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Definition: militia from Collins English Dictionary

n

1 a body of citizen (as opposed to professional) soldiers

2 an organization containing men enlisted for service in emergency only

[C16: from Latin: soldiery, from mīles soldier]

militia

From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather Guide
Body of civilian soldiers, usually with some military training, who are on call in emergencies, distinct from professional soldiers. In Switzerland, the militia is the national defence force, and every able-bodied man is liable for service in it. In the UK the Territorial Army and in the USA the National Guard have supplanted earlier voluntary militias. .BTXT: In England in the 9th century King Alfred established the first militia, or fyrd , in which every freeman was liable to serve. After the Norman Conquest a feudal levy was established in which landowners were responsible for raising the men required. This in turn led to the increasing use of the general levy by English kings to combat the growing power of the barons. In the 16th century, under such threats as the Spanish Armada, plans for internal defence relied increasingly on the militia, or what came to be called ‘trained bands’, of the general levy. After the Restoration, the British militia fell into neglect, but it was…
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Full text Article Militia Movement

From Culture Wars in America: An Encyclopedia of Issues, Viewpoints, and Voices
The militia movement is a loosely organized network of paramilitary groups in the United States, most prominent in the early to mid-1990s but still active in the early twenty-first century. Militia members typically oppose gun control legislation, believing that the Second Amendment to the U.S. …
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Full text Article militia

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
(mӘlĭsh'Ә), military organization composed of citizens enrolled and trained for service in times of national emergency. Its ranks may be filled either by enlistment or conscription. An early prototype was the national militia developed by Philip of Macedon. However, the modern concept of the militia…
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Full text Article Militia

From Encyclopedia of American Studies
Wood engraving of the Seventy-Ninth Regiment...
The origins of the American military can be traced back to medieval England's fyrd, with its imposition on all subjects of a military service obligation. Citizens in this era were required to serve for specified amounts of time and provide their own weapons. These local militias survived well past…
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Full text Article MILITIA

From Encyclopedia of Ancient Christianity
Military terms and comparisons find their Sitz im Leben not in the Judeo-biblical literature but in the Greco-Roman world. St. * Paul loved military images: the panoply (Eph 6:11,13), the sense of service, mobilization. He defines the Christian as a soldier of Christ (2 Tim 2:3). It follows that…
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Full text Article MILITIA

From Encyclopedia of Free Blacks and People of Color in the Americas
A troop of free black militiamen in Surinam...
In most plantation colonies outside the United States, free people of color played an important role in defending the colony against its enemies, both internal and external. It is one of the great ironies of the slave societies of the Americas that most of them depended for their security on people…
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Full text Article MILITIAS

From The Encyclopedia of Conspiracies and Conspiracy Theories
In normal terms a militia is any body of citizens enrolled for military service, summoned periodically for drills and training, but who serve full-time only in emergencies. Among the 50 U.S. states, that function is fulfilled by National Guard units, typically mobilized during riots or natural…
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Full text Article Militia

From World of Criminal Justice, Gale
Revolutionary minutemen, man mounted on horse...
The term, militia, refers to all able-bodied men within a society who, in time of declared war, can be drafted into military service. Historically, the militia consisted of ordinary citizens, not trained military people, who in an emergency could be mobilized, often with their privately owned…
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Full text Article militia

From Britannica Concise Encyclopedia
Military organization of citizens with limited military training who are available for emergency service, usually for local defense. In many countries the militia is of ancient origin. The Anglo-Saxons required every able-bodied free male to serve. In colonial America it was the only defense against…
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Full text Article militia.

From The Oxford Companion to British History
The British regionally-based volunteer armed forces (from the Latin miles , a soldier). Of Anglo-Saxon origin or earlier, the militia was established as an obligation for all freemen by the Assize of *Arms of 1181. In 1558 Mary I created the new post of *lord-lieutenant to command the militia in a…
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Full text Article militia

From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather Guide
Body of civilian soldiers, usually with some military training, who are on call in emergencies, distinct from professional soldiers. In Switzerland, the militia is the national defence force, and every able-bodied man is liable for service in it. In the UK the Territorial Army and in the USA the…
| 382 words
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