You may relish him more in the soldier than in the scholar. William Shakespeare, Othello II I 168-169, Cassio
’Tis the soldier’s life
To have their balmy slumbers waked with strife. ibid. II iii 251-252, Othello
God’s soldier be he!
Had I as many sons as I have hairs,
I would not wish them to a fairer death:
And so his knell is knoll’d. William Shakespeare, Macbeth V viii 47
Oh, you are a very poor soldier – a chocolate cream soldier! George Bernard Shaw, Arms and the Man, 1898
The British soldier can stand up to anything except the British War Office. George Bernard Shaw
Military men are just dumb stupid animals to be used as pawns in foreign policy. Henry Kissinger
Who is the happy Warrior? Who is he
Whom every man in arms should wish to be? William Wordsworth, Character of the Happy Warrior
Our God and soldiers we alike adore
Ev’n at the brink of danger; not before:
After deliverance, both alike requited,
Our God’s forgotten, and our soldiers slighted. Francis Quares, Divine Fancies, 1632
These, in the day when heaven was falling,
The hour when earth’s foundations fled,
Followed their mercenary calling
And took their wages and are dead.
Their shoulders held the sky suspended;
They stood, and earth’s foundations stay;
What God abandoned, these defended,
And saved the sum of things for pay. A E Housman, Last Poems, 1922, Epitaph on an Army of Mercenaries
Dad, how do soldiers killing each other solve the world’s problems? Bill Watterson, Calvin and Hobbes: Sunday Pages
I’m fed up to the ears with old men dreaming up wars for young men to die in. George S McGovern
Look now – in all of history men have been taught that killing of men is an evil thing not to be countenanced. Any man who kills must be destroyed because this is a great sin, maybe the worst we know. And then we take a soldier and put murder in his hands and we say to him, ‘Use it well, use it wisely.’ We put no checks on him. Go out and kill as many of a certain kind or classification of your brothers as you can. And we will reward you for it because it is a violation of your early training. John Steinbeck, East of Eden
There has seldom if ever a shortage of eager young males prepared to kill and die to preserve the security, comfort and prejudices of their elders, and what you call heroism is just an expression of this simple fact; there is never a scarcity of idiots. Iain Banks
A soldier will fight long and hard for a bit of coloured ribbon. Napoleon Bonaparte
Although a soldier by profession, I have never felt any sort of fondness for war, and I have never advocated it, except as a means of peace. Ulysses S Grant
I am a soldier, convinced that I am acting on behalf of soldiers. Siegfried Sassoon
Soldiers are dreamers; when the guns begin they think of firelit homes, clean beds, and wives. Siegfried Sassoon
The feeling about a soldier is, when all is said and done, he wasn’t really going to do very much with his life anyway. The example usually is: he wasn’t going to compose Beethoven’s Fifth. Kurt Vonnegut
Any soldier worth his salt should be antiwar. And still there are things worth fighting for. Norman Schwarzkopf
If I have got to be a soldier, I must be a good one; anything else is unthinkable. Wilfred Owen
I was a good soldier in the British Army. I was born in a very, very poor family. And I enlisted to escape hunger. But my officers were Scottish and they loved me. The Scots are good, you know. Idi Amin
There’s something about an American soldier you can’t explain. They’re so grateful for anything, even a film actress coming to see them. Marlene Dietrich
This man did not look like a soldier, he was not brassoed, leather-belted and wax-whiskered like my father. Cider with Rosie ***** 2015 starring Samantha Mortin & Archie Cox & Ruby Ashbourne Serkis & Emma Curtis & Jessica Hynes & June Whitfield & Annette Crosbie & Timothy Spall & Billy Howle & Georgie Smith et al, director Philippa Lowthorpe, BBC 2015
He’s a good soldier. The Crying Game 1997 starring Stephen Rea & Miranda Richardson & Forest Whitaker & Jaye Davidson & Adrian Dunbar & Tony Slattery & Jim Broadbent & Birdy Sweeney & Ralph Brown et al, director Neil Jordan, Whitaker
Yes; quaint and curious war is!
You shoot a fellow down
You’d treat if met where any bar is,
Or help to half-a-crown. Thomas Hardy, The Man He Killed 1909
What of the faith and fire within us
Men who march away
Ere the barn-cocks say
Night is growing gray,
To hazards whence no tears can win us;
What of the faith and fire within us
Men who march away! Thomas Hardy, Men Who March Away
Alexander Blackman, better known as Marine A, has been serving a life sentence for the murder of a badly injured Taliban fighter in Afghanistan. After a long appeal process the judges now believe he was suffering from a form of combat stress at the time and today have reduced his murder verdict to manslaughter. Panorama: Marine A: The Inside Story, BBC 2017
It now costs about $775,000 a year to put a soldier or a marine into the war in either Iraq or Afghanistan. Barbara Starr, cited Rethink Afghanistan, Brave New Films 2009
‘I’ve always wanted to kill legally.’ Inside Story: Dogs of War, British mercenary, BBC 1992
‘A lot of the time you’re doing it for the buzz.’ ibid.
The bloody Yugoslavian civil war has become a magnet for many men attracted to violence. Not since the Spanish Civil War have so many foreigners signed up for another country’s cause. ibid.
‘… Liberated two televisions and a video …’ ibid. mercenary
‘You’re going to get riff-raff; a lot of them.’ ibid. Carl
‘I’m very choosy about the people I work for.’ ibid.
The Duke of Wellington was the most famous Briton of the first half of the nineteenth century. His victory over Napoleon at Waterloo in 1815 altered the course of history. Steely eyed, lantern jawed, for later generations he came to embody the essence of Britishness. But the real man was not made of iron. Wellington: The Iron Duke Unmasked, BBC 2019
General, politician, lover, wit, outsider, the hero of Waterloo was far more complex than the public image. ibid.
Arthur Wellesley’s victories in India had established his reputation. They had also made his fortune. ibid.
Arthur’s Irish aristocratic background would shape his political outlook throughout his life. ibid.
If Ireland tried his patience, so did his wife. ibid.
The two armies met at Waterloo just outside Brussels on June 18th 1815. For 8 hours of savage hand to hand fighting, the fate of Europe hung in the balance. ibid.
Wellington would never fight another battle. ibid.
We’ve got people for that kind of work. Soldiers … Peaky Blinders s5e2: Black Cats, BBC 2019
‘The whole community was our enemy. They hated us. They hated us with a vengeance. I wasn’t prepared for that level of hatred.’ Squaddies on the Front Line, caption & soldier Michael Pike 1st Battalion Scots Guards 1980-1985, BBC 2019
The vast majority of the 250,000 deployed were so-called ‘ordinary rank’ soldiers. ibid. caption
This film is their story. The Army was initially deployed on the streets of Northern Ireland in 1969 to quell the civil unrest. ibid.
‘I was in this Land Rover. We could stand up through the hatch in the top, so there was kind of two or three guys. And I’m sort of pointing this rifle around feeling quite powerful I suppose. I’ve got this rifle in my hand. I’m keeping law and order.’ ibid.
We had to know everybody who was regarded as a player. ibid.
Two IRA explosions killed 18 soldiers at Narrow Water Castle, just outside Warrenpoint. ibid. caption