World\'s First Military Draft - The Romans?

[trivguy]

Hi. I please need your help.

I'm trying to determine information about the world's first-ever military draft. I please need all the factual details. The when, where, how many, procedures, and any/all information.

Things I want to know like ...

The world's first military draft was in ________ B.C. It was conducted by ____________. The procedure was _______(what?)______________ . ___________ (the number) men were drafted first. Their duties included _____(what?)_____________ . Was it voluntary or involuntary? They were paid $ ________ for what amount of time served. Etc, etc.

All information appreciated. Thanks. Please feel free to email me direct.


Wilson Casey
"Trivia" Guinness World Record Holder
Spartanburg, SC USA
[email protected]

[Jeroen Pelgrom]

thread moved to Roman Military History & Archaeology

[Medicus matt]

I don't know anything in great detail but I do know that the Egyptian armies of the Old, Middle and New Kingdoms included conscripts.

Pay during the reign of Rameses II was ten loaves of bread and a jug of beer per day.

[Matthew Amt]

Hey, good stuff, Matt! Strictly speaking, the question is probably unanswerable, since it could very well have happened in pre-historic times (before writing, that is) so the details are completely unknown. Presumably you'd settle for the earliest *known* draft? Egypt may be a good bet for that, though something in Sumeria or thereabouts might win. In any case, you're not likely to be able to find all the details you want--historical sources just aren't that perfect, unfortunately.

By the way, to most of us, "draft" assumes "involuntary", though certainly some conscripts would have been more willing than others. And would this count a simple system of men of any particular status being required to serve under specified conditions? Because laws like that were very common all through ancient times, and were not always considered "conscription".

But I think you can count the Romans out as "first" or "earliest known" by a couple thousand years!

Good luck and Vale,

Matthew

[Jesper D]

Hey,
Yeah couldn't agree more, it's probably not so much about who did it first... But who had the means to write it down first, so you are looking at the sumerian and egyptian languages as Matt said.
The word "draft" is quite meaningless in my way of seeing it; in the tribal days one could argue that all fit men would be called upon to protect the tribe just as with any other mammal pack animal(it's the main duty of the males..). From this perspective the word does not make sense until we have settled down and built up societies where specialised roles became so important that some would be relieved of military duty. So essentially "draft" would be associated with the ability of agriculture to support the development of cities and city states. I suspect that many militarily minded nomads in much later times such as Atila or Djenghis would frown at the word

The romans first census, where the military duties are put on "paper" is the servilian reforms traditionally ascribed to the legendary king Servius Tullius in the 6th century long after the downfall of sumerian culture and the old egyptian dynasty again as Matt said.

[Eleatic Guest]

Well analysed, Jesper.

The Romans may have had the first professional standing army, though.

[Matthew Amt]

The Romans may have had the first professional standing army, though.

No, I think even there you may be able to go back to Egypt or Sumer, though I don't recall the specifics. Egypt's army was definitely well organized and even had units very similar in basic size to legions, but I don't know how many of these units--or in what historical period--might have been considered permanent or professional. They did use Sherdana mercenaries as professionals, though. There was clearly some sort of permanent military organization in places like Mycenaean Greece, but it would take a little analysis to determine if that was "professional" rather than a more feudal system, and that would end up bantering semantics, I expect! Hittites and Assyrians are also good possibilities, I just don't know them well enough. Macedonians spring to mind, of course, but they actual date later than a lot of Roman military history!

Of course, an army can be professional and full-time without actually being permanent, and vice-versa. You can have a permanent army of professional conscripts, or part-time conscripts--the organization could be considered permanent even if the troops only serve short terms, I guess. Okay, I'm into hair-splitting...

Valete,

Matthew