View source for Mercenary

{{Short description|Soldier who fights for hire}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Redirect|Hired Gun}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2020}}
[[File:Mercenary Artillerymen Supplied With Guns & Ammunition By The British (c1880) Attribution Unk (RESTORED) (4104717259).jpg|thumb|Mercenary artillerymen in China, {{circa|1880}}]]
{{war}}

A '''mercenary''' is a private individual who joins an [[War|armed conflict]] for personal profit, is otherwise an outsider to the conflict, and is not a member of any other official [[military]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.icrc.org/applic/ihl/ihl.nsf/ART/470-750057?OpenDocument |title=Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts (Protocol 1), Article 47 |website=International Committee of the Red Cross |access-date=20 April 2018 | archive-date=2 January 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160102121038/https://www.icrc.org/applic/ihl/ihl.nsf/ART/470-750057?OpenDocument |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/international-convention-against-recruitment-use-financing-and |title=International Convention against the Recruitment, Use, Financing and Training of Mercenaries |website=The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights |access-date=25 January 2023 |archive-date=9 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220609180819/https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/international-convention-against-recruitment-use-financing-and |url-status=live}}</ref> Mercenaries fight for money or other forms of payment rather than for political interests.

Beginning in the 20th century, mercenaries have increasingly come to be seen as less entitled to protection by rules of war than non-mercenaries. The [[Geneva Conventions]] declare that mercenaries are not recognized as legitimate [[combatant]]s and do not have to be granted the same legal protections as captured service personnel of the armed forces.<ref>{{cite book | title=Top Ten Global Justice Law Review Articles 2008 | editor=Guiora, Amos N. | publisher=Oxford University Press | year=2009 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=43LnCwAAQBAJ | page=175 | isbn=978-0195399752 | access-date=20 April 2018 | archive-date=15 February 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230215134443/https://books.google.com/books?id=43LnCwAAQBAJ | url-status=live }}</ref> In practice, whether or not a person is a mercenary may be a matter of degree, as financial and political interests may overlap.

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==International and national laws of war==
{{See also|Law of war|Privateer|Letter of marque|Private military company}}

[[Protocol I|Protocol Additional GC 1977 (APGC77)]] is a 1977 amendment [[Protocol (diplomacy)|protocol]] to the [[Geneva Conventions]]. Article 47 of the protocol provides the most widely accepted international definition of a mercenary, though it is not endorsed by some countries, including the United States. The ''Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949,<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.bc.edu/schools/law/lawreviews/meta-elements/journals/bciclr/28_1/07_TXT.htm |title=The laws in some countries |publisher=Bc.edu |date=12 August 1949 |access-date=26 May 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060917043646/http://www.bc.edu/schools/law/lawreviews/meta-elements/journals/bciclr/28_1/07_TXT.htm |archive-date=17 September 2006}}</ref> and relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts'' ([[Protocol I]]), 8 June 1977 states:
{{blockquote|Art 47. Mercenaries{{ordered list
| A mercenary shall not have the right to be a combatant or a prisoner of war.
| A mercenary is any person who:{{unbulleted list|item_style=padding-left: 1.5em; text-indent:-1.5em
|(a)&nbsp;is especially recruited locally or abroad in order to fight in an armed conflict;
|(b)&nbsp;does, in fact, take a direct part in the hostilities;
|(c)&nbsp;is motivated to take part in the hostilities essentially by the desire for private gain and, in fact, is promised, by or on behalf of a Party to the conflict, material compensation substantially in excess of that promised or paid to combatants of similar ranks and functions in the armed forces of that Party;
|(d)&nbsp;is neither a national of a Party to the conflict nor a resident of territory controlled by a Party to the conflict;
|(e)&nbsp;is not a member of the armed forces of a Party to the conflict; and
|(f)&nbsp;has not been sent by a State which is not a Party to the conflict on official duty as a member of its armed forces.}}}}}}

All the criteria, as listed in 2(a) through 2(f), must be met, according to the Geneva Convention, for a combatant to be considered a mercenary.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Rule 108. Mercenaries |url=https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/en/customary-ihl/v1/rule108 |access-date=2023-09-10 |website=ihl-databases.icrc.org}}</ref> While mercenaries do not enjoy the same protection as prisoners of war do, they must still be treated humanely according to the rules of the Protocol<ref>{{Cite web |title=Doctors without borders {{!}} The Practical Guide to Humanitarian Law |url=https://guide-humanitarian-law.org/content/article/3/mercenaries/ |access-date=2023-09-10 |website=guide-humanitarian-law.org}}</ref> and they may not be punished without a trial.<ref name=":0" />

On 4 December 1989, the United Nations passed resolution 44/34, the International Convention against the Recruitment, Use, Financing and Training of Mercenaries. It entered into force on 20 October 2001 and is usually known as the [[United Nations Mercenary Convention|UN Mercenary Convention]].<ref>[https://www.un.org/documents/ga/res/44/a44r034.htm International Convention against the Recruitment, Use, Financing and Training of Mercenaries] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080209231529/http://www.un.org/documents/ga/res/44/a44r034.htm |date=9 February 2008 }} A/RES/44/34 72nd plenary meeting 4 December 1989 (UN Mercenary Convention) [http://www.ohchr.org/english/law/mercenaries.htm Entry into force: 20 October 2001]</ref> Article 1 of the UN Mercenary Convention contains the definition of a mercenary. Article 1.1 is similar to Article 47 of Protocol I. Article 1.2 broadens the definition to include a non-national recruited to overthrow a "Government or otherwise undermin[e] the constitutional order of a State; or Undermin[e] the territorial integrity of a State"; and "Is motivated to take part therein essentially by the desire for significant private gain and is prompted by the promise or payment of material compensation". Under Article 1.2, a person does not have to take a direct part in the hostilities in a planned ''coup d'état'' to be a mercenary.

===Austria===
If a person is proven to have worked as a mercenary for any other country while retaining Austrian citizenship, their Austrian citizenship will be revoked.

===France===
In 2003, France criminalized mercenary activities, as defined by the protocol to the Geneva convention for French citizens, permanent residents, and legal entities (Penal Code, [http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/WAspad/UnArticleDeCode?code=CPENALLL.rcv&art=436-1 L436-1], [http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/WAspad/UnArticleDeCode?code=CPENALLL.rcv&art=436-2 L436-2], [http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/WAspad/UnArticleDeCode?code=CPENALLL.rcv&art=436-3 L436-3], [http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/WAspad/UnArticleDeCode?code=CPENALLL.rcv&art=436-4 L436-4], [http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/WAspad/UnArticleDeCode?code=CPENALLL.rcv&art=436-5 L436-5]). This law does not prevent French citizens from serving as volunteers in foreign forces. The law applies to military activities with a specifically mercenary motive or with a mercenary level of remuneration. However, due to jurisdictional loopholes several French companies provide mercenary services.{{citation needed|date=October 2023}}

The French state owns 50% of [[Défense conseil international]], which it founded, a [[private military company]] (PMC) which does not supply any fighters but is used to export military training services. It realised a profit of €<!-- assumed currency -->222 million in 2019.<ref>{{Cite news|last=|first=|date=|title=Groupe DCI|language=French|work=|url=https://www.groupedci.fr/groupe-dci/|access-date=|archive-date=6 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170806045907/https://www.groupedci.fr/groupe-dci/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Germany===
It is an offence "to recruit" German citizens "for military duty in a military or military-like facility in support of a foreign power" (<span class="plainlinks-print">[http://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/stgb/__109h.html §109h]</span> [[Strafgesetzbuch|StGB]]).
Furthermore, a German citizen who enlists in the armed forces of a state they are also a citizen of risks the loss of their citizenship
(<span class="plainlinks-print">{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20180426081328/http://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/rustag/__28.html §28]}}</span> [[German nationality law|StAG]]).

===South Africa===
In 1998, South Africa passed the Foreign Military Assistance Act that banned citizens and residents from any involvement in foreign wars, except for humanitarian operations, unless a government committee approved deployment. In 2005, the legislation was reviewed by the government because:

* South African citizens were working as security guards in [[Iraq]] during the [[History of Iraq (2003–2011)|American occupation of Iraq]]; 
* consequences of the mercenary soldier sponsorship case against [[Mark Thatcher]] for the "possible funding and logistical assistance in relation to an alleged attempted coup in [[Equatorial Guinea]]" organized by [[Simon Mann]].<ref>[[Reuters]] [http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L1143048.htm South Africa to review mercenary law, targets Iraq] February 2005</ref>

As of 2010, South Africa forbids citizens from fighting in foreign wars unless they are under the direct control of their own national armed forces.<ref>{{cite web|work=Independent Online|url=http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=13&art_id=vn20060910084637879C193049 |title=South Africa |location=South Africa |access-date=26 May 2010}}</ref>

===United Kingdom===
In the United Kingdom, the Foreign Enlistment Act 1819 and the [[Foreign Enlistment Act 1870]] make it unlawful for British subjects to join the armed forces of any state warring with another state at peace with Britain. During the [[Greek War of Independence]], British volunteers fought with the Greek rebels, which could have been unlawful per the Foreign Enlistment Act. It was unclear whether or not the Greek rebels constituted a 'state', but the law was later clarified to indicate that they were.{{citation needed|date=October 2019}}

The British government considered using the Act against British subjects fighting for the [[International Brigades]] in the [[Spanish Civil War]] and the [[National Liberation Front of Angola|FNLA]] in the [[Angolan Civil War]], but on both occasions chose not to do so.{{citation needed|date=October 2019}}

===United States===
Civilians with the US Armed Forces lose their [[law of war]] protection from direct attack if, and for such time as, they directly participate in hostilities.

The [[Anti-Pinkerton Act of 1893]] ({{UnitedStatesCode|5|3108}}) forbids the [[US government]] from using [[Pinkerton (detective agency)|Pinkerton National Detective Agency]] employees or similar private police companies.

In 1977, the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit]] interpreted the Anti-Pinkerton Act as forbidding the US government from employing companies offering "mercenary, quasi-military forces" for hire (United States ex rel. ''Weinberger v. Equifax'', 557 F.2d 456, 462 (5th Cir. 1977), cert. denied, 434 U.S. 1035 (1978)). There is disagreement over whether this proscription is limited to strikebreakers only, because ''Weinberger v. Equifax'' states the following:

{{Blockquote|The purpose of the Act and the legislative history reveal that an organization was "similar" to the Pinkerton Detective Agency only if it offered for hire mercenary, quasi-military forces as strikebreakers and armed guards. It had the secondary effect of deterring any other organization from providing such services lest it be branded a "similar organization." The legislative history supports this view and no other.|United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit|''Weinberger v. Equifax'', 1977}}

In the 7 June 1978 letter to the heads of Federal Departments and Agencies, the Comptroller General interpreted this decision in a way that carved out an exemption for "Guard and Protective Services".

A [[United States Department of Defense]] (DoD) interim rule revised DoD Instruction 3020.41 to authorize contractors, other than private security contractors, to use deadly force against enemy armed forces only in self-defense (71 Fed. Reg. 34826), effective 16 June 2006. Per that interim rule, private security contractors were authorized to use deadly force when protecting their client's assets and persons, consistent with their contract's [[mission statement]]. One interpretation is that this authorized contractors to engage in combat on behalf of the US government. It is the combatant commander's responsibility to ensure that private security contract mission statements do not authorize performance of inherently governmental military functions, i.e. preemptive attacks, assaults, or raids, etc.

On 18 August 2006, the US Comptroller General rejected bid protest arguments that the [[United States Army]] contracts violated the Anti-Pinkerton Act by requiring that contractors provide armed [[convoy]] escort vehicles and labor, weapons, and equipment for internal security operations at [[Victory Base Complex]] in Iraq. The Comptroller General reasoned the act was unviolated because the contracts did not require contractors to provide quasi-military forces as strikebreakers.<ref>Brian X. Scott (18 August 2006). [http://www.gao.gov/decisions/bidpro/298370.htm "B-298370; B-298490"]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304001958/http://www.gao.gov/decisions/bidpro/298370.htm |date=4 March 2016 }}.</ref>

In 2007, the US Army was temporarily barred from awarding a $475 million security contract in Iraq, the largest one at that time, because of a lawsuit filed by a US citizen alleging violation of the Anti-Pinkerton Act of 1893. Three of the candidates under final consideration for the contract (to include intelligence services and security for reconstruction work by the [[United States Army Corps of Engineers]]) included British firms [[Aegis Defence Services]] and [[Erinys International|Erinys Iraq]], as well as [[Blackwater (company)|Blackwater]] of North Carolina. The case was later dismissed.<ref name=WP-2007-06-02>{{cite news |first1=Alec |last1=Klein |first2=Steve |last2=Fainaru |date=2 June 2007 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/01/AR2007060102261.html |title=Judge Halts Award of Iraq Contract |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |page=D01 |access-date=4 September 2017 |archive-date=8 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170708175127/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/01/AR2007060102261.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Foreign national servicemen==
The better-known combat units in which foreign nationals serve in another country's armed forces are the [[Gurkha]] regiments of the [[British Army]] and [[Indian Army]], the [[French Foreign Legion]], the [[Spanish Legion]] and the [[International Legion (Ukraine)|Ukraine Foreign Legion]].

Recruits from countries of the [[Commonwealth of Nations]] in the British Army swear allegiance to the British monarch and are liable to operate in any unit. Gurkhas, however, operate in dedicated Gurkha units of the British Army (specifically units that are administered by the [[Brigade of Gurkhas]]) and the Indian Army. Although they are nationals of Nepal, a country that is not part of the Commonwealth, they still swear allegiance (either to [[the Crown]] or the [[Constitution of India]]) and abide by the rules and regulations under which all British or Indian soldiers serve.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.army.mod.uk/brigade_of_gurkhas/gurkha_employment/tacos/index.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081228020515/http://www.army.mod.uk/brigade_of_gurkhas/gurkha_employment/tacos/index.htm|url-status=dead|title=Gurkha terms and conditions of service|archive-date=28 December 2008}}</ref> French Foreign Legionnaires serve in the French Foreign Legion, which deploys and fights as an organized unit of the [[French Army]]. This means that as members of the armed forces of Britain, India, and France these soldiers are not classed as mercenary soldiers per [[Protocol I|APGC77 Art 47.e and 47.f]]. Volunteers for the Ukraine Foreign legion have three-year contracts, and are eligible for Ukrainian citizenship (the probation period being the duration of the war).<ref>{{Cite news |date=9 March 2022 |title=Foreign volunteers who help Ukraine will be eligible for citizenship in the future |work=ABC7 Denver |publisher=[[American Broadcasting Company]] |agency=Scripps National |department=Russia-Ukraine-Conflict |url=https://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/national/russia-ukraine-conflict/foreign-volunteers-who-help-ukraine-will-be-eligible-for-citizenship-in-the-future |url-status=live |access-date=31 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220310021145/https://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/national/russia-ukraine-conflict/foreign-volunteers-who-help-ukraine-will-be-eligible-for-citizenship-in-the-future |archive-date=10 March 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Forrest |first1=Brett |title=Ukraine's New Foreign Legion Takes the Fight to Russian Forces |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/ukraines-new-foreign-legion-takes-the-fight-to-russian-forces-11647083295 |access-date=12 March 2022 |work=The Wall Street Journal |date=12 March 2022 |archive-date=14 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220314041801/https://www.wsj.com/articles/ukraines-new-foreign-legion-takes-the-fight-to-russian-forces-11647083295 |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Private military companies==
{{Main|Private military company}}

The [[private military company]] (PMC) is a private company providing armed combat or security services for financial gain. PMCs refer to their personnel as security contractors or private military contractors. PMC contractors are civilians (in governmental, international, and civil organizations) authorized to accompany an army to the field; thus, the term ''civilian contractor''. PMCs may use armed force, defined as: "legally established enterprises that make a profit, by either providing services involving the potential exercise of [armed] force in a systematic way and by military means, and/or by the transfer of that potential to clients through training and other practices, such as logistics support, equipment procurement, and intelligence gathering".<ref>[http://www.privatemilitary.org/definition.html "What is a Private Military Company or PMC?"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061002210947/http://www.privatemilitary.org/definition.html |date=2 October 2006 }} Web article cites Ortiz, Carlos. "Regulating Private Military Companies: States and the Expanding Business of Commercial Security Provision". In L. Assassi, D. Wigan and K. van der Pijl (eds). ''Global Regulation. Managing Crises After the Imperial Turn.'' Houndmills / New York, Palgrave Macmillan, 2004, p. 206.</ref>

Private paramilitary forces are functionally mercenary armies, though they may serve as security guards or military advisors; however, national governments reserve the right to control the number, nature, and armaments of such [[Private army|private armies]], arguing that, provided they are not pro-actively employed in front-line combat, they are not mercenaries.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/peacekpg/reform/2001/private.htm |title=Privatizing Protection |access-date=11 October 2005 |archive-date=12 October 2005 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051012163625/http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/peacekpg/reform/2001/private.htm |url-status=live}}</ref> In February 2002, a British [[Foreign and Commonwealth Office]] (FCO) report about PMCs noted that the demands of the military service from the UN and international civil organizations might mean that it is cheaper to pay PMCs than use soldiers.<ref name="BBC2002">[https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/2403517.stm "Dogs of war into doves of peace"] . ''[[BBC News]]'', 11 November 2002</ref> PMC "civilian contractors" tend to have poor reputations among professional government soldiers<ref name="a backup site">Jonathan Finer (10 September 2005). [https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/09/AR2005090902136.html "Security Contractors in Iraq Under Scrutiny after Shootings"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171025145015/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/09/AR2005090902136.html |date=25 October 2017 }}. ''[[The Washington Post]]''. ([http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/iraq/occupation/2005/0910contractors.htm a backup site] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070116123138/http://www.globalpolicy.org//security//issues/iraq/occupation/2005/0910contractors.htm |date=16 January 2007 }})</ref> and officers—the U.S. Military Command has questioned their war zone behavior.<ref name="a backup site"/>

In September 2005, Brigadier General Karl Horst, deputy commander of the Third Infantry Division charged with Baghdad security after the 2003 invasion of Iraq, said of [[DynCorp]] and other PMCs:

{{Blockquote|These guys run loose in this country and do stupid stuff. There's no authority over them, so you can't come down on them hard when they escalate force... They shoot people, and someone else has to deal with the aftermath. It happens all over the place.<ref name="a backup site"/>}}

In 2004, the US and Coalition governments hired PMCs for security in Iraq. In March 2004, four Blackwater employees escorting food supplies and other equipment were [[2004 Fallujah ambush|attacked and killed in Fallujah]] in a videotaped attack; the killings and subsequent dismemberments were a cause for the [[First Battle of Fallujah]].<ref>{{cite news |first1=Spencer E. |last1=Ante |first2=Stan |last2=Crock |url=http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/04_22/b3885116.htm |title=The Other U.S. Military: The private contractor biz is hot, vast, and largely unregulated. Is it out of control? |work=[[Business Week]] |date=31 May 2004 |access-date=26 November 2007 |archive-date=11 December 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071211044611/http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/04_22/b3885116.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>

[[File:Badakhshan Province, Afghanistan.jpg|thumb|right|Private military contractor in [[Badakhshan Province]], [[Afghanistan]], 2006]]

Afghan war operations also boosted the business.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/15/AR2009121504850.html |newspaper=The Washington Post |title=Up to 56,000 more contractors likely for Afghanistan, congressional agency says |first=Walter |last=Pincus |date=16 December 2009 |access-date=12 May 2010 |archive-date=1 June 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100601181216/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/15/AR2009121504850.html |url-status=live}}</ref> The United States has made extensive use of PMCs in Afghanistan since 2001, mostly in a defensive role.<ref name="Neville, Leigh p.56">Neville, Leigh (2008). ''Special Operations Forces in Afghanistan'', London: Osprey, p. 56</ref> PMC teams have been used to guard bases and to protect VIPs from Taliban assassins, but almost never in offensive operations.<ref name="Neville, Leigh p.56"/> One mercenary stated about his work in Afghanistan: "We are there purely to protect the principals and get them out, we're not there to get into huge firefights with the bad guys". One team from DynCorp provided bodyguards for President [[Hamid Karzai]].<ref name="Neville, Leigh p.56"/>

===Colombia===
In 2006, a US congressional report listed a number of PMCs and other enterprises that have signed contracts to carry out anti-narcotics operations and related activities as part of [[Plan Colombia]]. Referring to the use of American PMCs in Colombia, the former US Ambassador to Colombia [[Myles Frechette]] has said: "Congress and the American people don't want any servicemen killed overseas. So it makes sense that if contractors want to risk their lives, they get the job".<ref name="Lynch">{{cite news |last1=Lynch |first1=Diego |title=The rise and dominance of Colombia's private military contractors |url=https://limacharlienews.com/south-america/colombian-private-military-contractors/ |access-date=28 May 2020 |publisher=Lima Charlie News |archive-date=14 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200514160110/https://limacharlienews.com/south-america/colombian-private-military-contractors/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Not only have foreign PMCs worked in Colombia, but a disproportionate number of the mercenaries with PMCs are Colombian, as Colombia's long history of civil war has led to a surplus of experienced soldiers. Also, Colombian soldiers are much cheaper than soldiers from [[developed country|developed countries]].<ref name="Lynch"/> PMCs from several Middle Eastern countries have signed contracts with the Colombian Defense Ministry to carry out security or military activities.<ref>[http://www.colectivodeabogados.org/article.php3?id_article=1253 "Private Security Transnational Enterprises in Colombia"]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080417203427/http://www.colectivodeabogados.org/article.php3?id_article=1253|date=17 April 2008}}. José Alvear Restrepo Lawyers' Collective, February 2008.</ref>

===UN concerns over legality of PMCs===
The United Nations questions whether PMC soldiers are sufficiently accountable for their war zone actions. A common argument for using PMCs (used by the PMCs themselves), is that PMCs may be able to help combat [[genocide]] and civilian slaughter where the UN or other countries are unwilling or unable to intervene.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.hoover.org/publications/policy-review |title=Policy Review |website=Hoover Institution |access-date=12 February 2019 |archive-date=8 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190208210114/https://www.hoover.org/publications/policy-review |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>P. W. Singer (June 2003). [http://www.brookings.edu/views/articles/fellows/singer20030601.htm "Peacekeepers, Inc."] ''[[Policy Review]]''. [[The Brookings Institution]]. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081203201417/http://www.brookings.edu/views/articles/fellows/singer20030601.htm |date=3 December 2008 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.sandline.com/hotlinks/dogs_of_peace.html |title=Dogs of Peace |website=www.sandline.com |access-date=11 October 2005 |archive-date=2 November 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151102175413/http://www.sandline.com/hotlinks/dogs_of_peace.htm |url-status=dead}}</ref> Yet, after considering using PMCs to support UN operations, [[Kofi Annan]], the [[Secretary-General of the United Nations]], decided against it.<ref name="BBC2002" />

In October 2007, the United Nations released a two-year study that stated, that although hired as "security guards", private contractors were performing military duties. The report found that the use of contractors such as Blackwater was a "new form of mercenary activity" and illegal under [[international law]].

Most countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom, are not signatories to the 1989 [[United Nations Mercenary Convention]] banning the use of mercenaries. A spokesman for the U.S. Mission to U.N. denied that Blackwater security guards were mercenaries, saying "Accusations that U.S. government-contracted security guards, of whatever nationality, are mercenaries is inaccurate and demeaning to men and women who put their lives on the line to protect people and facilities every day."<ref>{{cite news |last=Higgins |first=Alexander G. |date=17 October 2007 |title=US rejects UN mercenary report |url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2007-10-17-3392316246_x.htm |work=[[USA Today]] |agency=[[Associated Press]] |access-date=11 January 2017 |archive-date=30 June 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120630165026/http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2007-10-17-3392316246_x.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

==History==
[[File:Alabaster-bas relief, non-Assyrian mercenaries part of the Assyrian army, holding spears and shields. From the South-West Palace, Nineveh, Iraq. 7th century BCE. Pergamon Museum.jpg|thumb|190px|Alabaster-bas relief, non-Assyrian mercenaries in the [[Military history of the Neo-Assyrian Empire|Assyrian army]]. From the South-West Palace, [[Nineveh]]. 7th century BC]]

===Europe===

====Classical era====
{{See also|Ancient Greek mercenaries|Mercenaries of the ancient Iberian Peninsula}}

=====Greek mercenaries in the Persian Empire=====
[[File: Detail from the Chigi-vase.jpg|thumb|[[Chigi vase]] with [[hoplite]]s holding javelins and spears]]

* [[Xerxes I]], King of Persia, employed Arcadian mercenaries during his invasion of Greece.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Trundle |first=Matthew |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V1KSA4tJvsQC |title=Greek Mercenaries: From the Late Archaic Period to Alexander |date=2004-09-09 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-30433-2 |language=en}}</ref>
* In [[Anabasis (Xenophon)|Anabasis]], [[Xenophon]] recounts how [[Cyrus the Younger]] hired a large army of Greek mercenaries (the "[[Ten Thousand]]") in 401&nbsp;BC to seize the throne of Persia from his brother, [[Artaxerxes II]]. Though Cyrus' army was victorious at the [[Battle of Cunaxa]], Cyrus himself was killed in battle and the expedition rendered moot. Stranded deep in enemy territory, the Spartan general [[Clearchus of Sparta|Clearchus]] and most of the other Greek generals were subsequently killed by treachery. Xenophon played an instrumental role in encouraging "The Ten Thousand" Greek army to march north to the [[Black Sea]] in an epic fighting retreat.<ref>[[Xenophon]], ''[[Anabasis (Xenophon)|Anabasis]]'' vii. 1. 1–32</ref>
* The [[Sileraioi]] were a group of ancient mercenaries most likely employed by the tyrant [[Dionysius I of Syracuse]].<ref>J. B. Bury, ''The Cambridge Ancient History'' VI: Macedon, 401–301 BC, Ch. 5, Cambridge: University Press, 1975.</ref>
* In 378 BC the Persian Empire hired the [[Athenian]] general [[Iphicrates]] with his mercenaries in the [[Ancient Egypt|Egyptian]] campaign.<ref>Polyaenus, {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20210621062830/https://cts.perseids.org/read/greekLit/tlg0616/tlg001/1st1K-grc1/3.9 ''Strategems'']}}, 3.9.38</ref>
* The [[Mania (satrap)|Mania]], who was a sub-[[satrap]], used Greek mercenaries in order to capture other cities in the region.<ref>Xenophon, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0032.tlg001.perseus-grc1:3.1.13 ''Hellenika''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220621194228/https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0032.tlg001.perseus-grc1:3.1.13 |date=21 June 2022 }}, 3.1.13</ref>
* [[Memnon of Rhodes]] (380–333&nbsp;BC) was the commander of the Greek mercenaries working for the Persian King [[Darius III]] when [[Alexander the Great]] of [[Macedon]]ia invaded Persia in 334&nbsp;BC and won the [[Battle of the Granicus River]].{{sfn|Schuster|2016|pages=366–367}} Alexander also employed Greek mercenaries during his campaigns. These were men who fought for him directly and not those who fought in city-state units attached to his army.<ref>{{harvnb|Arrian|1976|loc=I, 11}}</ref>

=====Greek mercenaries in ancient India=====
Greek mercenaries were a significant part of the military forces in ancient India, particularly under the [[Indo-Greek Kingdom]]s and the [[Greco-Bactrian Kingdom]]. These [[Hellenistic period|Hellenistic]] states, founded by Greek rulers after the conquests of [[Alexander the Great]], frequently employed mercenaries from the wider Greek world to maintain control over their territories and to engage in warfare with both Indian and Central Asian adversaries.

The presence of Greek mercenaries in India is documented in ancient [[Tamil literature]], such as the ''[[Purananuru]]'', which describes Greek soldiers, referred to as "[[Yona|Yavanas]]," (transliteration of "Ionians") as formidable warriors serving Indian rulers. These texts depict them as "valiant-eyed Yavanas, whose bodies were strong and of terrible aspect."<ref>{{cite book|title=History of Indian Theatre|last1=Pande|first1=L. V.|last2=Varadpande|first2=M. L.|date=1987|volume=1|publisher=Abhinav Publications|isbn=978-8170172215|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SyxOHOCVcVkC|page=235|access-date=12 March 2025|archive-date=15 February 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230215134446/https://books.google.com/books?id=SyxOHOCVcVkC|url-status=live}}</ref>

Greek mercenaries were particularly prominent in the armies of the Indo-Greek and Greco-Bactrian kings. [[Alfred Charles Auguste Foucher]] suggested that some of the warrior figures depicted in [[Gandhara]] art may represent Greek mercenaries, further supporting their role in military campaigns.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Greeks in Bactria and India|author=William Woodthorpe Tarn|date=2010|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1108009416|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-HeJS3nE9cAC|page=250|access-date=12 March 2025|archive-date=15 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230115070732/https://books.google.com/books?id=-HeJS3nE9cAC|url-status=live}}</ref>

Stephanus of Byzantium recorded the existence of an ancient city called Daedala or Daidala ({{langx|grc|Δαίδαλα}}) in India,<ref>Stephanus of Byzantium, [https://topostext.org/work/241 ''Ethnica''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210410155716/https://topostext.org/work/241 |date=10 April 2021 }}, D216.8</ref> which he described as Indo-Cretan, likely due to the presence of Cretan mercenaries. This suggests that Greek soldiers not only fought in Indian campaigns but also settled in military colonies, forming part of the Hellenistic governance in the region.<ref>{{cite book| last = Woodthorpe Tarn| first = William| title = The Greeks in Bactria and India| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=-HeJS3nE9cAC| publisher = [[Cambridge University Press]]| year = 2010| page = 250| isbn = 978-1108009416| access-date = 12 March 2025| archive-date = 15 January 2023| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230115070732/https://books.google.com/books?id=-HeJS3nE9cAC| url-status = live}}</ref>

=====Carthage=====
* [[Carthage]] contracted [[Balearic Islands]] shepherds as [[Balearic slinger|slingers]] during the [[Punic Wars]] against Rome.{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2006|p=32}} The vast majority of the Carthaginian military – except the highest officers, the navy, and the [[Sacred Band of Carthage|home guard]] – were mercenaries.{{sfn|Scullard|2006|p=567}}
* [[Xanthippus of Carthage]] was a [[Sparta]]n mercenary general employed by Carthage.
* Greek mercenaries were hired by Carthage to fight against the [[Dionysius I of Syracuse]]. Dionysius made Carthage pay a very high ransom for the Carthaginian prisoners, but he left the Greek mercenaries prisoners free without any ransom. This made the Carthaginians suspicious of their Greek mercenaries and discharged them all from their service. With this trick Dionysius did not have to fight again against the Greek mercenaries of Carthage who were very dangerous enemies.<ref>Polyaenus, {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20210612150758/https://cts.perseids.org/read/greekLit/tlg0616/tlg001/1st1K-grc1/5.2 Strategems]}}, 5.2.17</ref>

=====Byzantine Empire=====
In the late [[Roman Empire]], it became increasingly difficult for Emperors and generals to raise military units from the citizenry for various reasons: lack of manpower, lack of time available for training, lack of materials, and, inevitably, political considerations. Therefore, beginning in the late 4th century, the empire often contracted whole bands of [[barbarian]]s either within the [[Roman legion|legions]] or as autonomous [[foederati]]. The barbarians were [[Romanization (cultural)|Romanized]] and surviving veterans were established in areas requiring population.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/barb/hd_barb.htm|access-date=2021-01-19|website=Metropolitan Museum of Art|title=Barbarians and Romans &#124; Essay &#124; the Metropolitan Museum of Art &#124; Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History|archive-date=1 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210201171252/https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/barb/hd_barb.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> The [[Varangian Guard]] of the [[Byzantine Empire]] is the best known formation made up of barbarian mercenaries (see next section).

=====Other=====
* Members of independent [[Thracians|Thracian]] tribes such as the [[Bessi]] and [[Dii]] often joined the ranks of large organized armies as mercenaries.{{Citation needed|date=January 2021}}
* The [[Mamertines|Sons of Mars]] were Italian mercenaries used by the Greek kings of [[Syracuse, Italy|Syracuse]] until after the [[Punic Wars]].<ref name="Livius">Lendering, Jona. [https://www.livius.org/people/mamertines/ "Mamertines"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150707111002/http://www.livius.org/people/mamertines/ |date=7 July 2015 }}. Livius.org</ref>
* A figure in oral legend, [[Milesius]] was given the princess [[Scota]] after conducting a successful campaign for [[Ancient Egypt]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Williams|first1=Mark|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C3SYDwAAQBAJ&q=M%C3%ADl+Esp%C3%A1ine&pg=PA139|title=Ireland's Immortals: A History of the Gods of Irish Myth|date=2018|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-0691183046|location=|page=413|language=en|access-date=19 January 2021|archive-date=15 February 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230215134429/https://books.google.com/books?id=C3SYDwAAQBAJ&q=M%C3%ADl+Esp%C3%A1ine&pg=PA139|url-status=live}}</ref>
* [[Mithridates VI Eupator]] recruited a large number of [[Persian people|Iranians]] along with the Galatians into the [[Pontic Greeks|Pontic]] army during the [[Mithridatic Wars]] against Rome, using the [[Leucosyri]], [[Persia]]ns and [[Scythians]].{{Citation needed|date=January 2021}}
* [[Illyrians]] were hired across the [[Balkans]] and further. They were known for their unreliability.<ref>''The legacy of Alexander: politics, warfare, and propaganda under the successors'', {{ISBN|0198153066}}, 2002, p. 248, "The Illyrians moreover had not been reliable auxiliaries in the recent past."</ref>

====Medieval warfare====
{{See also|Routiers|Bertrand du Guesclin}}
[[File:The body of Leo V is dragged to the Hippodrome through the Skyla Gate.jpg|thumb|[[Varangian Guard]]smen, an illumination from the 11th century chronicle of [[John Skylitzes]]]]
[[File:Pisanello - Study of a Head - WGA17857.jpg|thumb|[[Oghuz Turks|Turkish]] mercenary in Byzantine service {{Circa|1436}}]]
[[File:Il Condottiere.jpg|thumb|[[Leonardo da Vinci]]'s ''Profilo di capitano antico'', also known as ''il [[Condottiero]]'', 1480. ''Condottiero'' meant "contractor" in its more literal sense but came to be applied to leaders of mercenary groups in [[Italy]] during the [[Late Middle Ages]] and the [[Renaissance]].]]

[[List of Byzantine emperors|Byzantine emperors]] followed the Roman practice and contracted foreigners especially for their personal [[corps]] guard called the [[Varangian Guard]]. They were chosen among war-prone peoples, of whom the [[Varangian]]s (Norsemen) were preferred. Their mission was to protect the Emperor and Empire and since they did not have links to the Greeks, they were expected to be ready to suppress rebellions. One of the most famous guards was the future king [[Harald III of Norway]], also known as Harald Hardrada ("Hard-counsel"), who arrived in Constantinople in 1035 and was employed as a Varangian Guard. He participated in eighteen battles and was promoted to {{lang|grc-Latn|akolythos}}, the commander of the Guard, before returning home in 1043. He was killed at the [[Battle of Stamford Bridge]] in 1066 when his army was defeated by an English army commanded by King [[Harold Godwinson]]. The point at which the Varangians ceased to be in the service of the Roman Empire remains unclear.

In England at the time of the [[Norman Conquest]], [[Flemish people|Flemings]] (natives of [[Flanders]]) formed a substantial mercenary element in the forces of [[William the Conqueror]] with many remaining in England as settlers under the [[Normans]]. Contingents of mercenary Flemish soldiers were to form significant forces in England throughout the time of the Norman and early [[House of Plantagenet|Plantagenet]] dynasties (11th and 12th centuries). A prominent example of these were the Flemings who fought during the English civil wars, known as [[the Anarchy]] or [[the Nineteen-Year Winter]] (AD 1135 to 1154), under the command of [[William of Ypres]], who was [[Stephen of England|King Stephen]]'s chief lieutenant from 1139 to 1154 and who was made Earl of Kent by Stephen.{{Citation needed|date=May 2007}}

In Italy, the {{lang|it|condottiero}} was a military chief offering his troops, the {{lang|it|[[condottieri]]}}, to Italian [[city-state]]s. The {{lang|it|condottieri}} were extensively used by the Italian city-states in their wars against one another. At times, the {{lang|it|condottieri}} seized control of the state, as one {{lang|it|condottiero}}, [[Francesco Sforza]], made himself the Duke of Milan in 1450.<ref>Lanning, Michael (2007), ''Mercenaries: Soldiers of Fortune, from Ancient Greece to Today's Private Military Companies'', New York: Random House, pp. 48–49</ref> During the ages of the [[Taifa]] kingdoms of the Iberian peninsula, Christian knights like [[El Cid]] could fight for a Muslim ruler against his Christian or Muslim enemies. The [[Almogavars]] originally fought for [[Count of Barcelona|the counts of Barcelona]] and [[Kingdom of Aragon|kings of Aragon]], but as the [[Catalan Company]], they followed [[Roger de Flor]] in the service of the [[Byzantine Empire]]. In 1311, the Catalan Great Company defeated at the [[Battle of Halmyros]] their former employer, [[Walter V, Count of Brienne]], after he refused to pay them, and took over the [[Duchy of Athens]].<ref>Lanning, Michael (2007), ''Mercenaries: Soldiers of Fortune, from Ancient Greece to Today's Private Military Companies'', New York: Random House, p. 44</ref> The Great Company ruled much of central and southern Greece until 1388–1390 when a rival mercenary company, the [[Navarrese Company]] were hired to oust them.<ref>Lanning, Michael (2007), ''Mercenaries: Soldiers of Fortune, from Ancient Greece to Today's Private Military Companies'', New York: Random House, p. 45</ref> Catalan and German mercenaries also had prominent role in the Serbian victory over Bulgarians in the [[Battle of Velbuzd]] in 1330.{{Citation needed|date=November 2019}}

[[File:Sack of the town.jpg|thumb|right|The [[Tard-Venus]] ''[[routiers]]'' pillage Grammont in 1362, from [[Froissart's Chronicles]]]]

During the later Middle Ages, [[Free company|Free Companies]] (or ''Free Lances'') were formed, consisting of companies of mercenary troops. Nation-states lacked the funds needed to maintain standing forces, so they tended to hire free companies to serve in their armies during wartime.<ref name="Lanning, Michael p. 42">Lanning, Michael (2003), ''Mercenaries: Soldiers of Fortune, from Ancient Greece to Today's Private Military Companies'', New York: Random House, p. 42</ref> Such companies typically formed at the ends of periods of conflict, when men-at-arms were no longer needed by their respective governments.<ref name="Lanning, Michael p. 42"/> The veteran soldiers thus looked for other forms of employment, often becoming mercenaries.<ref name="Lanning, Michael p. 42"/> Free Companies would often specialize in forms of combat that required longer periods of training that was not available in the form of a mobilized militia.

The {{lang|fr|[[Routiers]]}} formed a distinctive subculture in medieval France who alternated between serving as mercenaries in wartime and bandits in peacetime.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Strickland |first1=Matthew |title=War and Chivalry: The Conduct and Perception of War in England and Normandy, 1066–1217 |date=1996 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |isbn=052144392X |pages=291–300}}</ref> The {{lang|fr|routiers}} were very destructive and became a significant social problem. After the [[Treaty of Brétigny]] ended the war between England and France in 1360, the French countryside was overrun by Free Companies of {{lang|fr|routiers}} while the French Crown lacked the necessary military and economic strength to put an end to their activities.<ref>Paz González, Carlos (2007), "The Role of Mercenary Troops in Spain in the Fourteenth Century" pp. 331–344, in John France (ed.), ''Mercenaries and Paid Men: The Mercenary Identity in the Middle Ages'' Leiden: Brill, pp. 331–332</ref> To rid France of the rampaging mercenaries and to overthrow the pro-English King [[Peter of Castile|Pedro the Cruel]] of Castile, Marshal [[Bertrand du Guesclin]] was directed by King [[Charles V of France]] to take the Free Companies into Castile with the orders to put the pro-French [[Henry II of Castile|Enrique de Trastámara]] on the Castilian throne.<ref>Paz González, Carlos (2007), "The Role of Mercenary Troops in Spain in the Fourteenth Century", pp. 331–344, in John France (ed.), ''Mercenaries and Paid Men: The Mercenary Identity in the Middle Ages'', Leiden: Brill, 2007 pp. 337–338</ref> Guesclin's mercenaries were organized into the Big Companies and French Companies and played a decisive role in putting Enrique on the Castilian throne in 1369, who styled himself King Enrique II, the first Castilian monarch of the House of Trastámara.<ref>Paz González, Carlos (2007), "The Role of Mercenary Troops in Spain in the Fourteenth Century", pp. 331–344, in John France (ed.), ''Mercenaries and Paid Men: The Mercenary Identity in the Middle Ages'', Leiden: Brill, pp. 338–341</ref>

The [[White Company]] commanded by Sir [[John Hawkwood]] is the best known English Free Company of the 14th century. Between the 13th and 17th centuries the [[Gallowglass]] fought within the Islands of Britain and also mainland Europe. A Welshman [[Owain Lawgoch]] (Owain of the Red Hand) formed a free company and fought for the French against the English during the [[Hundred Years' War]], before being assassinated by a Scot named Jon Lamb, under the orders of the English Crown, during the siege of Mortagne in 1378.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.100welshheroes.com/en/biography/owainlawgoch|title=Owain Lawgoch (English:Owain of the Red Hand, French:Yvain de Galles)|publisher=100welshheroes.com|access-date=26 May 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100124191956/http://www.100welshheroes.com/en/biography/owainlawgoch|archive-date=24 January 2010}}</ref>

====15th and 16th centuries====
[[File:Urs Graf Schrecken des Kriegs 1521.jpg|thumb|The battlefield of [[Battle of Marignano|Marignano]], drawing by [[Urs Graf]], himself a Swiss mercenary who may have fought there]]
[[File:Five German Soldiers MET DP822162.jpg|thumb|Landsknechte, [[etching]] by [[Daniel Hopfer]], {{Circa|1530}}]]

[[Swiss mercenaries]] were sought during the late 15th and early 16th centuries as being an effective fighting force, until their somewhat rigid battle formations became vulnerable to [[arquebus]]es and [[artillery]] being developed at the same time. The [[Swiss Guard]] in particular were employed by the [[Papal States]] from 1506 (continuing to serve today as the military of [[Vatican City]]).

It was then that the German [[landsknecht]]s, colorful mercenaries with a redoubtable reputation, took over the Swiss forces' legacy and became the most formidable force of the late 15th century and throughout the 16th century, being hired by all the powers in Europe and often fighting at opposite sides. Sir [[Thomas More]] in his [[Utopia (More book)|Utopia]] advocated the use of mercenaries in preference to citizens. The barbarian mercenaries employed by the Utopians are thought to be inspired by the Swiss mercenaries.{{Citation needed|date=November 2019}}

At approximately the same period, [[Niccolò Machiavelli]] argued against the use of mercenary armies in his book of political advice ''[[The Prince]]''. His rationale was that since the sole motivation of mercenaries is their pay, they will not be inclined to take the kind of risks that can turn the tide of a battle, but may cost them their lives. He also noted that a mercenary who failed was obviously no good, but one who succeeded may be even more dangerous. He astutely pointed out that a successful mercenary army no longer needs its employer if it is more militarily powerful than its supposed superior. This explained the frequent, violent betrayals that characterized mercenary/client relations in Italy, because neither side trusted the other. He believed that citizens with a real attachment to their home country will be more motivated to defend it and thus make much better soldiers.

The [[Stratioti]] or Stradioti (Italian: Stradioti or Stradiotti; Greek: Στρατιώτες, Stratiotes) were mercenary units from the Balkans recruited mainly by states of Central and Southern Europe from the 15th century until the middle of the 18th century. The Stratioti were recruited in [[Albania]], Greece, [[Dalmatia]], [[Serbia]], and later [[Cyprus]]. Most modern historians have indicated that the Stratioti were mostly Albanians. According to a study by a Greek author, around 80% of the listed names attributed to the Stratioti were of Albanian origin while most of the remaining ones, especially those of officers, were of Greek origin; a small minority were of South Slavic origin. Among their leaders there were also members of some old Byzantine Greek noble families such as the [[Palaiologoi]] and [[Comneni]]. The Stratioti were pioneers of light cavalry tactics during this era. In the early 16th century heavy cavalry in the European armies was principally remodeled after Albanian Stratioti of the Venetian army, Hungarian [[hussars]]s, and German mercenary cavalry units (Schwarzreitern). They employed hit-and-run tactics, ambushes, feigned retreats, and other complex maneuvers. In some ways, these tactics echoed those of the Ottoman sipahis and akinci. They had some notable successes also against French heavy cavalry during the Italian Wars. They were known for cutting off the heads of dead or captured enemies, and according to [[Philippe de Commines|Commines]] they were paid by their leaders one [[ducat]] per head.{{Citation needed|date=November 2019}}

In Italy, during inter-family conflicts such as the [[Wars of Castro]], mercenaries were widely used to supplement the much smaller forces loyal to particular families.<ref>Joseph Farrell & Michael C. J. Putnam (2010), [https://books.google.com/books?id=nVWUluw8X8wC&dq=%22mercenaries%22+%22war+of+castro%22&pg=PA263 ''A Companion to Vergil's Aeneid and Its Tradition''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230215134438/https://books.google.com.au/books?id=nVWUluw8X8wC&pg=PA263&lpg=PA263&dq=%22mercenaries%22+%22war+of+castro%22&source=bl&ots=VuzmVa8l53&sig=Hrm8VtOODq8VKLmPw-lgT17nXBU&hl=en&ei=7gU0TKrjOofJccf6hd0D&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result#v=onepage&q=%22mercenaries%22%20%22war%20of%20castro%22&f=false |date=15 February 2023 }}</ref> Often these were further supplemented by troops loyal to particular ''[[Italian nobility|duchies]]'' which had sided with one or more of the belligerents.

====17th and 18th centuries====
[[File:Bondi brennandi hus.jpg|thumb|A peasant begs a mercenary for mercy in front of his burning farm during the [[Thirty Years' War]].]]

During the 17th and 18th centuries, extensive use was made of foreign recruits in the now regimented and highly drilled armies of Europe, beginning in a systematized way with the [[Thirty Years' War]]. Historian [[Geoffrey Parker (historian)|Geoffrey Parker]] notes that 40,000 Scotsmen (about fifteen percent of the adult male population) served as soldiers in Continental Europe from 1618 to 1640.<ref>Geoffrey Parker (2001). [https://books.google.com/books?id=qy8y8rHgucoC&pg=PA17 ''Europe in crisis, 1598–1648''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230215134451/https://books.google.com/books?id=qy8y8rHgucoC&pg=PA17&dq=&hl=en |date=15 February 2023 }}. Wiley-Blackwell. p. 17. {{ISBN|0631220283}}</ref>
After the signing of the [[Treaty of Limerick]] (1691) the soldiers of the Irish Army who left Ireland for France took part in what is known as the ''[[Flight of the Wild Geese]]''. Subsequently, many made a living from fighting in continental armies, the most famous of whom was [[Patrick Sarsfield, 1st Earl of Lucan|Patrick Sarsfield]], who, having fallen mortally wounded at the [[Battle of Landen]] fighting for the French, said "If this was only for Ireland".<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://indigo.ie/~wildgees/sarsfiel.htm|title=Wild Geese Heritage Museum and Library|author=Patrick Sarsfield|website=indigo.ie|access-date=23 December 2006|archive-date=28 October 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061028071137/http://indigo.ie/~wildgees/sarsfiel.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

The brutality of the Thirty Years' War, in which several parts of Germany were ransacked by the mercenary troops, and left almost unpopulated, led to the formation of standing armies of professional soldiers, recruited locally or abroad. These armies were active also in peacetime. The formation of these armies in the late 18th century led to professionalization and standardization of clothing (uniforms), equipment, drill, weapons, etc. Since smaller states like the Dutch Republic could afford a large standing army, but could not find enough recruits among its own citizens, recruiting foreigners was common. Prussia had developed a form of conscription, but relied in wartime also on foreign recruits, although the regulations stated that no more than one third of the recruits were to be foreign. Prussian recruiting methods were often aggressive, and resulted more than once in conflicts with neighbouring states. The term mercenary gained its notoriety during this development, since mercenaries were—and now are—often seen as soldiers who fight for no noble cause, but only for money, and who have no loyalty than to the highest bidder, as opposed to the professional soldiers who takes an oath of loyalty and who is seen as the defender of the nation.{{Citation needed|date=November 2019}}

The mercenary soldiers thus fell out of favour and was replaced by the professional soldier. To augment the army, major European powers like France, Britain, the Dutch Republic and Spain contracted regiments from Switzerland, the Southern Netherlands (modern day Belgium), and several smaller German states. About a third of the infantry regiments of the French Royal Army prior to the [[French Revolution]] were recruited from outside France. The largest single group were the twelve Swiss regiments (including the [[Swiss Guard]]). Other units were German and one [[Irish Brigade (French)|Irish Brigade]] (the "[[Flight of the Wild Geese#French service|Wild Geese]]") had originally been made up of Irish volunteers. By 1789 difficulties in obtaining genuinely Irish recruits had led to German and other foreigners making up the bulk of the rank and file. The officers however continued to be drawn from long established Franco-Irish families. During the reign of Louis XV there was also a Scottish ({{lang|fr|[[Garde Écossaise]]}}), a Swedish ({{lang|fr|[[Royal-Suédois]]}}), an Italian (Royal-Italien) and a Walloon (Horion-Liegeois) regiment recruited outside the borders of France. The foreign infantry regiments comprised about 20,000 men in 1733, rising to 48,000 at the time of the [[Seven Years' War]] and being reduced in numbers thereafter.{{Citation needed|date=November 2019}}

[[File:Scottish mercenaries in the Thirty Years War.jpg|thumb|The [[Scottish Highlands|Scottish Highlander mercenaries]], known as [[Redshank (soldier)|Redshanks]] in Ireland, in the service of [[Gustavus Adolphus]] of Sweden; 1631 German engraving]]

The Dutch Republic had contracted several Scots, Swiss and German regiments in the early 18th century, and kept three Scots, one Walloon, and six Swiss regiments (including a Guard regiment raised in 1749) throughout the 18th century. The Scots regiments were contracted from Great Britain, but as relations between Britain and the Republic deteriorated, the regiments could no longer recruit in Scotland, leading to the regiments being Scots in name only until they were nationalized in 1784.{{Citation needed|date=November 2019}} [[Patrick Gordon]], a Scottish mercenary fought at various times for Poland and Sweden, constantly changing his loyalty based on who could pay him the best, until he took up Russian service in 1661.<ref>Fedosov, Dmitry (2004). "Cock of the East: A Gordon Blade Abroad". pp. 1–10 in Ljubica and Mark Erickson (eds.), ''Russia: War, Peace and Diplomacy'', London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, p. 6</ref> In August 1689, during a coup d'état attempt in Moscow against co-tsar [[Peter the Great]] led by the [[Sophia Alekseyevna of Russia|Sophia Alekseyevna]] in the name of the other co-tsar, the intellectually disabled [[Ivan V of Russia|Ivan V]], Gordon played the decisive role in defeating the coup and ensuring Peter's triumph.<ref>Fedosov, Dmitry (2004). "Cock of the East: A Gordon Blade Abroad". pp. 1–10 in Ljubica and Mark Erickson (eds.), ''Russia: War, Peace and Diplomacy'', London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, p. 9</ref> Gordon remained one of Peter's favorite advisers until his death.

The Spanish Army also made use of permanently established foreign regiments. These were three [[Flight of the Wild Geese#Spanish service|Irish regiments]] (Irlanda, Hiberni and Ultonia); one Italian (Naples) and five Swiss (Wimpssen, Reding, Betschart, Traxer and Preux). In addition one regiment of the [[Spanish Royal Guard|Royal Guard]] including Irishmen as ''Patten'', ''McDonnell'' and ''Neiven'', was recruited from [[Walloon Guards|Walloons]]. The last of these foreign regiments was disbanded in 1815, following recruiting difficulties during the [[Napoleonic Wars]]. One complication arising from the use of non-national troops occurred at the [[Battle of Bailén]] in 1808 when the "red Swiss" (so-called from their uniforms) of the invading French Army clashed bloodily with "blue Swiss" in the Spanish service.{{Citation needed|date=November 2019}}

During the [[American Revolutionary War]], the British government hired several regiments from German principalities to supplement the Army. They became known to revolutionaries as [[Hessian (soldier)|Hessians]] and were portrayed by propagandists as mercenaries. However, they were auxiliaries and do not meet the definition of mercenary.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Showlater |first=Dennis |date=2007-09-05 |title=Hessians: The Best Armies Money Could Buy |url=https://www.historynet.com/hessians-the-best-armies-money-could-buy/ |access-date=2024-06-06 |website=HistoryNet}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-12-19 |title=Hessians |url=https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/hessians |access-date=2024-06-06 |website=American Battlefield Trust}}</ref>

====19th to 21st centuries====
During the South American wars of independence from Spain, the [[British Legions]] from 1817 onward fought for General [[Simón Bolívar]].<ref name="Rodriguez">{{cite book |last1=Rodriguez |first1=Moises Enrique |title=Freedom's Mercenaries: Northern South America |date=2006 |publisher=Hamilton Books |location=Lantham |isbn=0761834370 |page=14}}</ref> Some of the British Legionaries were liberal idealists who went to South America to fight in a war for freedom, but others were the more classic mercenaries, mostly unemployed veterans of the Napoleonic wars, who fought for money. In South America, especially in [[Colombia]], the men of the British Legions are remembered as heroes for their crucial role in helping end Spanish rule.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Rodriguez |first1=Moises Enrique |title=Freedom's Mercenaries: Northern South America |date=2006 |publisher=Hamilton Books |location=Lantham |isbn=0761834370 |pages=1–2}}</ref> During the [[First Carlist War]], the British government suspended the Foreign Enlistment Act to allow the recruitment of a quasi-official [[British Auxiliary Legion]] under [[George de Lacy Evans]], which went to Spain to fight for Queen Isabel II against the followers of Don Carlos, the pretender to the Spanish throne.

The [[Atholl Highlanders]], a private Scottish infantry regiment of the [[Duke of Atholl]], was formed in 1839 purely for ceremonial purposes. It was granted official regimental status by [[Queen Victoria]] in 1845 and is the only remaining legal private army in Europe.{{Citation needed|date=November 2019}}

Turkey and [[Azerbaijan]] deployed [[Syria]]n mercenaries during the [[2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://asiatimes.com/2020/10/turkey-deploys-syrian-mercenaries-to-karabakh-war/ |title=Turkey deploys Syrian mercenaries to Karabakh war |website=Asia Times |date=7 October 2020|access-date=2 February 2021|archive-date=12 December 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201212010842/https://asiatimes.com/2020/10/turkey-deploys-syrian-mercenaries-to-karabakh-war/|url-status=live}}</ref>

Syrian mercenaries are being deployed by Russia, with expected numbers ranging from hundreds to up to 40,000 fighters ultimately expected to take part.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.reuters.com/world/some-syrian-veterans-ready-ukraine-fight-commanders-say-2022-03-20/|date=26 March 2022|title=Some Syrian veterans ready for Ukraine fight, commanders say |website=Reuters |last1=Al-Khalidi|first1=Suleiman|access-date=27 March 2022|archive-date=27 March 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220327130414/https://www.reuters.com/world/some-syrian-veterans-ready-ukraine-fight-commanders-say-2022-03-20/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/putin-says-volunteers-welcome-help-fight-against-ukrainian-forces-2022-03-11/ |date=26 March 2022 |title=Putin says Russia to use Middle East volunteer fighters |website=Reuters |last1=Faulconbridge|first1=Guy|access-date=27 March 2022|archive-date=27 March 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220327043657/https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/putin-says-volunteers-welcome-help-fight-against-ukrainian-forces-2022-03-11/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |website=Jerusalem Post |url=https://www.jpost.com/international/article-701597 |date=26 March 2022|title=Syria to supply Russia with 40,000 mercenaries – Ukrainian Defense Min|access-date=27 March 2022|archive-date=27 March 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220327024739/https://www.jpost.com/international/article-701597|url-status=live}}</ref> Wagner mercenaries are active in the [[Syrian civil war]] and [[Murder of Yevgeny Nuzhin#Legacy|sledgehammered a Syrian man]] to death.<ref>{{cite news |title=The Grisly Cult of the Wagner Group's Sledgehammer|url=https://theintercept.com/2023/02/02/wagner-group-violence-sledgehammer/|work= The Intercept|date=2 February 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://novayagazeta.ru/articles/2019/11/20/82805-golovorezy-21|title=Головорезы (21+)|date=20 November 2019|website=Новая газета – Novayagazeta.ru}}</ref><ref name="filmed">{{cite web |date=21 November 2019 |title=Man who filmed beheading of Syrian identified as Russian mercenary |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/nov/21/man-filmed-killing-torture-syrian-identified-russian-mercenary-wagner |website=[[The Guardian]]}}</ref> On 8 November 2024, US President [[Joe Biden]] allowed American Private Military Contractors to deploy to Ukraine.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/25/politics/biden-administration-american-military-contractors-ukraine/index.html|title=Biden administration moving towards allowing American military contractors to deploy to Ukraine &#124; CNN Politics|first=Natasha Bertrand, Oren|last=Liebermann|date=25 June 2024|website=CNN}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.politico.com/news/2024/11/08/biden-allows-u-s-military-contractors-into-ukraine-00188537|title=Biden allows US military contractors into Ukraine|first=Jack|last=Detsch|date=8 November 2024|website=POLITICO}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-us-contractors-weapons-maintenance/33195395.html|title=Pentagon To Allow U.S. Defense Contractors To Maintain Weapons In Ukraine, Reports Say|first=RFE/RL's Ukrainian|last=Service}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://meduza.io/en/news/2024/11/08/biden-lifts-ban-on-u-s-military-contractors-in-ukraine-but-not-for-combat|title=Biden lifts ban on U.S. military contractors in Ukraine, but not for combat|website=Meduza}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2024/11/11/bcfo-n11.html|title=White House sends military contractors to Ukraine|date=11 November 2024|website=World Socialist Web Site}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.turkiyetoday.com/world/pentagon-approves-deployment-of-us-defense-contractors-to-ukraine-76851/|title=Pentagon approves deployment of US defense contractors to Ukraine - Türkiye Today}}</ref> Per the [[United States Department of Defense]], these contractors will help Ukraine repair and maintain military equipment.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/08/politics/biden-administration-american-military-contractors-deploy-ukraine/index.html|title=Biden administration to allow American military contractors to deploy to Ukraine for first time since Russia's invasion &#124; CNN Politics|first=Natasha Bertrand, Haley Britzky, Oren|last=Liebermann|date=8 November 2024|website=CNN}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/11/9/pentagon-allows-us-military-contractors-to-fix-weapons-in-ukraine|title=Pentagon allows US military contractors to fix weapons in Ukraine|website=Al Jazeera}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.france24.com/en/americas/20241108-us-greenlights-deployment-of-military-contractors-to-fix-weapons-in-ukraine|title=US greenlights deployment of military contractors to fix weapons in Ukraine|date=8 November 2024|website=France 24}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.reuters.com/world/pentagon-lifts-ban-contractors-inside-ukraine-fix-us-supplied-weapons-2024-11-08/|title=Exclusive: Pentagon lifts ban on contractors fixing U.S.-supplied weapons in Ukraine}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://nypost.com/2024/11/09/world-news/us-lifts-ban-on-contractors-repairing-weapons-in-ukraine/|title=US lifts ban on contractors repairing weapons in Ukraine|first=Katherine|last=Donlevy|date=9 November 2024}}</ref>

===East Asia===

====Warring States====
Mercenaries were regularly used by the kingdoms of the [[Warring States period]] of China. Military advisers and generals trained through the works of [[Mozi]] and [[Sun Tzu]] would regularly offer their services to kings and dukes.

After the [[Qin dynasty|Qin]] conquest of the Warring States, the Qin and later [[Han dynasty|Han]] Empires would also employ mercenaries – ranging from nomadic horse archers in the Northern steppes or soldiers from the [[Yue (state)|Yue]] kingdoms of the South. The 7th-century [[Tang dynasty]] was also prominent for its use of mercenaries, when they hired [[Tibetan people|Tibetan]] and [[Uyghur people|Uyghur]] soldiers against invasion from the [[Göktürks]] and other steppe civilizations.<ref>''Ancient Chinese Civilization'' {{ISBN|978-1404280359}} p. 12</ref>

====15th to 18th centuries====
The Saika mercenary group<ref>雑賀衆, ''[[:ja:雑賀衆|saikashuu]]''</ref> of the [[Kii Province]], Japan, played a significant role during the [[Siege of Ishiyama Hongan-ji]] that took place between August 1570 to August 1580. The Saikashuu were famed for the support of [[Ikkō-shū|Ikkō]] Buddhist sect movements and greatly impeded the advance of [[Oda Nobunaga]]'s forces.

[[Ninja]] were peasant farmers who learned the art of war to combat the ''[[daimyō]]''{{'}}s samurai. They were hired out by many as mercenaries to perform capture, infiltration and retrieval, and, most famously, assassinations. Ninja possibly originated around the 14th century, but were not widely known or used till the 15th century and carried on being hired till the mid-18th century. In the 16th and 17th centuries, the Spanish in the [[Philippines]] employed [[samurai]] mercenaries from Japan to help control the archipelago.<ref name="Álvarez">{{cite web |last1=Álvarez |first1=Jorge |title=The Sinking of the San Diego, the Spanish galleon that carried Japanese mercenaries to stop a Dutch invasion |url=https://labrujulaverde.com/en/2019/05/the-sinking-of-the-san-diego-the-spanish-galleon-that-carried-japanese-mercenaries-to-stop-a-dutch-invasion/ |website=LBV |date=11 May 2019 |access-date=26 May 2020 |archive-date=29 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201029234348/https://labrujulaverde.com/en/2019/05/the-sinking-of-the-san-diego-the-spanish-galleon-that-carried-japanese-mercenaries-to-stop-a-dutch-invasion/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Abroad the wreck of one Spanish galleon, the [[San Diego (ship)|''San Diego'']], that sank in Filipino waters on 14 December 1600 were found numerous ''tsuba''s, the handguards of the ''katana''s, the distinctive swords used by the samurai.<ref name="Álvarez"/>

In 1615, the Dutch invaded Ai Island with Japanese mercenaries.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://wardsan.travellerspoint.com/s21/|title=Asia 2008–09|access-date=15 May 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160530104033/http://wardsan.travellerspoint.com/s21/|archive-date=30 May 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=http://search.library.utoronto.ca/details?7626150|title=Merchant kings : when companies ruled the world, 1600–1900 / – University of Toronto Libraries|publisher=Thomas Dunne Books|isbn=978-0312616113|year=2010|access-date=15 May 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160629154836/http://search.library.utoronto.ca/details?7626150|archive-date=29 June 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.danbyrnes.com.au/lostworlds/timeline/lwstory7.htm|title=Lost Worlds Page 7 – From 1600–1700|first=Dan|last=Byrnes|access-date=15 May 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160325034159/http://www.danbyrnes.com.au/lostworlds/timeline/lwstory7.htm|archive-date=25 March 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref>

====19th century====
Between 1850 and 1864, the [[Taiping Rebellion]] raged as the Taiping (Heavenly Peace) Army led by [[Hong Xiuquan]], the self-proclaimed younger brother of Jesus Christ, engaged in a bloody civil war against the forces loyal to the Qing emperor. As Hong and his followers, who numbered in the millions, were hostile to Western business interests, a group of Western merchants based in Shanghai created a mercenary army known as the [[Ever Victorious Army]].<ref name="Smith">{{cite book |last1=Smith |first1=Richard |title=Mercenaries and Mandarins: The Ever-Victorious Army in Nineteenth Century China |date=1978 |publisher=KTO Press |location=Millwood |isbn=0527839507 |pages=43–44}}</ref> During the Taiping Rebellion, the Qing came close to losing control of China. It was common for the financially hard-pressed Qing emperors to subcontract out the business of raising armies to fight the Taiping to the loyalist provincial gentry, which formed the origins of the warlords who were to dominate China after the overthrow of the Qing in 1912.

The rank and file of the Ever-Victorious Army were Chinese, but the senior officers were Westerners. The first commander was an American adventurer, Colonel [[Frederick Townsend Ward]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Smith |first1=Richard |title=Mercenaries and Mandarins: The Ever-Victorious Army in Nineteenth Century China |date=1978 |publisher=KTO Press |location=Millwood |isbn=0527839507 |pages=60–61}}</ref> After Ward was killed in action in 1862, command was assumed by another American adventurer, [[Henry Andres Burgevine]], but the Chinese disliked him on the account of his racism and his alcoholism. Burgevine was replaced with a British Army officer seconded to Chinese service, Colonel Charles "Chinese" Gordon.<ref name="Faught">{{cite book |last1=Faught |first1=Brad |title=Gordon: Victorian Hero |date=2008 |publisher=Potomac Books |location=Washington D.C |isbn=978-1597971447 |page=29}}</ref>

A highly successful commander, Gordon won thirty-three battles in succession against the Taipings in 1863–1864 as he led the Ever Victorious Army down the Yangtze river valley and played a decisive role in defeating the Taipings.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Urban |first1=Mark |title=Generals: Ten British Commanders Who Shaped The Modern World. |date=2005 |publisher=Faber and Faber |location=London |isbn=978-0571224876 |page=157}}</ref> Through technically not a mercenary as Gordon had been assigned by the British government to lead the Ever Victorious Army, the ''Times'' of London in a leader (editorial) in August 1864 declared: "the part of the soldier of fortune is in these days very difficult to play with honour...but if ever the actions of a soldier fighting in foreign service ought to be viewed with indulgence, and even with admiration, this exceptional tribute is due to Colonel Gordon".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Urban |first1=Mark |title=Generals: Ten British Commanders Who Shaped The Modern World. |date=2005 |publisher=Faber and Faber |location=London |isbn=978-0571224876 |page=158}}</ref>

During the French conquest of Vietnam, their most persistent and stubborn opponents were not the Vietnamese, but rather the Chinese mercenaries of the [[Black Flag Army]] commanded by [[Liu Yongfu]], who been hired by the Emperor [[Tự Đức]].<ref name="Karnow">{{cite book |last1=Karnow |first1=Stanley |title=Vietnam: A History |date=1983 |publisher=Viking |location=New York |isbn=0670746045 |pages=81–82}}</ref> In 1873, the Black Flags killed the French commander, [[Francis Garnier]], attracting much attention in France.<ref name="Karnow"/> In 1883, Captain [[Henri Rivière (naval officer)|Henri Rivière]], leading another French expedition into Vietnam was also killed by the Black Flags.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Karnow |first1=Stanley |title=Vietnam: A History |date=1983 |publisher=Viking |location=New York |isbn=0670746045 |pages=84–85}}</ref> When the French conquest of Vietnam was finally completed in 1885, one of the peace terms were the disbandment of the Black Flag Army. Chinese flag rebels also fought in the [[Haw wars]] in Laos and northern Thailand.

[[Philo McGiffin]] served as a naval mercenary in the Sino-French War and First Sino-Japanese War.<ref>Davis, Richard Harding ''Real Soldiers of Fortune'' (1906)</ref>

====20th century====
In the [[Warlord Era]] of China, some British mercenaries like [[Morris Cohen (adventurer)|Morris "Two Gun" Cohen]], and [[Francis Arthur Sutton|Francis Arthur "One Armed" Sutton]] found employ in China.<ref>Drage, Charles ''General of Fortune'' (1954)</ref>

Easily the largest group of mercenaries in [[White émigré#In China|China were the Russian emigres who arrived after 1917]] and who hired themselves out to various Chinese warlords in the 1920s.<ref name="Fenby, Jonathan p. 111">Fenby, Jonathan ''Chiang Kai-Shek China's Generalissimo and the Nation He Lost'', New York: Carroll & Graf, 2004 p. 111</ref> Unlike the Anglo-American mercenaries, the Russians had no home to return to nor were any foreign nations willing to accept them as refugees, causing them to have a grim, fatalistic outlook as they were trapped in what they regarded as a strange land that was as far from home as imaginable. One group of Russians wore Tartar hats and the traditional dark greycoats, and fought for Marshal [[Zhang Zuolin]], the "Old Marshal" who ruled Manchuria.<ref name="Fenby, Jonathan p. 111"/> White Russian mercenaries claimed that they had considerable effectiveness against ill-trained armies of the Chinese warlords; one White Russian claimed that when he and other Russians serving Marshal Zhang they "went through the Chinese troops like a knife through butter".<ref name="Fenby, Jonathan p. 111"/>

Chinese forces slaughtered most of a 350 strong White Russian forces in June 1921 under Colonel Kazagrandi in the Gobi desert, with only two batches of 42 men and 35 men surrendering separately as Chinese were wiping out White Russian remnants following the Soviet Red army defeat of Ungern Sternberg, and other Buryat and White Russian remnants of Ungern-Sternberg's army were massacred by Soviet Red Army and Mongol forces.<ref>{{cite book |last=Bisher|first=Jamie  |title=White Terror: Cossack Warlords of the Trans-Siberian |date=2006|edition=illustrated|publisher=Routledge |isbn=1135765960|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=28iPAgAAQBAJ&dq=1921+350+men+Gobi+fell+in+combat+against+the+Chinese+army&pg=PA339|page=339}}</ref>

One group of Russian mercenaries led by General [[Konstantin Petrovich Nechaev]] were dressed in the uniform of the Imperial Russian Army and fought for General [[Zhang Zongchang]], the "Dogmeat General" who ruled Shangdong province.<ref name="Fenby, Jonathan p. 111"/> Zhang Zongchang had Russian women as concubines.<ref>{{cite book |last=Fenby|first=Jonathan  |title=Generalissimo: Chiang Kai-shek and the China He Lost|date=2003|edition=illustrated|publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=0743231449|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PNJOxyP0SqEC&pg=PA102|page=102}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last= Weirather|first= Larry|title=Fred Barton and the Warlords' Horses of China: How an American Cowboy Brought the Old West to the Far East |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UM3-CgAAQBAJ |year = 2015|publisher= McFarland & Company |location= Jefferson, North Carolina|isbn= 978-0786499137|page=42}}</ref><ref name="time2">{{cite news |date=24 September 1928 |title=CHINA: Potent Hero |newspaper=TIME |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,928072,00.html |url-status=dead |access-date=11 April 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090923031317/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,928072,00.html |archive-date=23 September 2009}}</ref> Nechaev and his men were infamous for their ruthlessness, and on one occasion in 1926, rode three armored trains through the Chinese countryside, killing everybody they met.<ref name="Fenby, Jonathan p. 111"/> When the Chinese peasants tore up the rails to stop Nechaev's rampage, he and his men vented their fury by sacking in an especially brutal manner the nearest town.<ref name="Fenby, Jonathan p. 111"/> Nechaev suffered a huge defeat at the hands of Chinese, when he and one armoured train under his command were trapped near Suichzhou in 1925. Their Chinese adversaries had pulled up the rail, and took this opportunity to massacre almost all Russian mercenaries on board the train. Nechaev managed to survive this incident, but lost a part of his leg during the bitter fighting.<ref>{{cite book |last=Bisher|first=Jamie  |title=White Terror: Cossack Warlords of the Trans-Siberian|date=2005|edition=illustrated|publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=0714656909|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t8sdihXN47wC&dq=Nechaev+leg+bisher&pg=PA297|page=297}}</ref> In 1926 Chinese warlord Sun Chuanfang inflicted bloody death tolls upon the White Russian mercenaries under Nechaev's brigade in the 65th division serving Zhang Zongchang, reducing the Russian numbers from 3,000 to only a few hundred by 1927 and the remaining Russian survivors fought in armored trains.<ref>{{cite book |last=Kwong|first=Chi Man |title=War and Geopolitics in Interwar Manchuria: Zhang Zuolin and the Fengtian Clique during the Northern Expedition|date=2017|edition=illustrated|publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-9004340848|volume= 1 of Studies on Modern East Asian History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gBu9DgAAQBAJ&dq=actual+number+1927+hundred&pg=PA155|page=155}}</ref> During the [[Northern Expedition]] Chinese Nationalist forces captured an armoured train of Russian mercenaries serving Zhang Zongchang and brutalized the Russian prisoners by piercing their noses with rope and marching them in public through the streets in Shandong in 1928, described as "stout rope pierced through their noses".<ref>{{cite book |last=Fenby|first=Jonathan  |title=Generalissimo: Chiang Kai-shek and the China He Lost|date=2003|edition=illustrated|publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=0743231449|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PNJOxyP0SqEC&dq=armoured+train+stout+rope&pg=PA176|page=176}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Fenby|first=Jonathan  |title=Generalissimo: Chiang Kai-shek and the China He Lost|date=2009|edition=reprint|publisher=Hachette Books |isbn=978-0786739844|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s2NKutuUlA8C&dq=armoured+train+stout+rope&pg=PA14-IA69|page=176}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Fenby|first=Jonathan  |title=The General: Charles De Gaulle and the France He Saved|date=2010|publisher=Simon and Schuster|isbn=978-0857200679|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dhuNIR6GKPcC&dq=armoured+train+stout+rope&pg=PA176|page=176}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Fenby|first=Jonathan  |title=Generalissimo: Modern China: The Fall and Rise of a Great Power, 1850 to the Present|date=2008|publisher=HarperCollins |isbn=978-0061661167|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8VIUAQAAIAAJ&q=armoured+train+stout+rope|page=194}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Fenby|first=Jonathan  |title=The Penguin History of Modern China: The Fall and Rise of a Great Power, 1850 to the Present|date=2013|edition=2, illustrated|publisher=Penguin Books |isbn=978-0141975153|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f6YlUMjpWfUC&q=armoured+train+stout+rope|page=194}}</ref>

Alcoholic White Russian mercenaries defeated Muslim Uyghurs in melee fighting when Uyghurs tried to take Urumqi on 21 February 1933 in the [[Battle of Ürümqi (1933)]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Forbes|first=Andrew D. W. |title=Warlords and Muslims in Chinese Central Asia: A Political History of Republican Sinkiang 1911-1949 |date=1986|edition=illustrated|publisher=CUP Archive |isbn=0521255147|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IAs9AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA101 |pages=101–103}}</ref> Wu Aitchen mentioned that 600 Uyghurs were slaughtered in a battle by White Russian mercenaries in the service of the [[Xinjiang clique]] warlord [[Jin Shuren]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Forbes|first=Andrew D. W. |title=Warlords and Muslims in Chinese Central Asia: A Political History of Republican Sinkiang 1911-1949 |date=1986|edition=illustrated|publisher=CUP Archive |isbn=0521255147|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IAs9AAAAIAAJ&dq=white+russians+turban+heads+600+uighurs+defile&pg=PA294 |page=294}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Wu|first=Aichen |title=Turkistan Tumult |date=1984|edition=illustrated, reprint|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=0195838394|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kvxwAAAAMAAJ&q=At+the+same+time+the+White+Russians+brought+off+a+fine+piece+of+work+when+,+learning+that+six+hundred+Turban+-+heads+carrying+scaling+-+ladders+were+marching+to+join+the+attackers+,+they+waylaid+them+in+a+defile+outside+the+city+,+and |series=Oxford in Asia paperbacks|page=83}}</ref> Jin Shuren would take Russian women as hostages to force their husbands to serve as his mercenaries.<ref>{{cite book |last=Forbes|first=Andrew D. W. |title=Warlords and Muslims in Chinese Central Asia: A Political History of Republican Sinkiang 1911-1949 |date=1986|edition=illustrated|publisher=CUP Archive |isbn=0521255147|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IAs9AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA100 |page=100}}</ref>

Hui Muslims fought brutal battles against White Russians and Soviet Red Army Russians at the [[Battle of Tutung]] and [[Battle of Dawan Cheng]] inflicting heavy losses on the Russian forces.<ref>{{cite book |last=Forbes|first=Andrew D. W. |title=Warlords and Muslims in Chinese Central Asia: A Political History of Republican Sinkiang 1911-1949 |date=1986|edition=illustrated|publisher=CUP Archive |isbn=0521255147|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IAs9AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA121 |pages=120–121}}</ref>

Chinese forces killed many White Russian soldiers and Soviet soldiers in 1944-1946 when the White Russians of Ili and Soviet Red Army served in the [[Second East Turkestan Republic]]'s military during the [[Ili Rebellion]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Forbes|first=Andrew D. W. |title=Warlords and Muslims in Chinese Central Asia: A Political History of Republican Sinkiang 1911-1949 |date=1986|edition=illustrated|publisher=CUP Archive |isbn=0521255147|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IAs9AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA178 |page=178}}</ref>

During the early stages of the [[Second Sino-Japanese War]], a number of foreign pilots served in the Chinese Air Force, most famously in the 14th Squadron, a light bombardment unit often called the International Squadron, which was briefly active in February and March 1938.<ref>Ray Wagner, ''Prelude to Pearl Harbor: The Air War in China, 1937–1941'', San Diego Aerospace Museum 1991, p. 28</ref>

===India===

====18th to 19th centuries====
{{Main|Mercenaries in India}}

In the medieval period, [[Purbiya]] mercenaries from [[Bihar]] and [[Eastern Uttar Pradesh]] were a common feature in kingdoms in western and northern India. They were also later recruited by the Marathas and the British. In southern India, there is a caste/community of mercenaries in the state of Karnataka which is called [[Bunt (community)|Bunt]]. The word "bunt" itself translates to warrior or mercenary, this community later elevated itself as the rulers of the land, several powerful dynasties emerged from this community. The most notable dynasty being the Alupas of Dakshina Kannada, which reigned for 1,300 years. This community still survives and has adopted the surnames shetty, Rai, Alva, chowta etc. In Tamil Nadu, the three crowned empires used the [[Gounder|Kongar]] pastro-peasantry tribes of the [[Kongu Nadu|Kongunad]] region and the [[Vokkaliga|Kongar]] peasant tribes of the [[Mysore|Erumainad]] region as their swordsman mercenaries, cavalry mercenaries, and as chariot soldier mercenaries, as well as personal guards. Kongars worked along with the three empires' warrior tribes such as the Kallar, Maravar, Aghamudaiyar, Parkavar, Valaiya-Mutharaiyar, and Mazhavar tribes. During that time, these Kongar tribes were led only by the chiefs of their own tribe and would not come under the command of the emperor or his military general. Though these Kongar tribes of Kongunad were feudatories to the three crowned empires, Kongunad was divided into 24 subdivisions and was only ruled by Kongars. However, the Kongars (Gangars) of Erumainad established their own empire, the Western Ganga dynasty, and ruled over it for centuries. Kongar tribes still exist in the modern world, where they are referred as Kongu Vellala Gounder (Kongunadu) and Gangadhikar Vokkaliga Gowda (Erumainad).<ref name=Kolff2013>{{cite journal | jstor=j.ctt6wp6pg.11 | title=Peasants fighting for a living in early modern North India | journal=Fighting for a Living | first=Dirk H. A. |last=Kolff |author-link=Dirk H. A. Kolff | publisher= Amsterdam University Press | year=2013 | pages= 243–266| doi=10.1017/9789048517251.009 | isbn=978-9089644527 }}</ref>

The [[Mukkuvar]] clan of [[Malabar Coast]] and Sri Lankan coast did the role of soldiers in [[Kalinga Magha]]'s invasion to [[Sri Lanka]] and in [[Nair]]'s battle with the [[Dutch East India Company|Dutch]] in the [[Battle of Colachel]].

In the 18th and early 19th centuries, the imperial Mughal power was crumbling and other powers, including the [[Sikh Misl]]s and Maratha chiefs, were emerging. At this time, a number of mercenaries, arriving from several countries found employment in India. Some of the mercenaries emerged to become independent rulers. The Sikh Maharaja, [[Ranjit Singh]], known as the "Lion of the Punjab", employed Euro-American mercenaries such as the Neapolitan [[Paolo Avitabile]]; the Frenchmen [[Claude Auguste Court]] and [[Jean-François Allard]]; and the Americans [[Josiah Harlan]] and [[Alexander Gardner (soldier)|Alexander Gardner]]. The Sikh army, ''[[Dal Khalsa (Sikh Army)|Dal Khalsa]]'', was trained by Singh's French mercenaries to fight alone the lines used by the French in the Napoleonic era, and following French practice, ''Dal Khalsa'' had excellent artillery.<ref>Macintyre, Ben ''The Man Who Would Be King: The First American in Afghanistan''. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux p. 193</ref> Singh had a low opinion of his Euro-American mercenaries, once saying "German, French or English, all these European bastards are alike".<ref>Macintyre, Ben ''The Man Who Would Be King: The First American in Afghanistan''. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux p. 152</ref>

Until 1858, India was a proprietary colony that belonged to the East India Company, not the British Crown. The East India Company became the world's most influential corporation, having exclusive monopolies on trade with India and China. By the early 19th century, the East India Company in its proprietary colony of India ruled over 90&nbsp;million Indians and controlled {{convert|70|e6acre|km2}} of land under its own flag, issued its own currency and maintained its own civil service and its own army of 200,000 men led by officers trained at its officer school, giving the company an army larger than that possessed by most European states.<ref>{{cite news| title = The Company That Ruled The Waves| newspaper = The Economist| date = 17 December 2011| url = https://www.economist.com/christmas-specials/2011/12/17/the-company-that-ruled-the-waves| access-date = 2017-06-09| archive-date = 25 February 2018| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180225130424/http://www.economist.com/node/21541753| url-status = live}}</ref> In the 17th century, the East India Company recruited Indian mercenaries to guard its warehouses and police the cities under its rule.{{sfn|Bryant|2000|page=10}} However, these forces were ad hoc and disbanded as quickly as they were recruited.{{sfn|Bryant|2000|pages=10–11}}

Starting in 1746, the Company recruited Indian mercenaries into its own army.{{sfn|Bryant|2000|pages=3–4}} By 1765, the board of directors of the Company had come to accept it was necessary to rule its conquests to maintain a standing army, voting to maintain three presidency armies to be funded by taxes on Indian land.{{sfn|Bryant|2000|page=4}} The number of Indians working for the Company's armies outnumbered the Europeans ten to one.{{sfn|Bryant|2000|page=5}} When recruiting, the East India Company tended to follow Indian prejudices in believing the pale-skinned men from northern India made for better soldiers than the dark-skinned peoples of southern India, and that high-caste Hindus were superior to the low-caste Hindus.{{sfn|Bryant|2000|pages=11–12}} Despite these prejudices, the men of the Madras Army were from south India.{{sfn|Bryant|2000|page=12}} The Bengal Army were largely high-cast Hindus from northern India while the Bombay Army prided itself on being a "melting pot".{{sfn|Bryant|2000|pages=12, 17}}

Because the East India Company ultimately by the end of the 18th century came to offer higher pay than the Maharajahs did, and offered the novelty in India of paying a pension to veterans and their families, it came to attract the best of the Indian mercenaries.{{sfn|Bryant|2000|page=16}} Initially, the mercenaries serving in the company's armies brought along their own weapons, which was the normal practice in India, but after the 1760s the company began to them arm with the standard British weapons.{{sfn|Bryant|2000|page=19}} The East India Company, generally known in both Britain and in India as "the Company", had sufficient lobbying power in London to ensure that several British Army regiments were also stationed to work alongside the Company army, whose troops were mostly "Sepoys" (Indians). The Company never entirely trusted the loyalty of its sepoys.{{sfn|Bryant|2000|page=7}} The company had its own officer training school at the [[Addiscombe Military Seminary]]. The company's armies were trained in the Western style and by the end of the 18th century its troops were ranked as the equal of any European army.{{sfn|Bryant|2000|pages=27–28}}

===Latin America===

====Nicaragua====
In 1855, during a civil war in Nicaragua between the Conservatives and Liberals, the latter recruited an American adventurer named [[William Walker (filibuster)|William Walker]] who promised to bring 300 mercenaries to fight for the Liberals.<ref name="Axelrod, Alan p. 97">Axelrod, Alan ''Mercenaries: A Guide to Private Armies and Private Military Companies'', Washington: CQ Press, 1989 p. 97 {{ISBN?}}</ref> Through Walker only brought 60 mercenaries with him, to be joined by another 100 Americans together with the Belgian mercenary [[Charles Frederick Henningsen]] who were already in Nicaragua, he was able to defeat the Conservatives at the [[Battle of La Virgen]] on 4 September 1855 and by 13 October, Walker had taken [[Granada, Nicaragua|Grenada]], the Conservative capital.<ref name="Axelrod, Alan p. 97"/> After his victories, Walker became the ''de facto'' dictator of Nicaragua, which many both inside and outside of the country soon started to call "Walkeragua".<ref name="Axelrod, Alan p. 98">Axelrod, Alan ''Mercenaries: A Guide to Private Armies and Private Military Companies'', Washington: CQ Press, 1989 p. 98</ref>

At the time, Nicaragua was an extremely important transit point between the [[Western United States|Western]] and [[Eastern United States]]. In the days before the [[Panama Canal]] and the [[first transcontinental railroad]], ships from the Eastern United States would sail up the [[San Juan River (Nicaragua)|San Juan River]] to [[Lake Nicaragua]], where passengers and goods were unloaded at the port of Rivas and then made the short journey via stagecoach to the Pacific coast, to be loaded onto ships that would take them to the west coast of the United States.<ref name="Axelrod, Alan p. 97"/> One of the most important companies of the Nicaraguan stagecoach business was the Accessory Transit Company owned by Commodore [[Cornelius Vanderbilt]] of New York.<ref name="Axelrod, Alan p. 98"/> Walker confiscated the Accessory Transit Company's assets in Nicaragua, which he handed over to the Morgan & Garrison company, owned by rivals of Vanderbilt.<ref name="Axelrod, Alan p. 98"/> As Vanderbilt happened to be the richest man in the United States, he launched a lobbying campaign against Walker in Washington, D.C., and was able to pressure President Franklin Pierce into withdrawing American recognition of Walker's regime.<ref name="Axelrod, Alan p. 98"/>

Once it was understood that the US government was no longer supporting Walker, Costa Rica invaded Nicaragua with the aim of deposing Walker, whose ambitions were felt to be a threat to all of Central America.<ref name="Axelrod, Alan p. 98"/> The Costa Ricans defeated Walker at the [[Battle of Santa Rosa]] and the [[Second Battle of Rivas]].<ref name="Axelrod, Alan p. 98"/> The beleaguered Walker sought to appeal to support in his native South by restoring slavery in Nicaragua, making English the official language, changing the immigration law to favor Americans, and declaring his ultimate intention was to bring Nicaragua into the United States as a [[Slave states and free states|slave state]].<ref name="Axelrod, Alan p. 98"/> By this point, Walker had thoroughly alienated public opinion in Nicaragua while he was besieged in Grenada by a coalition of Guatemalan, Salvadorian, and Costa Rican troops.<ref name="Axelrod, Alan p. 98"/> The decision by Henningsen to burn down Grenada enraged Nicaraguan people and in March 1857, Walker, with his dreams of an empire in tatters, fled Nicaragua.<ref>Axelrod, Alan ''Mercenaries: A Guide to Private Armies and Private Military Companies'', Washington: CQ Press, 1989 p. 99</ref>

In the 1980s, one of the Reagan administration's foreign policy was to overthrow the left-wing Sandinista government by arming guerrillas known as the Contras. Between 1982 and 1984, Congress passed the three Boland amendments which limited the extent of American aid to the Contra rebels. By the late 1970s, the popularity of magazines such as ''Soldier of Fortune'', which glorified the mercenary subculture, led to the opening of numerous camps in the United States designed to train men to be mercenaries and also to serve as guerrillas in case of a Soviet conquest of the United States.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Burke |first1=Kyle |title=Revolutionaries for the Right: Anticommunist Internationalism and Paramilitary Warfare in the Cold War |date=2018 |publisher=University of North Carolina Pres |location=Chapel Hill |isbn=978-1469640747 |pages=149–152}}</ref> The vast majority of the men who trained in these camps were white men who saw para-military training as a "reverse the previous twenty years of American history and take back all the symbolic territory that has been lost" as the possibility of becoming mercenaries gave them "the fantastic possibility of escaping their present lives, being reborn as warrior and remaking the world".<ref name="Burke">{{cite book |last1=Burke |first1=Kyle |title=Revolutionaries for the Right: Anticommunist Internationalism and Paramilitary Warfare in the Cold War |date=2018 |publisher=University of North Carolina Pres |location=Chapel Hill |isbn=978-1469640747 |page=151}}</ref>

Owing to the legal problems posed by the Boland amendments, the Reagan administration turned to the self-proclaimed mercenaries to arm and train the Contra guerrillas.<ref name="auto5">{{cite book |last1=Burke |first1=Kyle |title=Revolutionaries for the Right: Anticommunist Internationalism and Paramilitary Warfare in the Cold War |date=2018 |publisher=University of North Carolina Pres |location=Chapel Hill |isbn=978-1469640747 |page=152}}</ref> In 1984, the CIA created the Civilian Military Assistance (CMA) group to aid the Contras. The CMA were led by a white supremacist from Alabama named Tom Posey, who like all of the other members of the CMA were graduates of the mercenary training camps.<ref name="auto5"/> [[John Negroponte]], the American ambassador to Honduras, arranged for permission to be given for the CMA to operate from Honduran territory.<ref name="auto5"/> However, the operation collapsed later in 1984 when the Nicaraguans shot down a CMA plane carrying arms to the Contras, killing two Americans.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Burke |first1=Kyle |title=Revolutionaries for the Right: Anticommunist Internationalism and Paramilitary Warfare in the Cold War |date=2018 |publisher=University of North Carolina Pres |location=Chapel Hill |isbn=978-1469640747 |pages=152–153}}</ref> [[Sam Hall (diver)|Sam Hall]], a self proclaimed mercenary hero and "counter-terrorist" who joined the CMA entered Nicaragua with the aim of performing sabotage operations.<ref name="auto3">{{cite book |last1=Burke |first1=Kyle |title=Revolutionaries for the Right: Anticommunist Internationalism and Paramilitary Warfare in the Cold War |date=2018 |publisher=University of North Carolina Pres |location=Chapel Hill |isbn=978-1469640747 |page=153}}</ref> In 1986, Hall was captured by the Sandinistas, who held him for four months before releasing him under the grounds that he was not a mercenary, but rather a mercenary imposer.<ref name="auto3"/> [[John K. Singlaub]] who worked alongside Hall described him as suffering from a "Walter Mitty type complex".<ref name="auto3"/>

====Colombia====
In 1994, President [[César Gaviria]] of Colombia signed Decree 356, which allowed wealthy landowners to recruit private armies of their own and liberalised the law on settling up PMCs in order to fight the Communist FARC (''Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia'' – Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) guerrillas.<ref name="Lynch"/> As a result of Decree 356, by 2014 Colombia had 740 PMCs operating, more than anywhere else in the world.<ref name="Lynch"/> Increasingly Colombian mercenaries have been hired by American PMCs as being cheaper than American mercenaries.<ref name="Lynch"/> The government of the United Arab Emirates has hired Colombian mercenaries to fight its war in Yemen.<ref name="Lynch"/>

===Africa===

====Ancient Africa====
An early recorded use of foreign auxiliaries dates back to [[ancient Egypt]], the thirteenth century BC, when [[Pharaoh]] [[Ramesses II]] used 11,000 mercenaries during his battles. A long established foreign corps in the Egyptian forces were the [[Medjay]]—a generic term given to tribal scouts and light infantry recruited from [[Nubia]] serving from the late period of the [[Old Kingdom]] through that of the [[New Kingdom of Egypt|New Kingdom]]. Other warriors recruited from outside the borders of [[Egypt]] included Libyan, Syrian and Canaanite contingents under the New Kingdom and Sherdens from Sardinia who appear in their distinctive horned helmets on wall paintings as body guards for Ramesses II.<ref>Healy, Mark; ''New Kingdom Egypt''; {{ISBN|1855322080}}; {{page needed|date=April 2022}}</ref> [[Celts|Celtic]] mercenaries were greatly employed in the [[Ancient Greece|Greek world]] (leading to the [[Brennus (3rd century BC)#Attack on Delphi|sack of Delphi]] and the Celtic settlement of [[Galatia]]). The Greek rulers of [[Ptolemaic Egypt]], too, used Celtic mercenaries.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/CELTS/2004-02/1077679998|title=Rootsweb: Celts in Egypt|publisher=Archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com|date=24 February 2004|access-date=17 October 2011|archive-date=3 November 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111103115943/http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/CELTS/2004-02/1077679998|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Carthage]] was unique for relying primarily on mercenaries to fight its wars, particularly [[Gaul]] and [[Mercenaries of the ancient Iberian peninsula|Spanish mercenaries]].

====19th and 20th centuries====
{{See also|Mercenaries in Africa after 1960|Mercenaries from ex-USSR in Africa}}
[[File:Burnham in africa close up.jpg|thumb|right|[[Frederick Russell Burnham]] in Africa]]

In the 20th century, mercenaries in conflicts on the continent of Africa have in several cases brought about a swift end to bloody civil war by comprehensively defeating the rebel forces. {{Citation needed|date=August 2011}} There have been a number of unsavory incidents in the brushfire wars of Africa, some involving recruitment of European and American men "looking for adventure". {{Citation needed|date=August 2011}}

Many of the adventurers in Africa who have been described as mercenaries were in fact ideologically motivated to support particular governments, and would not fight "for the highest bidder". An example of this was the [[British South Africa Police]] (BSAP), a paramilitary, mounted infantry force formed by the [[British South Africa Company]] of [[Cecil Rhodes]] in 1889–1890 that evolved and continued until 1980.<ref>Peter Gibbs, Hugh Phillips, and Nick Russel, ''Blue and Old Gold: The History of the British South Africa Police, 1889–1980'' (Pinetown, South Africa: 30 Degrees South, 2010). {{ISBN|978-1920143350}}</ref>

Famous mercenaries in Africa include:
* [[Frederick Russell Burnham]] was an American scout for the British South Africa Company who served in both the [[First Matabele War]] (1893–94) and the [[Second Matabele War]] (1896–97). He effectively ended the Second Matabele War by assassinating the Ndebele religious leader, Mlimo,<ref>{{cite news| date = 25 June 1896| title = Killed the Matabele God: Burnham, the American Scout, May End Uprising| journal = The New York Times| issn = 0093-1179| url = https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1896/06/25/108240032.pdf| access-date = 28 September 2007| archive-date = 10 September 2020| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200910020801/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1896/06/25/108240032.pdf| url-status = live}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia| last = Farwell| first = Byron| author-link = Byron Farwell| encyclopedia = The Encyclopedia of Nineteenth-Century Land Warfare: An Illustrated World View| publisher=W. W. Norton| year = 2001| isbn = 978-0393047707| page = 539 |title=Matabele Wars}}</ref> but Burnham is best known in this war for teaching [[American Frontier]] scouting to [[Robert Baden-Powell]] and inspiring him to found the [[Scouting|boy scouts]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=DeGroot |first=E.B. |journal=[[Boys' Life]] |title=Veteran Scout |date=July 1944 |pages=6–7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FDDyrmwdQKIC |access-date=16 July 2010 |archive-date=15 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230215134438/https://books.google.com/books?id=FDDyrmwdQKIC |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Baden-Powell |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell |title=Scouting for Boys: A Handbook for Instruction in Good Citizenship |publisher=H. Cox |year=1908 |location=London |isbn=978-0486457192 |no-pp=true |page=xxiv}}</ref> In the [[Second Boer War]] (1900–1904), Burnham served as Chief of Scouts to the British Army. He was presented the Cross of the [[Distinguished Service Order]] for his heroism and given a commission as Major in the British Army by [[King Edward VII]] personally even though he declined to renounce his American citizenship.<ref>{{cite news |title=Personal. |url=http://find.galegroup.com/iln/infomark.do?&source=gale&prodId=ILN&userGroupName=loc_main&tabID=T003&docPage=article&docId=HN3100473378&type=multipage&contentSet=LTO&version=1.0 |newspaper= [[Illustrated London News]]|location= London, England |date=11 January 1902 |issue= 3273 |page=44 |quote= Major F.R. Burnham, upon whom the D.S.O. was recently conferred by his Majesty, is himself the King of Army Scouts... His brilliant achievements have been rewarded by his receiving a commission as Major in the British Army. |access-date=30 August 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Chief of Scouts. Major Burnham's Adventures. |url=http://find.galegroup.com/ttda/infomark.do?&source=gale&prodId=TTDA&userGroupName=loc_main&tabID=T003&docPage=article&searchType=BasicSearchForm&docId=CS168762249&type=multipage&contentSet=LTO&version=1.0 |newspaper= [[The Times]]|location= London, England |date=9 December 1926 |issue= 44450 |page=10 |quote= The author of these reminiscences has never renounced the American citizenship which was his by birth and parentage, yet his military title, formally confirmed by King Edward, is British. |access-date=30 August 2012}}</ref> Burnham's real-life adventures also heavily influenced [[H. Rider Haggard]] who created the fictional [[Allan Quatermain]] adventurer, a character who later was transformed by [[George Lucas]] into [[Indiana Jones (character)|Indiana Jones]].<ref name="hough2010">{{cite journal|last=Hough |first=Harold |date=January 2010 |title=The Arizona Miner and Indiana Jones |journal=Miner News |url=http://www.minersnews.com/Dec09Jan10/AZMiner.html |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130526114626/http://www.minersnews.com/Dec09Jan10/AZMiner.html |archive-date=26 May 2013 }}</ref>
* [[Mike Hoare]] was a British career soldier who served with distinction in the [[London Irish Rifles]] during [[World War II]]. He later emigrated to [[South Africa]], and was contracted by the [[State of Katanga]] in the early 1960s to form "''[[4 Commando (Democratic Republic of the Congo)|4 Commando (Force Katangaise)]]''", a unit of foreign military advisers in the local [[gendarmerie]]. Most of Hoare's recruits were [[Belgian people|Belgian]]s or South Africans.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.mercenary-wars.net/congo/list-of-congo-soldiers.html|title=A list of known Soldiers of Fortune who served in the Congo conflict some time during the 1960's|website=www.mercenary-wars.net|access-date=10 May 2014|archive-date=25 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225030955/http://www.mercenary-wars.net/congo/list-of-congo-soldiers.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> After Katanga's integration in 1963, Hoare remained active in Congo affairs. He was solicited by General [[Mobutu Sese Seko|Joseph-Desiré Mobutu]] in 1964 to form ''"[[5 Commando (Congo)|5 Commando]]"'' – a second mercenary force raised to crush the [[Simba Rebellion]], which included European adventurers of at least twenty nationalities.<ref>''Congo Mercenary,'' Mike Hoare. London: Hale (1967), {{ISBN|0709043759}}; Boulder, CO: Paladin Press, {{ISBN|978-1581606393}}</ref> Hoare later resurfaced in 1981, shortly after [[France-Albert René]]'s ascension in the [[Seychelles]], attempting to carry out a coup d'état on behalf of former president [[James Mancham]]. His troops were intercepted shortly after debarking on [[Mahé, Seychelles|Mahé]] and only escaped by hijacking an [[Air India]] Boeing, which they flew to [[Durban]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Captain-hosts-his-hijacker/articleshow/2168068.cms|title=Captain hosts his hijacker|website=[[The Times of India]]|date=13 October 2006 |access-date=10 May 2014|archive-date=4 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150904081128/http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Captain-hosts-his-hijacker/articleshow/2168068.cms|url-status=live}}</ref>
* [[Bob Denard]] was a former [[List of intelligence agencies of France|French intelligence]] operative, policeman, and dedicated anti-communist who saw action during the [[First Indochina War]] and [[Algerian War|Algerian War of Independence]].<ref name=Fig>[http://www.lefigaro.fr/france/20071014.WWW000000028_l_ancien_mercenaire_bob_denard_est_mort.html L'ancien mercenaire Bob Denard est mort] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170104091904/http://www.lefigaro.fr/france/20071014.WWW000000028_l_ancien_mercenaire_bob_denard_est_mort.html |date=4 January 2017 }}, ''[[Le Figaro]]'', 14 October 2007. {{in lang|fr}}</ref> After a brief inroad into civilian life, Denard returned to military service with the Katangese gendarmerie in 1961. Refusing to surrender when secessionist forces collapsed in January 1963, he disappeared into [[Angola]] with a nucleus of other die-hards and sought work training [[Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen|North Yemen royalist]]s before returning to the Congo at the request of then-Prime Minister [[Moise Tshombe]].<ref name=Fig/> Denard formed his own unit to fight the [[Simba Rebellion]], ''les affreux'', who were also instrumental in suppressing an attempted coup d'état in 1966. Dismissed by Congolese president [[Joseph Kasa Vubu]], the French mercenary joined the [[Kisangani Mutinies]] and was wounded in action. He later went on to serve as a military adviser to several African governments, including [[Gabon]] and [[Rhodesia]].<ref name=Hum>[https://www.humanite.fr/1999-05-04_International_Bob-Denard-chien-de-guerre Bob Denard, chien de guerre] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091001044446/http://www.humanite.fr/1999-05-04_International_Bob-Denard-chien-de-guerre |date=1 October 2009 }}, ''[[L'Humanité]]'', 4 May 1999 {{in lang|fr}}</ref> Denard has since carried out five attempted coup d'etats in [[Benin]] and the [[Comoros Islands]], three of them successful.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/bob-denard-396988.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220512/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/bob-denard-396988.html |archive-date=12 May 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Bob Denard|website=[[Independent.co.uk]]|date=15 October 2007}}</ref>
* [[Neall Ellis]] was a South African aviator who achieved prominence for his extensive action in [[Sierra Leone]]'s long-running [[Sierra Leone Civil War|civil war]]. Ellis was raised in [[Bulawayo]], Rhodesia ([[Zimbabwe]]), but after an unsuccessful career in the [[Rhodesian Army]], emigrated to join the [[South African Air Force]].<ref name="Shadow">{{Cite web|url=http://www.shadowcompanythemovie.com/about_featured3.html|title=Shadow Company .:The Rules of War Have Changed:.|website=www.shadowcompanythemovie.com|access-date=10 May 2014|archive-date=3 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303170634/http://www.shadowcompanythemovie.com/about_featured3.html|url-status=live}}</ref> During the [[South African Border War]], he flew improvised [[Aérospatiale Alouette III]] and [[Atlas Oryx]] gunships over Angola and [[Mozambique]] in support of South African expeditionary forces conducting external raids. He retired a colonel upon the end of [[apartheid]], piloting [[Serbia and Montenegro|Yugoslav]] [[Mil Mi-8]]s as an operational freelancer. In 1998, Ellis returned to participate in the [[Angolan Civil War]] with private military firm [[Executive Outcomes]], which eventually dispatched him to Sierra Leone.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cracked.com/article_19472_the-5-craziest-soldiers-fortune-to-ever-cash-paycheck.html|title=The 5 Craziest Soldiers of Fortune To Ever Cash a Paycheck|date=13 October 2011|website=Cracked.com|access-date=26 September 2020|archive-date=23 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200923193425/https://www.cracked.com/article_19472_the-5-craziest-soldiers-fortune-to-ever-cash-paycheck.html|url-status=live}}</ref> During the [[Siege of Freetown|Battle for Freetown]], he was instrumental in fighting off [[Revolutionary United Front]] insurgents from a [[Mil Mi-24 Hind]] and providing air support for British forces executing [[Operation Barras]]. He has founded his own paramilitary company, ''Jesa Air West Africa'',<ref name="Shadow"/> and continues to fly helicopters for [[Iraq]] and [[Somalia]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.netwerk24.com/ZA/Rapport|title=Rapport|website=Netwerk24|access-date=26 September 2020|archive-date=24 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200924215246/https://www.netwerk24.com/za/rapport|url-status=live}}</ref>
* [[Simon Mann]] was found guilty in [[Zimbabwe]] of "attempting to buy weapons" ''(BBC 27 August)'' allegedly for a coup in [[Equatorial Guinea]] in 2004 (see below).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.military.com/benefits|title=Military Benefits News and Resources|website=Military.com|access-date=26 September 2020|archive-date=3 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303222949/http://www.military.com/NewContent/0,13190,usn1_061103,00.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

=====Congo Crisis=====
[[File:Dragonrouge2.jpg|thumb|White mercenaries fighting alongside Congolese troops in 1964]]

The [[Congo Crisis]] (1960–1965) was a period of turmoil in the First [[Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville)|Republic of the Congo]] that began with national independence from Belgium and ended with the seizing of power by [[Joseph Mobutu]]. During the crisis, mercenaries were employed by various factions, and also at times helped the United Nations and other peace keepers.

In 1960 and 1961, [[Mike Hoare]] worked as a mercenary commanding an English-speaking unit called "[[4 Commando (Democratic Republic of the Congo)|4 Commando]]" supporting a faction in [[Katanga Province|Katanga]], a province trying to break away from the newly independent [[Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville)|Congo]] under the leadership of [[Moïse Tshombe]]. Hoare chronicled his exploits in his book the ''Road to Kalamata''.

In 1964, Tshombe (then Prime Minister of Congo) hired Major Hoare to lead a military unit called "[[5 Commando (Democratic Republic of the Congo)|5 Commando]]" made up of about 300 men, most of whom were from South Africa. The unit's mission was to fight a rebel group called [[Simba Rebellion|Simbas]], who already had captured almost two-thirds of the country.

In [[Operation Dragon Rouge]], "5 Commando" worked in close cooperation with Belgian [[paratrooper]]s, [[Cuba]]n exile pilots, and CIA hired mercenaries. The objective of Operation Dragon Rouge was to capture [[Kisangani|Stanleyville]] and save several hundred civilians (mostly Europeans and [[missionary|missionaries]]) who were hostages of the [[Simba rebellion|Simba]] rebels. The operation saved many lives;<ref>{{cite magazine| title = Changing Guard|magazine=Time|date=19 December 1965|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,834782,00.html?promoid=googlep|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930081709/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,834782,00.html?promoid=googlep|url-status=dead|archive-date=30 September 2007|access-date=6 June 2007}}</ref> however, the Operation damaged the reputation of [[Moïse Tshombe]] as it saw the return of white mercenaries to the Congo soon after independence and was a factor in Tshombe's loss of support from president of Congo [[Joseph Kasa-Vubu]] who dismissed him from his position

At the same time Bob Denard commanded the French-speaking "[[6 Commando (Democratic Republic of the Congo)|6 Commando]]", [[Jean Schramme|"Black Jack" Schramme]] commanded "10 Commando" and [[William "Rip" Robertson]] commanded a company of anti-Castro Cuban exiles.<ref>p. 85 Villafaña, Frank ''Cold war in the Congo: The Confrontation of Cuban military forces, 1960–1967'' Transaction Books</ref>

Later, in 1966 and 1967, some former Tshombe mercenaries and Katangese gendarmes staged the [[Mercenaries' Mutinies]].

=====Biafra=====
Mercenaries fought for [[Biafra]] in the Fourth Commando Brigade led by [[Rolf Steiner]] during the [[Nigerian Civil War]] (1967–1970).<ref>{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20070930065722/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,900387-1,00.html The Mercenaries]}} in ''[[Time Magazine]]'' 25 October 1968</ref> Other mercenaries flew aircraft for the Biafrans. In October 1967, for example, a [[Royal Air Burundi]] [[Canadair North Star|DC-4M Argonaut]], flown by mercenary Heinrich Wartski, also known as Henry Wharton, crash-landed in [[Cameroon]] with military supplies destined for Biafra.<ref>Tom Cooper ''{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20140902121657/http://www.acig.org/artman/publish/article_351.shtml Civil War in Nigeria (Biafra), 1967–1970]}}'' 13 November 2003. Second paragraph.</ref>

It was hoped that employing mercenaries in Nigeria would have similar impact to the Congo, but the mercenaries proved largely ineffective.<ref name="Baxter, Philip p. 49">Baxter, Philip ''Biafra: The Nigerian Civil War 1967–1970'', London: Helion and Company, 2014 p. 49</ref> The British historian Philip Baxter wrote the principle difference was that the Congolese militias commanded by leaders with almost no military experience were no match for the mercenaries, and by contrast the Sandhurst-trained Nigerian Army officers were of an "altogether higher caliber" than Congolese militia leaders.<ref name="Baxter, Philip p. 49"/> Through much of the leadership of the Nigerian Army had been killed in two coups in 1966, there were still just enough Sandhust graduates left in 1967 to hold the Nigerian Army together and provide enough of a modicum of military professionalism to defeat the mercenaries.<ref name="Baxter, Philip p. 49"/> By October 1967, most of the mercenaries who had been expecting easy victories like those won in the Congo had already left Biafra, complaining that the Nigerians were a much tougher opponent who were defeating them in battle.<ref name="Baxter, Philip p. 49"/>

When asked about the impact of the white mercenaries, General [[Philip Effiong]], the chief of the Biafran general staff replied: "They had not helped. It would have made no difference if not a single one of them came to work for the secessionist forces. Rolf Steiner stayed the longest. He was more of a bad influence than anything else. We were happy to get rid of him."<ref name="Oyewole">{{cite journal |last1=Oyewole |first1=Fola |title=Scientists and Mercenaries |journal=Transition |year=1975 |volume=48 | pages=64–65}}</ref> One Biafran officer, Fola Oyewole, wrote about the sacking of Steiner in late 1968: "Steiner's departure from Biafra removed the shine from the white mercenaries, the myth of the white man's superiority in the art of soldering".<ref name="Oyewole"/> Oyewole wrote that the white mercenaries were hated by the ordinary people of Biafra due to their high-handed behavior; a tendency to retreat when it appeared possible the Nigerians were about to cut them off instead of holding their ground; and a fondness for looting, noting that the European mercenaries seemed more interested in stealing as much as possible instead of helping Biafra."<ref name="Oyewole"/>

In May 1969, Count [[Carl Gustaf von Rosen]] formed a squadron of five light aircraft known as the ''Babies of Biafra'', which attacked and destroyed Nigerian jet aircraft on the ground<ref name=GB-2004>Gary Brecher. [http://old.exile.ru/2004-October-15/war_nerd.html Biafra: Killer Cessnas and Crazy Swedes] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080114042126/http://old.exile.ru/2004-October-15/war_nerd.html |date=14 January 2008 }} 15 October 2004.</ref> and delivered food [[aid]]. Count von Rosen was assisted by ex-[[RCAF]] fighter pilot [[Lynn Garrison]].

=====Angola=====
In 1975, [[John Banks (mercenary recruiter)|John Banks]], an Englishman, recruited mercenaries to fight for the [[National Liberation Front of Angola]] (FNLA) against the ''Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola'' ([[MPLA]]) in the [[Angolan Civil War|civil war]] that broke out when Angola gained independence from Portugal in 1975. In the United States, David Bufkin, a self-proclaimed mercenary hero started a recruiting campaign in ''Soldier of Fortune'' magazine calling for anti-Communist volunteers, especially Vietnam veterans, to fight in Angola as mercenaries, claiming to be funded to the tune of $80,000 by the Central Intelligence Agency.<ref name="auto2">{{cite book |last1=Burke |first1=Kyle |title=Revolutionaries for the Right: Anticommunist Internationalism and Paramilitary Warfare in the Cold War |date=2018 |publisher=University of North Carolina Pres |location=Chapel Hill |isbn=978-1469640747 |page=114}}</ref> Bufkin was in fact a former U.S. Army soldier "who has gone AWOL several times, has been tried for rape, and been in and out of jail several times", did not have $80,000, was not supported by the CIA, instead being a con-man who had stolen most of the money paid to him.<ref name="auto2"/> Bufkin managed to get a dozen or so American mercenaries to Angola, where several of them were killed in action with the rest being captured.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Burke |first1=Kyle |title=Revolutionaries for the Right: Anticommunist Internationalism and Paramilitary Warfare in the Cold War |date=2018 |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |location=Chapel Hill |isbn=978-1469640747 |page=115}}</ref>

One of the leaders of the mercenaries was [[Costas Georgiou]] (the self-styled "Colonel Callan"), who was described by the British journalist Patrick Brogan as a psychopathic killer who personally executed fourteen of his fellow mercenaries for cowardice, and who was extremely brutal to black people.<ref name="Brogan, Patrick p. 6">Brogan, Patrick (1989), ''The Fighting Never Stopped'', New York: Vintage Books, p. 6</ref> Within 48 hours of his arrival in Angola, Georgiou had already led his men in disarming and massacring a group of FNLA fighters (his supposed allies), who he killed just for the "fun" of it all.<ref name="Axelrod, Alan p. 76">Axelrod, Alan (2014), ''Mercenaries: A Guide to Private Armies and Private Military Companies'', Washington: CQ Press, p. 76</ref> At his trial, it was established that Georgiou had personally murdered at least 170 Angolans.<ref name="Axelrod, Alan p. 76"/> Inept as a military leader as he was brutal, Georgiou notably failed as a commander. It was believed in 1975–76 that recruiting white mercenaries to fight in Angola would have a similar impact that the mercenaries had in the Congo in the 1960s, but in Angola the mercenaries failed completely as Brogan described their efforts as a "debacle".<ref name="Brogan, Patrick p. 6"/> If anything, the white mercenaries with their disdain for blacks, or in the case of Georgiou murderous hatred seemed to have depressed morale on the FNLA side.<ref>Axelrod, Alan (2014), ''Mercenaries: A Guide to Private Armies and Private Military Companies'', Washington: CQ Press, pp. 76–77</ref>

Many of the mercenaries in Angola were not former professional soldiers as they claimed to have been, but instead merely fantasists who had invented heroic war records for themselves. The fantasist mercenaries did not know how to use their weapons properly, and often injured themselves and others when they attempted to use weaponry that they did not fully understand, leading to some of them being executed by the psychopathic killer Georgiou who did not tolerate failure.<ref name="Axelrod, Alan p. 77">Axelrod, Alan (2013), ''Mercenaries: A Guide to Private Armies and Private Military Companies'', Washington: CQ Press, p. 77</ref> On 27 January 1976, a group of 96 British mercenaries arrived in Angola and within a week about dozen had accidentally maimed themselves by trying to use weapons that they falsely claimed to be proficient with.<ref name="Axelrod, Alan p. 77"/> The MLPA forces were better organized and led, and the dispatch of 35,000 Cuban Army troops in November 1975 decided the war for the MLPA.<ref>Brogan, Patrick (1989), ''The Fighting Never Stopped'', New York: Vintage Books, pp. 5–6</ref> Cuban accounts of the Angolan war speak of the efforts of the mercenaries in a tone of contempt as Cuban veterans contend that the mercenaries were poor soldiers who they had no trouble defeating.<ref name="Axelrod, Alan p. 77"/>

When captured, John Derek Barker's role as a leader of mercenaries in Northern Angola led the judges to send him to face the firing squad following the [[Luanda Trial]]. Nine others were imprisoned. Three more were executed: American Daniel Gearhart was sentenced to death for advertising himself as a mercenary in an American newspaper; Andrew McKenzie and Georgiou, who had both served in the British Army, were sentenced to death for murder.<ref name="bbc_june28">[https://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/28/newsid_2520000/2520575.stm 1976: Death sentence for mercenaries]  [[BBC]] On this day 28 June</ref> Georgiou was shot by firing squad in 1976.<ref name="Brogan, Patrick p. 6"/> Costas' cousin [[Charlie Christodoulou]] was killed in an ambush.

[[Executive Outcomes]] employees, Captains Daniele Zanata and Raif St Clair (who was also involved in the [[1981 Seychelles coup attempt]]), fought on behalf of the MPLA against the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola ([[UNITA]]) in the 1990s in violation of the [[Lusaka Protocol]].{{Citation needed|date=July 2007}}

=====Comoros=====
A major aim of French foreign policy was and still is to maintain the French sphere of influence in what is called ''[[Françafrique]]''. In 1975, [[Ali Soilih]] took power in the Comoros via a coup, and proved unwilling to accept the French viewpoint that his nation was part of ''Françafrique''. Unhappy with Soilih, the French secret service, the ''Service de Documentation Extérieure et de Contre-Espionnage'' in 1978 hired the French mercenary [[Bob Denard]] to invade the Comoros to overthrow Soilih.<ref name="Hebditch, David p. 136">Hebditch, David & Connor, Ken ''How to Stage a Military Coup: From Planning to Execution'', New York: Skyhorse, 2005 p. 136</ref> Making the Comoros a tempting target for Denard were its small size, consisting of only three islands in the Indian Ocean. Moreover, Soilih had abolished the Comorian Army, replacing the Army with a militia known as the Moissy, made up mostly of teenage boys with only the most rudimentary military training.<ref name="Hebditch, David p. 135">Hebditch, David & Connor, Ken ''How to Stage a Military Coup: From Planning to Execution'', New York: Skyhorse, 2005 p. 135</ref> The Moissy, which was modeled after the [[Red Guards]] in [[China]], existed mainly to terrorize Soilih's opponents and was commanded by a 15-year-old boy, appointed solely because of his blind devotion to Soilih.<ref name="Hebditch, David p. 135"/>

On the night of 13 May 1978, Denard and 42 other mercenaries landed on Grande Comore island, annihilated the poorly trained and badly commanded Moissy, none of whom had any military experience, and by the morning the Comoros was theirs.<ref name="Hebditch, David p. 136"/> President Soilih was high on marijuana and naked in his bed together with three nude teenage schoolgirls watching a pornographic film, when Denard kicked in the door to his room to inform him that he was no longer president.<ref name="Hebditch, David p. 136"/> Soilih was later taken out and shot with the official excuse being that he was "shot while trying to escape".<ref name="Hebditch, David p. 136"/> The new president of the Comoros, [[Ahmed Abdallah]], was a puppet leader and the real ruler of the Comoros was Colonel Denard, who brought the Comoros back into ''Françafrique''.<ref name="Hebditch, David p. 136"/>

As a ruler, Denard proved himself to be extremely greedy as he rapaciously plundered the Comorian economy to make himself into a very rich man.<ref name="Axelrod, Alan p. 78">Axelrod, Alan ''Mercenaries: A Guide to Private Armies and Private Military Companies'', Washington: CQ Press, 2013 p. 78</ref> Denard served as the commander of the Comorian Presidential Guard and became the largest single landowner in the Comoros, developing the best land by the sea into luxury resorts catering to tourists who wanted to enjoy the tropics.<ref name="Axelrod, Alan p. 78"/> Denard converted to Islam (the prevailing religion in the Comoros), and took advantage of the Islamic rules on polygamy to maintain for himself a harem of Comorian women. Officially, France was committed to the United Nations sanctions against the apartheid government of South Africa, which French and South African businesses circumvented via the Comoros, a form of sanctions-busting that was tolerated by Denard as long as he received his cut of the profits.<ref name="Axelrod, Alan p. 78"/>

Ultimately, Denard's antics as the "great white conqueror" of the Comoros and his lavish lifestyle made him into embarrassment for the French government, as there were charges that France was engaged in neo-colonialism in the Comoros. At the same time there were alternatives to Denard in the form of black Comorian politicians who wanted Denard out, but were willing to keep the Comoros in ''Françafrique'', which would allow Paris to achieve its aims without the embarrassment of a white European exploiting a country inhabited by black Africans. When Abdallah tried to dismiss Denard as commander of the Presidential Guard, Denard had him assassinated on 26 November 1989.<ref name="Axelrod, Alan p. 78"/> At that point, the French government, which had an alternative leadership in place, intervened by sending paratroopers to remove Denard and the other mercenaries from the Comoros while installing [[Said Mohamed Djohar]] as president.<ref name="Axelrod, Alan p. 78"/>

On 28 September 1995, Denard again invaded the Comoros, but this time, Paris was against the invasion, and staged [[Operation Azalee]] – dispatching 600 [[List of French paratrooper units|paratroops]] to the Comoros to usher Denard and his mercenaries out.<ref name="Axelrod, Alan p. 78"/> Denard was charged in France with the murder of President Abdallah, but was acquitted owing to a lack of evidence.<ref name="Axelrod, Alan p. 78"/> In 2006, he was found guilty of conspiracy to overthrow the government of the Comoros in 1995, but by this point Denard was suffering from Alzheimer's disease and he did not serve a day in prison, instead dying in a Paris hospital on 13 October 2007.<ref>Axelrod, Alan ''Mercenaries: A Guide to Private Armies and Private Military Companies'', Washington: CQ Press, 2013 p. 79</ref>

=====Seychelles=====
{{Main|1981 Seychelles coup attempt}}

In 1981, "Mad Mike" Hoare was hired by the government of South Africa to lead an invasion of the Seychelles with the aim of deposing the left-wing President [[France-Albert René]], who had roundly criticized apartheid, and replacing him with a more apartheid-friendly leader.<ref>Axelrod, Alan ''Mercenaries: A Guide to Private Armies and Private Military Companies'', Washington: CQ Press, 1989 p. 178</ref> Disguised as a drinking club, Ye Ancient Order of Froth-Blowers, and as rugby players, Hoare led a force of 53 men into the airport at Port Larue on 25 November 1981.<ref>Axelrod, Alan ''Mercenaries: A Guide to Private Armies and Private Military Companies'', Washington: CQ Press, 1989 pp. 178–179</ref> Hoare's men failed to make it past the customs at the airport as an alert customs officer noticed one of the "rugby players" had an AK-47 assault rifle hidden in his luggage.<ref name="Axelrod, Alan p. 179">Axelrod, Alan ''Mercenaries: A Guide to Private Armies and Private Military Companies'', Washington: CQ Press, 1989 p. 179</ref> What followed was a shoot-out at the airport between Hoare's men and Seychellois customs officers.<ref name="Axelrod, Alan p. 179"/> Realizing the invasion was doomed, Hoare and his men escaped by hijacking an Air India jet which flew them back to South Africa.<ref name="Axelrod, Alan p. 179"/> The fiasco of the Seychelles invasion marked the beginning of the decline of the traditional soldier of fortune, centered around a charismatic figure like Hoare or Denard, and a change over to the corporatized private military company, run by men who shunned the limelight.<ref name="Axelrod, Alan p. 179"/>

=====Eritrea and Ethiopia=====
Both sides hired mercenaries in the [[Eritrean–Ethiopian War]] from 1998 to 2000. Russian mercenaries were believed to be flying in the air forces of both sides.<ref>{{cite news|title=Sentinel Security Assessment – North Africa, Air force (Eritrea), Air force|publisher=Jane's Information Group|date=26 October 2011}}</ref><ref>''Africa News Online'': "In defiance, Eritrea was born; in defiance, it will live forever."  30 May 2000.</ref>

=====Sierra Leone=====
[[File:MacKenzieSlcu.jpg|thumb|[[Robert C. MacKenzie]] (standing, wings on hat) with some of the Sierra Leone Commando Unit he was training with the Gurkha security guards]]

American [[Robert C. MacKenzie]] was killed in the Malal Hills in February 1995, while commanding Gurkha Security Guards (GSG) in [[Sierra Leone]]. GSG pulled out soon afterwards and was replaced by [[Executive Outcomes]]. Both were employed by the Sierra Leone government as military advisers and to train the government soldiers. It has been alleged that the firms provided soldiers who took an active part in the fighting against the [[Revolutionary United Front]] (RUF).<ref>{{cite book|title=Soldier of Fortune|publisher=Omega Group, Limited|page=91|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CAUSAQAAIAAJ|language=en|year=2000|access-date=4 September 2017|archive-date=15 February 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230215134430/https://books.google.com/books?id=CAUSAQAAIAAJ|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 2000, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's (ABC-TV) international affairs program ''Foreign Correspondent'' broadcast a special report "Sierra Leone: Soldiers of Fortune", focusing on former 32BN and Recce members who operated in Sierra Leone while serving for SANDF. Officers like De Jesus Antonio, TT D Abreu Capt Ndume and Da Costa were the forefront because of their combat and language skills and also the exploits of South African pilot [[Neall Ellis]] and his [[MI-24 Hind]] gunship.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.abc.net.au/foreign/content/2000/s229144.htm|title=Gunship for Hire|website=[[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]]|date=28 September 2000|access-date=28 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071226002825/http://www.abc.net.au/foreign/content/2000/s229144.htm|archive-date=26 December 2007|url-status=dead}}</ref> The report also investigated the failures of the UN Peacekeeping Force, and the involvement of mercenaries and private military contractors in providing vital support to UN operations and British military Special Operations in Sierra Leone in 1999–2000.

=====Equatorial Guinea=====
{{Main|2004 Equatorial Guinea coup attempt}}

In August 2004 there was a plot, which later became known as the "Wonga Coup",<ref>Adam Roberts ''[http://www.wongacoup.com/ The Wonga Coup] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070717194733/http://www.wongacoup.com/ |date=17 July 2007 }}'', Profile Books Ltd, {{ISBN|1861979347}}.</ref> to overthrow the government of [[Equatorial Guinea]] in [[Malabo]]. eight South African [[apartheid]]-era soldiers, organised by Neves Matias (former Recce major and De Jesus Antonio former Captain in 2sai BN) with (the leader of whom is [[Nick du Toit]]) and five local men were held in Black Beach prison on the island. They were accused of being an advanced guard for a coup to place [[Severo Moto]] in power.<ref>''[http://news.independent.co.uk/world/africa/article33194.ece How oil brought the dogs of war back to Malabo] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071015064536/http://news.independent.co.uk/world/africa/article33194.ece |date=15 October 2007 }}'' [[The Independent]] 2 September 2004</ref><ref>Allan Laing "'Scratcher' and the battle for Guinea" ''[[Glasgow Herald]]'' 26 August 2004</ref> Six Armenian aircrew, also convicted of involvement in the plot, were released in 2004 after receiving a presidential pardon. CNN reported on 25 August, that:<ref>[[CNN]] ''[http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/africa/08/25/equatorial.mercenaries.reut/ MALABO, Equatorial Guinea (Reuters) Nick du Toit said he was introduced to Thatcher in South Africa last year by Simon Mann]'', 25 August 2004: {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040914074551/http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/africa/08/25/equatorial.mercenaries.reut/ |date=14 September 2004 }}</ref>

{{Blockquote|Defendant [[Nick du Toit]] said he was introduced to Thatcher in South Africa last year by Simon Mann, the leader of 70 men arrested in Zimbabwe in March suspected of being a group of mercenaries heading to Equatorial Guinea.}}

It was planned, allegedly, by Simon Mann, a former [[Special Air Service|SAS]] officer. On 27 August 2004 he was found guilty in Zimbabwe of purchasing arms, allegedly for use in the plot (he admitted trying to procure dangerous weapons, but said that they were to guard a diamond mine in DR Congo). It is alleged that there is a paper trail from him which implicates Sir Mark Thatcher, [[Jeffrey Archer|Lord Archer]], and [[Ely Calil]] (a Lebanese-British oil trader).<ref>[[BBC]] ''[https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3605346.stm Mann guilty of purchasing weapons] '' 27 August 2004</ref>

The [[BBC]] reported in an article entitled "Q&A: Equatorial Guinea coup plot":<ref>[[BBC]] ''[https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3597450.stm Q&A: Equatorial Guinea coup plot] '' 13 January 2005</ref>

{{Blockquote|The BBC's Newsnight television programme saw the financial records of Simon Mann's companies showing large payments to Nick du Toit and also some $2m coming in – though the source of this funding they say is largely untraceable.}}

The BBC reported on 10 September 2004 that in Zimbabwe:<ref>[[BBC]] ''[https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3643250.stm Zimbabwe jails UK 'coup plotter'] '' 10 September 2004</ref>

{{blockquote|[Simon Mann], the British leader of a group of 67 alleged mercenaries accused of plotting a coup in Equatorial Guinea has been sentenced to seven years in jail... The other passengers got 12 months in jail for breaking immigration laws while the two pilots got 16 months...The court also ordered the seizure of Mann's $3m Boeing 727 and $180,000 found on board.}}

=====Libya=====
[[Muammar Gaddafi]] in Libya was alleged to have been using mercenary soldiers during the [[2011 Libyan civil war]], including [[Tuareg people|Tuaregs]] from various nations in Africa.<ref>{{cite news |author=Talk of the Nation |url=https://www.npr.org/2011/03/15/134568582/mercenaries-soldiers-who-fight-for-money |title=Mercenaries: Soldiers Who Fight For Money |newspaper=NPR.org |publisher=NPR |date=15 March 2011 |access-date=17 October 2011 |archive-date=23 March 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120323003542/http://www.npr.org/2011/03/15/134568582/mercenaries-soldiers-who-fight-for-money |url-status=live }}</ref> Many of them had been part of his [[Islamic Legion]]<ref>Islamic Legion</ref> created in 1972. Reports say around 800 had been recruited from Niger, Mali, Algeria, Ghana and Burkina Faso.<ref>[https://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110303/wl_africa_afp/malilibyapoliticsviolencenigeralgeriaburkina_20110303124751] {{dead link|date=June 2016|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> In addition, small numbers of Eastern European mercenaries have also turned up supporting the Gaddafi regime.<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Martinovic |first=Jovo |url=http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2090205,00.html?iid=pf-main-mostpop1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111103132607/http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2090205,00.html?iid=pf-main-mostpop1 |url-status=dead |archive-date=3 November 2011 |title=Libya: Ex-Gaddafi Mercenaries Describe Collapse of Regime |magazine=Time |date=24 August 2011 |access-date=17 October 2011}}</ref> Most sources have described these troops as professional Serbian veterans of the [[Yugoslav Wars|Yugoslav conflict]], including snipers, pilots and helicopter experts.<ref>{{cite web |author=Balkan Update |url=https://balkanupdate.blogspot.com/2011/02/serb-mercenaries-fighting-on-behalf-of.html |title=BALKAN UPDATE: Serbian Mercenaries Fighting on Behalf of Gaddafi |publisher=Balkanupdate.blogspot.com |date=23 February 2011 |access-date=17 October 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110225154007/http://balkanupdate.blogspot.com/2011/02/serb-mercenaries-fighting-on-behalf-of.html |archive-date=25 February 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.topix.com/forum/world/serbia/T6FKCFG06BN0IEND8 |title=Serbian mercenaries in Libya |publisher=Topix |date=4 June 2011 |access-date=17 October 2011 |archive-date=5 May 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120505191046/http://www.topix.com/forum/world/serbia/T6FKCFG06BN0IEND8 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://thehypervigilantobserver.blogspot.com/2011/02/serbia-libya-are-serbian-mercenary.html |title=Hypervigilant Observer: Serbia / Libya : Are Serbian Mercenary Pilots Bombing Protestors in Tripoli? |publisher=Thehypervigilantobserver.blogspot.com |date=24 February 2011 |access-date=17 October 2011 |archive-date=3 November 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111103172241/http://thehypervigilantobserver.blogspot.com/2011/02/serbia-libya-are-serbian-mercenary.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Certain observers, however, speculate that they may be from Poland or Belarus. The latter has denied the claims outright; the former is investigating them.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.polishforums.com/news-politics-4/polish-mercenaries-libya-51162/ |title=Polish mercenaries in Libya? |publisher=Polishforums.com |access-date=17 October 2011 |archive-date=29 September 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110929231039/http://www.polishforums.com/news-politics-4/polish-mercenaries-libya-51162/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Although the Serbian government has denied that any of their nationals are currently serving as mercenary soldiers in North Africa, five such men have been captured by anti-Gaddafi rebels in [[Tripoli, Libya|Tripoli]] and several others have also allegedly fought during the [[Second Battle of Benghazi]].<ref>{{cite web |author=Mark L Goldberg, USA |url=http://globalvoices.org/2011/02/24/serbia-reactions-to-the-story-of-serbian-mercenaries-in-libya/ |title=Serbia: Reactions to the Story of Serbian Mercenaries in Libya · Global Voices |publisher=Globalvoices.org |access-date=17 October 2011 |date=2011-02-24 |archive-date=12 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151012191429/https://globalvoices.org/2011/02/24/serbia-reactions-to-the-story-of-serbian-mercenaries-in-libya/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>[http://english.blic.rs/News/7953/Libyan-rebels-captured-five-Serbs-believed-to-be-mercenaries/] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110829043950/http://english.blic.rs/News/7953/Libyan-rebels-captured-five-Serbs-believed-to-be-mercenaries/|date=29 August 2011}}</ref> a number of unidentified white South African mercenaries were hired to smuggle Gaddafi and his sons to exile in Niger. Their attempts were thwarted by NATO air activity shortly before the death of Libya's ousted strongman.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/africa/111026/south-african-mercenaries-libya-sirte-escort-gaddafi-convoy |title=South African mercenaries stuck in Libya: reports |publisher=Globalpost.com |date=26 October 2011 |access-date=10 November 2011 |archive-date=10 November 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111110122244/http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/africa/111026/south-african-mercenaries-libya-sirte-escort-gaddafi-convoy |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://news.iafrica.com/sa/760509.html |title=iafrica.com &#124; SA mercenaries 'misled' |publisher=News.iafrica.com |access-date=10 November 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111102163904/http://news.iafrica.com/sa/760509.html |archive-date=2 November 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/SA-soldiers-tried-to-help-Gaddafi-20111023 |title=Report: SA soldiers helped Gaddafi |publisher=News24 |date=23 October 2011 |access-date=10 November 2011 |archive-date=5 November 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111105135054/http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/SA-soldiers-tried-to-help-Gaddafi-20111023 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author=Zara Nicholson |url=http://www.pretorianews.co.za/questions-over-19-s-africans-still-in-libya-1.1164493 |title=Questions over 19 S Africans still in Libya |work=Pretoria News &#124; IOL.co.za |date=25 October 2011 |access-date=10 November 2011 |archive-date=19 January 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120119031656/http://www.pretorianews.co.za/questions-over-19-s-africans-still-in-libya-1.1164493 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/SA-mercenaries-left-to-own-devices-20111026 |title=SA 'mercenaries' left to own devices |publisher=News24 |date=26 October 2011 |access-date=10 November 2011 |archive-date=16 November 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111116235120/http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/SA-mercenaries-left-to-own-devices-20111026 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Numerous reports have indicated that the team was still protecting [[Saif al-Islam Gaddafi]] shortly before he was apprehended.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/world-news/wonga-coup-mercenaries-fixed-gaddafis-doomed-last-flight-16071959.html |title='Wonga Coup' mercenaries fixed Gaddafi's doomed last flight |newspaper=The Belfast Telegraph |date=2011-11-02 |access-date=3 May 2014 |archive-date=7 July 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120707080714/http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/world-news/wonga-coup-mercenaries-fixed-gaddafis-doomed-last-flight-16071959.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|agency=Agence France-Presse|url=http://ca.news.yahoo.com/african-mercenaries-helping-kadhafi-son-104838293.html |title=S. African mercenaries 'helping Kadhafi son' |publisher=Yahoo! News |date=27 October 2011 |access-date=10 November 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111030030900/http://ca.news.yahoo.com/african-mercenaries-helping-kadhafi-son-104838293.html |archive-date=30 October 2011 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author=ANI |url=http://in.news.yahoo.com/saif-gaddafi-hires-team-south-african-mercenaries-smuggle-052212148.html |title=Saif Gaddafi 'hires team of South African mercenaries to smuggle him to safety' |publisher=Yahoo! News |date=30 October 2011 |access-date=10 November 2011 |archive-date=11 January 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120111145521/http://in.news.yahoo.com/saif-gaddafi-hires-team-south-african-mercenaries-smuggle-052212148.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.indiavision.com/news/article/international/243165/gaddafis-son-hires-mercenaries-to-flee/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111102145229/http://www.indiavision.com/news/article/international/243165/gaddafis-son-hires-mercenaries-to-flee |url-status=dead |archive-date=2 November 2011 |title=Gaddafi's son hires mercenaries to flee IndiaVision Latest Breaking News |publisher=Indiavision.com |access-date=10 November 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.freep.com/article/20111029/NEWS07/110290348 |title=Mercenaries offer to help Moammar Gadhafi's fugitive son flee, prosecutor says |work=Detroit Free Press |date=29 October 2011 |access-date=10 November 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111031162521/http://www.freep.com/article/20111029/NEWS07/110290348 |archive-date=31 October 2011 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/saif-qaddafi-hiding-out-in-the-sahara-desert/ |title=Saif Qaddafi hiding out in the Sahara Desert? |publisher=CBS News |access-date=10 November 2011 |archive-date=5 November 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111105224435/http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57317674/saif-qaddafi-hiding-out-in-the-sahara-desert |url-status=live }}</ref>

Amnesty International has claimed that such allegations against Gaddafi and the Libyan state turned out to either be false or lacking any evidence.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/amnesty-questions-claim-that-gaddafi-ordered-rape-as-weapon-of-war-2302037.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220512/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/amnesty-questions-claim-that-gaddafi-ordered-rape-as-weapon-of-war-2302037.html |archive-date=12 May 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live | work=The Independent | first=Patrick | last=Cockburn | title=Amnesty questions claim that Gaddafi ordered rape as weapon of war | date=24 June 2011}}</ref> [[Human Rights Watch]] has indicated that while many foreign migrants were erroneously accused of fighting with Gaddafi, there were also genuine mercenaries from several nations who participated in the conflict.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2012/country-chapters/libya|title=World Report 2012: Libya|date=22 January 2012|access-date=12 March 2016|archive-date=13 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160313040639/https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2012/country-chapters/libya|url-status=live}}</ref>

More recently in 2020 at least several hundred mercenaries from the Russian [[Wagner Group]] have been fighting on the side of the warlord, General [[Khalifa Haftar]], whom the government of Russia supports.<ref name="Spoiler">{{cite news |title=The spoiler Khalifa Haftar, the Libyan warlord, is not interested in compromise |url=https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2020/01/23/khalifa-haftar-the-libyan-warlord-is-not-interested-in-compromise |access-date=24 May 2020 |newspaper=The Economist |date=23 January 2020 |archive-date=8 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200608074301/https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2020/01/23/khalifa-haftar-the-libyan-warlord-is-not-interested-in-compromise |url-status=live }}</ref> The Wagner Group mercenaries arrived in Libya in late 2019.<ref name="Mayhem">{{cite news |title=Magnet for Mayhem |url=https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2019/12/12/foreign-powers-are-piling-into-libya |access-date=24 May 2020 |newspaper=The Economist |date=12 December 2019 |archive-date=27 March 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200327003930/https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2019/12/12/foreign-powers-are-piling-into-libya |url-status=live }}</ref> The Wagner Group have excelled as snipers, and one result of their arrival was a rapid increase in the number of sniper deaths on the opposing side that holds Tripoli.<ref name="Mayhem"/> In response, the government of Turkey hired 2,000 Syrian mercenaries to fight for the opposing faction that it is supporting in the Libyan civil war.<ref name="Spoiler"/>

Since 2019, Turkey deployed Syrian mercenaries in the Libya (See: [[Turkish military intervention in the Second Libyan Civil War]]).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.syriahr.com/en/185821/|title=Turkish-backed mercenaries - First batch of Syrian fighters arrives in Azerbaijan|date=27 September 2020|website=Syrian Observatory for Human Rights|access-date=2 February 2021|archive-date=4 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210204035624/https://www.syriahr.com/en/185821/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.syriahr.com/en/178326/|title=Turkish-backed mercenaries {{!}} New batch of 300 Syrian mercenaries arrives Libya|date=6 August 2020|website=Syrian Observatory for Human Rights|access-date=2 February 2021|archive-date=13 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210213093121/https://www.syriahr.com/en/178326/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2020/01/23/among-the-syrian-militiamen-of-turkeys-intervention-in-libya/|title=Among the Syrian Militiamen of Turkey's Intervention in Libya|first=Frederic|last=Wehrey|date=January 23, 2020|access-date=2 February 2021|archive-date=11 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200711200547/https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2020/01/23/among-the-syrian-militiamen-of-turkeys-intervention-in-libya/|url-status=live}}</ref> In July 2020 [[Al Arabiyah]] reported that Turkey sent Syrian, Tunisian, Egyptian and Sudanese mercenaries into Libya.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://english.alarabiya.net/News/north-africa/2020/07/13/Turkey-sends-mercenaries-militants-of-different-nationalities-to-Libya-Reports|title=Turkey sends mercenaries, militants of different nationalities to Libya: Reports|first=Tamara|last=Abueish|date=13 July 2020|via=Al Arabiya English|access-date=4 February 2021|archive-date=25 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210625081954/https://english.alarabiya.net/News/north-africa/2020/07/13/Turkey-sends-mercenaries-militants-of-different-nationalities-to-Libya-Reports|url-status=live}}</ref>

A November 2020 report by human rights advocacy group [[Human Rights Watch]] claimed that approximately hundreds of [[Demographics of Sudan|Sudanese]] men were hired by an Emirati security firm Black Shield Security Services as security guards for shopping centres and hotels in the [[UAE]], but were subsequently tricked into fighting in the [[Libyan Civil War (2014–present)|Libyan Civil War]]. Reportedly 390 men were recruited from Khartoum, out of which 12 spoke to HRW and told that they were made to live alongside Libyan fighters aligned with UAE-backed General [[Khalifa Haftar]]. The recruits were hired to safeguard the oil facilities controlled by the Haftar forces.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/sudan-libya-civil-war-tricked-fighting-b1554374.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220512/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/sudan-libya-civil-war-tricked-fighting-b1554374.html |archive-date=12 May 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Turkey hires Tunisian, Sudanese mercenaries to fight in Libya|access-date=20 July 2020|website=Egypt Today}}</ref>

===Middle East===

====Egypt====
By 1807, [[Muhammad Ali of Egypt|Muhammad Ali the Great]], the Albanian tobacco merchant turned ''de facto'' independent Ottoman ''vali'' (governor) of Egypt had imported about 400 French mercenaries to train his army.<ref name="Dunn">{{cite book |last1=Dunn |first1=John |title=Khedive Ismail's Army |date=2005 |publisher=Psychology Press |location=London |isbn=0714657042 |page=7}}</ref> After the end of the Napoleonic wars, Muhammad Ali recruited more mercenaries from all over Europe and the United States to train his army, through French and Italian veterans of the Napoleonic wars were much preferred and formed the largest two groups of mercenaries in Egypt.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Dunn |first1=John |title=Khedive Ismail's Army |date=2005 |publisher=Psychology Press |location=London |isbn=0714657042 |page=8}}</ref> The most famous of Muhammad Ali's mercenaries was the Frenchman [[Soliman Pasha al-Faransawi|Joseph-Anthelme Sève]] who set up the first staff school in Egypt and served as the chief of staff to [[Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt|Ibrahim Pasha]], the son of the ''vali'' and his favorite general.<ref name="khedive910">{{cite book |last1=Dunn |first1=John |title=Khedive Ismail's Army |date=2005 |publisher=Psychology Press |location=London |isbn=0714657042 |pages=9–10}}</ref> By the 1820s, Muhammad Ali's mercenaries had created a mass conscript army trained to fight in the Western style together with schools for training Egyptian officers and factories for manufacturing Western style weapons as the ''vali'' did not wish to be dependent upon imported arms.<ref name="khedive910" />

Muhammad Ali's grandson, [[Isma'il Pasha|Ismail the Magnificent]], who ruled as the Khedive of Egypt between 1863 and 79 recruited mercenaries on large scale. After Napoleon III made an unfavorable arbitration ruling in 1869 about the share of royalties from the newly opened Suez canal, which cost Ismail 3, 000, 000 Egyptian pounds per year, Ismail came to distrust his French mercenaries, and began to look elsewhere.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Dunn |first1=John |title=Khedive Ismail's Army |date=2005 |publisher=Psychology Press |location=London |isbn=0714657042 |page=53}}</ref> A number of Italian mercenaries such as Romolo Gessi, Gaetamo Casati, Andreanni Somani, and Giacomo Messedaglia played prominent roles in the Egyptian campaigns in the Sudan.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Dunn |first1=John |title=Khedive Ismail's Army |date=2005 |publisher=Psychology Press |location=London |isbn=0714657042 |page=534}}</ref> Ismail also recruited British mercenaries such as Samuel Baker and the Swiss mercenaries such as Werner Munzinger.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Dunn |first1=John |title=Khedive Ismail's Army |date=2005 |publisher=Psychology Press |location=London |isbn=0714657042 |pages=54–55}}</ref> After 1869, Ismail recruited 48 American mercenaries to command his army.<ref name="auto6">{{cite book |last1=Dunn |first1=John |title=Khedive Ismail's Army |date=2005 |publisher=Psychology Press |location=London |isbn=0714657042 |pages=55–56}}</ref> General [[Charles Pomeroy Stone]], formerly of the United States Army, served as the chief of the Egyptian general staff between 1870 and 1883.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Dunn |first1=John |title=Khedive Ismail's Army |date=2005 |publisher=Psychology Press |location=London |isbn=0714657042 |page=57}}</ref> Ismail's Americans went to Egypt largely because of the high pay he offered, through several were Confederate veterans who were barred from serving in post-1865 United States Army; the fact that the Americans in Egyptian service had fought on opposing sides in the Civil War was a source of recurring tension as the antagonism between North and South continued in Egypt.<ref name="auto6" />

====Syrian civil war====
[[File:Mercenary.jpg|thumb|right|A banner on the wall of the office of the [[Mahdi Army]] in [[Al Diwaniyah]], [[Iraq]] announcing the killing of one of the militia members in Syria]]

The [[Free Syrian Army]] claimed the [[Bashar al-Assad]] regime recruited mercenaries from [[Iran]], [[Hezbollah]] militia, and the [[Iraq]]i [[Mahdi Army]] militia during the [[Syrian civil war]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.haaretz.com/news/middle-east/syria-rebels-assad-regime-recruiting-iranian-hezbollah-mercenaries-1.398010|title=Syria rebels: Assad regime recruiting Iranian, Hezbollah mercenaries|publisher=Associated Press/Haaretz|date=27 November 2011|access-date=18 May 2012|archive-date=19 May 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120519172458/http://www.haaretz.com/news/middle-east/syria-rebels-assad-regime-recruiting-iranian-hezbollah-mercenaries-1.398010|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.dw.de/dw/article/0,,15779420,00.html|title=Baghdad funnelling pro-Assad militias to Syria|publisher=Deutsche Welle|date=3 March 2012|access-date=18 May 2012|archive-date=19 May 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120519161706/http://www.dw.de/dw/article/0,,15779420,00.html|url-status=live}}</ref> The Russian government had approved of the deployment in 2016 of the [[Wagner Group]] mercenaries to fight for the Syrian government.<ref name="WagnerSyria">{{cite news |title=How Wagner Came to Syria |url=https://www.economist.com/europe/2017/11/02/how-wagner-came-to-syria |access-date=24 May 2020 |newspaper=The Economist |date=2 November 2017 |archive-date=29 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181129093846/https://www.economist.com/europe/2017/11/02/how-wagner-came-to-syria |url-status=live }}</ref> The Wagner Group is reported to have played an important role in helping to turn the tide of the Syrian civil war in favor of the government, which in 2015 appeared to be close to collapse.<ref name="WagnerSyria"/> On 7 February 2018, the Wagner Group mercenaries were reported to have attacked an American base in Syria together with a pro-Assad militia in what is known as the [[Battle of Khasham]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Gibbons-Neff |first1=Thomas |title=How a 4-Hour Battle Between Russian Mercenaries and U.S. Commandos Unfolded in Syria |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/24/world/middleeast/american-commandos-russian-mercenaries-syria.html |work=The New York Times |date=24 May 2018 |access-date=27 May 2020 |archive-date=28 May 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180528034251/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/24/world/middleeast/american-commandos-russian-mercenaries-syria.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Turkey used Syrian mercenaries against the [[Kurds in Syria|Kurds]] in Syria.<ref>{{cite news |title=Syrian mercenaries sustain Turkey's foreign policy |url=https://www.dw.com/en/turkey-syrian-mercenaries-foreign-policy/a-55098604 |work=Deutsche Welle |date=30 September 2020 |access-date=3 February 2021 |archive-date=15 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210215060751/https://www.dw.com/en/turkey-syrian-mercenaries-foreign-policy/a-55098604 |url-status=live }}</ref>

====Yemen civil war====
{{Main|Yemeni civil war (2014–present)}}

Multiple mercenary groups, called [[Popular Committees (Yemen)|Popular Committees]], which consists of Yemeni tribes loyal to different factions, were formed by both the [[Cabinet of Yemen|Hadi government]] as well as the Houthi [[Supreme Political Council]] in the [[Yemeni Civil War (2015–present)|Yemeni Civil War]].

====Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen====
{{Main|Saudi-led intervention in the Yemeni civil war}}

During Operation Decisive Storm, multiple sources reported that Latin American military contractors from [[Academi]] headed by [[Erik Prince]] were hired by [[UAE Armed Forces]] to assist in the fight against [[Houthis]].<ref>[https://www.forbes.com/sites/charlestiefer/2015/11/26/in-yemen-war-mercenaries-launched-by-blackwater-head-were-spotted-today-not-good-news/ In Yemen War, Mercenaries Launched By Blackwater Head Were Spotted Today – Not Good News] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170905114038/https://www.forbes.com/sites/charlestiefer/2015/11/26/in-yemen-war-mercenaries-launched-by-blackwater-head-were-spotted-today-not-good-news/ |date=5 September 2017 }} ''[[Forbes]]''</ref>

==Notable mercenaries==
{{Main|List of mercenaries}}

The list includes [[foreign volunteers]], [[private military contractors]], and other "soldiers of fortune" from antiquity to the modern era.

==Cyber mercenary==
{{See also|Fancy Bear|Cozy Bear|Sandworm (hacker group)|Lazarus Group|Iranian Cyber Army}}

A [[Cyberattack|cyber]] mercenary is a [[non-state actor]] that carries out cyber attacks for [[nation state]]s for hire. State actors can use cyber mercenaries as a front to try and distance themselves from attacks with [[plausible deniability]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.orfonline.org/research/cyber-mercenaries|title=Cyber mercenaries}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Filibuster (military)]]
* [[Mercenaries in popular culture]]
* [[Irish and German Mercenary Soldiers' Revolt|Mercenary Soldiers' Revolt in Brazil]]
* [[Mercenary War]] ({{circa|240}}&nbsp;BC) – also called the Libyan War and the Truceless War
* [[Montreux Document]]
* [[Private defense agency]]
* [[Private intelligence agency]]
* [[Privateer]]
* [[Rōnin]]
* [[Security detail]]
* [[Military volunteer]]
* [[List of foreign volunteers]]
* [[Violent non-state actor]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
* {{cite book |isbn=978-0-14-044253-3 |author-link=Arrian |last=Arrian |title=Anabasis Alexandri (The Campaigns of Alexander) |editor1-first=Aubrey |editor1-last=de Sélincourt |editor1-link=Aubrey de Sélincourt |year=1976 |publisher=Penguin Books |title-link=Anabasis Alexandri}}
* Bernales-Ballesteros, Enrique; ''{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20081224002931/http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu2/7/b/mercenaries/documents.htm UNHCHR: Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights on use of mercenaries]}}''
* Bodin J; ''Les Suisses au Service de la France''; Editions Albion Michael, 1988. {{ISBN|2226033343}}
*{{cite journal |last1=Bryant |first1=G. L. |title=Indigenous Mercenaries in the Service of European Imperialists: The Case of the Sepoys in the Early British Indian Army, 1750–1800 |journal=War in History |date=January 2000 |volume=7 |issue=1 }}
* Chartrand, Rene; ''Louis XV's Army – Foreign Infantry''; Osprey 1997. {{ISBN|185532623X}}
* Chartrand, Rene; ''Spanish Army of the Napoleonic Wars 1793–1808''; Osprey 1998. {{ISBN|1855327635}}
* {{cite book|last=Goldsworthy|first=Adrian|author-link=Adrian Goldsworthy|title=The Fall of Carthage: The Punic Wars 265–146 BC|publisher=Phoenix|location=London|year=2006|isbn=978-0-304-36642-2}}
* Milliard, Todd S.; [http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf&AD=ADA440071 Overcoming post-colonial myopia: A call to recognize and regulate private military companies] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121201201617/http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf&AD=ADA440071 |date=1 December 2012 }}(PDF), in Military Law Review Vol 173, June 2003. At the time of publication Major Milliard was a [[Judge Advocate General's Corps|Judge Advocate]] in the [[United States Army Judge Advocate General's Corps]]
* Anthony Mockler, ''Storia dei mercenari: Da Senofonte all'Iraq''. Odoya, 2012. {{ISBN|978-8862881531}}.
* {{cite book|last=Schuster|first=Carl Otis|chapter=Memnon and Mentor of Rhodes (ca. 380–333, ca. 385–340)|title=Conflict in Ancient Greece and Rome: The Definitive Political, Social, and Military Encyclopedia|publisher=ABC-CLIO|year=2016|isbn=978-1610690201|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=npNUDAAAQBAJ&q=Memnon+of+Rhodes+born&pg=PA367| editor-given1 = Sara E. | editor-surname1 = Phang | editor-given2 = Iain | editor-surname2 = Spence | editor-given3 = Douglas | editor-surname3 = Kelly | editor-given4 = Peter | editor-surname4 = Londey }}

==Further reading==

===Historical===
* Atwood, Rodney. ''The Hessians: Mercenaries from Hessen-Kassel in the American Revolution'' (Cambridge University Press, 1980).
* Avant, Deborah. "From mercenary to citizen armies: Explaining change in the practice of war." ''International Organization'' (2000): 41–72. [https://www.academia.edu/download/30808356/22_avant_foreign_policy.pdf online]{{dead link|date=February 2025|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}
* Fetter, Frank Whitson. “Who Were the Foreign Mercenaries of the Declaration of Independence?” ''Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography'', vol. 104, no. 4, 1980, pp.&nbsp;508–513. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/20091517 online]
* Ingrao, Charles. "" Barbarous Strangers": Hessian State and Society during the American Revolution." ''American Historical Review'' 87.4 (1982): 954–976 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1857901 online]
* Ingrao, Charles W. ''The Hessian mercenary state: ideas, institutions, and reform under Frederick II, 1760–1785'' (Cambridge University Press, 2003).
* [[Machiavelli|Niccolò Machiavelli]]. ''[[The Prince]].'' 1532. Ch. 12.
* {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20070228130758/http://www.drizzle.com/~celyn/jherek/16thMilSci.pdf "Military science in western Europe in the sixteenth century." ''Prologue: The nature of armies in the 16th century'']}}
* Mockler, Anthony. ''The Mercenaries: The Men Who Fight for Profit – from the Free Companies of Feudal France to the White Adventurers in the Congo''. Macmillan, 1969.{{ISBN?}}
* Percy, Sarah. ''Mercenaries: The history of a norm in international relations'' (Oxford University Press, 2007).{{ISBN?}}
* Schmidt, H. D. "The Hessian Mercenaries: The Career of a Political Cliché." ''History'' 43.149 (1958): 207–212 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/24404012 online]
* {{cite book |first=Howard H. |last=Scullard |chapter=Carthage and Rome |pages=486–569
|editor1-first= F. W. |editor1-last=Walbank |editor2-first=A. E. |editor2-last=Astin |editor3-first=M. W. |editor3-last=Frederiksen |editor4-first=R. M. |editor4-last=Ogilvie|title=Cambridge Ancient History: Volume 7, Part 2 |edition=2nd | location=Cambridge|publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2006 |orig-year=1989| isbn= 978-0-521-23446-7}}
* Thomson, Janice E. ''Mercenaries, pirates, and sovereigns: state-building and extraterritorial violence in early modern Europe''. Princeton University Press, 1994. {{ISBN|1400808014}} Describes the building of the modern state system through the states' "monopolization of extraterritorial violence."
* Underwood, Matthew. [https://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1140&context=nulr "Jealousies of a standing army: the use of mercenaries in the American revolution and its implications for Congress's role in regulating private military firms."] 'Northwestern University Law Review'' 106 (2012): 317-349.

===Since 1970s===
* Guy Arnold. ''Mercenaries: The Scourge of the Third World.'' Palgrave Macmillan, 1999. {{ISBN|978-0312222031}}
* {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20121022105803/http://www.humansecurity.info/#/vol-63-brooks-rathgeber/4527827401 Doug Brooks & Shawn Lee Rathgeber. "The Industry Role in Regulating Private Security Companies]}}", ''Canadian Consortium on Human Security – Security Privatization: Challenges and Opportunities'', Vol. 6.3, University of British Columbia, March 2008.
* Anthony Mockler. ''Hired Guns and Coups d'Etat: Mercenaries: Thirty Years 1976–2006''. Hunter Mackay, 2007.
* Anthony Mockler. ''The New Mercenaries: The History of the Mercenary from the Congo to the Seychelles''. Paragon House, 1987.{{ISBN?}}
* [[Robert Young Pelton]]. ''Hunter Hammer and Heaven, Journeys to Three World's Gone Mad,'' {{ISBN|1585744166}}
* [[Jeremy Scahill]]. ''[[Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army]]'', Nation Books, 2007. {{ISBN|1560259795}}
* [[Peter J. Woolley]]. "Soldiers of Fortune," ''[[The Common Review]]'', {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20110513141410/http://www.thecommonreview.org/fileadmin/template/tcr/pdf/WoolleyRev54.pdf v. 5, no. 4(2007), pp. 46–48]}}. Review essay.

===Status in international law===
* Marina Mancini; ''[http://cadmus.eui.eu/handle/1814/14745 Private Military and Security Company Employees: Are They the Mercenaries of the Twenty-first Century?]'', EUI Working Paper AEL 2010/5, European University Institute, San Domenico di Fiesole, 2010, {{ISSN|1831-4066}}.
* Katherine Fallah; ''[http://www.icrc.org/Web/Eng/siteeng0.nsf/html/review-863-p599 Corporate Actors: the Legal Status of Mercenaries in Armed Conflict]'', International Review of the Red Cross, (2006)
* Eliav Lieblich; "[http://www.law-journal.de/fileadmin/user_upload/PDF/Ausgabe_03_2009.pdf The Status of mercenaries in International Armed Conflict as a case of politicization of International Humanitarian Law]", ''Bucerius Law Journal'', (2009)

===Private military companies (PMCs)===
* [[Robert Young Pelton]]; ''[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1400097819 Licensed to Kill: Hired Guns in the War on Terror]'', Crown, (2006), {{ISBN|1400097819}}
* José Alvear Restrepo Lawyers' Collective; ''[http://www.colectivodeabogados.org/article.php3?id_article=1253 Private Security Transnational Enterprises in Colombia] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080417203427/http://www.colectivodeabogados.org/article.php3?id_article=1253 |date=17 April 2008 }}'' February 2008

==External links==
* The {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20110107101054/http://securitycontracting.net/network/ Security Contracting Network]}} is resource and community of security contracting professionals.
* {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20120508191016/http://www.pmcs-monitor.com/ PMCs Monitor]}}: An international organization which advocates for tighter rules
* [http://www2.ohchr.org/english/issues/mercenaries/ The Working Group on the use of mercenaries as a means of violating human rights and impeding the exercise of the right of peoples to self-determination] UNHCR
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mercenary}}
[[Category:Mercenaries]]
[[Category:Irregular military]]
[[Category:Private military contractors]]
[[Category:Protective service occupations]]