When most people picture soldiers, they tend to imagine the chaos of wartime. The 1920s tell a different story. It was a decade of rebuilding, training, ceremonial duties, and adapting to a world still recovering from the First World War. Armies were changing, uniforms were evolving, and many of the men in these photographs were serving during an unusual period between two of history’s largest conflicts.
Colorized photographs have a way of making that forgotten era feel surprisingly immediate. The faces no longer seem distant, the uniforms reveal details that disappear in black and white, and the scenes take on an authenticity that is easy to overlook in traditional historical images. Rather than looking like relics from another age, these soldiers come across as ordinary young men whose lives happened to unfold in an extraordinary period of history.
1. Spanish soldiers defending their position of Dar Drius, Morocco, 1921
2. Spanish Army soldiers with a machine gun on the outskirts of Nador, 1920s
3. Sergeant Stubby with his military uniform and decorations, 1921
4. Czech soldiers showing off the armoured train they captured from the Red Army, 1920
5. Pyotr Wrangel, leader of the White Army, 1920
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6. Landing of Alhucemas by the Spanish Army, Morocco, 1925
7. Spanish soldier writing home, Morocco, 1922
8. A German citizen being threatened by a French soldier for not taking his hat off while passing him, 1923
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9. General John Pershing paying his respects to his soldiers, 1925
10. A Latvian Army soldier from 1925
11. A Red Army soldier wearing a Budenovka, 1926
12. Babe Ruth after enlisting in the National Guard, 1924
13. Corporal of the Spanish Army during the Rif War, 1920s
14. Lenin speaking to Red Army Troops at Moscow’s Sverdlov Square, 1920
15. A soldier from the USS Olympia being taken to the US Capitol, 1921
16. French soldiers honoring the Unknown Soldier at the Arc de Triomphe, 1921
17. Soviet troops parading, 1925
Want to see more vintage military content?
Check out 20 Vintage Navy Photos From The Past (1930s-1980s), or take a look at 20 Colorized Photos of Soldiers in the 1910s. Finally, if you want to see WWII soldiers in color, check out 20 14 Colorized Photos That Capture Soldiers Coming Home After WWII
