Ethnic Armies is a combination of essays focused on the subject of polyethnic armed forces from the time of the Habsburgs to the age of the superpowers and is a publication of the proceedings of the thirteenth Military History Symposium, held at the Royal Military College of Canada in March 1986.

Multi-ethnic armed forces have existed since ancient times. The armies of the ancient empires of the Middle East, of the Roman Emperors, and the Mongol Khans, all tended to be conglomerations of diverse ethnic, religious, or racial groups. A fundamental reason for their existence in the past and present is that nations, from their earliest beginnings, tended to be polyethnic. The phenomenon of polyethnic armed forces is a complex one, however, and it is examined throughout this book by its contributors.