How to keep your soldiers loyal

For a political leader, having a strong deadly force by your side is the best sleeping pill in the world. However, what if it is the sleeping pill that is keeping you awake? Throughout history, there are plenty of ways of keeping one's solider loyal that have been tried many times throughout the history of humans. Here are a brief instruction to those who want to conquer the world ways to keep the soldiers of the conquer loyal.

Money: In most circumstanced, money is the best way to keep your soldiers loyal while still maintaining their fiercest fighting spirit. Money is something everyone wants and most people will do anything possible if a large sum of money is being promised for them. Military is no different. Money is the best way to lift someone up the rank in a society and the promise of money is the best promise to someone and will have him/her do anything possible since it is going to be a life changing wealth. A good example of that would be the mercenaries of Giovanni Giustiniani in the fall of Constantinople. The mercenaries of Giustinani were all fighting bravely and have been repelling the elite troops including the Janissaries of the ottoman empire multiple times. However, they still stood no chance since the Eastern roman empire is already a city state while the ottoman empire is one of the strongest superpower in the early 15th century. What motivated the mercenaries to keep their fierce fighting in a unwinnable war? Quite simply, it is money. The mercenaries of Giustinani kept their fighting spirit because they know that if they managed to win the war, they are going to earn plenty and would be able to go back to their hometown rich with gold and silver and possibly benefit their hometown in Italy. Thus, the mercenaries of Giustiniani fought to the last men. However, one of the setback of bribing your solider is that it could possible bankrupt you. When Giustiniani and his men are not getting enough pay and they can leave, Emperor Constantine XI of the Eastern roman empire was forced to take almost all treasured to make coin and pay the mercenaries. A bad example of bribing the soldiers would the pretorian guard of Rome. After years of bribing loyalty. The pretorian guard sees bribing from emperor as natural and automatic. Thus, when emperor Pertinax of the year of the five emperors refused to give them the bribe they wanted, they killed him. The pretorian guard have all been taken captive by bribe and all made extreme wealth with the bribing money of the emperor. To sum up, bribing the troops could ensure loyalty and fighting spirit for a short time. However, bribing the troops for a long time would only make the soldiers prisoners of gold and whenever you refuse to bribe them, they are going to backfire.

Another way to ensure the loyalty of the military is to use the power of belief. Once all soldiers have faith and devoutly believe in something, then all a commander have to do to ensure their loyalty is to make the soldiers believe that they are fighting for their belief and faith. The motivation of fighting in the name of divinity is very encouraging from the start since it encourages the delivers into believing that they are fighting a winnable and must win war which makes the soldiers fight in an exceptionally fierce manner. An example of that would be the crusade. In the early three crusades, the crusader knight all fought bravely and defeated the muslim troops multiple times and even managed to retake the city of Jerusalem despite all odds(fighting in unknown land, unsuitable weather, stretched supply line, and strong resistance.)What encouraged and sustained the crusaders to fight? Their religious belief. The crusaders believe that they are fighting in a right cause and they are fighting in the name of the christian god which encouraged them to fight despite all odds. They believe that they are fighting in the right side of history and that they are fighting for god. Thus, the crusaders in the early stage of the crusade fought valiantly. However, the power of faith is short lived and can be easily taken over by the power of greed. In 1204, the fourth crusade sacked Constantinople. They looted for three days and the Eastern roman empire is devastated. However, this crusade was initially organized for taking Jerusalem. Why did the crusaders which claim to be fighting for god turn against the greatest christian city in the whole world? Simply put, the profit of looting Constantinople is bigger then the profit of sacking Jerusalem while the risk of fighting against the well prepared muslim army in middle east is greater then backstabbing the Byzantines who are totally unprepared for such attack.The wealth of Constantinople is far grater then the wealth of the holy city and the crusaders have already lost their faith for fighting for their religion and instead were taken captive by greed and gold just like the pretorian guards.

Finally, there is one last way to ensure the loyalty of the soldiers with minimal risk. That way is community. The best thing a general can do to his solider is to make friends with them. A commander should let the soldiers feel minimal distance to their general while maintaining a power over them. A successful military is always an institution where the sense of community attracts not distances the members of the community. A fairness and equality of the commander and combatant should be maintained and a commander should be competent enough for the soldiers to respect him/her. Soldiers also shall feel a sense of security when they are commanded with their commander's battle competency proven. A good example of that would be the story of Caligula and his father Germanicus. Germanicus is a highly respected general of the strong roman legion and he is a great example of a good community. He is a competent general and gains respect among his fellow soldiers.The legion under the command of Germanicus also formed a tight community and have more sense of belonging to their fellow soldiers than to the Empire. The son of Germanicus the future emperor Caligula was brought up in such environment with the soldiers accompanying his youth. The name Caligula was the little boot of soldiers which showed the respect and closeness of the community of legions. This is undoubtly the best way to keep your soliders together.