What is the meaning of "Dogs of War" as in "unleash the Dogs of War"? And the origin?

Answer 1

From Julius Caesar, one of Shakespeare's plays:

Act 3, Scene 1

ANTONYO, pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth,
That I am meek and gentle with these butchers!
Thou art the ruins of the noblest man
That ever lived in the tide of times.
Woe to the hand that shed this costly blood!
Over thy wounds now do I prophesy,--
Which, like dumb mouths, do ope their ruby lips,
To beg the voice and utterance of my tongue--
A curse shall light upon the limbs of men;
Domestic fury and fierce civil strife
Shall cumber all the parts of Italy;
Blood and destruction shall be so in use
And dreadful objects so familiar
That mothers shall but smile when they behold
Their infants quarter'd with the hands of war;
All pity choked with custom of fell deeds:
And Caesar's spirit, ranging for revenge,
With Ate by his side come hot from hell,
Shall in these confines with a monarch's voice
Cry 'Havoc,' and let slip the dogs of war;
That this foul deed shall smell above the earth
With carrion men, groaning for burial.

Dogs have been used in war for as long as man has had war. They alert sentries to approaching enemies, they distract and disable enemy fighters. I have not found a good resource for this, but it is clearly true if you read a lot of war history.

Answer 2

Gail M hit it on the head! "Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war"
Theme of the mercenary soldier right up to the present day. Very appropriate in the Belgium Congo. Dogs let against the mercenaries, but the dogs rarely made it - the mercenaries invariably won! They couldn't beat the mercenaries. In the end the mercenaries retired across the border totally undefeated. The African has never forgot.

Answer 3

Dogs of war is a line that William Shakespeare's uses in his play Julieus Caesar. "Cry, havoc, and let slip dogs of war!" Over time it has been used as a catch phrase for military people just before a war is started.

Answer 4

In mythology Phobos and Demos were the dogs of Mars the god of war Shakespeare used this in his play. The "dogs of war" have also been used to refer to mercenary forces such as that lead by Mike Houre in the Congo in the 60's.

Answer 5

I heard somewhere that the Romans trained Rottweilers and put studded and spiked "armor" on them, sending them in to attack and terrify the enemy. I don't know how true that is.

Answer 6

OOOHRAH it is refering to the US MARINES... Devil Dogs. The title "Devil Dogs" was given to the USMC by the Germans in WWII....