Friendly Fire in the Literature of War

<p> The term "friendly fire" was coined in the 1970s but the theme appears in literature from ancient times to the present. It begins the narrative in Aeschylus's <I>Persians</I> and Larry Heinemann's <I>Paco's Story</I>. It marks the turning point in Homer's <I>Iliad</I>, Virgil's <I>Aeneid</I>, the <I>Chanson de Roland</I>, Stephen Crane's <I>The Red Badge of Courage</I> and Tim O'Brien's <I>Going After Cacciat