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A comment on Killing it: From handaxes to spears, no difference in hunting (2020).

Re:Killing it: From handaxes to spears, no difference in hun... by inglor_cz on Tuesday March 23, 2021 @04:44AM (#26552550)
One thing that always striked me was the mad willingness of soldiers in WWI to jump over the parapet and plunge into the hail of enemy bullets. Where does such suicidal bravery come from?

But this article made me realize that it might be just preprogrammed in some of us, a legacy of the long forgotten ages when our forefathers regularly faced a ton of galloping angry beef with just spears. Possibly the tribes that would not even try died out from lack of food.

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Re:Killing it: From handaxes to spears, no difference in hun... by Leherenn on Tuesday March 23, 2021 @05:12AM (#26552714)
Well, refusal was considered desertion, and usually punished by death. Also see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1917_French_Army_mutinies, soldiers were still in the trenches but refused attack orders.
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Re:Killing it: From handaxes to spears, no difference in hun... by wil421 on Tuesday March 23, 2021 @11:37AM (#26556267)
They had two choices be shot by the enemy or refuse an order and be shot by an officer.
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Re:Killing it: From handaxes to spears, no difference in hun... by natmaka on Tuesday March 23, 2021 @09:28AM (#26554698)
In the French army soldiers were served, before such assault, a fair amount of alcohol. Source: my maternal grandfather, who was a French soldier during WW1.
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Re:Killing it: From handaxes to spears, no difference in hun... by ReadFList on Tuesday March 23, 2021 @05:28AM (#26552817)
>Where does such suicidal bravery come from?

If that is something you're interested in, you would probably enjoy reading Ernst Jünger's Storm of Steel. Make sure to read the 1929 version. I believe there is only one english translation, by Basil Creighton.

All the other editions available in the market are subsequent edits the author made, each one with a more pacifist tone, as the author got older.

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Re:Killing it: From handaxes to spears, no difference in hun... by inglor_cz on Tuesday March 23, 2021 @05:32AM (#26552848)
I can read German. Thanks for an intriguing suggestion, will do!
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