Soldiers relaxing

Whichever side they were on, once conscripts were sent to the front, their lives changed radically in every respect: socially, culturally, and morally. The most important changes derived from the transformation of interpersonal relationships, which were based on values very different from those of peace time. Soldiers depended on each other and forged tight bonds with their comrades in arms, creating ties that turned them into blood brothers. While they could write letters home, only their comrades could easily understand what they were living through. They didn’t become numbed automatons. Like all human beings, the soldiers demonstrated a remarkable capacity to adapt to their environment and relied on their comrades. Interviews conducted in the last few years reveal that there were real class differences: while enlisted men shared camaraderie among themselves, the possibility of punishment meant that their relations with officers were marked by fear and submission.

Moral adaptation was a product of drastically different ethical norms. Violence, murder, and death became daily occurrences, and soldiers had to confront a reality of kill or be killed. For this reason, most took part in the violence. As one deserter from the rebel army put it, he had become “a genuine beast”. Years later, another, who deserted from the Republicans to the rebels, said that he had “fought as best he could in both armies in order to survive”. When the conflict had ended, many soldiers found it difficult to share their wartime experience. Many of those who write memoirs sought to justify their actions, fearing that in the postwar ethical context they would not be understood by those who had not lived what they had.

Soldiers on both sides endured the same harsh conditions of daily life: cold, mental, and physical exhaustion, and hunger, although conditions were far worse for the Republicans. When they were not fighting, they had to undertake long marches and often sleep in the open air. And when they captured a city or were on leave, they took advantage of every opportunity to eat, smoke, drink, and distract themselves from the crude reality they had to confront.

In sum, it was an extreme existence from which they sought to escape as much as possible in order to survive and resist the physical and moral difficulties through which they had to live. That is why many of the photographs we have, like this one taken by the Army of Galicia’s Photographic Unit, are of moments of relaxation.

FLC