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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

Super Facts - Napoleonic era Austrian soldiers — Napoleonic era Austrian soldiers. Pinterest

25. Super Soldiers Have No Fears, But Real Soldiers Have Plenty

John Keegan’s positive and negative motivators of inducement and coercion could use a helping hand. Thus, the motivator of narcosis, or chemical motivation. War is hard work, and to even get one’s soldiers close enough to the enemy to fight it out often involved weeks or months of tedious and arduous marches from hither to yon. Throughout, the warriors have to withstand the elements, endure stints of thirst and hunger, and suffer other deprivations. On top of that, they have to cope with the hopelessness of knowing that there is something precious they could do about it all.

Then, when the enemy was finally in sight, there came the doubts and fears that real soldiers – as opposed to super-soldiers of fiction – have to deal with. How will the battle go? Will the warrior live? Will he die? Will he get wounded? How bad a wound? Will he get maimed for life? Will his favorite comrades live, or die, or get maimed? And how will he act in the moment of truth? Will he face the enemy bravely, and earn or retain the respect of his peers? Will he turn cowardly and let his comrades down? Historically, soldiers have often turned to alcohol and drugs to chase away – or at least dull – such concerns.

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.