historically, the practice of drafting men into military service.
Mandatory enlistment of people into the armed services.
Compulsory enrollment of a person, especially for military service.
To enroll for military services
system of required military service
Both the Confederates (in 1862) and the Union (in 1863) raised manpower during the Civil War by military draft, or conscription. This coercive measure was resented in both the North and the South. However, the bulk of the fighting forces in both armies were raised through voluntary enlistment.
Conscription is a general term for involuntary labor demanded by some established authority, but it is most often used in the specific sense of government policies that require citizens (often just males) to serve in their armed forces. It is known by various names — for example, the most recent conscription program in the United States was known colloquially as "the draft". Many nations do not maintain conscription forces, instead relying on a volunteer or professional military most of the time, although many of these countries still reserve the possibility of conscription for wartime and "crises" of supply.