Technology and the Era of the Mass Army

Abstract

War and the extent of mass mobilization for war has a signi…cant impact on a wide variety of economic and political development outcomes. In this paper, we investigate to what extent technological change has in ‡uenced the choice by governments to …eld mass armies. Focusing on a sample of thirteen great powers between 1600 and 2000 we argue that changes in transport and communications technology were the single most important factor that ushered in the era of the mass army and subsequently led to its demise. During the nineteenth century the development of the railroad made it possible for the …rst time to mobilize and feed armies numbering in the millions. During the late twentieth century further advances in transport and communications technology made it possible to deliver explosive force from a distance and with precision, making mass armies less desirable. We …nd strong support for our technological interpretation using a new data set that measures army size, population mobilization, and methods of recruitment from the beginning of the seventeenth century. In so doing we also consider several other plausible determinants of military mobilization. Contrary to what is often suggested by scholars, we …nd little evidence that the French Revolution and the invention of the concept of "the nation in arms" was associated with a substantial increase in levels of mobilization across nations. Even for the French case alone, the magnitude of what is sometimes referred to as the "Napoleonic watershed" was smaller than what is often believed.

What’s fair? Preferences for tax progressivity in the wake of the financial crisis

“…First, their main independent variable -mass warfare -has disappeared. Modern wars are different to traditional wars: they are mainly extra-state or intrastate wars which are fought by smaller armies because of modern war technology (Onorato et al 2014;Sarkees & Wayman 2010).…”

“…As a consequence, demand for tax progressivity is higher in crisis countries. Although mass warfare has -fortunately -disappeared in the last decades (Onorato, Scheve, & Stasavage 2014), fairness-induced appetite for progressive taxation is not dead. Other macro level shocks can strengthen demand for tax progressivity as well.…”

Political Regime Type and Warfare: Evidence from 600 Years of European History

“…One possibility -in line with Tilly (1992), Bates (2010), and Morris 2014 A second potential explanation is the advent of the mass army during the Napoleonic Wars (Posen, 1993, Onorato, Scheve andStasavage, 2014). Until the end of the eighteenth century, European polities relied on small long-service armies, staffed disproportionately by foreign mercenaries and freelance professionals.…”

“…To analyze whether one historical regime type was more war-prone than the other, we construct a new database of interstate conflicts in pre-modern Europe that spans 600 years, from the establishment of the first medieval parliaments (Stasavage, 2010) to the advent of mass warfare, which fundamentally changed the international relations landscape (Onorato, Scheve and Stasavage, 2014). Two primary components comprise our historical database: war participation and political regime type.…”

The Long-Run Effects of Agricultural Productivity on Conflict, 1400-1900

“…Our findings also contribute to a prior literature that examines the determinants of historical conflict. For example, Onorato et al (2014) In looking at long-run effects, we ask a similar question as studies of how natural resource endowments affect conflict. For example, Caselli et al (2013) provide cross-sectional evidence that the likelihood of inter-state conflict increases when at least one of the countries has mineral resources, especially if the resources are close to the border.…”