Many people have heard the phrase the world's oldest profession and know that it doesn’t
refer to soldiers, but on record the world's oldest profession is actually that of the
mercenary.
While today the word has an extremely negative connotation, in the past being a mercenary
was a perfectly acceptable and even respectable line of work.
In fact, it was only in the last few hundred years that standing national armies became
the norm around the world, meaning that for most of human history wars were fought by
men and women paid good coin to put their lives on the line.
Today we're going to look at the use of mercenaries throughout history, and end with the greatest
mercenary battle of the modern age.
The oldest mercenaries on record may have come from Africa, when the ancient Egyptian
pharaohs routinely hired out Nubian mercenaries to bolster their own armies.
In the thirteenth century BC, Pharaoh Ramesses II hired eleven thousand men to complement
his own forces during his battles to stabilize the Egyptian kingdom's borders.
This practice was hardly unique to the Egyptians though, and empires around the world used
mercenaries to fight their battles.
The Greeks not only employed mercenaries frequently, but in fact hired themselves out as mercenaries
to other Greek city-states or even foreign powers.
Mighty Carthage, one of the ancient world's most important city-states, used mercenaries
almost exclusively to fight its wars.
The use of mercenaries continued through until the modern age, though sometime around the
seventeenth century, nations began to shift away from hiring out private armies to do
their dirty work for them.
For thousands of years, it simply made more sense to hire mercenaries to fight your war-
keeping a fighting force trained, equipped, and adequately supplied around the year was
an expensive proposition that most kingdoms simply couldn't afford.
Then there was the fact that it was often impractical to have a standing army- most
men had farms to support, and needed to be home for most of the year to see to their
farms, or else the entire kingdom would starve.
Typically there were only a few weeks every year when the average man could be called
up to war, and most of this free time was during winter when it was all but impossible
to wage war.
Thus kingdoms would rely on mercenaries, which did not have farms to support and could thus
wage war when it was most opportune to do so.
This also relieved the pressure on the national economy from having men taken away from vital
jobs in agriculture or other trades- this was after all a time in history when surpluses
of any kind, food or labor, were extremely rare.
Any disruption in the workforce of a nation could lead to disaster.
Simpler then to simply outsource the fighting to warriors who didn't even belong to the
kingdom.
Hiring mercenaries however did not come without risk, as they were after all men who would
fight for the highest bidder.
A mercenary force could end up turning its back on whoever hired it if the enemy offered
more pay- although such betrayals might have been terrible for the force's reputation.
Once a mercenary group was known to be disloyal, it would make it more difficult for them to
find employment elsewhere, so mercenaries were at least financially motivated to hold
their allegiance.
Another trouble with mercenaries though came from the fact that unlike a national force,
they did not have any particular allegiance or cause to fight other than money.
If a battle turned for the worse, a mercenary company might simply surrender, or leave the
battle altogether if able to.
They might have sued for terms from the enemy when a professional military force would have
stood its ground and fought.
In the ancient world, a conquered enemy was typically enslaved or worse- yet mercenaries
were occasionally granted a reprieve given their status as professional warriors, rather
than punished along with the conquered.
Some people, like the Romans and the famous Carthaginian general Hannibal, used mercenaries
to not only bolster their regular forces, but to actually make them better soldiers.
As mercenaries' sole profession was war, they would typically be far better trained than
the men drafted into a nation's military in a time of need.
Both the Romans and Hannibal would thus mix their mercenary forces amongst their regular
forces, and the expertise and training of their mercenaries would bolster the abilities
of the regular forces.
The Romans are responsible for many of our modern military traditions, and their influence
remains strong in our militaries today despite their empire having crumbled nearly fifteen
hundred years ago.
Yet the Romans were also one of the most prolific users of mercenaries in history, and given
the vast size of their empire it only makes sense.
In a strange parallel to today's resurgence in the use of mercenaries, Rome would often
hire mercenaries to fight particularly bloody or unpopular conflicts, as casualties suffered
by mercenaries would not be mourned by Roman citizens.
The loss of hundreds or even thousands of legionnaires at a time though would be a catastrophic
blow to Rome, not just economically but politically.
Just like a modern nation, Rome and its citizens did not like losing soldiers in war.
Today the United States and other nations have mirrored Rome's use of mercenaries to
fight unpopular wars.
Incredibly, nearly half of all combatants in Iraq during the US war were mercenaries
hired out by the US or other NATO nations.
During the height of the wars in both Iraq and Afghanistan, the US had spent almost three
hundred and fifty billion dollars on mercenaries- a whopping figure that's more than many nation's
military budgets.
The reasoning was rather simple- the US and its all-volunteer force simply did not have
the manpower to fight two insurgencies simultaneously.
Unlike a conventional conflict against another modern nation, an insurgency requires much
more manpower to combat, and can tie up many times more personnel than a conventional war
would.
Had the US wanted to fight these wars without the use of mercenaries, it would have had
to institute a mandatory draft, which was of course a political impossibility.
The best benefit for the US and other NATO nations using mercenaries though was not just
the extra bodies available to conduct counter-insurgency operations, but the simple fact that casualties
amongst mercenary forces are not reported on the evening news.
Thus it is extremely politically appealing to turn to the use of mercenary forces rather
than conventional military power, as the casualties that mercenaries suffer won't create any backlash
amongst voters.
Many have warned though that as the world increasingly turns to mercenaries to fight
unpopular conflicts, it might make the launching of those conflicts much easier, and could
provoke a rash of violence around the world.
The lack of national accountability by mercenary forces is also deeply disturbing for many,
as mercenaries after all are not bound by the same laws of conflict that nations impose
on their own military forces.
This was most clearly evidenced by the international censure of Blackwater after reports of its
brutal and at times illegal activities in Iraq were covered by the media.
So did it really pay to be a mercenary in the past?
How about today?
Hiring out a mercenary is not a cheap proposition, and never has been.
As professional fighting men- and occasionally women- mercenaries have commanded a top salary
throughout history.
Today the average mercenary's pay varies, but nearly every professional mercenary in
a reputable security firm makes more than the average soldier in the US military.
Mercenaries contracted out for work in Iraq and Afghanistan could earn as much as $1500
per day, and on average a private military contractor- as mercenaries are politely known
today- could earn around $90,000 per year, while a US soldier would earn anywhere from
$1,500 a month for a private, to $15,000 a month for a general.
In the past, mercenaries also commanded princely sums, often earning the same pay as a mid-grade
military officer in a national army.
Mercenaries were often also privy to loot taken during their fighting, and might have
a guaranteed share of spoils upon victory over an enemy.
Sometimes, they were even granted plots of land, or in the case of ancient Rome, they
might have earned Roman citizenship for a long enough service to Rome.
It very clearly pays to be a mercenary, but mercenaries are often paid so well because
they might be called upon to take huge risks.
This has not been more starkly evident then in modern history's greatest mercenary battle,
the assault on American forces by Russian mercenaries and Syrian infantry in February
of 2018.
Based off intelligence gathered from enemy killed after the attack, as well as intelligence
sources within both Syria and Russia, in early February of 2018 Russian mercenaries known
as The Wagner Group gathered together with Syrian infantry forces for a surprise attack
on an American Special Operations command outpost in Syria.
The outpost was manned by a force of about thirty American special forces soldiers and
their Syrian rebel allies, and the location of the American forces was well known to both
the Russians and the Syrians.
Forty eight hours before the attack, American intelligence assets picked up Russian radio
communications planning a possible attack against an American position.
The perpetrators were immediately identified as being members of The Wagner Group, a mercenary
force that is often contracted out by the Russian government to conduct off-the-books
operations that can't be linked back to Russia directly.
The Wagner Group is known to be made up primarily of former Russian Spetsnaz, and this particular
force was being actively assisted by active-duty Spetsnaz soldiers deployed from Russia.
Further linking Russia to the attack, the assault force gathering for the attack attempted
to interrupt American communications using electronic warfare equipment that is known
to be proprietary to Russia, though later President Putin would deny all Russian involvement
in what had turned into a massacre.
The Russian mercenary force was observed by US recon assets gathering together several
tanks, artillery pieces and anti-air platforms a few days before the attack in a town just
miles from the American outpost.
On alert to the gathering troops, American Green Berets and a platoon of Marine infantry
prepared to respond to the outpost if it came under attack, and Russian military forces
in the area were contacted to ensure that there was no accidental exchange of fire between
the two sides.
On February 7th, early in the afternoon, a force of about 500 Russian mercenaries and
Syrian troops supported by 27 vehicles began a march on the American outpost.
The Americans and their Kurdish and Syrian rebel allies were outnumbered ten to one.
Immediately the US military placed Air Force and Navy war planes on alert, while sixteen
Green Berets and American marines about twenty miles away prepared to rush to the fight in
support of the outpost if it came under attack.
At 8:30 that night, the Russian mercenaries and Syrian forces began their attack.
Artillery and mortar rained down on the American positions, and Russian T-72 tanks opened fire
on the few hardened structures in the outpost.
The American special forces operators and their allies had dug themselves into fighting
positions all along the perimeter of the outpost, and responded to the incoming fire with anti-tank
missiles and heavy machine gun fire.
The incoming column of armored vehicles was briefly halted when the four lead vehicles
were destroyed by a volley of anti-tank missiles.
American military commanders immediately contacted their Russian counterparts and called on them
to cease the attack, though the Russian military claimed ignorance of any such attack and blamed
the assault on Syrian forces.
With the Russian-led force not deterred and pressing the attack, the authorization was
given for American air forces to counter-attack the assault element.
Within minutes American air assets were on-scene, Reaper unmanned drones loosing a volley of
Hellfire missiles against the enemy artillery and heavy vehicles.
Apache helicopters descended on the enemy column of vehicles, devastating the formation
with heavy machine gun fire, rockets, and guided missiles.
F-15s loosed cluster munitions amongst the enemy infantry, while loitering AC-130 gunships
and B-52 bombers pounded the survivors mercilessly, all the while F-22 stealth fighters provided
top cover, and then dived low for several strafing runs against the shattered enemy
forces.
All the while the sixteen American green berets and Marines sped towards the fight inside
their own armored vehicles, but were unable to approach the outpost due to the sheer volume
of fire that American air assets were laying down.
Instead they were forced to hunker down outside of the engagement envelope, lest they be accidentally
destroyed by the sheer amount of firepower being rained down amongst the Russian mercenaries
and their Syrian allies.
Incredibly, the enemy forces pressed their assault regardless of their losses.
Around one in the morning American air assets were forced to return to base to rearm and
refuel, and the combined Green Beret and Marines response force was able to speed to the outpost
and reinforce the fifty defenders there.
This was just in time, as the enemy gathered en masse for one final push to destroy the
Americans before their air support could return.
Low on ammunition, the defenders managed to hold off the attack with heavy machine gun
fire and fresh ammo stocks brought by the 16 man response force.
The four armored Marine vehicles also lent their fire to the fight, strafing enemy forces
with their heavy cannons.
Within a half hour, a new wave of American air power arrived on scene, and shortly after
that the assault, and the bloodiest mercenary battle in modern history was over.
In all, American forces and their allies suffered only a single wounded, while the combined
Russian mercenary force and their Syrian allies suffered over a hundred dead and many more
wounded.
Russia would deny any involvement in the attack, though in the months following the incident
US intelligence tracked several Wagner Group mercenaries involved in the attack as they
returned to Russia for medical treatments for their injuries.
Given the secrecy of Russian involvement, it is difficult to ascertain how many Russians
were involved in the actual attack, or if they were simply there serving as advisors
as some sources have claimed.
The February 7th, 2018 incident serves to showcase the inherent danger in being a mercenary,
though that danger is magnified today as it has never been before.
While in the past mercenaries were superior to national armies in training and equipment,
today the roles have been reserved, and mercenaries are best used for small-scale and limited
operations against non-state actors.
As the Russian mercenary outfit The Wagner Group discovered the hard way, going up against
a national military without the resources of a true military force can be disastrous.
National militaries today simply field far greater capabilities than any mercenary could
hope to enjoy, and so if you ever planned on becoming one, you should make sure that
you know exactly who you'll be going up against- or odds are you won't be surviving the fight
to enjoy your hefty pay day.
Would you ever be a mercenary?
Should they even exist today?
Let us know in the comments!
And go check out our other video- What Makes Black Ops The World's Most Dangerous Soldiers?
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