A brief history of battlefield boozing

Article mentions that Hitler didn't drink alcohol, but he sure was a speed freak and took a lot of other drugs. Also worth mentioning that the Axis and Allied sides both utilized amphetamines heavily during the war.

I think that alcohol use on the battlefield has declined largely because in modern warfare, the kind of impairment that you get from alcohol is a huge liability, but the kind of edge that a driver or pilot can potentially get from a strong stimulant can really benefit the effort.

Edit: https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/3bjp4y/total-intoxication...

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2377281/

Well ISIS fighters don't drink but apparently are fond of Captagon https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/11/19... which is a meth like drug developed in the 60's: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fenethylline

Alcohol in modern battlefield contexts is still a consideration. For Western military forces (especially American), alcohol is forbidden in warzones. It's considered contraband and is confiscated from inbound mail. But soldiers do often buy alcohol from locals, get it smuggled in through the mail, or -- as I did once -- make it like prison pruno. In addition, some warzones are different than others. For example, since there aren't really any regular (American) Army units in the Philippines, only Special Forces (et al), there aren't restrictions on alcohol like there are in other places. Very interesting and unique being in a warzone where alcohol use was sanctioned by commanders. On the one hand I understand why it's restricted, but on the other hand, in my experience, most folks can handle some amount of alcohol in their lives on tour. I guess the military's playing a numbers game and they take zero chances. Officially, at least.

Until fairly recently alcohol also helped with the problem of contaminated water causing massive casualties eg more died through disease during the napolionic wars than through firefights.

It's strange that it doesn't mention alcohol's ability to lower inhibitions. Getting over people's natural reluctance to kill has been a serious issue for gun based combat, and alcohol is a cheap way to help with that. It's downturn is likely the lack of the draft and the military using people that already have lower inhibitions on the front lines.

If you find this topic interesting, I suggest reading "Drink: A Cultural History of Alcohol" by Iain Gately. It's a breezy history of western civilization through the lens of alcohol.

Drinking fermented beverages is a sure way to avoid water borne disease, and keeping your forces healthy was the determining factor in these historical contexts.

Mas Des Tourelles in Southern France makes 'Genuine Roman Wine' if anybody lives in the EU and is interested http://tourelles.com/site-archeologique-et-cave-gallo-romain... unsure if they ship to N. America.

I wonder what would happen if you'd dump a billion shots of LSD onto a war zone. Would the fighting stop?

I don't have much to add other than I really enjoyed reading this.

Nice read but doesn't mention much about the modern decline of battlefield drinking. My understanding is that it's due to deployed women being at high risk of assault from a fellow soldier when alcohol is involved, but I've never really read a comprehensive analysis about it.