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| '''Cannon fodder''' is an informal, derogatory term for ]s who are regarded or treated by government or military command as expendable in the face of enemy fire. The term is generally used in situations where combatants are forced to deliberately fight against hopeless odds (with the foreknowledge that they will suffer extremely high casualties) in an effort to achieve a strategic goal; an example is the ] of ]. The term may also be used (somewhat pejoratively) to differentiate ] from other forces (such as artillery troops, air force or the navy), or to distinguish expendable low-grade or inexperienced combatants from supposedly more valuable veterans. | |||
| ⚫ | The term derives from ], as food for ]. Soldiers are the metaphorical food for enemy ] fire.<ref>See, ''e.g.'', {{cite web |url=http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entry/cannon%20fodder |title=American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |website=education.yahoo.com |publisher=] |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606134638/http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entry/cannon%20fodder |archivedate=2011-06-06 }}</ref> | ||
| = Cannon Fodder = | |||
| <br /><blockquote>The Haitians! I hate these Haitians! They've messed with me for the last time! We'll take 'em out, only we need some back-up! I've lost a few hermanos already out there!</blockquote>'''Cannon Fodder''' is a mission in ''Grand Theft Auto: Vice City'' given to protagonist Tommy Vercetti by Cubans leader Umberto Robinafrom his fathers café in Little Havana, Vice City. | |||
| Tommy Vercetti goes to Café Robina and meets Umberto Robina, who has started an open gang war with the Haitians, sending his men to attack their drug factory in Little Haiti. The factory, however, is proving impregnable and so Umberto sends Vercetti to drive some new Cuban gangsters to the scene and help to steal the Haitian's van loaded with a drugsshipment. Vercetti leaves the café and finds a four-door vehicle and returns to collect three Cubans before driving to The Well Stacked Pizza Co. store opposite an alleyway leading to the factory, dropping off the Cubans and meeting Rico. Vercetti kills a number of Haitians guarding the entrance and, after they are dead, some Cubans run down the alleyway and into the factory walls, but are killed by a sniper. Rico calls reinforcement for the attack. Vercetti, now joined by three more Cubans, kills the sniper and enters the factory walls, killing all the Haitians he meets. Vercetti and Rico then get into the Haitian van and drive it back to the café. | |||
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| ⚫ | .<ref>See, ''e.g.'', {{cite web |url=http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entry/cannon%20fodder |title=American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |website=education.yahoo.com |publisher=] |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606134638/http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entry/cannon%20fodder |archivedate=2011-06-06 }}</ref> | ||
| ==Etymology== | ==Etymology== | ||
Revision as of 07:29, 18 February 2020
For other uses, see Cannon fodder (disambiguation).Cannon fodder is an informal, derogatory term for combatants who are regarded or treated by government or military command as expendable in the face of enemy fire. The term is generally used in situations where combatants are forced to deliberately fight against hopeless odds (with the foreknowledge that they will suffer extremely high casualties) in an effort to achieve a strategic goal; an example is the trench warfare of World War I. The term may also be used (somewhat pejoratively) to differentiate infantry from other forces (such as artillery troops, air force or the navy), or to distinguish expendable low-grade or inexperienced combatants from supposedly more valuable veterans.
The term derives from fodder, as food for livestock. Soldiers are the metaphorical food for enemy cannon fire.
Etymology
The concept of soldiers as fodder, as nothing more than "food" to be consumed by battle, dates back to at least the 16th century. For example, in William Shakespeare's play Henry IV, Part 1 there is a scene where Prince Henry ridicules John Falstaff's pitiful group of soldiers. Falstaff replies to Prince Henry with cynical references to gunpowder and tossing bodies into mass grave pits, saying that his men are "good enough to toss; food for powder, food for powder; they'll fill a pit as well as better ...."
The first attested use of the expression "cannon fodder" is by a French writer, François-René de Chateaubriand. In his anti-Napoleonic pamphlet "De Bonaparte et des Bourbons", published in 1814, he criticized the cynical attitude towards recruits that prevailed in the end of Napoleon's reign: "On en était venu à ce point de mépris pour la vie des hommes et pour la France, d'appeler les conscrits la matière première et la chair à canon"—"the contempt for the lives of men and for France herself has come to the point of calling the conscripts 'the raw material' and 'the cannon fodder'."
The term appeared in an English translation of a story written by Henkirk Conscience, translated by Mrs. Egwitt and published in the Janesville Gazette, Wisconsin in 1854. It later appeared in The Morning Chronicle, London in 1861 and was popularized during World War I.
See also
- Military tactics/units
- Forlorn hope: an initial wave of assault troops expected to sustain high casualties while attacking a well-defended target.
- Human shield: a situation in which the potential for civilian casualties deters attacks on a military target.
- Human wave attack: an assault in which a disproportionately large number of attackers is intended to overwhelm a well-defended target.
- Penal military unit: a combat formation composed of either personnel sentenced under military law, or civilian convicts who have volunteered or been drafted into military service.
- Shock troops: infantry at the forefront of an attack.
- Suicide attack
- Other cultural analogs
- Charge of the Light Brigade, where soldiers fought bravely despite facing a near certain death
- Redshirt, a fictional character whose sole purpose is to die soon after being introduced.
- Sacrificial lamb, someone who is sacrificed for the common good.
References
- See, e.g., "American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language". education.yahoo.com. Yahoo! Search. Archived from the original on 2011-06-06.
- (in French) "De Buonaparte et des Bourbons" — full text in the French Wikisource.
- "Blind Rosa by Henkirk Conscience (1854) - early use of term "cannon fodder"". Janesville Daily Gazette. 1854-03-18. p. 1. Retrieved 2019-10-08.
- "Russia & Finland - early use of term "cannon fodder"". The Morning Chronicle. 1861-05-08. p. 5. Retrieved 2019-10-08.
- How World War I gave us 'cooties', Jonathan Lighter, cnn.com, June 25, 2014. Accessed on line July 20, 2015.