Antifascist Army: Military Culture and Military Identity in the Popular Army during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939)

The rise and fall of the Popular Army was a singular chapter in the military, political, cultural, and social history of Spain. This institution is usually addressed within the narrow confines of military effectiveness or as an expression of political struggles within the Popular Front alliance. Yet this army represented a concerted effort at militarising the enlightenment values of antifascism in pursuit not only of material victory but of social transformation. This thesis re-evaluates this institution through the lens of military culture. Rather than adopt a static view of a military institution's function and values, it examines the dynamic interplay of antifascist values with the traditions of the Spanish military and the organic norms of the frontline. The result was a protean military culture founded on the common understanding of the military as a modernising and enlightening force in society as well as the sacred bonds of antifascist comradeship.

This army cannot be understood without reference to its efforts to the norms, values, and customs which shaped its creation and governed its functioning. Analysing the interactions of Republican soldiers and junior leaders with the increasingly coherent and formalized set of military values, codes, and traditions created for this new army enables us to understand this antifascist military culture, and the military identities it produced, from above and below. Rather than viewing military necessity and antifascist ideals as being in perpetual contention, this thesis reveals the extent to which the two were reconciled on a day-to-day basis by the soldiers of the Republic.