Frag Out! Magazine
Issue link: https://fragout.uberflip.com/i/1258433
warfare, adopting a rational stance towards it and basing eve- rything on the warfare economy, thus avoiding the unneces- sary risks and losses, carrying out the operations not directly against the adversaries, trying to eliminate them physically, but rather against the operational capability. This approach has been revolutionary - it was a departure from the knight's ethos of the middle ages, based on honor, bravery, and indivi- dual physical shape that altogether led to irrational decisions, from the point of view of strategy and tactics. In the unstable political circumstances in Italy, at the verge of Renaissance, the mercenaries have become an important element stabilizing the power relations. Some elements have managed to settle within certain territories and own them (Francesco Sfortza). Thanks to the finances they had, they also have made major contributions to the development of art. The emergence of mass armies based on mercenaries and in- fantry elements (the Swiss, the Landsknechte) dramatically changed warfare. The Italian mercenaries were unable to ad- opt which led to dusk of their era. Discovering the new world also disrupted the political balance in Europe - the rogue and rebellious inhabitants of the Eu- ropean land started to head in a different direction. This also created a new type of organization that corresponds with the contemporary assumptions ascribed to such activities. These were the trade companies of the colonial period operating as joint-stock companies with own logistical support measures and a complete army that is required to conquest the territo- ries overseas and keep them in own possession. In the era when nation-states began to emerge in the arena, the mercenary, as a model of employing the troops, lost its value. However, during the post-colonial period mercenaries emerged yet again, in Africa. The Katanga Secession, the Kongo crisis, Biafra and numerous local conflicts attracted experts who were then individually employed by the govern- ment of the given state/province. Even when they were for- ming their elements, those structures did not adopt a stable form. It was in the late 1980s after the Cold War came to an end, and with the end of the Apartheid in South Africa when a major change occurred. ANALYSIS