Private Armies: How Mercenaries Fight Today's Wars | Animated History

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“Unlike the government we don't keep secrets of our capabilities. We don't sell policy, we sell power. We are a super power for hire.” Johnathan Irons

I like how you criticized both Wagner and Blackwater . Both the US and Russia criticize mercenaries in the other countries but ignore what their own mercenaries are doing .

Mercenaries experienced a decline in popularity in the 18th-20th centuries because young men were readily available and weapons required very little training. Nowadays they're back because the conditions are similar to their golden age in the Renaissance: young men aren't as plentiful (or easily expendable without massive backlash), warfare technology requires a lot of training to be mastered and experienced professionals can easily dominate the battlefield against a conscription army.

Supposedly there was a period of time in American history where two rich gravel barons had each owned almost half of the land in modern-day new Mexico and bought up all of the local mercenary forces to fight a massive land war over it, only ending in 1971 when both land owners were assassinated by their secret third brother and their mercenary forces replaced with robots

the unique thing about PMC's is that it has made expanding influence of major powers a lot easier since they can claim denial

Thank you for making this video. Now I finally understand why PMCs are stock villains in video games.

I'm a military contractor who has worked in Afghanistan, Ascension Island, and Israel. I wont disclose what company I worked for but it was a PMC and it was all about security not offense operations, literally had weapons and sometimes a plate carrier for protection to protect military personal and facilities. There are mercenaries out there, Russia, USA, Africans etc all use them. Its honestly a great job to have, I travel for free, get paid a good amount, good training, and got to visit world famous historical places like Petra on my free time.

Fun fact, Prigozhin's food company "Konkord" was infamous for bad food quality and multiple incidents where children from kindergarten and schools were hospitalized after consuming company's food.

Obviously, the best PMC is merryweather

"War has changed. It's no longer about nations, ideologies, or ethnicity. It's an endless series of proxy battles, fought by mercenaries and machines. War-and it's consumption of life--has become a well-oiled machine." Old Snake

You can always tell where someone stands on PMCs if they refer to them as “mercenaries” or “contractors”

There is an interesting book I came across a decade ago and I think this might interesting. It's called "Soldiers of Fortune: A History of the Mercenary in Modern Warfare" by Tony Geraghty which has various examples of modern mercenaries ranging from PMCs in Africa, third-party guys experimenting weaponry on Hind helicopters before the US sent Stingers to the Mujahadeen, and even the humanitarian efforts at demining operations.

It would be interesting doing an evolution video on mercenaries going from antiquity to the modern day

Mercenaries are in my opinion a very unique and effective for those who need it so I agree that they will not end anytime soon

“War has changed. It’s no longer about nations, ideologies, or ethnicity. It’s a endless series of proxy battles, fought by mercenaries and machines.” - Solid Snake, Fox Hounds Special Force Member

as contractor its always fun to watch these videos, working for a blackwater successor. As far as american contractors go its a glorified security job, save for the 30 guys assassinating people for emirati princes under the table. EO and those boys were a different breed. Wagner falls more into the legitimate "mercenary" category as they conduct actual military operations. How they get those guys to do what they do for like 3k a month is beyond me, even considering the purchasing power in russia.

This one's for all you gun nerds that didn't notice it in the video. Every AK is shot with the safety up but shows the bolt reciprocating. Now you cannot unsee it. But no, seriously, great video as always guys! Keep up the phenomenal content!

You guys forgot Big Boss, he was very important

Today they are called PMCs (Private Military Contractors). They are used for everything from executive protection to fighting foreign armies or even terrorists and pirates. Their skills vary and a lot of them end up getting hired on by as defense contractors. I worked with a lot of them when I was protecting ships out near the horn of Africa. They are pretty much heavily armed security in most cases. Only a few take up offensive action now days like the Russian one. CIA did a crack down on Mercenary groups operating in Africa in the 70s and 80s but with the way South Africa is looking they might very well make a return on that continent.