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Battlefield Clean-ups?

  • 09-08-2014 4:33pm
    #1
    whisky_galore
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 16,815 ✭✭✭✭


    Just saw an article of Robert Fisk that mentioned in passing that following Waterloo, the bones from all sides were gathered up and shipped to England for fertiliser.
    I guess that people were less freaked out by the sight of dead bodies in centuries past, what with public hangings, bodies left in gibbets, heads of criminals displayed on spikes as 'warnings', and came across references to 'Waterloo Teeth', teeth removed from remains to be fabricated into false teeth for the better off in society, real teeth being far better than wood, bone etc., but find that remains being used as farming fertiliser being a bit hard to believe, rather than being buried (or burned) as quickly as possible to contain disease. Urban legend I wonder?


Comments

  • #2
    Manach
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 9,768 Mod ✭✭✭✭Manach


    Offhand from the same era, I came across an account of the aftermath of Battle of Borodino, Russia. The remains of the fallen were uncollected for months after the battle. It was a result of the ongoing conflict and that the logistical difficulties of dealing with such spread across such a wide area was beyond the means of 19thC armies.


  • #3
    Jesus.
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 4,794 ✭✭✭Jesus.


    That's interesting fellas. Fertiliser FFS!!

    A rather macabre result of the fighting in Ireland in 1798 was that that Autumn you'd know where the Croppies had fallen because there'd be barley growing in little clumps around the place. They carried barley corn in their pockets to eat when they were on the march.

    Quicklime was used to dispose of the dead in later times.


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