Music has been an indispensable part of war and an indelible part of soldiers’ service lives throughout history. Even the instruments used to play music in war acquired great symbolic significance - an army's military drum symbolized glory and tradition, second only to the colors of the military uniform in symbolism. In the 18th century, the act of joining the army was described as "following the drums of war." Even today, those ancient symbols continue to be talked about. For example, a strategic research paper on the Vietnam War by Dave R. Palmer was titled "The Call of the Trumpet."
Music has always had a dual function in war: as a means of communication and as a psychological weapon. The earliest relevant record of the use of music in warfare appears in Chapter 6 of the Old Testament Book of Joshua, which contains an unusually detailed description of seven priests blowing seven ram's horns and leading the people to attack the city of Jericho. Although the ram's horn can indeed make a powerful "impact sound," it is difficult to imagine breaking through the 7-meter-high stone wall of Jericho with just the sound of the ram's horn.
The armies of both the ancient Greeks and Romans used wind and percussion instruments—including the predecessors of the modern cornet and tuba—to carry messages on the march, on the battlefield, and in camp This is true inside. The Greek army also hired some musicians to accompany the military poetry recitations. The main purpose of reciting these hymns and hymns based on ancient heroes was to remind soldiers and citizens to be as brave as the ancients. After the fall of ancient Rome in the Western world, the tradition of war music was inherited and carried forward by the Byzantine Empire.
The Celts, Rome’s enemies, also used a lot of music on the battlefield. The Celtic peoples, previously dominated by the Romans for centuries, went into battle accompanied by their own bands of horns, drums and bagpipes.
The bagpipe was such an important part of Scottish military music that in 1746, after the British defeated the Scottish army of Charles Edward Stewart, the bagpipe was banned - and soon after Later, the British lifted the ban on bagpipes for the benefit of their own Scottish troops.
In the first half of the Middle Ages, there was music in European courts and churches, but not on the battlefield. The Crusades changed this situation. The Saracens (the ancient name for the Arabs) used military bands to convey immediate orders to armies over long distances, and also as a weapon of "fear and intimidation", a practice that deeply impressed the Christian knights. , and were quickly followed by them. According to records, during a battle in Syria in 1191, the sound of trumpets was used to start the battle and order the Crusader cavalry to stop charging.
When the retired Crusaders returned to Europe, they brought back various instruments and ideas. These veterans were absorbed into different feudal armies or mercenary groups, and the use of military music spread rapidly. This kind of music also needs new editing, and soldiers in different places made changes to it according to local tastes and actual needs. Reeds (early double-pipe wind instruments) and bagpipes were introduced into the band and played together with trumpets and drums. Bands not only accompanied troops on expeditions and played on ships, but also began to grace the scene at games, festivals, and other large outdoor events.
The Italian statesman Machiavelli wrote in his 1521 treatise "The Art of War" that commanders should give orders through the trumpet because the trumpet's sound is penetrating and loud enough. , ensuring that soldiers can be heard in the chaos of battle. He suggested that the cavalry bugle should have a completely different timbre so as not to be confused with the infantry orders. As for drums and flutes, he asserted that these two instruments were the best helpers in marching training and were also powerful tools for ordering infantry to be flexibly mobilized on the battlefield.
In the late 17th century, when the early barbaric and ferocious charges gave way to large-scale fire attacks and troop deployments, war had become a stylized and highly formalized thing. Soldiers in the early 18th century were expected to act like robots, unconditionally obeying any order given by their superiors. Needless to say, there is noisy war, coupled with the smoke of artillery fire, in this case, verbal orders on the battlefield are no longer a reliable way to command the army. It's dangerous if a soldier doesn't hear an order—or worse, if he hears it but doesn't understand it. The signal conveyed by music is easier to be heard through the sound of gunfire.
The sound of the trumpet and the beat of the drum are very clear and distinct, which is the key to why they are used as messenger tools.
As time moved forward, the national militaries of various European countries developed a set of musical standards for delivering orders. As early as the mid-16th century, some soldier manuals listed various modes such as "marching", "approaching", "attacking", "retreating" and "skirmishing". For soldiers, being able to understand these signals and convert the commands expressed by the signals into specific actions is as basic a skill as loading a rifle.
Each country ultimately chose its own signature march, and the military had to memorize its own tune—actually the precursor to the modern national anthem. In the smoke of war, a team marching half a mile away may be one of our own, but it may also be the enemy. Even if their military flags cannot be clearly seen, their marching songs can illustrate their identities. Resourceful commanders have a way of secretly turning this established routine to their own advantage. During the Thirty Years' War, a German army played the tune of "The Scots March" and successfully deceived their opponents. During the Battle of Odenade in 1708, a key battle in the War of the Spanish Succession, the drummers of the Allied Forces (British-Dutch-Austrian) sounded a signal that was enough to mislead the real "French army to retreat", so that Part of the French army actually retreated from the battlefield.
The first American soldier's manual was issued for the Army in 1778 and included a series of instructions for signals and drumbeats modeled on the musical signals of European armies. The bugle quickly replaced the fife and drum combination in the American Army much faster than it did in Europe. In 1867, the common bugle tunes of the army and navy were codified and fixed, and are still in use to a large extent today.
Although the advent of the electronic age has made the bugle more and more used only during ceremonies, when the power supply is lost or the circuit is broken, the bugle can still regain its glory on the battlefield. The Vietnamese communist army still used bugles to give orders in the two Indochina wars of the 20th century. The Chinese army also used bugles during the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea in the 1950s due to the lack of modern communication tools. The American soldiers were tormented physically and mentally by the elusive Chinese military bugles and the echoes echoing in the dark mountains and forests. At this time, the role of the bugle overlaps with that of the 16th century. This psychological impact reminds us of the seven ram's horns mentioned in the Bible thousands of years ago.
On the battlefield in the mid-20th century, music used to convey orders and conduct operations became insignificant due to the emergence and development of modern communication technology. But military music is still the most effective tool to boost morale, cheer up the spirit, and adjust the atmosphere of the army and even the whole people. It may be difficult for a 21st-century media to look back at those war ditties from the First World War and understand how powerfully such songs could inspire patriotic fervor. The outstanding songs of the period, however, defined and provided samples for many early popular sentiments.
By World War II, when radio and film matured, ubiquitous technology made it possible for the art of music to penetrate deeply into the military. Marches continued to impress, and pop songs once again became the medium for unconscious emotion. Many historians of popular culture agree on one thing, that is, the pop songs of World War II were not as good as those of World War I. This is very curious-very few songs from World War II have survived, and most of them were only in the embarrassment of the time. It was sung in troubled times - but it was during World War II that classical music was used as a weapon of war for the first time.