‘Our Red Soldiers’: The Nationalist Army's Management of its Left-Wing Conscripts in the Spanish Civil War 1936–9

Abstract

The ragged division of Spain after the 17 July 1936 military uprising ensured that the two sides were not cleanly split between supporters of the government and the rebels. As a result, many men who subsequently fell under Nationalist conscription decrees had been associated with the various left-wing political parties and unions that expanded their membership under the Second Republic. The challenge for the Nationalists was to incorporate effectively as many as possible into their war effort. The Nationalist Army, as may be expected, relied on threats and violence to maintain a good level of compliance among its conscripted soldiers. However, there was another side to the army's relationship with its drafted soldiers. Men who had left-wing pasts were able to shelter within the Nationalist Army on condition that they provided an effective minimum level of service in uniform. A similar strategic policy allowed the Nationalists to incorporate over half of Republican Popular Army prisoners of war into their own army — a process known as ‘recycling’. The Nationalists' ability to mobilize and manage their conscripts with left-wing pasts is an important factor in explaining their military success in the Civil War.