Esprit de Corps

A French term for very high morale and an almost unshakable belief in self that is found in elite military units (although oddly given its a French term ... something not often seen in the French Army!)

Esprit de Corps has its basis in a sense of pride and belonging to a military unit. Inherited traditions and battle honours can give the members of that unit a determination to live up to tradition so allowing them to perform far above the norm.

The sort of units with this nails attitude would be

• Roman Praetorian Guard (before they got fat and lazy)
• Napoleon's Imperial Guard (before they got wupped at Waterloo)
• Hitler's elite Waffen SS divisions
• Many Special Forces (including the SAS, Australian SASR and Spetznaz but probably not some of the Spam units who think themselves speshul)
• Airborne units like Israeli paratroops and the British Parachute Regiment
• Bizarrely the collective race mongrel that is the French Foreign Legion has Esprit de Corps by the bucket load ... even if it is a 'march or die' attitude.

Find out more in the Dictionary