A shot of liquid courage, a shared moment of bonding and escapism, even drugged up zombie
soldiers - violence and mind-altering substances have always gone hand in hand.
The truth is, countless wars throughout history have been fought while soldiers were drunk
or high, and military conflict through the ages - including the modern day - have been
shaped by the insane drugs soldiers are fed to win wars
Drinking and drugging rituals have long been a part of the culture of warfare.
Indulging in alcohol or drugs together can help soldiers bond before going into battle,
provide a much-needed way to cope with the trauma of war, and even enhance combat performance.
Alcohol is the oldest, most tried-and-true drug of choice for warriors around the world,
and armies have issued alcohol rations to their troops throughout history.
The Russians favored vodka while the British preferred rum; Germans have turned to beer,
while ancient Romans and Greeks relied on wine for liquid courage.
But, armies from ancient times all the way up to today have often relied on even stronger
drugs to win wars.
According to ancient legends, Nordic Berserkers, the legendary viking warriors who fought ferociously
and without fear, were said to get their animalistic fighting powers from the animal skins that
they wore in battle.
Recently, though, modern researchers have come to believe that their ferocity came from
another source altogether - the black henbane plant.
The plant’s leaves could be dried and smoked or used to make wine or beer.
The plant was a powerful hallucinogen, causing users to see and perceive things that aren’t
there.
Berserkers believed that they were calling upon their gods and harnessing the powers
of the spirit world to help them thrive on the battlefield, and it’s likely that the
trance-like state caused by ingesting the black henbane contributed to this feeling.
While herbal drugs may usually be associated with a calm, peaceful high, they have also
been known to cause intense anxiety, paranoia and even panic.
Given that these warriors were psyching themselves up for battle when they took the black henbane,
it’s highly likely that the effects were less mellow and more aggressive.
They probably felt agitated and ready to fight, and felt dissociated from reality, making
it easier for them to fight like wild animals and kill with abandon.
Viking Berserkers weren’t the only ancient fighters to tap into the power of natural
herbs.
Eurasian warriors, especially Siberian tribes like the Chukchi and Koryaks, used psilocybin
- more commonly known as magic mushrooms - to allow them to fight fearlessly and give them
an edge in battle - and they even went so far as to drink the urine of warriors who
had previously ingested the mushrooms to take advantage of the residual psychoactive effects.
Use of magic mushrooms and other natural psychoactive herbs continued into the 19th and 20th centuries.
In 1879, when the British tried to subdue the Zulu tribe of Africa, they faced an enemy
that seemed immune to fear even in the face of Britain’s far more advanced weapons.
Though the Zulu carried only spears and shields, they seemed unnervingly unafraid of the British’s
rifles and bullets.
They likely had a little medicinal help in this department.
The Zulu warriors had a multitude of mind-altering substances at their disposal, from medicated
beer to dagga, a South African variety of cannabis, to a powerful painkiller made from
the bushman poison bulb plant which also had hallucinogenic properties.
Thanks to the psychoactive properties of these drugs, the Zulu warriors would have felt disconnected
from the reality of battle, allowing them to fight ferociously and without fear.
Though the Zulus would unfortunately go on to lose the war, they did impress the British
with their willingness to face death without fear thanks to the help of pharmacology.
As the nature of warfare changed and weapons and technology advanced, so too did the drugs
that were used to fuel soldiers and win wars.
World War 1 saw the first documented and widespread use of cocaine in battle.
Both the British and the Germans issued cocaine rations to their air force’s fighter pilots
to give them a boost before they engaged in incredibly dangerous dog fights.
World War 1 fighter pilots were tasked with a nearly impossible mission - they had to
engage other aircraft in close combat in mid-air.
They needed to dodge enemy planes while simultaneously trying to get the enemy in their crosshairs
so their gunner could take them out, all while making sure not to crash their planes.
It was a chaotic and terrifying environment, and cocaine helped the pilots keep their energy
up and helped them to focus on the job at hand without getting carried away by the very
real fear that death could come at any moment.
The Canadian infantrymen who also relied on cocaine called it “Forced March”, since
that was exactly what it was used for.
Infantry troops that needed to be mobilized and moved long distances during the war often
had to do so on their own two feet, enduring grueling marches through desolate, war-torn
landscapes, knowing all the while that the enemy could be anywhere, waiting to attack.
These marches could last for hours or even days, and once again, cocaine was their secret
to success.
The Forced March pills, which were a combination of cocaine and caffeine, gave soldiers the
energy and endurance to withstand hours of marching through difficult terrain to get
where they were needed, and also helped to blunt their fear that the enemy could be waiting
for them around the next corner.
The most famous stories of soldiers on drugs may have come from World War 2, which is fitting
considering that the entire 6 year conflict was largely fueled by speed, a favorite of
frontline soldiers on both sides.
The Nazis’ drug of choice, called Pervitin, was an early version of crystal meth, and
the German company Temmler-Werke supplied the German military with 29 million of these
so-called “attack pills”.
Not to be outdone by their enemies, the Allies followed suit and issued millions of Benzedrine
tablets to their soldiers.
The British are estimated to have consumed around 72 million tablets, while the Pentagon’s
official estimate is that U.S. soldiers consumed between 250 and 500 million pills during the
war.
“Bennies”, as they were known, were even included in emergency kits for American bomber
crews.
Both the German attack pills and the Allies’ bennies provided their users with a boost
of energy to help them cope with drawn-out battles and long distance marches.
It increased alertness and combated fatigue, which was helpful for keeping vigilant during
long periods of watch duty, and bolstered already exhausted soldiers who were about
to go into battle.
It also created a strong sense of confidence and bravado in the soldiers, allowing them
to rush into enemy fire with little regard for their own life or safety.
The role that speed played in World War 2 cannot be overstated - experts now say that
many of Germany’s early and decisive victories in the war were thanks in large part to the
rampant use of Pervitin.
The drug helped German soldiers march for hours past their breaking point, allowing
them to capture huge amounts of territory relatively quickly.
Historical accounts from early battles in Belgium described crazed German soldiers fearlessly
charging directly towards machine gun nests, seemingly unaware of the hail of automatic
gun fire raining down on them.
This behavior understandably frightened the Belgian defenders, and it may have led to
the widespread rumor that Germany had created unbeatable super-soldiers.
Even as these harder drugs entered the fray, they didn’t fully replace the more natural
substances of past centuries.
The Soviets were rumored to have been on magic mushrooms during the battle of Székesfehérvár
in 1945, where they performed fearlessly and succeeded in capturing the city from the well-entrenched
and much better equipped Nazis.
Authorized drug use by American soldiers continued into the Korean War from 1950 to 1953 and
the Vietnam War from 1955 to 1973, though it was now combined with rampant non-sanctioned
drug use.
Speed continued to be the approved drug of choice, but now soldiers gained access to
illicit drugs like heroin.
Desperate soldiers would combine these two powerful drugs to create their own homemade
injectable speed balls.
This potent combination creates a push-pull effect, both boosting energy and helping them
relax.
The high from these speed balls was stronger and more long-lasting than the high they could
get from using either drug on its own, and it helped the soldiers to deal with the brutal
conditions of war, as well as cope with the horrible atrocities that they witnessed - and
even committed - during these wars.
Drug use during the Vietnam war reached epidemic levels - according to the Pentagon, by the
time the U.S. withdrew from the war in 1973, some 70 percent of all American soldiers in
Vietnam had taken drugs.
Shockingly, the authorized use of drugs by soldiers in combat continues around the world
to this day.
Modern-day terrorists have no qualms about using drugs to motivate their fighters and
achieve their heinous missions.
The terrorist group ISIS promotes the use of hashish and opioid painkillers within their
ranks, and they are also well known for the pervasive use of the drug Captagon, a powerful
stimulant that metabolizes in the body to form amphetamine.
This drug increases alertness, numbs fear, and induces a sense of courage and bravado,
and so it is incredibly popular with Jihadists undertaking suicide missions.
The drug is also reported to increase strength, and there have been reports of fighters taking
so much of the drug that, even after being shot multiple times, they refuse to drop and
continue to fight through their injuries.
Even smaller terrorist organizations have capitalized on the power of drugs to create
seemingly invincible soldiers.
In his book A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, Ishmael Beah describes his horrendous
experience as a child soldier in Sierra Leone and the rampant use of drugs to control and
manipulate child soldiers in these loosely organized armies.
According to Beah, commanders would strategically keep their child soldiers high on what they
called “brown-browns” - a potent and highly addictive combination of cocaine and gunpowder.
Gunpowder contains nitroglycerin, which helps the cocaine to spread more quickly through
the bloodstream and delivers a faster, more intense high.
Once these child soldiers were high on brown-browns, they would essentially be immune to fear and
would have little to no conscience.
Their commanders would take advantage of this altered state and force the children to commit
terrible atrocities while they were high.
The knowledge and shame that they had done such horrible things while high, combined
with a heavy dependence on the addictive drugs, kept the child soldiers loyal, obedient, and
easy to control.
And it’s not just the so-called “Bad Guys” still feeding drugs to their soldiers in the
present day.
As long as all procedures are followed to a T, the U.S. military still issues amphetamines
to pilots assigned to 8-plus hour long flight missions.
These Dexedrine pills, known as “Go Pills”, promote wakefulness and keep pilots alert
on long endurance missions.
To help soldiers calm down after battle - and to combat the energy boosting effects of the
Dexedrine pills - the U.S. military also issues what they call “No-Go Pills” - or sleeping
pills - to help soldiers recover and be ready for their next mission.
Other countries are following suit - in the UK, France and India, the drug Modafinil has
recently replaced amphetamines for use in endurance missions and to combat sleep deprivation
among pilots and other members of the military.
The history of warfare and the history of drug use are inextricably linked, and with
modern militaries continuing to use substances to alter their soldiers and enhance their
performance, this is a trend that shows no signs of slowing down.
It will certainly be fascinating to see what kind of insane drugs soldiers are fed to win
wars in the years to come.
If you thought this video was fascinating, be sure and check out our other videos, like
this one called “What Does Heroin Do To Your Body?”, or perhaps you’ll like this
other video instead.
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