이들이 발을 높이 드는 이유

==🥁 역사와 의미를 담은 군사 행진, ‘구스 스텝’의 진실==

1. 🎥 영상 소개와 느낀 점

• 군사 퍼레이드 영상 시청 후, 소련, 북한 등 여러 국가의 군인들이 일제히 행진하는 모습이 인상적이었다.
• 과거 어린 시절, 이러한 모습의 의미와 강제성에 대해 궁금증이 생겼으며, 훈련 과정에서의 엄격함을 떠올림.
• 모든 국가가 아니더라도, 공산권 국가들에서 흔히 볼 수 있는 구스 스텝은 단순한 군사 퍼포먼스 이상의 의미를 내포하고 있음.

2. 🦢 구스 스텝의 어원과 기원

2.1. 영어권과 독일어권에서의 명칭

• 영어: '구스 스텝' (goose step) — 거위의 걷는 모습과 유사
• 독일어: 'Steh Schritt' — '찌르기(찔러 넣기)'를 의미

2.2. 역사적 기원

• ==18~19세기 프러시아 군대에서 처음 도입됨==
• 그 시대 최고의 규율과 조직력을 갖춘 군사 시스템의 상징적 표현으로 사용됨
• 군인 개개인보다 병력의 통제와 집합성을 강조하기 위해 고안됨
• 총체적 복종과 일체감 유지를 목적으로 함

2.3. 확산과 전파

• 독일 제국, 오스트리아, 러시아 군대에 채택됨
• 러시아 제국은 19세기 초부터 활용, 제국주의적 상징으로 사용
• 이어서 소련 군대와 세계 여러 공산권 국가들로 전파됨

3. 🏛️ 독재 군사문화에서의 역할과 상징성

3.1. 군사 퍼레이드와 확산

• 나치 독일, 소련, 북한 등에서 정치적 위신과 권력을 과시하는 수단으로 활용
• 당시 지도자들은 군사 퍼레이드를 통해 권위와 절대 통제력 과시

3.2. 정치 메시지와 군사적 신호

• 내부 결속 및 내부 통제 강화를 위한 도구
• 외부에는 군사력 과시와 적대국에 대한 위협의 메시지 전달
• 특히, 나치와 스탈린 정권 시기에는 강력한 이미지를 부각하는 역할

3.3. 군사력 과시와 냉전시대

• 소련·미국 간 군사력 경쟁의 일환으로 강렬한 군대 이미지 연출
• 핵무기 위협과 결합된 군사 퍼레이드는 심리전 전략의 일부였음

4. 🇰🇵 북한 군사 퍼레이드와 구스 스텝

4.1. 전시와 영상에서의 특징

• 구성원의 훈련 강도 높음: 3~6개월의 연습, 하루 6시간 이상 훈련
• 발을 높게 들어 올리고, 정밀한 동작을 완벽하게 수행하는 데 초점
• 발 각도는 최소 60도 ~ 90도 이상, 매우 과장되거나 극단적으로 강화됨

4.2. 훈련과 엄격성

• 오차 시 강도 높은 체벌과 강제 훈련
• 눈, 머리, 팔 등 몸 전체를 일치시켜 움직여야 함
• 병사들은 12시간 이상의 날에 걸쳐 행진하며, 생명을 위협하는 강제 조건 존재

4.3. 군사 퍼레이드의 목표

• 충성심과 체제 유지의 도구
• 가족 배경, 출신 성분 등으로 선별된 엄격한 기준
• 실수 시 즉각 처벌, 때로는 건강 악화, 탈영 사례도 존재
• 핵·미사일 등 자국 무기 과시와 함께 강력한 국가 이미지를 전달

4.4. 메시지와 외교적 의미

• 남한, 일본, 미국 등에게 압박과 위협 메시지 전달
• 세계적 방송을 통해 정권의 권력과 강함을 과시하는 전략

5. 🌎 구스 스텝의 정치적·문화적 의미와 범위

5.1. 군사 퍼레이드의 상징성과 유산

• 과거 권위주의와 군사 독재의 상징으로 활용
• 오늘날 일부 공산권, 군사 전통 유지를 위해 사용하는 경우도 있음

5.2. 비공산권 국가와 차이점

• 미국, 서구권 국가들은 대개 군사 퍼레이드를 공적 행사 및 전통 유산으로 간주
• 자율성과 책임 강조, 군인 개개인의 독립적 이미지 중시
• 북한과 달리, 강제성과 대중적 메시지보다는 존엄성과 문화적 전통에 가깝게 수행됨

5.3. 한국과 대조

• 대한민국 군대는 파격적 연습과 강제성보다 실용성과 책임감을 강조
• 구스 스텝과 같은 형식은 거의 찾기 어려우며, 자연스럽고 자유로운 행진이 일반적임

5.4. 현대 군사 퍼레이드의 변화

• 미국 등 서방은 주로 관람, 기념, 연결의 의미로 수행
• 권위 과시보다 전통, 문화, 국가의 단결 강조하는 성격 강함

6. ⚠️ 결론 및 오늘의 교훈

• 구스 스텝은 단순한 군사 퍼포먼스를 넘어, 한 나라와 체제의 정체성과 메시지를 보여주는 하나의 언어임
• 과거 권위주의, 전체주의 체제의 유산이자, 군사와 정치의 상징적 도구임을 알 수 있었다
• 오늘 살펴본 군사 행진의 의미를 통해, 군대와 정치 시스템의 연관성을 이해하는 데 도움이 됨

==다음에는 더 흥미로운 주제로 돌아오겠습니다. 시청해 주셔서 감사합니다!==

대본

Thank you for clicking on the video. The video you are watching now is a video of a Soviet military parade. Hundreds of soldiers are marching with their feet raised high, as if they were machines, without any deviation. This time, it is a North Korean military parade. It is overwhelming with even more exaggerated movements than the Soviet Union . Those of you watching this video have probably seen these scenes at least once. When I was young, I watched a video of a North Korean military parade and wondered how they could maintain such a high temperature and heat, how arduous the training must have been to make it possible, and how much coercion and beatings there must have been during the process. And you may have noticed one thing in common among the countries you are watching now . That is, they were or are still maintaining a communist system. From the past to the present, only communist countries have maintained this way of walking, and this way of walking is called the goose step in English. But is this really a performance limited to communist countries? This step remained a symbol of communist countries through the mid-to-late 20th century, but in fact, if you look at its origins and history, you cannot say that it is only that way. And although it seems like a simple performance, there is a lot of meaning and It contains a political message, and today's topic is the history of the goose step. So let's get started right now to find out why they walk this way . This way of walking is called the goose step in English-speaking countries. The reason is that the way they walk, lifting their legs high forward without bending their knees, is reminiscent of the gait of a goose. In German, this is called Stei Schritt, or stabbing step. However, the origin of this goose step is not actually a communist country. This walking style was first introduced by the Prussian army in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. At that time, the Prussian army was considered to be the most disciplined and systematically trained army in Europe. The Prussian military system developed significantly during the reign of Frederick II. At that time, the army was centered on line infantry, and their disciplined marches and volleys were important factors that could determine victory or defeat on the battlefield, so the way of walking itself served as a symbol of combat power and discipline. Prussia tried to visually demonstrate military discipline and obedience, not just as a simple way of walking, and to this end, it emphasized group discipline and the extinction of the individual. In other words, the goose step aimed to treat each soldier as an accessory and show unified movements like a machine. And this marching style became the basis of a totalitarian military culture that emphasized immediate obedience to orders and unconditional control. Prussia used military parades and military parades in front of the king and nobles to It used to show dignity and discipline, and this Prussian goose step spread to European countries such as the unified German Empire, Austria, and Russia by the end of the 19th century. The goose step was also used in the Russian army before the Soviet Union. The Russian Empire actively adopted the Prussian military training system and ceremonial march from the early 19th century, and the goose step became a way to express the dignity of the empire. Afterwards, the Soviet Union, which emerged through the Russian Revolution and the Red-White Civil War, denied the old system of the past imperial Russia, criticized imperialism, and established the system. However, the Soviet Red Army largely inherited the appearance of the past authoritarian army, and rather controlled the army through stricter military discipline, and further combined it with thorough ideological brainwashing. This was especially emphasized and systematized under the Stalin regime. Stalin considered the strategy of showing off very important. From the late 1930s, he implemented a strategy to visually maximize the authoritarian political system, and the most important performance among them was the military parade on Red Square. And the goose step became a symbol of Red Square and Stalin's power. It functioned as a means of showing off . Stalin was a dictator who pursued absolute power through personality cult and politics of terror, and his coordinated performance, including the goose step, was an attempt to visually reveal his absolute authority. In fact, this step is not a useful method in actual combat. Rather, it is an unnecessary and inefficient movement. However, Stalin persistently emphasized the goose step during the parade and was overly obsessed with showing off his power rather than efficiency. On November 7, 1941, when Nazi Germany had advanced to the mosque and the outskirts, he even held a parade in Red Square. The soldiers who participated in the parade at that time were immediately deployed to the front lines. And this military tradition that started in Prussia was passed on to the German Empire and then to Nazi Germany, and this marching method was used as a propaganda tool for foreign countries. Hitler viewed the parade as a scene that impressed authority and absoluteness on the people, and he repeatedly used these scenes in military demonstrations at the Berlin Olympics and in various propaganda films. Although Hitler and Stalin were ideologically different, they were no different in that they viewed the military as an accessory that showed absolute obedience to the leader. In this way Large-scale military parades, including the goose step, internally served to unite the nation and strengthen authority, and externally to deliver a silent message to the enemy. In particular, during the Cold War, the Soviet Union, in its confrontation with the United States, tried to excessively show off the ability of the state to control to this extent through the unification of soldiers' movements that were visually overwhelming . And this was transferred to North Korea, which is right next to our country . After World War II, the entire Soviet military culture, including the goose step, spread to communist countries around the world. The People's Liberation Army of China, the East German Army, the Vietnamese People's Army, the Cuban Army, and North Korea's Korean People's Army all adopted the Soviet military training and parade methods. While the Western powers, including the United States, gained superiority in the Cold War system with their military power and technology, these communist countries also used visualizing their numbers of troops and military organization as key strategies. In particular, amid the tension that nuclear war could become a reality, military parades, which show mechanical military images, especially the most advanced weapons such as tanks and overwhelming ceremonial marches, went beyond military solidarity and political propaganda in communist countries and became a strategy to psychologically threaten the West and deter war. It was also used as a tool. In other words, ironically, excessive military discipline and performance also functioned for the purpose of preventing war . And we have been exposed to North Korean military parade videos more often than other communist countries such as the Soviet Union and China through the media. This may be a result of geographic proximity, nuclear threats, and curiosity due to North Korea's closed nature. However, the North Korean military's steps are particularly high and exaggerated compared to those of other countries. Although it is slightly different depending on the era, they attempt to maximize the control and dignity of the regime by raising their feet at an extreme angle of at least 60 to 70 degrees and at most 90 degrees. The military parades of the Kim Il-sung era did not use the excessive steps as they do today. Rather, the exaggerated steps that we commonly see began in earnest during the Kim Jong-il era. In particular, during this period, they invested heavily in videos and stages, evolving the military parade into a form similar to a propaganda show for a competition. And during the Kim Jong-un era, a military parade strategy that optimized camera angles was introduced in consideration of the development of digital broadcasting technology. North Korean soldiers begin parade training 3 to 6 months in advance. They train for 6 hours a day. We do step training for 12 hours a day, and if the angle of the foot is off even a little bit or the timing is late, we receive intense training such as beatings, restricted eating, and mental education. They say they are severely disciplined. Not only that, but they have to move their eyes, heads, arms, and everything perfectly and simultaneously according to the command. The North Korean military parade, which is so perfectly mechanized , involves 12 horizontal columns, 24 columns, and an additional 300 people including the rear guard for each branch of the military. They also say that they evaluate the soldiers for these North Korean military parades based on considerable criteria. The most important thing is loyalty to the party, as well as their family background and origin. They say that those with family members who were punished for defecting from North Korea or who were farmers or landowners are excluded from the target group. They also select soldiers based on their appearance and physical condition . According to the testimonies of North Korean defectors, even the slightest mistake is not tolerated during the training process, and because they march for more than 8 hours a day, there are many soldiers who collapse or even desert. In this way, North Korea shows off not only exaggerated steps but also new missiles and equipment during the parade. And the North Korean military parade, which is elaborately staged and broadcast to the whole world, continues to send a message to South Korea, Japan, and the United States not to mess with us. In the introduction, As mentioned, it is not right to interpret the booth step as the exclusive property of the communist countries . This method was a symbol of authoritarianism in the past and was practiced in many countries regardless of ideology. However, during the Cold War, the liberal camp centered around the United States and the United Kingdom rarely used the goose step, and it is currently considered a symbol of communist countries. Of course, there are countries in non-communist countries such as Chile, Iran, and Egypt that still perform the goose step or a similar form of march to maintain military traditions. However, these countries also have a stronger meaning as a performance to maintain tradition rather than exhortation. In the case of Taiwan , the march during the Kuomintang military dictatorship era included this goose step. However, with the democratization that began in the late 1980s, the ceremonial march gradually changed to focus on practicality and mobility in order to break away from the authoritarian control method of the past and differentiate it from the Chinese Communist Party-style military parade. In Korea, it is difficult to find a march in the form of the goose step even in videos from the past military regime, and it is similar to the form that is maintained even now, with arms at 90 degrees and feet at 30 degrees. You can see them swaying their hips and legs high and naturally bending their knees as they march. The formal training of the US military, which is called the world's strongest, is also conducted in a relatively free atmosphere with the purpose of maintaining unity and discipline, but without worrying about excessive visual presentation. In addition, military parades in Western powers including the US are symbolic as public events, but they do not have controlled presentations like those in North Korea. The parades held on Independence Day or Veterans Day in the US are mainly for the purpose of paying respect and honor to veterans and uniting citizens, not a performance to show obedience to a leader. In other words, while extreme totalitarian systems such as the former Soviet Union, Nazi Germany, and present-day North Korea regarded soldiers as group accessories that obeyed the system, most countries living in the modern era show a big difference in that they emphasize the autonomy and responsibility of individual soldiers, and the point where this is extremely revealed is the marching in formal training, especially in military parades. Today, we learned about military parades, especially the step that symbolized authoritarianism and military regimes in the past, and the goose step, a symbol of military parades that still exists in some countries including North Korea today. This walking style is not a simple military ceremony, but another language that represents the system and how a country This is another example of how the military is viewed and how the system is maintained, showing its identity. Today, through the soldiers' gait, we were able to get a glimpse of what kind of society they are aiming for. We will come back with a more interesting topic next time. Thank you for watching.