“Kill Happy”?: Understanding Military Amphetamine Use by the Allies in the Second World War

That amphetamine was used on all sides in the Second World War is widely acknowledged but little discussed by historians. Drawing on a range of primary sources Professor Rasmussen describes the ways British and American authorities evaluated amphetamine, and ultimately approved and issued the drug for use in combat despite a failure to obtain the scientific justification that had originally been sought. He argues that it is necessary to consider this adoption of amphetamine in the context of wartime psychiatric thinking about ‘combat fatigue’ and morale, and that viewed in this broader context, the drug was approved and tacitly employed by the Allies mainly because of its mood-altering rather than its waking effects. Much more work on the common soldier’s experience of the drug needs to be done through the study of wartime diaries and letters.
Nicolas Rasmussen is Associate Professor of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of New South Wales (Sydney, Australia).

jwil 11.xi.2009