ARMIES, armed forces under regular military organization, employed for purposes of national offense or defense. An army may comprise the whole military men employed by the state, or only a portion under a particular commander. When an armed force is under no constituted authority, and imperfect in its organization and discipline, it can not be said to be worthy of the name of an army, and may be little better than a horde of banditti. Of this nature are the filibustering expeditions (see FILIBUSTERS) in which certain portions of the citizens of the United States frequently engage. Through long ages of experience, the principles of military organization, and the laws to which A. are specially amenable, have gradually reached a high degree of perfection. The primi tive wars among barbarous people are always stealthy, depending on the forest and the wilderness for their tactics, and considered successful if an enemy can be attacked unawares, despoiled, and carried into slavery. After a time, war advances to the posi
tion of an art, and is conducted by men who have received a certain training. An army becomes an instrument not only for vanquishing enemies, but for seizing countries. Even then the highest position of an army is not reached; for the defense of a country requires more military skill, perhaps, and a better organization of troops, than an attack.
In the several historical articles in this ENCYCLOPiEDIA relating to the chief nations of ancient and modern times, the wars in which these nations engaged are succinctly noticed as elements in the life of each nation; but it seems desirable, in the present place, as a means of rendering intelligible certain minor details scattered through the work, to give a brief description of the chief points in which the A. of different states or countries have differed in constitution.