Standing Force Generation & Training

745–727 BC

Tiglath-Pileser III of Assyria disbanded militias and created Assyria's first standing army of paid professionals

Tiglath-Pileser III replaced seasonal militia levies with professional soldiers paid for their service, supplemented by foreign mercenaries and vassal contingents. The resulting force was the most sophisticated administrative and economic institution of its time and became the engine of an Assyrian economy built on warfare.

678 BC

The state of Jin became the first Eastern Zhou state to maintain a standing army

Whereas the Eastern Zhou relied on militias drafted from around 150 city-states, Jin established a permanent force in 678 BC. It marks the beginning of standing force generation in the Chinese states system.

421–418 BC

Argos maintained a standing force of 1,000 hoplites

For a three-year period the city-state of Argos kept a permanent body of a thousand hoplites under arms. It is one of the rare documented Greek standing infantry formations outside the militia norm.

378 BC

Thebes raised the Sacred Band, a standing force of 300 elite hoplites

Thebes created a permanent corps of three hundred picked hoplites in 378 BC, which endured until its destruction in 338 BC. It represented an early Greek experiment in holding an elite professional unit at continuous readiness.

359–336 BC

Philip II of Macedon transformed the Macedonian army into a year-round paid standing force

During his reign Philip II converted the ancient Macedonian army into a permanent force whose troops were paid throughout the year rather than mustered seasonally. This professionalised instrument underpinned the conquests subsequently led by his son Alexander the Great.

221 BC

The Qin dynasty established the first professional army in China

With the founding of Imperial China in 221 BC, the Qin fought wars with trained vocational soldiers rather than temporary levies. The shift institutionalised permanent military service as a function of the unified imperial state.

440s BC

Athens raised a professional cavalry force of 1,000 hippeis and 200 horse archers

Against the general Greek pattern of citizen militia, Athens established a paid standing cavalry arm in the 440s BC, which by the late 430s comprised 1,000 heavy cavalry and 200 horse archers. It shows that even in the militia-dominated city-state world, specialised permanent branches could be sustained.

14th century

The Ottoman Empire under Murad I formed the Janissaries, the first modern standing army on European soil

Sultan Murad I created the Janissary corps in the fourteenth century, a permanent professional infantry maintained by the state. They are regarded as the first modern standing army in medieval Europe and set a benchmark other powers measured themselves against.

1420s

Hungary maintained a permanent army of border fortress garrisons

From the 1420s Hungary kept permanent troops garrisoning its frontier fortifications, predating its first standing field army. This shows permanent force-holding emerging first in static defensive roles.

1430s

Charles VII of France established the compagnies d'ordonnance, the first regularly waged Christian standing army since Rome

During the Hundred Years' War Charles VII issued ordonnances governing the length of service, composition and payment of units, replacing feudal levies with troops on regular wages. These companies formed the core of the French gendarmes that dominated European battlefields in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, and were stationed across France for assembly when needed.

1462

Matthias Hunyadi of Hungary established the Black Army, the first Central and Eastern European standing army

Founded in 1462, the Black Army was the first standing field army in that part of Europe, combining infantry, artillery and light and heavy cavalry. Matthias equipped roughly every fourth soldier with an arquebus, an unusually high ratio limited only by the cost of gunpowder.

1480s

France recruited Swiss instructors and combined militia bands into paid, trained legions

In the 1480s French militia 'bandes' were amalgamated into temporary legions of up to 9,000 men, with Swiss instructors engaged to train them. Contracting, paying and training these men moved provincial militia towards permanent professional status.

1814

President James Madison conceded the gulf between regular troops and militia after Bladensburg

At the Battle of Bladensburg American militiamen from Maryland and Virginia were routed by British regulars. Madison remarked that he could never have believed so great a difference existed between regular troops and a militia force, a turning point in American arguments for professional standing forces.

1787

The United States Constitutional Convention limited military appropriations to two years and required Senate confirmation of officers

Distrustful of a standing army not under civilian control, the Framers reserved financial control to Congress under Article 1, Section 8, while leaving the President as commander-in-chief. Elbridge Gerry argued against a large standing army at the 1787 convention, and the appointment and promotion of senior officers was made subject to Senate confirmation.

1698

The English Parliament cut the army to 7,000 English-born subjects during the Standing Army Controversy

Fearing the growth of royal power, Parliament sharply reduced the army in 1698 after its wartime expansion. The episode established the recurring tension between standing force readiness and constitutional suspicion of permanent armies.

1689

The English Parliament passed the Bill of Rights 1689, placing the army under parliamentary control

After the Glorious Revolution of 1688, Parliament asserted statutory control over the standing army. Under William III the force was then enlarged to 94,000 men by 1694, demonstrating that civilian control and expansion could proceed together.

1661

Charles II raised the standing English Army, joined by New Model Army veterans

In January 1661 Charles II established a permanent royal army, into which many veterans of the disbanded New Model Army enlisted. By 1688 it numbered over 34,000 men, making peacetime professional forces a fixture of English statecraft.

1660

The Parliament of England disbanded the New Model Army after the Stuart Restoration

Following the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, Parliament dissolved the New Model Army. The disbandment reflected enduring political hostility to a peacetime standing force.

1645

The English Parliamentarians raised the New Model Army, with 50,000 men at its height

During the First English Civil War Parliament created the New Model Army, breaking with England's prior reliance on militia, conscripts, volunteers and mercenaries. It was England's first large standing force and reached some 50,000 men.

1603

The term 'standing army' entered usage around 1603, long after the phenomenon itself

The English term 'standing army' dates from approximately 1603, denoting a permanent, often professional force of full-time soldiers. The phenomenon it describes is far older, but the naming marks the point at which permanent forces became a distinct political and administrative category.

16th century

The Spanish Empire fielded the tercios, its first standing units of professional soldiers

The pike-and-shot tercios assured Spanish predominance on European battlefields from the sixteenth century into the first half of the seventeenth. Other powers copied the formation but could not match the edge given by Spain's core of permanent professionals.

mid-16th century

Ivan the Terrible created the streltsy, Russia's first permanent standing military force

Facing pressure from Poland and Sweden in the west and the Tatar khanates in the east, Ivan centralised state power and reformed the army. The streltsy gave Russia its first permanent force after centuries of isolation from Central and Western European military development.

1493–1528

The Songhai Empire under Askia Mohammad I maintained a full-time corps of 40,000 professional warriors

Askia Mohammad I separated the civilian population from the army, unlike his predecessor Sunni Ali under whom everyone was a soldier, according to the chronicler Al-Sa'di. The resulting permanent corps of 40,000 was a distinguishing feature of Songhai power in West Africa.