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A mercenary is a person who takes part in an armed conflict who is not a national of a Party to the conflict and "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". 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 Websters Dictionary defines a mercenary as "one that serves merely for wages; especially a soldier hire." As a result of the assumption that a mercenary is exclusively motivated by money, the term "mercenary" carries negative connotations. There is a blur in the distinction between a "mercenary" and a " 17 January MERCENARIES AND THE LAWS OF WAR See Also: Laws of war In the Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts ( Protocol I ), 8 June 1977 it is stated: ''Art 47. Mercenaries'' 1. A mercenary shall not have the right to be a combatant or a prisoner of war. 2. A mercenary is any person who: ::''(a) is specially recruited locally or abroad in order to fight in an armed conflict;'' ::''(b) does, in fact, take a direct part in the hostilities;'' ::''(c) 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) is neither a national of a Party to the conflict nor a resident of territory controlled by a Party to the conflict;'' ::''(e) is not a member of the armed forces of a Party to the conflict; and'' ::''(f) 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.'' It should be noted that many countries, including the United States, are not signatories to the ''Protocol Additional GC 1977'' (APGC77). So although it is the most widely accepted international definition of a mercenary, it is not definitive. According to the GC III , a captured soldier must be treated as a Lawful Combatant , and, therefore, is a ''Protected Person'', with Prisoner of War (PoW) status until facing a Competent Tribunal (GC III Art 5). That tribunal may decide that the soldier is a mercenary using criteria in APGC77 or some equivalent domestic law. At that juncture, the mercenary soldier becomes an Unlawful Combatant , but still must be "''treated with humanity and, in case of trial, shall not be deprived of the rights of fair and regular trial''", because they are still covered by GC IV Art 5. The only exception to GC IV Art 5 is if he is a national of the authority imprisoning him, but, in which case, he would not be a mercenary soldier as defined in APGC77 Art 47.d. If after a regular trial, a captured soldier is found to be a mercenary, then he can expect treatment as a common criminal and may face execution. As mercenary soldiers are not PoWs, they cannot expect repatriation at war's end. The best known post-World War II example of this was on On this day June 28 . The legal status of civilian contractors depends upon the nature of their work and their nationalities with respect to that of the combatants. If they have not ''in fact, taken a direct part in the hostilities'' (APGC77 Art 47.b) they are not mercenaries but soldiers and are entitled to Geneva Convention protections. The situation during the Occupation Of Iraq 2003 – shows the difficulty in defining what is a mercenary soldier. While the United States governed Iraq, any U.S. citizen working as an armed guard could not be defined a mercenary, because he was ''a national of a Party to the conflict'' (APGC77 Art 47.d). With the hand-over of power to the Iraqi government, some would say that unless they declare themselves residents in Iraq, i.e. ''a resident of territory controlled by a Party to the conflict'' (APGC77 Art 47.d), they are mercenary soldiers, if one does not consider the United States to be a party to the U.S. Occupation of Iraq. However, those who acknowledge the United States to be a party to the conflict would insist that U.S. armed guards cannot be called mercenaries (APGC77 Art 47.d). If no trial of accused mercenaries occurs, allegations evaporate in the heat of accusations and counter-accusations and denials. Coalition soldiers in Iraq supporting the interim Iraqi government are not mercenaries, because they either are of the armed forces of a Party to the conflict or they have been ''sent by a State which is not a Party to the conflict on official duty as a member of its armed forces'' (APGC77 Art 47.f). On '' by Sovereign State sMilliard References Page 5. Paragraph 1. See also Privateer , Letter Of Marque , Private Military Contractor . Mercenaries and municipal (domestic) law Most countries forbid their citizens fighting in foreign wars unless they are under the control of their own national armed forces:
GURKHAS AND FOREIGN LEGIONNAIRES The better-known combat units in which foreign nationals serve in another country's armed forces are the Gurkha regiments of the British and Indian armies, and the French Foreign Legion . Gurkhas in the . French Foreign Legionnaires are formed units of 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 mercenary soldiers per APGC77 Art 47.e and APGC77 Art 47.f. PRIVATE MILITARY COMPANIES (PMCS) The Private Military Company (PMC) is the contemporary strand of the mercenary trade, providing Logistics , soldiers, military training, and other services. Thus, PMC contractors are civilians (in governmental, international, and civil organizations) authorized to accompany an army to the field; hence, the term ''civilian contractor''. Nevertheless, PMCs may use armed force, hence defined as: ''legally established enterprises that make a profit, by either providing services involving the potential exercise of 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''. [http://www.privatemilitary.org/definition.html What is a Private Military Company or PMC? 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. Private September 10 , 2005.( a backup site ) If PMC employees participate in pro-active combat, the press call them mercenaries, and the PMCs mercenary companies. In the 1990s, four news media-identified mercenary companies, and the wars were:
In 2004 the PMC business was boosted, because the US and Coalition governments hired them for security in Iraq. In March 2004, four Blackwater USA employees guarding food shipments were attacked and killed in Fallujah , in a videotaped attack; the killings and subsequent dismemberment were a cause for the First Battle Of Fallujah . Afghan war operations also boosted the business, many PMC employees are bodyguards for heads of state such as Hamid Karzai . The United Nations disapprove of PMCs (still, the UN hired ''Executive Outcomes'' for African logistic support work). Controversy arose elsewhere, Dyncorp's pedophiliac sex trafficking in Bosnia during the Balkan war of the 1990s. The question is whether or not PMC soldiers are as accountable for their war zone actions as are the Bosniak armed forces. A common argument for using PMCs (used by the PMCs themselves; Sandline's Corp's whitepapers), is that PMCs may be help combat Genocide and civilian slaughter where the UN are unwilling or unable to intervene.
In February 2002, a British 11 November , 2002 MERCENARIES THROUGH HISTORY Africa Ancient Egypt 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 . 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. Healy, Mark; ''New Kingdom Egypt''; ISBN 185532-208-0; Page ?? 20th century In the 20th century, mercenaries have been mostly involved in conflicts on the continent of Africa. There have been a number of unsavory incidents in the brushfire wars of Africa, some involving recruitment of naïve European and American men "looking for adventure" and thrusting them into combat situations where they would not survive to get paid. 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". A good example of this would be 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 1970. Particularly notorious mercenaries include:
=Biafra Mercenaries fought for the , 2003. Second paragraph. =Angola In the mid- (the self styled "Colonel Callan"), who had both served in the British army, were sentenced to death for murder. Executive Outcomes employees fought on behalf of the MPLA against UNITA in the 1990s in violation of the Lusaka Protocol . =Sierra Leone 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). =Equatorial Guinea See Also: Wonga Coup A fictional portrait of mercenary operations in the 1970s is September 2 2004 Allan Laing ''"'Scratcher' and the battle for Guinea"'' Glasgow Herald 26 August 2004 . Six Armenian aircrew, also convicted of involvement in the plot, were released in 2004 after receiving a presidential pardon. CNN reported on August 25 , that: :''Defendant 2004 : It was planned, it is alleged, by Simon Mann (a founder of Executive Outcomes) a former 2004 The BBC reported in an article entitled "Q&A: Equatorial Guinea coup plot": 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: 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. Asia Mercenaries in the 15th and 16th centuries The Saika mercenary group雑賀衆, '' saikashuu '' 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 Ikko Buddhist sect movements and greatly impeded the advance of Oda Nobunaga 's forces. 20th century In the Warlord period of China, many American and English mercenaries thrived such as Homer Lea , Philo Norton McGriffin, Davis, Richard Harding ''Real Soldiers of Fortune'' (1906), Morris Cohen , and Francis Arthur "One Armed Sutton". Drage, Charles ''General of Fortune'' (1954) During the early stages of the . Europe Mercenaries in the classic era Many Greek mercenaries fought for the Persian Empire during the early classic era. For example:
In the late s either within the Legion s or as autonomous Foederati . The barbarians were Romanized and surviving veterans were established in areas requiring population. The Varangian Guard of the Byzantine Empire is the best known formation made up of barbarian mercenaries. (see next section) Mercenaries in medieval warfare 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 (Vikings) 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 ("Hardreign"), who arrived in Constantinople in 1035 and was employed as a Varangian Guard. He participated in eighteen battles and became 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 . In England at the time of the Norman Conquest, 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 Plantagenet dynasties (11th and 12th centuries). A prominent example of these were the Flemings that 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 King Stephen 's chief lieutenant from 1139 to 1154 and who was made earl of Kent by Stephen. In Italy, the ''condottiero'' was a military chief offering his troops, the Condottieri , to City-state s. During the ages of the Taifa kingdoms of the Iberian peninsula, Christian knights like El Cid could fight for some Muslim ruler against his Christian or Muslim enemies. The Almogavars originally fought for Catalonia and Aragon , but as the Catalan Company , they followed Roger De Flor in the service of the Byzantine Empire . Spanish (Catalan) and German mercenaries also had prominent role in the Serbian victory over Bulgarians in the Battle of Velbuzd 1330. During the later Middle Ages, 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. Such companies typically formed at the ends of periods of conflict, when men-at-arms were no longer needed by their respective governments. The veteran soldiers thus looked for other forms of employment, often becoming mercenaries. 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 commanded by Sir John Hawkwood is the best known English Free Company of the 14th Century . 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 by the name of Jon Lamb under the orders of the English Crown in 1378 during the Siege Of Mortagne Owain Lawgoch (English:Owain of the Red Hand, French:Yvain de Galles) . See also: Bertrand Du Guesclin , Scottish Clan . Mercenaries in the 15th and 16th centuries Pier Gerlofs Donia , a Legendary Folk Hero , Freedom Fighter and Warrior annex Pirate , lead a group of highly trained mercenaries , the Arumer Black Heap . They fought (mainly), against other mercenaries such as the Count Of Nychlenborch , a Frisian Nobleman , Burgundian - Vassal and Warrior by trade. Swiss Mercenaries were sought after 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 about that period. ''See Swiss Guard .'' 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 and throughout the 16th Century , being hired by all the powers in Europe and often fighting at opposite sides. St Thomas More in his 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. At approximately the same period, Niccolò Machiavelli argued against the use of mercenary armies in his masterpiece '' 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. Mercenaries in the 17th and 18th centuries During the 17th and 18th century extensive use was made of foreign recruits in the now regimented and highly drilled armies of Europe, beginning in a systematised way with the Thirty Years Wars . 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 working as mercenaries for continental armies, the most famous of whom was Patrick Sarsfield , who, having fallen mortally wounded at the Battle Of Landen fighting for the French, said "If this was only for Ireland". Patrick Sarsfield Wild Geese Heritage Museum and Library 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 (the " 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 were also a Scottish ('' Royal-Écossais ''), a Swedish ('' Royal-Suédois ''), an Italian ('' Royal-Italien '') and a Walloon ('' Horion-Liegeois '') regiments 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. The Spanish Army also made use of permanently established foreign regiments. These comprised three Irish Regiments (Irlanda, Hiberni and Ultonia); one Italian (Napoles) and five Swiss (Wimpssen, Reding, Betschart, Traxer and Preux). In addition one regiment of the Royal Guard was recruited from 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. MERCENARIES IN POPULAR CULTURE See Also: Mercenaries in popular culture Like Piracy , the mercenary ethos resonates with idealized adventure, mystery and danger. SEE ALSO
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