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<blockquote data-quote="Ruin Explorer" data-source="post: 8872554" data-attributes="member: 18"><p>I mean, there absolutely is precedence.</p><p></p><p>History works pretty reliably here. As soon as a state becomes "organised" and truly a state, rather than a collection of chiefdoms perhaps bowing to one leader (which essentially what Scandinavia still was in the 900s), it takes away "war weapons" from the populace, and state troops and militias (who are a far smaller fraction of the population than previously were armed, and may well not own their own weapons) take over over from the "armed populace" in defence.</p><p></p><p>This happens over and over, well back into ancient times. I mean the Romans were very keen on it. They habitually disarmed people and took over defending them (not always successfully, eh, Colchester? The 9th were a bit useless there!) as part of their colonization/state-building process.</p><p></p><p>I'm struggling to think of any counter-examples at all <em>until</em> Europe starts colonizing the rest of the world. British longbowmen aren't a counter-example, as discussed.</p><p></p><p>Once Europe does start the process of colonization, however, the "armed populace" comes back into fashion. If you're a colonial power, with a far-away "frontier", particularly one that isn't very heavily populated, it makes sense to arm the populace and use them instead of trying to maintain a standing army all the way out there. Of course it doesn't always work out, because that "armed populace" is ideally placed to revolt if their leadership would benefit from doing so, c.f. The American Revolution lol.</p><p></p><p>Sure, but this is a peculiarly reliable pattern.</p><p></p><p>The pattern can be broken of course. We shouldn't discuss the political implications of it, but the US broke the pattern with the 2nd amendment, which essentially created a situation where "war weapons" of that era (and their descendants) were mandated as legal to the entire population, and made that a major point of the society's early decision-making and traditions.</p><p></p><p>It's certainly possible to envision an organised/developed fantasy nation which did something similar. Especially if that nation evolved from a frontier-style nation.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Ruin Explorer, post: 8872554, member: 18"] I mean, there absolutely is precedence. History works pretty reliably here. As soon as a state becomes "organised" and truly a state, rather than a collection of chiefdoms perhaps bowing to one leader (which essentially what Scandinavia still was in the 900s), it takes away "war weapons" from the populace, and state troops and militias (who are a far smaller fraction of the population than previously were armed, and may well not own their own weapons) take over over from the "armed populace" in defence. This happens over and over, well back into ancient times. I mean the Romans were very keen on it. They habitually disarmed people and took over defending them (not always successfully, eh, Colchester? The 9th were a bit useless there!) as part of their colonization/state-building process. I'm struggling to think of any counter-examples at all [I]until[/I] Europe starts colonizing the rest of the world. British longbowmen aren't a counter-example, as discussed. Once Europe does start the process of colonization, however, the "armed populace" comes back into fashion. If you're a colonial power, with a far-away "frontier", particularly one that isn't very heavily populated, it makes sense to arm the populace and use them instead of trying to maintain a standing army all the way out there. Of course it doesn't always work out, because that "armed populace" is ideally placed to revolt if their leadership would benefit from doing so, c.f. The American Revolution lol. Sure, but this is a peculiarly reliable pattern. The pattern can be broken of course. We shouldn't discuss the political implications of it, but the US broke the pattern with the 2nd amendment, which essentially created a situation where "war weapons" of that era (and their descendants) were mandated as legal to the entire population, and made that a major point of the society's early decision-making and traditions. It's certainly possible to envision an organised/developed fantasy nation which did something similar. Especially if that nation evolved from a frontier-style nation. [/QUOTE]
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