This essay explores a previously rather unexplored part of Swedish military history in the form of a Swedish volunteer in the great war named Sven Blom. The essay focuses on his mindset and thoughts regarding the war, his part in it as a combatant, and how these experiences changed his mindset regarding the war over time. Sven Blom, a Swedish man in his 30s, who lived in France at the outbreak of hostilities, chosed to side with his new countrymen and enlists as a volunteer in the French Foreign Legion. His enthusiasm and patriotism regarding the war changed slowly through his combat experiences. After he sustaines a serious case of frostbite throughout one of his feet, he is sent to recover at a hospital. He recovers, but does not enlist again. His mindset regarding the war is changed forever. The main source material of this essay is the two war-diaries written in Swedish by Sven Blom starting right before the declaration of hostilities to the time when he was discharged from the French foreign Legion. To analyze the material several books are used. Such as Svenskar i Krig, by Lars Gyllenhaal and Lennart Westberg, Det första världskriget by John Keegan, Ivan Lönnberg by Sören Björklund, Eldens återsken by Lina Sturfelt and Fallen Soldiers written by George L. Mosse.

This essay attempts to bring the experiences of eight soldiers to light, seven of them Swedish and one English, that took part in the fighting on the western front as volunteers in the French foreign legion during World War One. The main source material consists of letters sent between these soldiers and another Swedish ex-foreign legionnaire, Sven Blom, both during Mr. Bloms recovery from wounds which put him out of service in late 1914, and through Mr. Bloms work as first secretary of the Swedish consulate in Paris, with the last letters dating to 1918. The letters, which are part of a large archive left behind by Sven Blom, are transcribed and analyzed in this essay to answer five questions posed in order to ascertain the experiences and mindset of these soldiers. Are there any common themes in the soldiers’ letters? Are there any examples where Swedish national identity is commented on by the soldiers? What is their experience of the war, and what do they choose to tell Mr. Blom about? How do they feel they are treated by the French system and French soldiers? And, what are the soldiers’ opinion of reports from the war, like their fellow Swede Elow Nilson’s articles in the Swedish newspaper Vecko-Journalen?