4-582: A Heerhaufen , also Haufen or Haufe , was the name given to unorganised or poorly organised paramilitary troops and auxiliaries in Central Europe during the Early Modern Period . The term is German and is sometimes translated "company" or "troops". The term Haufe was used especially during the peasants' wars and Thirty Years' War for a body of men, sometimes of several thousand armed peasants or Landsknechten , often with as part of
8-572: A grassroots democracy movement (c.f the Heeresversammlungs of antiquity), and therefore more loosely organised than the smaller and strictly military units known as Fähnleins . The well known German Youth Movement song "Wir sind des Geyers schwarze Haufen" ("We are Geyer's black Haufen ") recalls the notion of the Haufen . The German name for a forlorn hope is Verlorener Haufen ("Lost Haufen "). Paramilitary A paramilitary
12-923: Is a military that is not a part of a country's official or legitimate armed forces. The Oxford English Dictionary traces the use of the term "paramilitary" as far back as 1934. Though a paramilitary is, by definition, not a military , it is usually equivalent to a light infantry or special forces in terms of strength, firepower, and organizational structure. Paramilitaries use combat-capable kit/equipment (such as internal security / SWAT vehicles ), or even actual military equipment (such as long guns and armored personnel carriers ; usually military surplus resources), skills (such as battlefield medicine and bomb disposal ), and tactics (such as urban warfare and close-quarters combat ) that are compatible with their purpose, often combining them with skills from other relevant fields such as law enforcement , coast guard , or search and rescue . A paramilitary may fall under
16-441: The command of a military , train alongside them, or have permission to use their resources, despite not actually being part of them. Under the law of war , a state may incorporate a paramilitary organization or armed agency (such as a law enforcement agency or a private volunteer militia ) into its combatant armed forces. Some countries' constitutions prohibit paramilitary organizations outside government use . Depending on
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