Mercenaries are nothing new in history. Irish warriors hired themselves out in the Middle Ages and William of Hesse-Kassel made a fortune hiring out German Mercenaries in the 18th century. However, the situation we find today is different than these two historic examples. Today, mercenaries are paid large salaries by private companies who, although they have close relationships with governments, are not actually government organizations themselves. This provides a much different scenario than individuals hiring themselves out to governments (the Irish) or a Prince hiring out his own military to other governments (Hesse-Kassel). I would say this privatized military more closely resembles activities of private European companies in colonization such as the East India Company. The East India Company was given a state sanctioned monopoly by the British crown in 1600 and although made up of private shareholders still contained many government officials in its members. The East India Company started out just trading but employed armies and eventually took over most of what we now know as India, even employing a Sepoy Army made up of Indians to help in this endeavor.
