Standard
Field badges are military badges that indicate membership of a war party . In this sense, the markings used by the fighters at times with sewn-on symbols or armbands were also called field symbols. Since the 19th century, however, the word has been used preferably limited to military flags and standards as well as the corresponding figured rods of antiquity, which are assigned to an entire unit.
Military use
Standard symbols were also used for orientation and commanding in combat and, in particular - to this day - to raise the spirit of the corps and morale . The standard is a symbol of community, but the object itself also has a high moral value. This is made up of the value assigned to the community and the independent value assigned to the field symbol, which for this purpose is partly subjected to a process of consecration or sanctification. This corresponds to the broad notion of an honor due to the standard, which sometimes goes beyond that of a person and which must be defended at all costs.
Standard in the Roman Empire
See also: signum (Rome)
The Roman army developed or adopted various standards over time. The legions of the republic each had an animal mark. These could be boars, bulls, wolves, etc. Under Gaius Marius these individual standards were abolished. Instead, from now on every legion wore the Aquila , the famous eagle. This occasionally changed form and posture. The Aquilifer had to bear the special honor that character. Furthermore, from the imperial era there was the imaginifer (bearer of the emperor's portrait) who carried the imago. The imago itself was a plastic portrait of the emperor or a member of his family.
The smaller units, Manipels and Centuries , also had their own signs ( Signa ). A wooden, often shod hand on a pole was believed to symbolize the hand of the commanding officer. A signifer, marked by a wolf's skin , sometimes also a bear's skin , wore and defended it. He was supported by the Antesignani as bodyguards.
Awards from the Legion or Century were attached to the poles. In the camps they were housed in their own flag shrines. The cavalry had its own mark, the vexilla .
During the imperial era, the Romans also took over the Draco . This was a stylized dragon head, the end of which consisted of a tube of cloth that fluttered in the wind. A small nozzle was placed in the head itself, which made a noise when the wind passed through. From the 4th century onwards, it almost completely replaced the old standards. It was carried by a Draconarius .
Modeled after the Roman legionary eagle was the aigle de drapeau (flag eagle) of the French army of Napoleon I , which every regiment of the Grande Armée owned in addition to its troop flag.
Standard among the Turks and Janissaries
In the armies of Turkish sultans, pashas and viziers, as well as in military janissary units, the bell tree , also known as the crescent moon , served as a standard. Depending on the rank of the commanding officer, it was equipped with a different number of horse tails . In camps, the bell tree stood in front of the command tent. Later, first Austrian and then Prussian military units used the Schellenbaum, but saw it more as a status symbol and carried it in front of the music parades .
Standard in Switzerland
In the case of the Confederates , the standard in the form of a flag called a flag in Switzerland usually designated the location of the captain . A loss of this symbol was a particular disgrace for the loser, which is why they were defended particularly bitterly even when a battle was lost. Enemy standards were a particularly coveted trophy that was often kept in the town hall of the victorious party.
In today's Swiss Army , the troops (battalion / division) carry a flag or a standard in accordance with the Standard Ordinance of September 2003 . A flag as a standard is available to the infantry, engineering troops, rescue troops, medical troops, military security and troops for peacebuilding operations abroad (2004 only Swisscoy ). All other troops carry a standard as a standard.
Standard in the Third Reich
In the Third Reich standards have also been used. These were demonstrated for marches and parades . When designing the standard of the NSDAP was Adolf Hitler participated.
See also
literature
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Wilhelm von Knobelsdorff : The German standards and flags from prehistoric times to the present , a lecture by major general z. D. von Knobelsdorff, held at the meeting of the “ Historical Association for Lower Saxony ” in Hanover on March 2, 1896, Hanover: Hannoversche Post , 1896
- Enclosure of the heraldic messages of the Heraldic Association "Zum Kleeblatt" from 1896 with the subtitle ... a lecture with a drawing enclosure, which was kindly donated when the text had already been removed. The reader will find his way around without difficulty
- Hans Droysen / Wilhelm Liebenam : standard . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume VI, 2, Stuttgart 1909, Col. 2151-2161.
- Ernst Künzl : Among the golden eagles. The weapon jewelry of the Roman Empire , Regensburg, Verlag Schnell + Steiner 2008, ISBN 978-3-7954-2011-6 .
- Kai M. Töpfer : Signa Militaria. The Roman standards in the republic and the principle , Mainz, Verlag Schnell + Steiner 2011, ISBN 978-3-7954-2477-0
