any nation in history has ever run out of ppl to recruit?

[Flying Pig]

Any nation using conscription, since all the recruitable men have already been recruited

 

[say1988]

Not necessarily. Some people are granted exemptions, and in some countries some people are never called up. I am sure these could be revoked if things got bad enough.

In theory you might be correct, but in reality, not so much.

 

[aronnax]

I hear that skipping Russian Conscription is simple. You bribe them or get a doctors letter.

 

[Flying Pig]

In Israel, getting married or going to university works

 

[civ_king]

In Israel, getting married or going to university works

I take it to have kids and increase the population to the point that Jews can not be exterminated?

 

[Tee Kay]

Indian societies like the Aztecs or the Incas probably lost more than 90% of their population due to disease at or around the time of European contact. That has to seriously effect their ability to resist European conquest.

 

[Flying Pig]

I take it to have kids and increase the population to the point that Jews can not be exterminated?

It's somewhere in the OT that men who marry get out of service for a year

 

[Eli]

In Israel, getting married or going to university works

In Israel, going to University most definitely doesn't work. And getting married works only for women.

 

[Plotinus]

Very wise. It would only be hypocrisy if the people actually doing the recruiting of child soldiers condemned other people for it. You can't be hypocritical because of what other people have done.

 

[Plotinus]

The fact that some people do that doesn't make it rational or justified. A person can only be responsible for what they themselves have done. The notion that someone can reasonably be praised or blamed for something which is outside their control contradicts the principle of "ought implies can", which is one of the most fundamental principles in ethics.

 

[luiz]

Paraguay is indeed the classic example of this. As Corsair correctly stated, after the "real" army goes down continue to fight is just mass suicide. And that's what the paraguayans did, because they were fanatically commited to Solano López. The last stages of the war consisted of paraguayan children armed with little more than sticks charging against artillery and infantry lines (the last real soldiers defended López himself, who refused to surrender untill the end and was eventually killed in battle).

To understand the full extent of the demographic catastrophe that Paraguay suffered after the war one has to remember that among the few males that survived, most were elders or really young kids. They indeed never fully recovered.

 

[Flying Pig]

The fact that some people do that doesn't make it rational or justified. A person can only be responsible for what they themselves have done. The notion that someone can reasonably be praised or blamed for something which is outside their control contradicts the principle of "ought implies can", which is one of the most fundamental principles in ethics.

So does that mean that, to use the classic example, a trooper ordered to attack and capture a machine-gun should refuse, because he can't expect to do so?

 

[Eran of Arcadia]

Except that militarily speaking failing in the attempt to achieve an objective may still have value.

 

[Perfection]

So does that mean that, to use the classic example, a trooper ordered to attack and capture a machine-gun should refuse, because he can't expect to do so?

No, it just means that he shouldn't be blamed for not capturing the machine-gun. It doesn't mean he shouldn't be blamed for not attempting to take the machine-gun.

 

[Ice_Tyrant]

Wow. Reading this got me to read some 'bout that war in Paraguay, that was just crazy. Kinda hard to believe after that they could actually defeat Bolivia. I don't remember reading about any wars Bolivia has won though, only know now 'bout The Chaco war(sp?) and the war in the Pacific.

 

[Plotinus]

No, it just means that he shouldn't be blamed for not capturing the machine-gun. It doesn't mean he shouldn't be blamed for not attempting to take the machine-gun.

That's the correct answer. If something isn't your fault, it's not reasonable that you should be blamed for it. This is a pretty basic intuition. The question whether it's reasonable for someone to attempt something which they believe to be impossible is quite different.

 

[TheLastOne36]

I was gonna say "the hypocrisy of the West in condemning some Africans!" but then thought better of it.

That was WWII. Germany, Netherlands Russia, Italy and France all did the same.

 

[Dragonlord]

Didn't Germany in WW2 have to resort to children to defend Berlin against the Russians?

Depends on what you mean by 'children'. They certainly conscripted very young and old men into the 'Volkssturm' (literally 'people's storm', as in 'to storm' a trench or such...). 16 year olds were conscripted as Flakhelfer (auxiliaries, literally 'flak helpers'), maybe a few were a bit younger, and sometimes they were given weapons and sent into battle (see Bernhard Wicki's film 'The Bridge'), but these were exceptions.

No 8-year-old 'child soldiers' like in Africa or Iran though. Not even the Nazis went that far...

 

[Squonk]

well I don't know about having any money, but Paraguay in 1862-68 must have pretty much bled dry - there were no able bodied men left

That's what I thought of when I saw the thread title.

 

[TheLastOne36]

Depends on what you mean by 'children'. They certainly conscripted very young and old men into the 'Volkssturm' (literally 'people's storm', as in 'to storm' a trench or such...). 16 year olds were conscripted as Flakhelfer (auxiliaries, literally 'flak helpers'), maybe a few were a bit younger, and sometimes they were given weapons and sent into battle (see Bernhard Wicki's film 'The Bridge'), but these were exceptions.

No 8-year-old 'child soldiers' like in Africa or Iran though. Not even the Nazis went that far...

Poland = Africa than. We had 8 year old soldiers although they were boy scouts who were 'in the way' of the germans, and took up arms voluntarily against the germans. (by voluntarily, i mean defending instead of running away)