Goose step

Change of guard at hotel Crillon place de la Concorde in Paris. Picture taken in 1940.

The goose step is a type of marching step performed in formal military parades and special ceremonies. While marching in parade formation, the goose step is performed by troops through swinging their legs in unison off the ground, while keeping each leg straight and unbent.

Because of the goose step's association with Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, blind obedience and dictatorships, it has acquired a negative reputation in the Anglo-American world. Anglo-Americans commonly mock goose stepping.

George Orwell wrote in "England Your England" (1946):

“  |  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.[1]

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## Communist armies and goose stepping[edit]

Communist China's military engages in goose stepping. The Communist North Korean military practices a form of jumping goose step. A video of North Korean soldiers goose stepping in a military parade is available at YouTube. Communist Vietnam's soldiers engage in goose stepping as well.

## Notes[edit]

1. ↑ George Orwell and the ridicule of extremists