ABSTRACT
In order to discuss the future nature and roles of the British Army, it is important to have a general idea of the way in which armies can be raised and organised. Professor M. R. D. Foot has provided four descriptive categories which may be accepted as covering the normal permutations possible: conscript systems, citizen armies, voluntary systems, and mixed systems. Countries which have conscript systems are France, Turkey, Denmark and Russia. Conscript systems are inevitably, to some extent, ‘mixed’ as well, because there are bound to be some long-term professionals who act as a training element and cadre. Countries which have citizen armies are Sweden, Switzerland and Israel. The first objection to a citizen army is that it is vulnerable to surprise attack. A ‘mixed’ system is one that does not rely wholly on conscripts, or wholly on volunteers, or wholly on a trained citizenry, but on some of these elements combined.
