How is war budgeted for, and how is this different from previous eras of history? From early conflicts in human civilization right up to the present day there will be a cost associated with going to war and it’s interesting to see how that cost has been met.
Modern warfare is a different beast from conflicts of the past. Over the last several decades the technology, ideology and even geography of war are unrecognizable from the military campaigns we can see throughout history. From what you read in your school history books the traditional concept of war was two fixed armed forces facing off on the battlefield and this was probably the way unchanged in its essence for centuries. OK so in prehistoric periods and in early civilizations there was a much more small-scale and there were “few real battles” I in early human history, relying more on ambushes and surprises. So regarding what we are looking at there was no real ‘cost’ other than human casualty to those societies.
The first examples of disciplined soldiers emerged around 2500 BC in the area of the world that is now known as the Middle East, the difference here is that proper soldiers would stand, fight and obey orders whereas earlier combatants were only fighting when odds looked good and they felt it emotionally. This new era of the organized soldier would have brought with it costs of weaponry and armor. So this idea of organized armies continued right up through history and the resources needed to equip and house such armies were met by monarchs and Lords of the realm they were fighting for, taxation of subjects would have been the method of financing anything in such a kingdom but it’s hard to calculate a cost as there was no obligation on a king to divulge what they spent and if we look at the example of medieval warfare there was, “no global calculation of the cost of castle building”.
Once we get nearer to being up to date it’s more clear to understand the sources of finance needed for large conflicts. If we take World War 2 as an example we see how much the war wasfinanced by the federal reserve and the bank of England. Something that would not happen as easily today.
These days it’s an expensive task outfitting the army and the public are not always as patriotic or as enthusiastic as they were in days gone by. Increased media scrutiny of budgets and even potential legal action from combatants if things are not done correctly, such as the famous 3M earplug lawsuit, make planning more than just assessing the enemy.
You just need to look at the complicated and expensive equipment and weaponry of today’s forces to see how extensive the funding of a modern military can be. To be able to fight on one or two fronts never mind more is the exact reason why armed forces these days are not deployed without a good lengthy decision-making process and attempts at diplomacy first.