military training. In December 2022, President [[Tsai Ing-wen]] led the government to announce the reinstatement of the mandatory 1-year active duty military service from January 2024.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Lee |first1=Yimou |title=Taiwan to extend conscription to one year, citing rising China threat |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/taiwan-extend-compulsory-military-service-official-media-2022-12-27/ |access-date=28 December 2022 |work=Reuters}}</ref>

=== United Kingdom ===
{{Main|Conscription in the United Kingdom}}
The [[United Kingdom]] introduced conscription to full-time military service for the first time in January 1916 (the eighteenth month of [[World War I]]) and abolished it in 1920. [[Republic of Ireland|Ireland]], then part of the United Kingdom, was exempted from the original 1916 military service legislation, and although further legislation in 1918 gave power for an extension of conscription to Ireland, the power was never put into effect.

Conscription was reintroduced in 1939, in the lead up to [[World War II]], and continued in force until 1963. [[Northern Ireland]] was exempted from conscription legislation throughout the whole period.

In all, eight million men were conscripted during both World Wars, as well as several hundred thousand younger single women.<ref>Roger Broad, ''Conscription in Britain 1939–1964: The Militarization of a Generation'' (2006)</ref> The introduction of conscription in May 1939, before the war began, was partly due to pressure from the French, who emphasized the need for a large British army to oppose the Germans.<ref>Daniel Hucker, "Franco-British Relations and the Question of Conscription in Britain, 1938–1939", ''Contemporary European History'', November 2008, Vol. 17 Issue 4, pp 437–56</ref> From early 1942 unmarried women age 20–30 were conscripted (unmarried women who had dependent children aged 14 or younger, including those who had illegitimate children or were widows with children were excluded). Most women who were conscripted were sent to the factories, but they could volunteer for the [[Auxiliary Territorial Service]] (ATS) and other women's services. Some women served in the [[Women's Land Army]]: initially volunteers but later conscription was introduced. However, women who were already working in a skilled job considered helpful to the war effort, such as a [[General Post Office]] telephonist, were told to continue working as before. None was assigned to combat roles unless she volunteered. By 1943 women were liable to some form of directed labour up to age 51. During the Second World War, 1.4&nbsp;million British men volunteered for service and 3.2&nbsp;million were conscripted. Conscripts comprised 50% of the [[Royal Air Force]], 60% of the [[Royal Navy]] and 80% of the [[British Army]].<ref name="Jeremy A. Crang 2008, pp. 381"/>

The abolition of conscription in Britain was announced on 4 April 1957, by new prime minister [[Harold Macmillan]], with the last conscripts being recruited three years later.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.expressandstar.com/days/1950-75/1957.html | title=Those were the days | work=expressandstar.com | access-date=15 October 2016 | archive-date=4 March 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304125209/http://www.expressandstar.com/days/1950-75/1957.html | url-status=dead }}</ref>

=== United States ===
{{Main|Conscription in the United States}}
Conscription in the [[United States]] ended in 1973, but males aged between 18 and 25 are required to register with the [[Selective Service System]] to enable a reintroduction of conscription if necessary. [[President of the United States|President]] [[Gerald Ford]] had suspended mandatory draft registration in 1975, but President [[Jimmy Carter]] reinstated that requirement when the [[Soviet–Afghan War|Soviet Union intervened in Afghanistan]] five years later. Consequently, Selective Service registration is still required of almost all young men.<ref>{{cite web |last=Gill |first=Linda |title=Military Conscription, Recruiting and the Draft |url=https://www.thoughtco.com/the-military-draft-3368269 |date=March 31, 2007 |publisher=ThoughtsCo}}</ref> There have been no prosecutions for violations of the draft registration law since 1986.<ref name="National Resistance Committee">{{cite web | last1=Hasbrouck | first1=Edward | title=Prosecutions of Draft Registration Resisters | url=https://hasbrouck.org/draft/prosecutions.html | website=Resisters.info | publisher=National Resistance Committee | access-date=28 March 2016}}</ref> Males between the ages of 17 and 45, and female members of the [[US National Guard]] may be conscripted for federal militia service pursuant to 10 U.S. Code § 246 and the [[Militia Clause]]s of the [[United States Constitution]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/10/246 | title=10 U.S. Code § 246 – Militia: composition and classes | website=LII / Legal Information Institute}}</ref>

In February 2019, the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas ruled that male-only conscription registration breached the Fourteenth Amendment's equal protection clause. In ''[[National Coalition for Men v. Selective Service System]]'', a case brought by a non-profit men's rights organization the [[National Coalition for Men]] against the U.S. Selective Service System, judge [[Gray H. Miller]] issued a declaratory judgment that the male-only registration requirement is unconstitutional, though did not specify what action the government should take.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/02/24/military-draft-judge-rules-male-only-registration-unconstitutional/2968872002 | title= With women in combat roles, a federal court rules the male-only draft unconstitutional | last1= Korte | first1=Gregory | date=Feb 24, 2019 | work= [[USA Today]] | access-date= February 24, 2019}}</ref> That ruling was reversed by the Fifth Circuit. In June 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the decision by the Court of Appeals.

=== Other countries ===
* [[Conscription in Australia]]
* [[Conscription in Egypt]]
* [[Conscription in France]]
* [[Conscription in Gibraltar]]
* [[Conscription in Malaysia]]
* [[Conscription in Mexico]]
* [[Conscription in Myanmar]]
* [[Conscription in New Zealand]]
* [[Conscription in North Korea]]
* [[Conscription in Russia]]
* [[Conscription in Singapore]]
* [[Conscription in South Korea]]
* [[Conscription in Switzerland]]
* [[Conscription in Turkey]]
* [[Conscription in Ukraine]]
* [[Conscription in the Ottoman Empire]]
* [[Conscription in the Russian Empire]]
* [[Conscription in Vietnam]]
* [[Conscription in Georgia]]
* [[Conscription in Mozambique]]

==See also==
{{Div col}}
* [[Civil conscription]]
* [[Civilian Public Service]]
* [[Corvée]]
* [[Counter-recruitment]]
* [[Draft evasion]]
* [[Economic conscription]]
* [[End Conscription Campaign]]
* [[Home front during World War I]]
* [[Home front during World War II]]
* [[Labour battalion]]
* [[List of countries by number of military and paramilitary personnel]]
* [[Male expendability]]
* [[Military recruitment]]
* [[No Conscription Campaign]]
* [[No-Conscription Fellowship]]
* [[Pospolite ruszenie]], mass mobilization in Poland
* [[Quota System (Royal Navy)|Quota System]]
* [[Timeline of women's participation in warfare]]
* [[War resister]]
{{Div col end}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
* {{Cite book|last=Nicolle|first=David|title=Armies of the Ottoman Turks 1300-1774|publisher=Osprey Publishing|year=1983|isbn=|location=|pages=}}

==Further reading==
{{refbegin|30em}}
* Burk, James (April 1989). "Debating the Draft in America", [[Armed Forces and Society]] p. vol. 15: pp.&nbsp;431–48.
* Challener, Richard D. ''The French theory of the nation in arms, 1866–1939'' (1955)
* Chambers, John Whiteclay. ''To Raise an Army: The Draft Comes to Modern America'' (1987)
* {{cite book |last=Fitzpatrick |first=Edward |author-link=Edward Fitzpatrick |title=Conscription and America: A Study of Conscription in a Democracy |publisher=Richard Publishing Company |year=1940 |asin=B000GY5QW2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vDBrQgAACAAJ&q=Conscription+and+America:+A+Study+of+Conscription+in+a+Democracy }}
* Flynn, George Q. (1998 33(1): 5–20). "Conscription and Equity in Western Democracies, 1940–75", ''Journal of Contemporary History'' [https://www.jstor.org/pss/260994 in JSTOR]
* {{cite book |last=Flynn |first=George Q. |title=Conscription and Democracy: The Draft in France, Great Britain, and the United States |publisher= Greenwood |year=2001 |page=303 |isbn=0-313-31912-X }}
* {{cite journal |last=Kestnbaum |first=Meyer |s2cid=144169554 |url=http://afs.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/27/1/7 |title=Citizenship and Compulsory Military Service: The Revolutionary Origins of Conscription in the United States |journal=[[Armed Forces & Society]] |date=October 2000 |volume=27 |pages=7–36 |doi=10.1177/0095327X0002700103 |url-access=subscription }}
* {{cite book |last=Levi |first=Margaret |year=1997 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V4l7Zs-mtA8C |title=Consent, Dissent and Patriotism |location=New York |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-59961-0 }} Looks at citizens' responses to military conscription in several democracies since the French Revolution.
* {{cite book |last= Linch |first= Kevin |year= 2012 |url= http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0159-2011121234 |title= Conscription |location= Mainz |publisher= Institute of European History (IEG) }}
* Krueger, Christine, and Sonja Levsen, eds. ''War Volunteering in Modern Times: From the French Revolution to the Second World War'' (Palgrave Macmillan 2011)
* {{cite journal |last=Leander |first=Anna |url=http://afs.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/30/4/571 |title=Drafting Community: Understanding the Fate of Conscription |journal=Armed Forces & Society |date=July 2004 |volume=30 |issue=4 |pages=571–99 |doi=10.1177/0095327X0403000404 |s2cid=145254127 |access-date=2009-07-10 |archive-date=2009-06-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090601072148/http://afs.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/30/4/571 |url-access=subscription }}
* Littlewood, David. "Conscription in Britain, New Zealand, Australia and Canada during the Second World War", ''History Compass'' 18#4 (2020) [https://doi.org/10.1111/hic3.12611 online]
* {{cite journal |last=MacLean |first=Alair |title=The Privileges of Rank: The Peacetime Draft and Later-life Attainment |journal=[[Armed Forces & Society]] |volume=34 |issue=4 |pages=682–713 |date= July 2008 |doi=10.1177/0095327X07310336 |pmid=20842210 |pmc=2937255 }}
* {{cite book |editor1=Mjoset, Lars |editor2=Van Holde, Stephen |year=2002 |title=The Comparative Study of Conscription in the Armed Forces |location= Amsterdam |publisher=JAI Press/Elsevier Science Ltd. |page=424 }}
* {{cite book |last=Nau |first=Terry L. |date=2013 |chapter=Chapter 1: Draft Bait |title=Reluctant Soldier... Proud Veteran: How a cynical Vietnam vet learned to take pride in his service to the USA |location=Leipzig |publisher=Amazon Distribution GmbH |pages=1–12 |isbn=9781482761498 |oclc=870660174}}
* {{cite journal | last1 = Pfaffenzeller | first1 = Stephan | s2cid = 145286033 | year = 2010 | title = Conscription and Democracy: The Mythology of Civil-Military Relations | journal = [[Armed Forces & Society]] | volume = 36 | issue = 3| pages = 481–504 | doi = 10.1177/0095327X09351226 }}
* {{cite journal |last=Sorensen |first=Henning |url=http://afs.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/26/2/313 |title=Conscription in Scandinavia During the Last Quarter Century: Developments and Arguments |journal=[[Armed Forces & Society]] |date=January 2000 |volume=26 |issue=2 |pages=313–34 |doi=10.1177/0095327X0002600207 |url-access=subscription }}
* {{cite book |last=Stevenson |first=Michael D. |year=2001 |title=Canada's Greatest Wartime Muddle: National Selective Service and the Mobilization of Human Resources during World War II |publisher=McGill-Queen's University Press |page=235 |isbn=0-7735-2263-8 }}
{{refend}}

==External links==
*{{Wiktionary inline|conscription}}
*{{Commons category-inline|Conscription}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Conscription| ]]
[[Category:Political theories]]
[[Category:Citizenship]]