03-05-2013, 02:42 AM
Quote:All of warfare is more or less suicidal.
Hmm, I'd have to disagree there! If it were, all war would have ended millennia ago and we would be living in perpetual peace, troubled only by a few lunatics hurling themselves to their deaths now and then...
Soldiers fight in order to win, or at least to survive - there are plenty of instances throughout history of individuals making self-sacrificial attacks, but they were rare and noteworthy. Any general expecting his troops to do this as a matter of course would have faced a very prompt mutiny.
There was actually a Roman principle of suicidal attack - a commander on the verge of defeat could perform the ritual of devotio, dedicating himself to the infernal gods and taking on the failings of his army, before throwing himself to a certain end in combat and in the process 'infecting' the enemy with death. This is only recorded as happening three times, however - it seems mainly designed to allow a general who'd really messed things up to redeem his honour!
Sadly, the modern era has seen far greater use of suicide attacks, partly due to the rise of effective indoctrination, whether political or religious, and partly due to the availability of high explosive, which allows an individual to inflict massively disproportionate destruction.
Nathan Ross
