History of children in the military

A Chinese Nationalist soldier, age 10, from the Chinese Army in India waiting to board a plane in Burma, May 1944

Children in the military are children (defined by the Convention on the Rights of the Child as persons under the age of 18) who are associated with military organizations, such as state armed forces and non-state armed groups.[1] Throughout history and in many cultures, children have been involved in military campaigns.[2] For example, thousands of children participated on all sides of the First World War and the Second World War.[3][4][5][6] Children may be trained and used for combat, assigned to support roles such as porters or messengers, or used for tactical advantage as human shields or for political advantage in propaganda.[1][7]

Children are easy targets for military recruitment due to their greater susceptibility to influence compared to adults.[2][8][9][10] Some children are recruited by force while others choose to join up, often to escape poverty or because they expect military life to offer a rite of passage to maturity.[2]

  1. ^ a b UNICEF (2007). "The Paris Principles: Principles and guidelines on children associated with armed forces or armed groups" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 30 October 2016. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  2. ^ a b c Wessels, Michael (1997). "Child Soldiers". Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. 53 (4): 32. Bibcode:1997BuAtS..53f..32W. doi:10.1080/00963402.1997.11456787.
  3. ^ "How did Britain let 250000 underage soldiers fight in WW1?". BBC News. Archived from the original on 21 March 2018. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
  4. ^ Norman Davies, Rising '44: The Battle for Warsaw, Archived 6 February 2016 at the Wayback Machine Pan Books 2004 p.603
  5. ^ David M. Rosen (January 2005). Armies of the Young: Child Soldiers in War and Terrorism. Rutgers University Press. pp. 54–55. ISBN 978-0-8135-3568-5. Archived from the original on 6 February 2016. Retrieved 23 March 2018. The participation of Jewish children and youth in warfare was driven by a combination of necessity, honor, and moral duty.
  6. ^ Kucherenko, Olga (13 January 2011). Little Soldiers: How Soviet Children Went to War, 1941–1945. OUP Oxford. p. 3. ISBN 978-0-19-161099-8. Archived from the original on 6 February 2016. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
  7. ^ "Children at war". History Extra. Archived from the original on 12 January 2018. Retrieved 7 December 2017.
  8. ^ Beber, Blattman, Bernd, Christopher (2013). "The Logic of Child Soldiering and Coercion". International Organization. 67 (1): 65–104. doi:10.1017/s0020818312000409.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  9. ^ Dave., Grossman (2009). On killing : the psychological cost of learning to kill in war and society (Rev. ed.). New York: Little, Brown and Co. ISBN 9780316040938. OCLC 427757599.
  10. ^ McGurk, Dennis; Cotting, Dave I.; Britt, Thomas W.; Adler, Amy B. (2006). "Joining the ranks: The role of indoctrination in transforming civilians to service members". In Adler, Amy B.; Castro, Carl Andrew; Britt, Thomas W. (eds.). Military life: The psychology of serving in peace and combat. Vol. 2: Operational stress. Westport: Praeger Security International. pp. 13–31. ISBN 978-0275983024.

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