The human weapon
“WAR”, says Richard Holmes, “contains elements of both farce and tragedy.” Based on soldiers' accounts stretching from Napoleonic Europe to the Falklands, and mixed with some sociology and psychology, Mr Holmes dissects every aspect of a soldier's life before and during combat to understand what makes men fight, kill and sometimes long for their fighting days after they land back into civilian life.
Technology may have altered the face of war, but it has not changed its human nature. In his classic account of the making of a soldier, now updated and with a new introduction, Mr Holmes shows how armies have sought to scrape off every shred of civilian identity from a recruit and build the vital esprit de corps—and how green soldiers cope with the fear of being afraid that precedes first combat. Then come the eerie emptiness of battlefields, stress and exhaustion, lice, hunger, the lack of privacy, but also the special camaraderie that develops within a unit. Mr Holmes links the emphasis on masculine virtues with the staggering impact of venereal diseases on troops, which led the French to set up licensed brothels to cut down on casualties. During the first world war, Clemenceau even offered to set up some for American troops, but he was turned down. In French Indochina, two prostitutes were recommended for decoration, after being ambushed on their way back from doing their duty in a distant outpost.
Making an American marine
Men cope with fear and horror through denial, hard work, superstition, fatalism, prayer and humour. Drinks and drugs also help relieve stress: in 1970, 11,000 American soldiers were charged with using hard drugs—and the real number of users was believed to be five times as high. Religion also offers solace, and justification. “Whatever we were doing—murder, atrocities—God was always on our side,” remarks a Vietnam veteran.
What makes men fight? Ideology and religion play a role, particularly in early stages, but personal bonds created within fighting units, as well as the determination to survive, provide a stronger motivation. It is group cohesion that motivates soldiers to march on and sustain self-imposed discipline. Charismatic and self-sacrificing leadership is vital. “Troops are like spaghetti,” remarked George Patton, an American general. “You can't push them around, you have to pull them.” Strong esprit de corps can also work against the institution it is supposed to serve, when it finds its expression in mutiny or deliberate inaction.
Training and language are often used to portray the enemy as hateful, barbaric or sub-human, as in Menachem Begin's description of Palestinians as “beasts walking on two legs”. This helps justify killing in the minds of many soldiers. The danger is quite literally overkill, when the awareness of a common humanity—which can paralyse soldiers—is erased by a hatred so intense it leads to atrocities. A GI described the My Lai massacre in Vietnam as being like “scratching an itch...it's going to drive you mad unless you do it.”
Mr Holmes makes a convincing case that the human being remains the central weapon of military conflict, technology notwithstanding. What emerges is a compelling and very human portrait of war.
This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline "The human weapon"
From the February 21st 2004 edition
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