I've always assumed Pink Floyd's song "The Dogs of War" was inspired by Frederick Forsyth's book "The Dogs of War", published in 1974. Not based on, but drew a lot from. It's a novel about a British company that hires a mercenary group to replace the dictator of a small African nation with a government that would give it favorable mining rights.
I'm sure they were also thinking about the larger context of mercenaries in the world, but some of the lines brought Forsyth's book to my mind. "You can't stop what has begun" and "even our masters don't know the webs we weave" fit with the plot twist. I mean, usually the employer can stop what has begun-- pay them off and tell them to go home. And he does know the webs they weave, because he's the one that weaved them! "Invisible transfers, long distance calls" recalls Forsyth's detailed logistics.
Replacing a government is something new for a private army, but otherwise there's nothing very astonishing with the story line, historically speaking. Forsyth was an investigative reporter, and much of the material for the book was drawn from his work on the illegal arms market. What the salient reviewer on Amazon thought was boring-- the logistics-- I thought was fascinating.
One thing i want to say about mercenaries is that they fight for someone other than their own government, but that doesn't mean, in general, that they have no loyalties or ideals. American Airmen that flew with the British before the US entered World War II were mercenaries, and so were the Flying Tigers in China. Foreign fighters in Iraq and Afghanistan are mercenaries, but I doubt they'd switch to the American side if only they were offered more money. There was a mercenary company in Africa, I think based in South Africa, that only worked for legitimate governments. Floyd's song wasn't about them, but I think the song sort of romanticized the reality.
I've always assumed Pink Floyd's song "The Dogs of War" was inspired by Frederick Forsyth's book "The Dogs of War", published in 1974. Not based on, but drew a lot from. It's a novel about a British company that hires a mercenary group to replace the dictator of a small African nation with a government that would give it favorable mining rights.
I'm sure they were also thinking about the larger context of mercenaries in the world, but some of the lines brought Forsyth's book to my mind. "You can't stop what has begun" and "even our masters don't know the webs we weave" fit with the plot twist. I mean, usually the employer can stop what has begun-- pay them off and tell them to go home. And he does know the webs they weave, because he's the one that weaved them! "Invisible transfers, long distance calls" recalls Forsyth's detailed logistics.
Replacing a government is something new for a private army, but otherwise there's nothing very astonishing with the story line, historically speaking. Forsyth was an investigative reporter, and much of the material for the book was drawn from his work on the illegal arms market. What the salient reviewer on Amazon thought was boring-- the logistics-- I thought was fascinating.
One thing i want to say about mercenaries is that they fight for someone other than their own government, but that doesn't mean, in general, that they have no loyalties or ideals. American Airmen that flew with the British before the US entered World War II were mercenaries, and so were the Flying Tigers in China. Foreign fighters in Iraq and Afghanistan are mercenaries, but I doubt they'd switch to the American side if only they were offered more money. There was a mercenary company in Africa, I think based in South Africa, that only worked for legitimate governments. Floyd's song wasn't about them, but I think the song sort of romanticized the reality.