cannon fodder

Noun

cannon fodder (uncountable)

1. Military forces considered to be expendable.
   • "A foolish old half-pay officer," boomed Sir Hilton. "Go back to your club, sir, and play bridge with other superannuated cannon-fodder, sir."1930, Frank Richards, The Magnet: Victory for the Rebels
   • Soviet communism is trying to make these nations into colonies, and to use their people as cannon fodder in new wars of conquest.1951 January 8, Harry S. Truman, State of the Union Address
2. (broadly) Any group of contestants that have no hope of success.
   • It is arrogant to simply dismiss San Marino and say they should not be playing qualifiers at this level but it is hard to see what England and manager Southgate learned from this one-sided, rather soulless experience against a team who were little more than cannon fodder.2021 March 25, Phil McNulty, “England 5-0 San Marino”, in BBC Sport
3. (rare) Artillery ammunition.
4. (slang) An expendable minor character primarily included to make the protagonist(s) stand out.