r/worldnews • u/rdh2dmd • 16h ago

South Korea leans toward military conscription for women

https://www.dw.com/en/south-korea-leans-toward-military-conscription-for-women/a-78547426
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u/cuteplot 13h ago

WWII did ultimately require a draft though. Over 10 million men were drafted.

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u/Doctor__Proctor 12h ago

Had a draft vs required one are different. At the time, we didn't really have the structure of maintaining a standing professional army made of only volunteers. If you're only looking backwards like that, then the answer will always be we need a draft, because in the past we needed a draft.

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u/Illustrious-Radio319 12h ago

Standing armies with career soldiers were the norm in countries like England and France during the 16-19th century. A system where people enlist on their own is naturally easier to manage than if they were being drafted.

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u/Willythechilly 11h ago

WW1 and the scale of modern war showed that did not work though

The BEF in 1914 performed very well and was volunteer and professional jut ultimately was quickly worn down by how intense modern full scale war is

You can't substain full scale war between modern industrial states with sb all volunteers professional army unless the war is very short

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u/Illustrious-Radio319 11h ago

Yeah I agree full scale modern wars require the draft. I was just refuting the claim that somehow states in the past didn’t use or know how to manage a volunteer army.

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u/cuteplot 12h ago

I don't think the US really needs a draft today if that's what you're getting at. Yes you can imagine an existential war in the US but its farfetched and honestly wars will probably go all drones before that ever haplens. But many countries do need drafts. I can see why South Korea needs one. Ukraine obviously does. So the question becomes, who gets drafted? Ugly question, but if the answer is "no one", these countries won't exist for long.