I was re-watching an episode of Blackadder Goes Forth (the World War I series) and something occurred to me; why was Captain Blackadder in the trenches? We saw that he feuded with Captain Darling, who was a staff officer safely back at headquarters. But from everything we knew of Blackadder’s character, that’s exactly the kind of assignment he would have been angling for.
Blackadder was always looking to protect himself - and he often mocked Darling and Melchett for being miles away from danger. Blackadder was always looking to advance himself - and he could have done that more readily by working at headquarters where he’d be around higher ranking officers.
Granted, working safely at headquarters might not have been as honorable as fighting at the front - but Blackadder never cared for empty honor. He only cared about having the appearance of honor because that was useful to him. And there was no greater cause to inspire him - he openly dismissed the war as stupid and unnecessary.
Blackadder did try of some occasions to get assigned out of the trenches to something like being a pilot or a painter or the director of a show. But he never seems to try for a staff assignment despite having the example of Darling’s success right in front of him.
It doesn’t seem like getting a headquarters assignment would have been beyond his abilities. He was a regular officer (unlike Darling), he knew Haig from past campaigns and felt he could call on him for a favor, and of course he was as cunning as a fox who’s just been appointed Professor of Cunning at Oxford University.
Granted, the real reason that Blackadder was in the trenches was because that was where Richard Curtis and Ben Elton wanted him. But even that doesn’t hold up to scrutiny. There were plenty of comedic possibilities in Blackadder trying to get assigned to headquarters and being thwarted.
Edmund Blackadder is the emperor of bad luck. Any cunning plan he formulates turns to mud. He would have had a cushy job if he was lucky enough to be born a toff, because they were always made Officers through their education and privilege, but Blackadder would only have gotten to the rank of Captain through regular promotion, and that means he would have to have been on the front lines.
Presumably he had seen action in previous wars, maybe this one, so had proven himself capable.
“I did like it, back in the old days, when the prerequisite of a British campaign was that the enemy should under no circumstances carry guns; even spears made us think twice … warriors armed to the teeth with kiwifruit and guava halves. After the battle, instead of taking prisoners, we simply made a huge fruit salad. No, when I joined up, I never imagined anything as awful as this war; I’d had fifteen years of military experience, perfecting the art of ordering a pink gin and saying ‘Do you do it doggy-doggy?’ in Swahili, and then suddenly four-and-a-half million heavily armed Germans hoved into view. That was a shock, I can tell you.”
My main comparison here is Edmund Blackadder and Kevin Darling. Darling mentioned his background in the final episode; he was not regular army. He had worked in a middle class civilian job (which he had hoped to return to) before the war began. So he had no class advantage over Blackadder.
Blackadder wasn’t stupid or blinded by patriotism. He must have seen very early in the war that this was not the kind of combat he was used to (against fruit-wielding natives).
Blackadder had a pre-war military career and had once saved Haig’s life. He surely had an advantage over Darling when they were deciding who was going to be General Melchett’s adjutant.
As far as I recall. Melchitt didn’t like Darling, he liked Blackadder. However he thought, with the blinkeredness of one who is already nice and safe, that frontline duty is a reward that every good soldier yearns for, and Blackadder just couldn’t get Melchitt to understand.
This is another example of where Blackadder is very good comedy but very poor history (and to be fair it doesn’t set out to be a history lesson, just keep you entertained for half an hour). If he was on the Staff he would have to do some hard work, and exhibit some competence, and if he failed he wouldn’t be able to stay there.
I think you can construct a sort of rationale for Blackadder missing out on a staff post:
He says that he’s not lived a pampered life, like George did: (“I’ve got a degree from the University of Life, a diploma from the School of Hard Knocks and a gold star from the Kindergarten of Getting the Shit Kicked Out of You.”) That must be hyperbole, he wouldn’t have become an officer if he didn’t have at least a middle class background. But he certainly isn’t from the top of society, which means he would be overlooked for elite postings such as Guards regiments and even Staff (a key qualification for which would have been knowing which way to pass the port, and obtaining a sporting Blue for your college*). But active service in the colonies would have been a route to advancement and as he says a pretty cushy life for one unburdened by much of a conscience. Even then, he’s infantry, not cavalry.
Come the start of the Great War, it wasn’t immediately obvious that industrial trench warfare was going to be the modus operandi, and it is quite possible he misjudged the situation and thought he could emerge the dashing “hero” rather than being stuck behind the lines. (And if he’d somehow been posted to the Middle East, he could have been chums with TE Lawrence and Allenby, dashing around the desert so romantically.).
It’s also possible he already had a carefully nurtured reputation as a daring fighting commander and that this tissue of exaggeration and outright lies came back to bite him in the arse when and if he ever started making moves towards staff jobs.
It’s also true that Blackadder manifestly doesn’t have a 100% success rate when he schemes for advancement or advantage, so “tried and failed” seems like a good explanation.
*Even today, you will not get into an elite cavalry regiment unless you ride with a recognised Hunt.
They were making a very specific point by not having him wrangle out of it at the last minute in a hilarious manner, which is what everyone watching (myself included) expected.
The point was that the ordinary soldiers on the front, even those who thought it was bullshit and would have loved to get out of it, still actually did their duty and went over the top.
In the process they made the most shocking, meaningful moment of television history (I can tell you the red wedding had nothing on that). The fact the audience fully expectef him to amusingly wriggle out of it, and the series up to then, despite its subject matter had not actually been particularly dark at all, made it far more powerful.
Another thing that always occured to me is that as he was part of the small pre-war professional army, he has already survived incredible odds, as they were almost completely wiped out in the opening years of the war, and replaced with the larger volunteer army. So one thought I had is the bitter cynical Blackadder we see at the start of the series is someone who’s seen almost everyone he knew pre-war killed or maimed.
For this time and place incompetence, sloth and ineptitude all took turns commanding heroes which is very much historically accurate.
Before that it was Blackadder working with a lazy and moronic Prince. Before that was a inept Queen. Blackadder consistently hums between the fools making decisions in English history and the consequences of those foolish policies. He never tries to stop the insanity, just avoid it landing on his shoes throughout history. That is, until the final episode when he must go over the top.
I feel this supports my original question. In the previous series, Blackadder was shown at the right hand of the bumbling figure in power. So it would have worked to show him at the right hand of General Melchett.
Season 1: Prince
Season 2: Noble
Season 3: Butler
Season 4: Poor Bloody Infantry
By 1917, the fortunes of the Blackadders have waned so far that the vital connection to the Establishment has been all but severed. With ultimately fatal results.