Shooting Up
A Short History of Drugs and War
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Publisher Description
Shooting Up: A Short History of Drugs and War examines how intoxicants have been put to the service of states, empires and their armies throughout history. Since the beginning of organized combat, armed forces have prescribed drugs to their members for two general purposes: to enhance performance during combat and to counter the trauma of killing and witnessing violence after it is over. Stimulants (e.g. alcohol, cocaine, and amphetamines) have been used to temporarily create better soldiers by that improving stamina, overcoming sleeplessness, eliminating fatigue, and increasing fighting spirit. Downers (e.g. alcohol, opiates, morphine, heroin, marijuana, barbiturates) have also been useful in dealing with the soldier's greatest enemy - shattered nerves. Kamienski's focuses on drugs "prescribed" by military authorities, but also documents the widespread unauthorised consumption by soldiers themselves. Combatants have always treated with various drugs and alcohol, mainly for recreational use and as a reward to themselves for enduring the constant tension of preparing for. Although not officially approved, such "self-medication" is often been quietly tolerated by commanders in so far as it did not affect combat effectiveness. This volume spans the history of combat from the use of opium, coca, and mushrooms in pre-modern warfare to the efforts of modern militaries, during the Cold War in particular, to design psychochemical offensive weapons that can be used to incapacitate rather than to kill the enemy. Along the way, Kamienski provides fascinating coverage of on the European adoption of hashish during Napolean's invasion of Egypt, opium use during the American Civil War, amphetamines in the Third Reich, and the use of narcotics to control child soldiers in the rebel militias of contemporary Africa.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
"The use of drugs more or less powerful, more or less organic has been intrinsic to warfare," writes Kamienski, a political scientist at Poland's Jagiellonian University, in this fascinating examination of how warfare and intoxicants are inexorably intertwined. Kamienski illustrates the often vital role drugs have played in virtually every conflict since the ancient Greeks used opium prior to going into battle. Drugs and alcohol, he asserts, have real, practical value in terms of warfare. Drinking and drugging rituals help soldiers bond before and after engagements, gain confidence before combat, heal wounds and alleviate pain during and after the fighting, and forget about the horrors of war after combat ceases (and in some cases, medicate themselves long after they came home). Readers may be familiar with some topics, such as morphine's presence in the Civil War, marijuana and heroin in Vietnam, and Hitler's use of a cornucopia of pharmaceuticals, but they might be surprised to learn how some governments (including the U.S.) have incorporated pharmaceuticals into their war efforts by drugging their adversaries. It's an impressive and accessible deep dive into the topic, and though Kamienski doesn't spend much time examining the ramifications of this phenomenon in the post Vietnam War era , it makes for a bracing and fascinating study.
