Mobilization continues to be the main topic of the news agenda. Emotions are running high, and this is understandable - after all, nothing like this has happened in the memory of current generations. It is all the more important to look at what is happening in the context of the era. Why is the French Revolution considered the birth of modern mobilization? How were the conscriptions at the beginning of the First World War and the Great Patriotic War? Why was there no mobilization in the Afghan war? And an unexpectedly relevant topic - how did the Americans oppose being sent to Vietnam and what was it for them?