Conscription in the Twentieth Century

This collection reveals conscription as one of the most powerful—and coercive—tools of the modern state, a litmus test for the relationship between governments, militaries, and the people they claim to defend.

Americans often view their military through the lens of confident exceptionalism—a belief that the challenges faced by other nations could never take root in the United States. Our history, we tell ourselves, proves it. Yet a closer look at how Americans have responded to military service reveals a far more complicated story: moments of internal rebellion, mass resistance to conscription, ethically fraught wars, and recurring gaps between the military and the society it serves. These realities call not for complacency, but for humility—and for serious engagement with the experiences of others.

Conscription in the Twentieth Century confronts one of the most fundamental questions in civil-military relations: who serves. While often framed as a uniquely American debate, this question has shaped national identity, citizenship, social cohesion, and political legitimacy across the world and in different types of government. Drawing on a remarkable range of international case studies, this volume shows how conscription has unified societies and fractured them, strengthened democratic legitimacy and exposed its absence.

At a moment when democracies confront politicized militaries, recruiting crises, declining public trust, and widening civil-military divides, the lessons of this book are both timely and urgent. Essential reading for students of military history and civil-military relations, Conscription in the Twentieth Century will also speak directly to policymakers, military professionals, and anyone grappling with the future of democratic defense.

Amy J. Rutenberg is associate professor of history at Iowa State University, where she specializes in US history at the intersection of war, gender, activism, and civil-military relations. She is the author of Rough Draft: Cold War Military Manpower Policy and the Origins of Vietnam-Era Draft Resistance. Her work has appeared in Cold War History, The New York Times, and The Atlantic.