Lancaster University Lecturer in Modern European History and CWD member, Dr Stephanie Wright has published an article on war disability following the Spanish Civil War in the academic journal Past and Present. Bearing the title, ‘Of maiming and privilege: rethinking war disability through the case of Francoist Spain’, Stephanie’s article discusses attempts by the dictatorship of Francisco Franco to rebrand its war maimed as ‘Mutilated Gentlemen’ (Caballeros Mutilados), while disenfranchising those wounded fighting for the defeated Republican side. In popular parlance, the latter were often referred to as ‘damned cripples’ (jodidos cojos), and the structural inequalities between both cohorts of veterans helped to keep the political cleavages of the Civil War alive long into the dictatorship and beyond.

While acknowledging the significant shortcomings of Francoist war disability policy, the article shows how the war disabled of the winning side occupied a space of relative privilege under the regime, despite and even because of their impairments. As such, the Spanish case disrupts the traditional association of physical impairment with marginality, while highlighting the fluidity of perceptions and experiences of war disability according to socio-political context.

You can read Stephanie’s article in Past and Present here: Of Maiming and Privilege: Rethinking War Disability through the Case of Francoist Spain, 1936–1989* | Past & Present | Oxford Academic (oup.com)