Frederick the Great (1712-1786)
Nourished?? I wonder what the original German is there? I love the idea that you don't just get your men pissed-up to drown their fear, but that you train them on drink.... But maybe that's not what Big Fred meant.
Where are the military historians when you need them? Frank, do you know this quotation?
6 comments:
18th Century standing armies were relatively small. Freddie was able to establish a much larger wartime army by taking agricultural workers out of farming on a rotational basis for regular drills and training each year. Military discipline was fierce - soldiers obeyed orders because they were more afraid of their officers than the they were of the enemy; the Prussians bred and trained rottweilers to hunt down runaway soldiers.
A free beer ration during the annual drills was a special 'treat' for the trainees. Additionally, beer had 2 important health functions: a calorific supplement to the diet, and,as brewing involved boiling, beer was much safer to drink than water at this period.
So, probably more for health and morale than to get the lads 'fighting drunk'.
I had heard that beer was a supplement to the poor diet and certainly safer than water to drink.
I have been in various counties where it is safer to drink beer (or the dreaded cola, awful stuff) instead of water.
Re: Coke Cola. I should add that weeks of drinking the stuff warm in India was sickening and I was never much of a fan before. 'Cha' bought track side in train stations was a welcome change.
Re: 'fighting drunk'.
Of course the press gangs enlisted many of these men into the army in the first place because they were drunk in the pub and so easily corralled.
...Imagine that Froog! You would be standing in a muddy field right now with a rifle in your hand (hopefully, if they hadn't run out!) Hard to imagine such a change of career but it is undeniable that you would be a prime candidate with your love of beer and pubs.
Don't forget that FtG wasn't 100% all there; he asked to be buried with his dogs at Sans Souci Palace so that, at least, he'd be "among friends".
I can't see anything wrong with that, Mr A. Sounds eminently sane to me.
That remark of Fred's, though, does remind me of an anecdote about Heine (which I think I put on Froogville 6 months or so ago), who apparently bequeathed all his worldlies to his wife on condition that she remarry - that way, he said,"At least one man will regret my death."
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