On the Blue Division volunteers: Idealists, opportunists or forced soldiers?

Authors

  • Ángel Luis López Villaverde Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.53351/ruhm.v12i25.973

Keywords:

Eastern Front of World War II, Blue Division, Anti-communism, Enlistment, Fascism

Abstract

This article is meant as a contribution to the debate on the true motivations of the Spanish contingent fighting on the Russian front between 1941 and 1943, which is, in turn, linked to more general debates on the socio-cultural history of the war and the "new Nazi-fascist order". Although the apologetic account of the so-called Blue Division is plagued with prejudices that most reliable historiographical works have overcome and disproved, it is still the starting point for the present work because its argumentation retains a certain media weight and perpetuates a relatively benign image of the officially named Spanish Division of Volunteers in Spanish public opinion. The aim of this paper is to carry out an exercise in public history, deconstructing the narratives that emerged during Franco's regime in the light of recent debates and controversies on democratic memory. To this end, the heterogeneous profiles of the enlisted soldiers unearthed by historiography will be analyzed and the need to broaden the scope to delve deeper into territorial studies will be stressed. The goal will be to complete a complex puzzle in which the differences in the recruitment of the various provincial offices of the FET y de las JONS, between these and the military barracks and their different phases, will be contrasted. In this sense, this work is aimed at analyzing the whole enlistment process, considering both the motivation for enlistment and the socialization and brotherhood factors and the insertion of recruits in the public sphere upon their return. To this end, a case study focused on the Cuenca volunteers is proposed, as well as the convenience of reconsidering the strict division of concepts such as "volunteer" and "forced soldier", whose profiles are much more diffuse when applied to the diverse existing sample. Finally, a possible road map with certain methodological considerations for future research on the subject will be provided.

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Author Biography

Ángel Luis López Villaverde, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha

Licenciado en Historia Contemporánea por la Complutense (1986), doctor en Historia por la Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha (1993) y funcionario en excedencia del Cuerpo de Ayudantes de Archivos, Bibliotecas y Museos. Es profesor Titular de Historia Contemporánea de la UCLM (2003). Ha impartido docencia en las facultades de Ciencias de la Educación y Humanidades y en la de Comunicación de la UCLM, de la que ha sido decano (2016-2021). Es académico de la Real Academia Conquense de Artes y Letras (RACAL) e IP del Seminario Permanente de Estudios Contemporáneos (SPEC).Tiene tres sexenios de investigación y cuatro quinquenios de docencia.

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Published

2024-01-24

How to Cite

López Villaverde, Ángel L. (2024). On the Blue Division volunteers: Idealists, opportunists or forced soldiers?. Revista Universitaria De Historia Militar, 12(25), 199–219. https://doi.org/10.53351/ruhm.v12i25.973

Issue

Vol. 12 No. 25 (2023): Mujeres en guerras, perspectivas discursivas

Section

Estudios

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Copyright (c) 2024 Ángel Luis López Villaverde

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