This term was first coined by the distinguished American scholar - historian and ethnographer Lewis Morgan in the work “Ancient Society” to characterize ancient Greek society in the transition period from the primitive communal system to the state, and was adopted by K. Marx and F. Engels. Marx believed that what Greek writers call Homeric or tsarist power, since its main distinguishing feature is military leadership, can be called military democracy, if we add to it the council of leaders and the popular assembly.
In our opinion, F. Engels believed that military democracy should unite three mandatory elements together - a military leader, who can also be vested with judicial powers, but should not have administrative, a national assembly and a council of leaders. The views of F. Engels are close to modern ideas about the democratic structure of society and the separation of powers. These, as we would say now, are three independent branches of government that make up the essence of the concept of democracy.
A national assembly, each participant of which, along with this, was also a warrior, a militia, was as important and necessary an authority as the council of leaders and, in fact, the leader himself. Regardless of which political line the assembly adhered to, whether it was just an instrument in the hands of the nobility or, as has happened more than once, got out of the control of the authorities, no one (neither the military leader, nor the council of leaders) had any means violence or coercion against him, in addition to traditions, customs, personal authority among ordinary people.
So we found that the military democracy is the social structure of the transition period from the primitive communal system to the state.
It can be assumed that it falls on the period of history when the ancient clan organization was still in sufficient strength, but at the same time, property stratification was already appearing, tsarist power was also arising, and it became commonplace to turn prisoners of war into slaves.
The leaders of the Achaean tribes, as shown in one of Homer's tales, repeatedly boasted both their wealth, especially herds of domesticated animals, and their origin. They are reluctant to talk about the people, and if they do, then with contempt, but here are the words of Odysseus that he was elected from the Cretans to go to Ilion with the ships, and that it was impossible to refuse, since they were elected by the power of the people, they talk about that the assembly had sufficient strength and power.
Military democracy is characterized by a wide variety of types and forms of its manifestation. In one case, it is in a certain dependence on the polis device, as it was in Greece and in some other countries. Otherwise, it can occur in the conditions of a nomadic (in whole or in part) lifestyle, as was the case with the Slavs or Germans.
Almost all peoples had military democracy and was the last stage of the pre-state evolution of society. It can be attributed to the Roman community of the period of the kings, as well as the Greek policies of the "era of Homer." If we consider this phenomenon from the point of view of archeology, then the era of the beginning of the use of metals will correspond to the era of military democracy, which led to changes in the economic and political structure of societies.
The Eastern Slavs in the eighth century and the first half of the ninth began to form a social system, which historians would later call the term "military democracy." This is a transition period from the primitive system with tribal assemblies, leaders who were elected by all, tribal militia to the initial state formation with a strong center authority, uniting all the inhabitants of the country who are already beginning to differ greatly in material, legal status and role in society.