Table of Contents
A. Mercenaries
Before we understand the concept of employment, let us first talk about Mercenaries, the other system in history that pledged its loyalty based on the money and the wealth opportunities it was offered.
Mercenaries were independent companies of soldiers, led by an entrepreneur who sells his army company’s service for money.
History of Constantinople
In 1452 Byzantine king Palaeologu of Constantinople hired mercenary Giovanni Giustiniani. On the day of the fall, Giustiniani got wounded and fled with 3000 men. Constantinople became Istambul forever.
“Mercenaries are ‘disunited, ambitious, undisciplined, [and] disloyal; valiant among friends, among enemies cowardly; they have no fear of God, no loyalty to men’. At best, if they are led by a fool, they merely ruin you; if their commander is even remotely worth his salt, he invariably ‘tries to gain power for himself”
-The Prince, Nicole Machiavelli, 15th century Florance.
So, mercenaries in wartime were like modern-day small groups, (which is currently referred to as creator’s economy, solopreneurship, or freelancers) the work equivalent of work-for-money.
Greko Roman History of Mercenaries
Long before the debacle of Constantinople, all throughout history we had mercenaries, who were mainly foreign recruits to fight the wars for a state or the army. Alexander had several mercenary companies in his army. The Roman army had Mercenary legions led by a civilian captain. In the Punic wars, Carthage took the support of Mercenaries.
When Alexendar’s army suffered in India, the mercenaries refused to fight. When the Romans got heavy on the Carthaginians in 146 BCE, their mercenaries quit the war. When Rome was fighting Germanic and Franc tribes, and later Goths, the mercenary companies of those tribes also fled.
Nicole Machiavelli, an acute observer of the rise and fall of princes across Europe warned against taking the help of Mercenaries in the war.
