Roman Republic The
Roman Republic was able to mobilize at various times between 6% (81–83 BCE) to as much as 10% (210s BCE) of the total Roman population, in emergencies and for short periods of time. This included poorly trained
militia.
Modern era The
Confederate States of America is estimated to have mobilized about 11% of its free population in the
American Civil War (1861–1865). A military force of this size requires around 20 tons of food per day, shelter, as well as all the necessary munitions, transportation (typically horses or mules), tools, and representative garments. Despite the advantages of mass armies, mobilizing forces of this magnitude took much more time than it had in the past. The
Second Italian War of Independence illustrated all of the problems in modern army mobilization. Prussia began to realize the future of mobilizing mass armies when
Napoleon III transported 130,000 soldiers to Italy by
military railways in 1859. These armies were in luck, however, in that their Austrian adversaries experienced similar problems with sluggish supply caravans (one of which apparently covered less than three miles per day). Austrian military instruction during peacetime utilized nine different languages, accustoming Austrian soldiers to taking orders only in their native language. The
Anglo-German naval arms race began, sparked by the German enactment of the
Second Naval Law. Each of the Great Powers could only afford to keep a fraction of these men in uniform in peacetime, the rest were
reservists with limited opportunities to train. Maneuvering formations of millions of men with limited military training required intricate plans with no room for error, confusion, or discretion after mobilization began. These plans were prepared under the assumption of
worst-case scenarios. For example, German military leaders did not plan to mobilize for war with Russia whilst assuming that France would not come to her ally's aid, or vice versa. The
Schlieffen Plan therefore dictated not only mobilization against both powers, but also the order of attack—France would be attacked first regardless of the diplomatic circumstances. To bypass the fortified Franco-German frontier, the German forces were to be ordered to march through
Belgium. Whether or not Russia had committed the first provocation, the German plan agreed to by
Emperor William II called for the attack on Russia to take place only after France was defeated. regiment Similarly, the Russian
Stavka's war planning assumed that war against either Austria-Hungary or Germany would mean war against the other power. Although the plan allowed flexibility as to whether the main effort would be made against Germany or Austria-Hungary, in either case units would be mobilized on the frontiers of both Powers. On July 28, 1914,
Tsar Nicholas II of Russia (William's cousin) ordered partial mobilization against Austria-Hungary only. While war with Austria-Hungary seemed inevitable, Nicholas
engaged in a personal dialogue with the German Emperor in an attempt to avoid war with Germany. However, Nicholas was advised that attempts to improvise a partial mobilization would lead to chaos and probable defeat if, as pessimists on the Russian side expected, no amount of diplomacy could convince the Germans to refrain from attacking Russia whilst she was engaged with Germany's ally. On July 29, 1914, the Tsar ordered full mobilization, then changed his mind after receiving a telegram from Kaiser Wilhelm. Partial mobilization was ordered instead. The next day, the Tsar's
foreign minister,
Sergey Sazonov once more persuaded Nicholas of the need for general mobilization, and the order was issued that day, July 30. In response, Germany declared war on Russia. Germany mobilized under
von Moltke the Younger's revised version of the
Schlieffen Plan, which assumed a
two-front war with Russia and France. Like Russia, Germany decided to follow its two-front plans despite the one-front war. Germany declared war on France on August 3, 1914, one day after issuing an ultimatum to Belgium demanding the right of German troops to pass through as part of the planned pincer action of the military. Finally, Britain declared war on Germany for violating Belgian neutrality. Thus the entangling alliances of the
Triple Alliance and the
Triple Entente directed the intricate plans for mobilization. This brought all of the Great Powers of Europe into the Great War without actually utilizing the provisions of either alliance. on the way to the front in August 1914. The message on the car reads
Von München über Metz nach Paris. (From
Munich via
Metz to
Paris). The mobilization was like a holiday for many of the inexperienced soldiers; for example, some Germans wore flowers in the muzzles of their rifles as they marched. Trains brought soldiers to the front lines of battle. The Germans timetabled the movements of 11,000 trains as they brought troops across the
Rhine River. The French mobilized around 7,000 trains for movement.
Horses were also mobilized
for war. The British had 165,000 horses prepared for
cavalry, the Austrians 600,000, the Germans 715,000, and the Russians over a million. Britain's
Dominions including
Australia,
Canada,
New Zealand and
South Africa were compelled to go to war when Britain did. However, it was largely left up to the individual Dominions to recruit and equip forces for the war effort. Canadian, Australian and New Zealand mobilizations all involved the creation of new field forces for overseas service rather than using the existing regimental structures as a framework. In the case of Canada, the Militia Minister, Sir
Sam Hughes, created the
Canadian Expeditionary Force by sending telegrams to 226 separate reserve unit commanders asking for volunteers to muster at
Valcartier in Quebec. The field force served separately from the
Militia (Canada's peacetime army); in 1920 the
Otter Commission was compelled to sort out which units would perpetuate the units that served in the trenches—the CEF or the prewar Militia. A unique solution of perpetuations was instituted, and mobilization during the Second World War did not repeat Sir Sam Hughes' model, which has been described by historians as being more closely akin to ancient Scottish clans assembling for battle than a modern, industrialized nation preparing for war. , Paris during the beginning of World War I "Colonials" served under British command though, perhaps owing to the limited autonomy granted to the Dominions regarding their respective mobilizations, the Dominions eventually compelled the British government to overrule the objections of some British commanders and let the Dominion forces serve together instead of being distributed amongst various British divisions. The "colonials" would go on to be acknowledged by both the British and German high commands as being elite British units. In May 1918, when command of the
Australian Corps passed from
William Birdwood to
John Monash, it became the first British Empire formation commanded totally free of British officers. On May 23, 1915, Italy entered World War I on the Allied side. Despite being the weakest of the big four Allied powers, the Italians soon managed to populate its army from 560 to 693 infantry battalions in 1916; the army had grown in size from 1 million to 1.5 million soldiers. On August 17, 1916,
Romania entered the war on the Allied side, mobilizing an army of 23 divisions. Romania was quickly defeated however by Germany, Austria-Hungary, and
Bulgaria. Bulgaria went so far as to ultimately mobilize 1.2 million men, more than a quarter of its population of 4.3 million people, a greater share of its population than any other country during the war. The production of supplies gradually increased throughout the war. In Russia, the expansion of industry allowed a 2,000 percent increase in the production of artillery shells – by November 1915, over 1,512,000 artillery shells were being produced per month. In France, a massive mobilization by the female population to work in factories allowed the rate of shell production to reach 100,000 shells a day by 1915. Both sides also began drawing on larger numbers of soldiers. The British Secretary of State for War,
Lord Kitchener, appealed for hundreds of thousands of soldiers, which was met with an enthusiastic response. 30 new British divisions were created. The response by volunteers allowed the British to put off the introduction of conscription until
1916. New Zealand
followed suit, with Canada also eventually introducing conscription with the
Military Service Act in 1917. On April 6, 1917, the
United States entered the war on the Allied side. At the entrance, the U.S. only could mobilize its army of 107,641 soldiers, ranked only seventeenth in size worldwide at the time. The
United States Navy quickly mobilized, adding 5
dreadnoughts to the Allied navy. However, conscription quickly ensued. By March 1918, 318,000 U.S. soldiers had been mobilized to France. Eventually, by October 1918, a force of 2 million U.S. soldiers joined in the war effort.
Mobilization in World War II and carriages requisitioned in the mobilization before the
Winter War was announced on 20 June 1941 in Finland
invaded the Soviet Union, 23 June 1941
Poland partly mobilized its troops on August 24, 1939, and fully mobilized on August 30, 1939, following the increased confrontations with
Germany since
March 1939. On September 1, 1939 Germany invaded Poland, which prompted both France and Britain to
declare war on Germany. However, they were slow to mobilize, and by the time Poland had been overrun by the Axis powers, only
minor operations had been carried out by the French at the
Saar River. Canada actually carried out a partial mobilization on August 25, 1939, in anticipation of the growing
diplomatic crisis. On September 1, 1939, the
Canadian Active Service Force (a corps-sized force of two divisions) was mobilized even though war was not declared by Canada until September 10, 1939. Only one division went overseas in December 1939, and the government hoped to follow a "limited liability" war policy. When France was invaded in May 1940, the Canadian government realized that would not be possible and mobilized three additional divisions, beginning their overseas employment in August 1940 with the dispatch of the
2nd Canadian Division (some units of which were deployed to
Iceland and
Newfoundland for garrison duty before moving to the UK). Canada also enacted the
National Resources Mobilization Act in 1940, which among other things compelled men to serve in the military, though conscripts mobilized under the NRMA did not serve overseas until 1944. Conscripts did, however, serve in the
Aleutian Islands Campaign in 1943 though the anticipated Japanese defense never materialized due to the evacuation of the enemy garrison before the landings. Service in the Aleutians was not considered "overseas" as technically the islands were part of North America. The
United Kingdom mobilized 22% of its total population for direct military service, more than any other nation in the WWII era. Up to 34 million soldiers served in the
Red Army during World War II, representing the largest military force in world history.
Post–World War II Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the
President of Ukraine, signed a decree on February 24, 2022 on the
general mobilization of the population in the
Russian invasion of Ukraine. Conscripts and reservists were called up over the next 90 days to "ensure the defense of the state, maintaining combat and mobilization readiness". Men between the ages of 18 and 60 were prohibited from leaving the country. In April 2024, President Zelenskyy signed a new
mobilization law to increase the number of troops. He also signed into law a measure lowering Ukraine's army mobilization age from 27 to 25. drafted into the Russian army during the
2022 Russian mobilization Vladimir Putin, the
President of Russia, announced a
partial mobilization on 21 September 2022 of existing
reservists, most particularly those that have military experience. According to claims of the
Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu, 300,000 reservists would be mobilized. ==Economic mobilization==