From pervitin for Nazi German troops to dexedrine for American soldiers engaged in the Vietnam War. Every war has its own drug…or cocktail of drugs. And the invasion of Ukraine, launched by Vladimir Putin on February 24, 2022, is no exception. Since the start of the conflict, Ukrainian troops have reported Russian prisoners under the influence of different substances. Near the front in Pokrovsk, in eastern Ukraine, where fighting is raging, Ukrainian soldiers assure that their adversaries are taking promedol, also called trimeperidine.
This analgesic opioid is not the first molecule to make its way onto the battlefield. In May 2023, the British think tank Royal United Services Institute published a report discussing Ukrainian accusations of the use of amphetamines in Russian ranks. “When it comes to Russian forces in Ukraine, there is a shortage of verified information, compounded by the prevalence of disinformation from various sources, including from the Ukrainian side,” warns Łukasz Kamieński, Polish political scientist and author of Shooting Up : a History of Drugs in Warfare.
The soldier, this “tool that can be improved”
On Ukrainian lands veined with trenches, however, it is easy to imagine why a soldier would want to self-medicate. “Psychotropic products have always been present on battlefields and their uses have been multiple: calming pain, overcoming fear and fatigue, forgetting the atrocities experienced or suffered, uniting men…”, lists Erwan Pointeau Lagadec, historian drugs. “A human being does not easily kill other human beings. Drugs like amphetamines can reduce the inhibition needed to do so, but also the intensity of fear felt,” explains Norman Ohler, German journalist and author of Total ecstasy, The Third Reich, the Germans and drugs.
“Certain drugs make it possible to exceed the normal limits of resistance of the human body, others to resist post-traumatic stress,” explains Xavier Paulès, lecturer at EHESS. Thus, according to a report by the American administration in 1974, 98% of American soldiers mobilized in Vietnam used opium, 34% heroin and 25% amphetamines. “There is a cynical use of drugs in a war context,” says Norman Ohler. Drugs work great in the moment but there are repercussions. This shows that human life is not so important in a war context, the soldier is a tool that can be improved, even if it damages him. »
“Liquid Courage”
Promedol is a tranquilizer. It would not be suitable [donc] not to improve the performance of soldiers” unlike “stimulants like amphetamines”, specifies Łukasz Kamieński. But stimulants were not the only substances to appear on soldiers’ menus: alcohol, which also has no stimulating properties, was massively used by combatants throughout history. “We know that during the war of 14-18, many soldiers were stuck with tannin,” says Xavier Paulès. Alcohol was also part of the Poilus’ food rations. In 1916, each recruit received 75 cl of wine per day, the equivalent of a bottle, and in 1918 the quantity had increased to one liter.
There is even in English the expression “Dutch courage” or, in French, “liquid courage”, which refers to the bravery that intoxication can provide. “If you read the letters from soldiers of the Great War, some were completely drunk and used alcohol to annihilate their terror,” reports Xavier Paulès. “Traditionally, Russian troops use vodka,” recalls Norman Ohler.
Our articles on the war in Ukraine
“The use of alcohol in the Russian army is much older and more widespread than that of promedol,” adds Erwan Pointeau-Lagadec. It is entirely likely that Russian soldiers used opioids with analgesic properties. But whether this is a systematic phenomenon, or even one that would explain the behavior of the Russian army as a whole on the battlefield in Ukraine, nothing proves. » We will therefore have to wait until the end of the conflict and years of research to determine to what extent Russian troops drew their courage from capsules or flasks.
