VOLUNTEERS, a general term for soldiers who are not professionals nor permanently embodied under arms in peace. The idea of a large organized Volunteer force seems to have origi nated in England at the time of the Militia bill of 1757, which was amended in 1758 so as to allow the militia captains to accept volunteers instead of the ordinary militiamen who were com pulsorily furnished pro rata by each parish. In 1778 the volun teers were still voluntary substitutes for militiamen, though formed in separate companies of the militia unit, but volunteer corps soon began to form themselves independently of the militia.
These volunteers, disbanded in 1783, were promptly revived when the French Revolutionary Wars produced a new enemy. When the danger of invasion was at its height the force num bered 380,00o men, or 31% of a population which already kept up a regular army and a militia. In 1808 the Local Militia was formed, in which enlistment and training were both stricter and better defined and the greater part of the volunteers transferred themselves to this body. By 1812 the Local Militia reached a strength of 2I5,00o as against the 70,000 of the remaining volun teers. With the general peace of 1814 almost all of these forces disappeared.
After an interval of nearly half a century the warlike attitude of France caused British citizens once more to arm for the pro tection of their country.
The enrolment of the "Volunteer Force" took place at first under the old statute (44 Geo. III.). The main provisions of that act, however, were found inapplicable to the altered conditions under which invasion was now possible. A new act (Volunteer Act, 1863) was soon passed, the most important provision of which was that apprehended invasion should constitute a sufficient reason for the sovereign to call out the volunteers, in lieu of the old condition which required the actual appearance of the enemy. This was modified in 190o during the South African War by a further enactment allowing the authorities to call them out at times of "imminent national danger and great emergency." The formation of volunteer corps was so rapid that in the course of a few months in 1859-60 a force of 119,000 was created. The Gov ernment, which in the beginning had tolerated rather than en couraged the movement, and had required the volunteer to serve and to equip himself entirely at his own expense, now followed the lead of a public opinion, and decided on maintaining the volunteer force as a part of the regular defensive system.
The turning-point in the history of the volunteers was the South African War. In Jan. 1900, and on several subsequent occasions, the volunteers were invited to supply service companies for South Africa, to be incorporated in the regular battalions to which the volunteer battalions were affiliated. About one-third of
the whole force volunteered for service in South Africa besides a great number of volunteers whom the higher pay, easier condi tions, and better prospects of active employment in the mounted guerrilla warfare tempted into the ranks of the yeomanry. Various partial reorganizations followed in 1902-5 and at least in 1907-8, the whole force was re-cast, and organized along with the yeo manry into the new Territorial force. (See TERRITORIAL ARMY GREAT BRITAIN : Army.) United States.—The United States has always maintained only a small regular army, and until the World War depended largely upon volunteers in case of national emergency. In the War of 1812 volunteers, rangers and militia numbered 458,46o as against 56,000 regulars. The Mexican war was fought by a larger proportion of regular troops. The President's call for 50p0o volunteers was quickly responded to but food and trans portation were not so quickly supplied and thousands of volun teers had to be left behind or sent home again. The main de pendence of both sides during the Civil War was upon volunteer troops. The chief difficulties about the volunteer system for the North were the short enlistment terms and the fact that the law gave the governors of states the right to appoint the officers of volunteer regiments. Voluntary enlistment also failed to produce enough troops for an emergency and a forced draft was resorted to. In the Spanish-American War the President was authorized to call out volunteers for a two-year term. Under this act 220,000 volunteers were raised who together with 6o,000 regulars formed the United States army during the War. The Volunteer Army Bill of Apr. 25, 1914, did away with the old provisions that the officers of volunteer troops must be appointed by State governors and stipulated that all officers were to be appointed by the President. Also no volunteer was to be appointed to any rank above the grade of colonel.
In the World War the United States definitely abandoned the volunteer system as the basis of its army and resorted at once to a selective draft. Nevertheless the Selective Service Act per mitted voluntary enlistment by persons between the ages of 18 and 4o, and at the outset enlistment was freely open to per sons registered for the draft, provided that such registrants had not yet been called up for examination by their local boards. Regulations issued Dec. 15, 1917, however, prohibited voluntary enlistment for draft registrants. In August, 1918, further volun teering of any kind ceased by order of the War department. Down to that time voluntary enlistments had numbered 390,874 in the regular army, 296,978 in the national guard units, 424,424 in the navy and 51,223 in the marine corps.