Editing Cannon fodder (section)

==Etymology==
The concept of soldiers as fodder, as nothing more than "food" to be consumed by battle, dates back to at least the 16th century. For example, in [[William Shakespeare]]'s play ''[[Henry&nbsp;IV, Part&nbsp;1]]'' there is a scene where Prince Henry ridicules [[John Falstaff]]'s pitiful group of soldiers. Falstaff replies to Prince Henry with [[cynical]] references to [[gunpowder]] and tossing bodies into [[mass grave]] pits, saying that his men are "good enough to toss; food for powder, food for powder; they'll fill a pit as well as better [men]...."

The first attested use of the expression "cannon fodder" is by a French writer, [[François-René de Chateaubriand]]. In his anti-[[Napoleonic]] pamphlet "De Bonaparte et des Bourbons", published in 1814, he criticized the cynical attitude towards recruits that prevailed in the end of [[Napoleon]]'s reign: "''On en était venu à ce point de mépris pour la vie des hommes et pour la France, d'appeler les conscrits la matière première et la chair à canon''"—"the contempt for the lives of men and for France herself has come to the point of calling the [[conscripts]] 'the raw material' and 'the cannon fodder'."<ref>{{in lang|fr}} [[:wikisource:fr:De Buonaparte et des Bourbons|"De Buonaparte et des Bourbons"]] — full text in the French [[Wikisource]].</ref> 

The term appeared in an English translation of a story written by [[Hendrik Conscience]], translated by Mrs. Egwitt and published in the ''Janesville Gazette'', Wisconsin in 1854.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/36892221/blind_rosa_by_henkirk_conscience_1854/|title=Blind Rosa by Henkirk Conscience (1854) - early use of term "cannon fodder"|date=1854-03-18|work=Janesville Daily Gazette|access-date=2019-10-08|pages=1}}</ref> It later appeared in ''The Morning Chronicle'', London in 1861<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/36892249/russia_finland_early_use_of_term/|title=Russia & Finland - early use of term "cannon fodder"|date=1861-05-08|newspaper=[[The Morning Chronicle]]|access-date=2019-10-08|pages=5}}</ref> and was popularized during [[World War I]].<ref>{{cite web | title=How World War I gave us 'cooties' | last=Lighter | first=Jonathan | website=[[CNN]] | date=June 25, 2014 | url=http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/20/opinion/lighter-world-war-i-language/ | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140801100522/http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/20/opinion/lighter-world-war-i-language/ | archive-date=August 1, 2014 | url-status=dead }}</ref>