Today the armies of all the former allies of the USSR in Europe are professional. Unlike Russia. In Russia, the decision to gradually switch from a conscript army to a contract army was enshrined in 2000 by two decisions of the RF Security Council. The real time when the Russian army was supposed to become professional was 2010.
In the 21st century alone, at least 20 states around the world refused the draft, most of them in Europe. Since 2001, conscription ceased to exist in France and Spain, in 2004 Hungary was the first of the former Warsaw Pact countries to abandon it, and a moratorium on conscription was introduced in united Germany last year. Here are 10 countries whose armed forces refused to draft after 2005.
1. Macedonia (2006)
The Macedonian army as an independent armed force emerged in 1992 after the collapse of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and inherited not only part of its arsenal (albeit very small), but also the conscription principle of manning. However, the fighting during the Balkan War quickly proved to the country's leadership that conscripts are a significantly less effective military force than professionals.
2. Montenegro (2006)
Mandatory military conscription in Montenegro was canceled immediately after the country declared its independence. However, the Montenegrin army, which after all the reforms should have no more than 2,500 people, will certainly not have problems with professional volunteers. Moreover, after the reform, only three bases will be set aside for the deployment of the military: land, coast guard and air force, which will not have a single aircraft - only helicopters.
3. Morocco (2006)
In Morocco, any citizen who has turned 20 years old can enter the service of his own free will, while the obligatory term of the first contract is 1.5 years. The human resources at the disposal of the Moroccan army are very large: more than 14 million people, and men and women among them are almost equally divided. True, the Moroccan army itself has more than 266,000 people, and the kingdom uses weapons for them from all over the world, but most of all - Soviet and Russian, as well as American and French production.
4. Romania (2006)
The Romanian Armed Forces were once part of the combined armed forces of the Warsaw Pact countries. Accordingly, both the weapons and the principle of manning the Romanians were Soviet. Romania largely abandoned the former shortly after the overthrow of dictator Nicolae Ceausescu in December 1989, and the latter 17 years later.
5. Latvia (2007)
The Latvian constitution treats military service in the national armed forces not as an obligation, but as a right that can be used by any citizen over 18 years of age. Today, a total of about 9,000 people serve in the combat units of the regular army and in the border troops of the country, and twice more are in the prepared reserve.
6. Croatia (2008)
Citizens over 18 years of age can serve in the Croatian Armed Forces of their own free will. They had such an opportunity a year before the country was admitted to NATO. The Croatian army is quite large in comparison with its neighbors: 25,000 people, of which 2,500 are military sailors, and slightly less are pilots.
7. Bulgaria (2007)
The Bulgarian armed forces were gradually switching over to the contract manning principle. Moreover, the timing of the transition depended on the type of troops: the first professionals were pilots and sailors (in 2006), and two years later, the call to the ground forces was finally canceled. The last conscripts went to the unit at the end of 2007, and they had to serve only 9 months.
8. Lithuania (2008)
On July 1, 2009, the last conscripts retired from the Lithuanian Armed Forces - the Lithuanian army became fully professional. The conscription principle of recruitment has held out in this Baltic republic for almost two decades, if you count from the declaration of independence in 1990. Today, the strength of the Lithuanian Armed Forces does not exceed 9,000 people, if you do not take into account the almost 6,000 soldiers of the Volunteer Forces for the Defense of the Region.
9. Poland (2010)
After the collapse of the Warsaw Pact, the Polish armed forces numbered more than half a million people, and now it is five times less. With such a reduction in the number of people, it is not surprising that the country refused to call up young men for military service and switched to the contract principle of manning the army. It is noteworthy that back in 2004, Polish experts and journalists believed that the country could not afford a fully professional army, and just 6 years later, not a single conscript remained in the troops.
10. Sweden (2010)
This country was one of the last to refuse conscription and, moreover, was one of the first European countries in which this duty was truly honorable. In the early twentieth century, the campaign to give men the right to vote was under the slogan "One Swede, One Rifle, One Vote." But more than a century later, Sweden has completely switched to a contract army: today the number of the Swedish armed forces is about 25,000, but at the same time they are armed with the most modern weapons systems, and almost all of them are of their own production, from automatic rifles to fighters.
