What is the origin of the goose step march and (if it’s very old) why (thankfully) didn’t the U.S.Army goose step? A check of the internet brought me to the conclusion that everyone and every side to any issue goose steps. Unfortunately they weren’t talking about the march, so that didn’t help at all. Can any of the Teeming Millions help?
I know that it was used in Prussia starting about the time Frederick the Great came to the throne (1740). I don’t know if that was its first use. It was also used for a while in France and (very briefly) in Great Britain and Italy.
Here is a site that quotes Europe: a History - Norman Davies
It does not provide a lot of detail.
I’ve seen the references to the Prussian Army and vague stories of the Roman Legions goose stepping. The news I’ve seen of the North Korean army goose stepping showed a very quick march. You have no idea how much they looked like an army of Marvin the Martians on parade.
I have read Norman Davies’ “Europe”. I believe he didn’t definitively pin down the origin of the goose-step, but it does appear that the goose-step was given a big boost by the Prussians.
I’m afraid I can’t provide a source for this, but I dimly remember reading that the goose step was favoured by Prussian officers as it was an effective ‘sobriety test’ for their troops…
It certainly looks exhausting. Was it only used for ceremonies, like passing in review? Does anyone out there have actual experience doing it, that is, as a march and with a company?
“Springtime for Hitler and Germany
Goosestep’s the new step in town.”
IIRC, It was not uncommon for students at military schools and academies to be required to perform the goosestep while marching off punishments.
This is so wild. I always assumed that the reference to Nazi soldiers as “goose-steppers” was a derisive form of “Gestapo.”
Learn something new every day, especially here.
Well, I’ve exhausted my sources, with one annoying reference in the back of my head from somewhere in Who’s Who in Military History. For what it’s worth, I did run across this endearing (and somewhat inaccurate) passage by George Orwell:
“One rapid but fairly sure guide to the social atmosphere of a country is the parade-step of its army. A military parade is really a kind of ritual dance, something like a ballet, expressing a certain philosophy of life. The goose-step, for instance, is one of the most horrible sights in the world, far more terrifying than a dive-bomber. It is simply an affirmation of naked power; contained in it, quite consciously and intentionally, is the vision of a boot crashing down on a face. Its ugliness is part of its essence, for what it is saying is “Yes, I am ugly, and you daren’t laugh at me,” like the bully who makes faces at his victim. Why is the goose-step not used in England? There are, heaven knows, plenty of army officers who would be only too glad to introduce some such thing. It is not used because the people in the street would laugh. Beyond a certain point, military display is only possible in countries where the common people dare not laugh at the army.” –The Lion and the Unicorn
I vaugely recall reading (and I don’t recall where) that during the Napoleonic Wars when Purssia and England were allies, some English regiments tried out the Prussian goose step, apparently in one case not understanding it was for parade only. One regiment goose-stepped some long distance in the Spanish campagian and was permanently disabled by knee injuries.
That was interesting, a British regt trying to goose-step as a regular march. Frederich the Great would’ve laughed out loud at that one.