Mobilization (alternatively spelled as mobilisation) is the act of assembling and readying military troops and supplies for war. The word mobilization was first used in a military context in the 1850s to describe the preparation of the Prussian Army. Mobilization theories and tactics have continuously changed since then. The opposite of mobilization is demobilization. Mobilization institutionalized the Levée en masse (French for 'mass levy [of conscripts]') that was first introduced during the French Revolution. It became an issue with the introduction of conscription, and the introduction of the railways in the 19th century. A number of technological and societal changes promoted the move towards a more organized way of deployment. These included the telegraph to provide rapid communication, the railways to provide rapid movement and concentration of troops, and conscription to provide a trained reserve of soldiers in case of war.
History
Roman Republic The Roman Republic was able to mobilize at various times between 6% (81–83 BCE) to as much as 10% (210s BCE) of the total Roman population, in emergencies and for short periods of time. This included poorly trained militia.
Modern era The Confederate States of America is estimated to have mobilized about 11% of its free population in the American Civil War (1861–1865). The Kingdom of Prussia mobilized about 6–7% of its total population in the years 1760 and 1813. The Swedish Empire mobilized 7.7% in 1709. Armies in the seventeenth century possessed an average of 20,000 men. A military force of this size requires around 20 tons of food per day, shelter, as well as all the necessary munitions, transportation (typically horses or mules), tools, and representative garments. Without efficient transportation, mobilizing these average-sized forces was extremely costly, time-consuming, and potentially life-threatening. Soldiers could traverse the terrain to get to war fronts, but they had to carry their supplies. Many armies decided to forage for food; however, foraging restricted movement because it is based on the presumption that the army moves over land possessing significant agricultural production. However, due to new policies (like conscription), greater populations, and greater national wealth, the nineteenth-century army was composed of an average of 100,000 men. For example, in 1812 Napoleon led an army of 600,000 to Moscow while feeding off plentiful agricultural products introduced by the turn of the century, such as potatoes. Despite the advantages of mass armies, mobilizing forces of this magnitude took much more time than it had in the past. The Second Italian War of Independence illustrated all of the problems in modern army mobilization. Prussia began to realize the future of mobilizing mass armies when Napoleon III transported 130,000 soldiers to Italy by military railways in 1859. French caravans that carried the supplies for the French and Piedmontese armies were incredibly slow, and the arms inside these caravans were sloppily organized. These armies were in luck, however, in that their Austrian adversaries experienced similar problems with sluggish supply caravans (one of which apparently covered less than three miles per day). Not only did Prussia take note of the problems in transporting supplies to armies, but it also took note of the lack of communication between troops, officers, and generals. Austria's army was primarily composed of Slavs, but it contained many other ethnicities as well. Austrian military instruction during peacetime utilized nine different languages, accustoming Austrian soldiers to taking orders only in their native language. Conversely, in an effort to augment the efficacy of the new "precision rifle" developed by the monarchy, officers were forced to only speak German when giving orders to their men. Even one Austrian officer commented at Solferino that his troops could not even comprehend the command, "Halt." This demonstrates the communicative problems that arose quickly with the advent of the mass army.
Mobilization in World War I
Intricate plans for mobilization contributed greatly to the beginning of World War I, since in 1914, under the laws and customs of warfare then observed (not to mention the desire to avoid compromising national security), general mobilization of one nation's military forces was invariably considered an act of war by that country's likely enemies. In 1914, the United Kingdom was the only European Great Power without conscription. The other Great Powers (Austria-Hungary, Italy, France, Germany and Russia) all relied on compulsory military service to supply each of their armies with the millions of men they believed they would need to win a major war. France enacted the "Three Year Law" (1913) to extend the service of conscripted soldiers to match the size of the German army, as the French population of 40 million was smaller than the German population of 65 million people. The Anglo-German naval arms race began, sparked by the German enactment of the Second Naval Law. Each of the Great Powers could only afford to keep a fraction of these men in uniform in peacetime, the rest were reservists with limited opportunities to train. Maneuvering formations of millions of men with limited military training required intricate plans with no room for error, confusion, or discretion after mobilization began. These plans were prepared under the assumption of worst-case scenarios. For example, German military leaders did not plan to mobilize for war with Russia whilst assuming that France would not come to her ally's aid, or vice versa. The Schlieffen Plan therefore dictated not only mobilization against both powers, but also the order of attack—France would be attacked first regardless of the diplomatic circumstances. To bypass the fortified Franco-German frontier, the German forces were to be ordered to march through Belgium. Whether or not Russia had committed the first provocation, the German plan agreed to by Emperor William II called for the attack on Russia to take place only after France was defeated.
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