Military

A military or military force (n.) has seen many different incarnations throughout time. more...

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Early armies were most likely men with sharpened sticks and rocks; through time they have included advancements such as men mounting horses, men wielding swords and other metallic weapons, the bow and arrow, siege weapons, the stirrup, to the advance of the musket which form the roots of the armed forces of most nations we know today. In modern times people use motorized vehicles and firearms.

While military can refer to any armed force, it generally refers to a permanent, professional force of soldiers or guerrillas—trained exclusively for the purpose of warfare and should be distinguished from a sanctioned militia or a levy, which are temporary forces— citizen soldiers with less training, who may be "called up" as a reserve force, when a nation mobilizes for total war, or to defend against invasion. The term military is often used to mean an army.

The doctrine that asserts the primacy of a military within a society is called militarism.

Etymology

It came from Latin militarius, from miles (genitive militis) = "soldier".

There is a theory that Latin miles came from Latin milium = "millet' because of them at one time being usually fed on millet.

Meaning of the word

Also see: Armed forces

As an adjective, "military" is a descriptive property of things related to soldiers and warfare. It also refers to such context dependent terms such as military reserves which may indicate an actual unit deployable on command or the general sense, of a Nation States reserve troops available to or eligible for duty in its armed forces.

In formal British English, "military" as an adjective refers more particularly to matters relating to an army (land forces), as opposed to the naval and air force matters of the other two services.

In American English, "military" as an adjective is more widely used for regulations pertaining to and between military procurement, military transport, military justice, military strength, and military force.

Military history

Military history is often considered to be the history of all conflicts, not just the history of proper militaries. It differs somewhat from the history of war with military history focusing on the people and institutions of war-making while the history of war focuses on the evolution of war itself in the face of changing technology, governments, and geography.

Military history has a number of purposes. One main purpose is to learn from past accomplishments and mistakes so as to more effectively wage war in the future. Another is to create a sense of tradition which is used to create cohesive military forces. Still another may be to learn to prevent wars more effectively.

Read more at Wikipedia.org