Alcohol has been consumed and produced by humans for at least 7,000 years and recent theories suggest it may have actually pre-dated modern humans. The fantastically named ‘drunken monkey theory’, suggests that early humans left the trees to find and eat fermenting fruits on the ground, and that those with a better nose for the ethanol inside them survived longer and mated more, and thus our love of alcohol was hardwired into our brain.
It should come as no surprise that war also appears to be preprogramed into us for the same reasons and so these two, booze and battle, have often gone hand in hand. There are dozens of accounts of soldiers drinking before and after battle, spread across the whole of history, and right up into the modern day.
Alexander the Great, like his father Phillip the 2nd before him, was a notorious drinker, as were his Macedonian brothers in arms. Allegedly each man was promised ‘as much as he could drink’ if victorious. Clearly, it was a fantastic motivator, as his men conquered much of the known world at the time.
But while the Macedonian King tried to keep his men sober during battle, the Celts and Vikings are thought to have been practically staggering sideways into the frontlines of the enemy. There are many who challenge these theories though. The two groups appear to have used the drinking hall as both a post battle bragging ground, to exaggerate their achievements and the loot they gained. It also appears to have played a valuable part in both societies when it came to recruiting men and chieftains to war. Alcohol has long been a social lubricant, and both societies threw great feasts, the perfect place for recruiting men for the next military adventure. The Vikings in particular appear to have placed great faith in drinking, supposedly getting roaring drunk before making many major decisions regarding whether or not they should go to war, believing that men were more honest after a fifth cup of mead.
In regard to the Celts, we should be wary of the sources, most of which are Roman, and hardly unbiased. They themselves enjoyed hard drinking, either drinking wine, which they would water down (to drink it…
