What is conscription?

Conscription system, for citizens under certain conditions, must have the obligation to engage in military service. This system is relative to the recruitment system. In ancient times, countries or ethnic groups with agriculture as the mainstay were often forced or semi-forced to join the army. Under certain conditions, citizens have the obligation and necessity to perform military service, and their system is conscription. The legitimacy and theoretical scale of modern conscription system began with the concept of nation-state after the French Revolution. This thought holds that a country should be a nation or nation-state besides the necessity of traditional war. In this way, only the conscription system can win the support of the citizen army or the national army. In the history of China, whether the conscription system is implemented or not is often an indicator of whether the country is strong or not. The conscription system in Qin and Western Han Dynasties and the improved system of officers and men in Tang Dynasty are considered as the main reasons for the prosperity of the dynasty. In addition, the recruitment system in the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Song Dynasty or the late Qing Dynasty was also regarded as the reason for the weak national strength at this stage. However, with the increase of population and the progress of military science and technology, this view is out of date. Today, except for a few countries such as Switzerland, Israel, Turkey and Singapore, most major countries have implemented the conscription system. Although the United States still retains the right of conscription in principle (the draft bill was passed by Congress before the war), it has not been implemented since the end of the Vietnam War in 1970.