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(a) Is specially recruited locally or abroad in order to fight in an armed conflict; (b) Is motivated to take part in the hostilities essentially by the desire for private gain and, in fact, is promised, by or on behalf of a party to the conflict, material compensation substantially in excess of that promised or paid to combatants of similar rank and functions in the armed forces of that party;
A mercenary is a private individual who joins an armed conflict for personal profit, is otherwise an outsider to the conflict, and is not a member of any other official military.
French troops being attacked by the Tard-Venus free company during the 1362 Battle of Brignais.. A free company (sometimes called a great company or, in French, grande compagnie) was an army of mercenaries between the 12th and 14th centuries recruited by private employers during wars.
Venter, Al J. War Dog: Fighting Other People's Wars: The Modern Mercenary in Combat. Lancer Publishers, 2010. Othen, Christopher. Katanga 1960–63: Mercenaries, Spies and the African Nation that Waged War on the World. History Press, 2015. McFate, Sean. The Modern Mercenary: Private Armies and What They Mean for World Order. Oxford University ...
In 1347 Edward besieged the city of Calais on the English Channel. Capturing Calais was a major strategic victory, which allowed the English to permanently keep troops in France. King Edward's son, the Black Prince, led a large band of routiers, captured the French King John II, and soon the French government began to fall apart.
The first mercenary company with an Italian as its chief was the "Company of St. George" formed in 1339 and led by Lodrisio Visconti. This company was defeated and destroyed by Luchino Visconti of Milan (another condottiero and uncle of Lodrisio) in April 1339.
Mercenary is an adjective meaning "motivated by private gain". It is also a noun: a mercenary is a person primarily concerned with making money at the expense of ethics, most often used to refer to a soldier who fights for hire.
[20] [21] (Thus the obsolete English-language term "bezonian" may mean "raw recruit" or "pauper". [22]) After the US suspended conscription in 1973, "the military disproportionately attracted African American men, men from lower-status socioeconomic backgrounds, men who had been in nonacademic high school programs, and men whose high school ...