The intoxication of the soldier

Picrate, pive, pinasse, picmuche, fuchsia, red-haired, rouginet, big blue, crassi. The imagination of the soldiers of the First World War, when it came to naming wine, knew no bounds. Because the soldiers loved "pinard with a passion bordering on obsession". It was readily likened, in front-line newspapers or in topical songs, to the blood of sacrifice, fertility, and even the genius of the homeland. This sensitive and sensory history is recounted here: Blaise Cendrars shaving with red wine due to a lack of water - the fear of losing his ration, which one carries everywhere even if it sparkles in the sun and risks alerting the enemy - the looting of spring 1918, when after the Germans retreated, feasts with champagne were organized in the trenches of the Marne. The daily distribution of wine and spirits rations had become, for the command, an essential element of the war effort. In 1918, it was said that "General Pinard" had been "one of the victors of the war". These same post-war years saw the emergence of a new scourge, "winoism". Among this generation of veterans, how many were forever marked by alcoholism, this affliction that was essential for overcoming the horror of battle?