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Governments that Tried to Create Super Soldiers and Super Weapons

Khalid Elhassan January 15, 2022 37 min

Super Facts - Workers at the Temmler factory in Berlin, where methamphetamine-based Pervitin tablets were produced for the German military — Workers at the Temmler factory in Berlin, where methamphetamine-based Pervitin tablets were produced for the German military. The Guardian

Zulu warriors annihilate the British at the Battle of Isandlwana. British Battles

15. The Zulu Super Drugs

The difficulties faced by the British when they invaded the Zulu lands were owed in no small part to that tribe’s warriors’ use of narcotics. It gave them super courage and endurance. Early on, in January of 1879, a British column of 1800 troops was virtually annihilated by a fierce and fearless Zulu charge at the Battle of Isandlwana. The Zulus’ ferocity and fearlessness were due to native courage that was instilled in Zulu warriors from early on. But it was also helped in no small measure by drugs.

Zulu shamans gave their warriors powerful narcotics that enhanced their endurance and chased away their fears. They included a cannabis snuff that was very high on THC, but very low in the sedative content that makes people on weed so relaxed and chill. So it made Zulu warriors high and got them to hallucinate, but it did not leave them lethargic as usually happens with cannabis use. Zulu warriors were also given an extract from a tumbleweed-type plant called Boophone disticha, with properties similar to codeine and morphine. From the perspective of the Zulu warriors’ enemies, the results were… frightful.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.