Guard
A guard is a special military unit that is used as a bodyguard or house troop for honor guard service or representative purposes. Since Napoleon I in particular , core and teaching troops, which are characterized by special training and preferred deployment, have also counted among the guard troops. Such forces are frequently special uniforms or badges from the mass of the army highlighted. Usually guard units are only found in the land forces of the states.
The term was borrowed from the French garde around 1700 . As early as the 15th century, however, the name for Landsknechtshaufen on the Lower Rhine was occasionally found . Garder (French), guardare , guardia (Italian) and guardar (Spanish) go back to the Germanic wardon (“to take care”, “to be on guard”). The establishment of the Swiss Guard and the Garde du Corps by Charles VIII of Sweden and Louis XII. of France at the end of the 15th century gave the term a general breakthrough. Corresponding troops also existed in antiquity .
Antiquity
Probably the oldest surviving bodyguards are the Kereter and Peleter (possibly, but not certain Cretans and Philistines) mentioned in the books Samuel and Chronicle of the Bible and Tanach , under Benaja ben Jojada as the bodyguard of King David . Other well-known guard troops of antiquity were the so-called apple - bearers of the Persian king , the elite formations (agēma) of the shield-bearers and the horsemen of Alexander the great or, before that, the holy band of the Greek city of Thebes . In the Roman Empire , the Praetorians and the Equites singulares imperatoris formed the bodyguard and thus the guard troops of the emperor.
Bodyguard is the name that has been used since the 15th century for the troop units intended for the personal protection of a prince . The bodyguard is not to be confused with the bodyguard , which can also consist of a private individual ( bodyguard ).
Angola
Byzantine Empire
The bodyguard of the Byzantine emperor was at least initially from Scandinavian Vikings existing Varangian Guard . The Varangian Guard was formed in 988 when the Kiev Grand Duke Vladimir I sent 6,000 Vikings to Emperor Basil II . The end of the Varangian Guard came with the conquest of Constantinople during the 4th Crusade in 1204.
Germany
In the early modern period - when the imperial title remained almost continuously with the House of Habsburg - i. d. R. the Arcièren bodyguard the bodyguard of the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire of the German nation . At the time of the German Confederation and also after the founding of the empire in 1871, Germany comprised several kingdoms and principalities , in which every ruling prince was in principle entitled to his own house troops or guards, so there were very different guard troops in Germany until 1918.
At the beginning of the 20th century, only the Prussian and Wuerttemberg Castle Guard , the Bavarian Life Guard of the Hartschiere , the Prussian body gendarmerie , the Grand Ducal Hessian Guard NCO and the Grand Ducal Saxon Ordonance Company (also known as the body hussars) existed in Germany.
Brandenburg / Prussia
The Elector of Brandenburg talked with the existing since 1542 Trabant Guards on foot ( Trabant originally means "bodyguard" or "companion") a mounted house troupe, in 1571, the "one-horse servants on horseback" were added, by the Great Elector were significantly expanded and existed under his successor Friedrich I from 1692 to 1713 as the Garde du Corps . In 1717, Friedrich Wilhelm I (the “Soldier King”) formed the royal regiment (popularly known as the “Tall Guys”) from particularly great men , which was dissolved by his son Friedrich II . Frederick the Great maintained infantry regiments 6, 15 and 18 in the guards, which arose from his father's long fellows who had not been released (No. 6), his royal regiment (No. 15) and his brother 's regiment (No. 18), and that newly established cuirassier regiment Gardes du Corps . After the collapse of the Prussian army in 1806 as a result of the battle of Jena and Auerstedt ), a platoon of the 6th Infantry Regiment, which was not affected by the surrender, and other remnants of the guard troops, such as the entire Gardes du Corps, were reorganized. Initially consisting only of the "Guards on foot" regiment , the Prussian Guard grew to an overly strong army corps ( Guard Corps ) by 1914 as part of various army increases .
In the time between their reorganization and the dissolution after the First World War , the Prussian guards had to provide the palace, court and city guards in Potsdam and Berlin , carry out the bulk of all weapons, equipment and uniform tests for the army and new regulations and To test procedures. They were house and teaching troops. In the training infantry battalion, which was attached to the 1st Guards Regiment on foot , the new procedures were passed on to the other troop trainers in the army. In the five European wars in which Prussia was involved in the course of time, the guard associations showed themselves to be particularly willing to make sacrifices and to be strong in combat. The British General Staff, for example, certified the 1st Guard Division : Throughout the war the division was rated as one of the very best German shock divisions .
External common characteristics of the Prussian Guard were double strands on the collar and lapels (hence also called Gardelitzen) and the guard star on the pickel helmet . During parades the soldiers of the infantry and dragoon regiments wore black or white bushes of hair, those of the cuirassier regiments wore an eagle with outstretched wings on their helmets.
Bavaria
In Bavaria , the infantry body regiment was the house regiment (guard regiment) of the Bavarian kings from the end of the Napoleonic Wars to the fall of the Wittelsbach monarchy and the associated dissolution of the Bavarian army in 1919. The members of the Residenzwache (body guard) of the Bavarian kings were up to 1918 the so-called Hartschiere .
Württemberg
1638 put Duke Eberhard III. From Württemberg as the first standing troop unit of the then duchy a permanent bodyguard (guards) on foot with a strength of 180 men. From 1660 the bodyguard (guards) was on horseback, from 1711 Garde du Corps was the next standing unit of the duchy. The Legion of Guards set up in 1784 by Duke Carl Eugen was particularly extensive, with troops from all branches of service , which existed until 1794. Even with the establishment of the Kingdom of Württemberg , the Württemberg bodyguard on horseback and the Württemberg bodyguard on foot continued to exist . The Württemberg Castle Guard Company served as bodyguard in the true sense of the word until 1918 .
Saxony
In the 18th century and early 19th century, Swiss units ( Swiss Guards) had the function of life guards. The Saxon Garde du Corps went down in the Russian campaign in 1812 and was never re-established. The Leib-Kürassier-Guard, which had existed since 1807, was renamed the Guard-Reiter-Regiment in 1822 . It was disbanded on March 31, 1919.
to bathe
The two margravates of Baden-Durlach and Baden-Baden maintained house troops in the 18th century, which also included a life guard. After the unification of the two territories to form the margraviate of Baden , a body infantry regiment and a mounted Guard du Corps were formed . The names of the two units changed several times, most recently they traded as the 1st Badisches Leib-Grenadier-Regiment No. 109 and 1st Badisches Leib-Dragoons Regiment No. 20 .
Other German states until 1918
Another bodyguard that still existed at the beginning of the 20th century was the Grand Ducal Hessian Guards Company. The Royal Hanoverian Guard troops were disbanded together with the army in 1866 due to the occupation by Prussia. The Grand Ducal Mecklenburg (Guard) Grenadier Regiment No. 89 also assumed the role of a part of the Guard . This regiment provided the castle guards in Schwerin and Neustrelitz until 1918 .
Weimar Republic
The Weimar Republic renounced the establishment of separate guard units. The tradition of the former guard troop units was maintained in Infantry Regiment 9 in Potsdam and in Cavalry Regiment 5 . As a cadre army , it also refrained from setting up separate training troops. For representative and guard purposes there was a guard force in Berlin, which consisted of companies from different regiments on a regular basis . The former Gardelitzen became part of the uniforms of all regiments of the army and thus (until today) the mark of German (army) soldiers.
time of the nationalsocialism
Between 1933 and 1945, no guards were formed either. The Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler took the place of the guard as house or core troops, bodyguards and representation troops of the party leadership . For state representation purposes, there was still the guard force, which was later reclassified to a permanent guard battalion (later guard regiment). The Greater Germany Regiment (later division , later corps ), which emerged from parts of the guard regiment and the infantry training regiment in Döberitz , also held a prominent position in the armed forces of the Third Reich . From the remnants of the guard regiment that had remained in Berlin for representation purposes, a guard battalion was formed again, which played an important role in the course of the assassination attempt of July 20, 1944 . As troops without a number, but with a name bracelet and a name on the epaulets , the Guard Regiment and the Regiment Greater Germany can, with restrictions, be regarded as the only troops of the Wehrmacht that had Garderang.
GDR
The GDR did not have any units of the Guard. The representative and protocol tasks were carried out by Friedrich Engels' guard regiment . The Guard Regiment Hugo Eberlein of the NVA served for the military security and guarding of the Ministry of National Defense . The Feliks Dzierzynski guard regiment of the Ministry of State Security was primarily deployed to protect the central objects of the party and government .
Federal Republic of Germany
There are no associations or units in the Bundeswehr that are officially referred to as "Guards". De facto, however, the guard battalion at the Federal Ministry of Defense fulfills a guard- like function due to its duties in the field of protocol honorary service and the military security of the federal government. The guard battalion maintains the traditions of the 1st Guards Regiment on foot to this day and is therefore an exception within the Bundeswehr, since (officially) no other unit continues the traditions of parts of the army of the German Empire .
In addition, the training battalions of the various branches of the armed forces, which are trying out new systems and procedures and are accordingly preferred in terms of the quality and quantity of equipment, can be seen as successors in the role of the guard.
Austria
Imperial Guard
The guard of the dual monarchy Austria-Hungary consisted of five units:
- Arcière Life Guard
- Royal Hungarian bodyguard
- kuk satellite bodyguard
- kuk bodyguard rider squadron
- Kuk Leibgard Infantry Company
The Arcièren Life Guard, founded by Maria Theresa in 1763, was one of the life guards of the Emperor of Austria and the most distinguished alongside the Royal Hungarian Life Guard. The members of these two guards accompanied the emperor and acted in representative matters. In Austria-Hungary, the tasks of a guard in the proverbial sense were incumbent on the kuk Leibgardereitereskadron and the kuk Leibgardeinfanteriekompanie, as well as, to a limited extent, the kuk Trabanten bodyguard. The main task of the bodyguard rider squadron was the orderly and courier service.
Guard of the Austrian Armed Forces
In the Austrian Armed Forces , the guard is a separate body that is stationed exclusively in the Maria Theresien barracks in Vienna and is used both for representation tasks and as an infantry fighting force to protect the Austrian Federal President and the federal government . The Guard consists of the 1st to 5th Guard Company, his staff company and the Guard Music and has regimental status despite its battalion size.
Of the five companies, a maximum of two are active as honorary companies and take on the military representation tasks for the Federal President or the Federal Government ( accreditations , honorary funerals and receptions with military honors ). The Guard also shows its special tradition to the outside world. Her uniform is unique in the armed forces and is characterized by the scarlet collar tab, the "guard cord" to the starting uniform and the scarlet beret. Outside of representative tasks , the current standard rifle Steyr AUG is used instead of the assault rifle 58 with a wooden stock .
The basic training takes place in Horn. In addition to comprehensive infantry training, training includes intensive training in rifle grips and parade steps. In addition to the standard drill grips and the parade grasp (domino effect), the recruits of some indentation dates also learn additional, particularly effective grips in order to take part in show presentations. The 1st Guard Company with its Austrian drill team is particularly well known for this .
Denmark
Den Kongelige Livgarde (Eng .: The Royal Life Guard) is a regiment of the Danish Army . The association serves both as a regular infantry regiment and, together with the Gardehusarregimentet, as part of the guard of the Danish royal family.
Ivory Coast
France
Garden of the King of France
The guards of the King of France comprised purely ceremonial ornate guards up to battle-tested field regiments of infantry and cavalry . These household troops of the king were a structure that had grown over centuries and by no means had a corresponding elite group for all branches of arms . They ranked outside the regular lists of the line troops.
The French Garde du Corps was created (after the "Sargeants d'Arms") in 1440, dissolved after the French Revolution , set up again in 1815 and then dissolved again in 1830. Napoleon III raised the Centgardes .
Imperial Guard
In France, under Emperor Napoleon, the Imperial Guard was an elite division of the Grande Armée with at times more than 100,000 men. The Guard of the Empire comprised all arms of the time. The Imperial Guard was divided into the Old , Middle and Young Guard . After outstanding achievements on the battlefield individual regiments were raised to the Guard regiments or within the Guard transported are. Napoleon often used the guard as a reserve in his battles and preferred to use them in decisive battle situations. In particular, he was happy to delay the use of the Old Guard as long as possible.
In 1854, Auguste Regnaud de Saint-Jean d'Angely was formed with the formation of the new Imperial Guard Napoléon III. instructed. This took part in the Sardinian War in 1859 .
Guard Republicaine
On May 5, 1848, the Garde républicaine was founded. Her job was to maintain security in Paris and render honorary services. In the Third Republic , which lasted until 1940, the Guard was given the name Garde Républicaine de Paris . During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/71 and the Paris Commune in 1871, the Guard suffered some losses in fighting. During the Second World War , part of the French government's guards followed Vichy to protect the Vichy regime ; the other part remained in Paris. In 1978, President Giscard d'Estaing gave the Guard its name, which is still valid today, and transferred the police duties to the National Police . The Republican Guard 'consists of two infantry - regiments and a cavalry regiment. There is also an orchestra. Le Régiment de cavalerie has 500 horses and a crew of 560 soldiers. The tasks include escorting the French President and guarding the honor (on foot) for state guests. The regiment also performs historicizing shows in front of an audience.
Greece
As Evzone ( singular - plural Evzones , Greek Εύζωνες Evzones , German , Wohlgegürtete ' within the meaning of light infantry) were the soldiers of the former royal - Greek bodyguard called. The official name of the elite regiment has been Presidential Guard ( Προεδρική Φρουρά Proedrikí Frurá ) since 1974 .
Italy
In Italy , a special group of the Carabinieri , the Corazzieri , provided the life guard of the kings from the House of Savoy until 1946 . After abolition of the monarchy took over the Italian President , the Corazzieri , which provided up to now their service in the office of the head of state.
The Granatieri di Sardegna are a group of soldiers of the Italian Army who are stationed in and around Rome and are regularly used for representative purposes, especially when visiting foreign heads of state and government. The Granatieri di Sardegna are also used in simple peacekeeping missions abroad. It is no longer an elite group, as the staff consists mainly of volunteers with only one year of commitment. The soldiers of this troop wear grenadier caps .
Japan
The Japanese Imperial Guard ( Japanese 近衛 師 団 , Konoe shidan , " Imperial Guard Division ") protected the Japanese imperial family and their possessions. The Guard was also a unit in the Imperial Japanese Army , which was disbanded after World War II. A similar institution was re-established in 1947 as part of the Japanese police force .
Canada
Even Canada has Guards units. In addition to the Canadian Grenadier Guards and the Governor General's Foot Guards, the Governor General's Horse Guards are the third Household Regiment of the Canadian Governor General and thus also the British Queen Elizabeth II in her function as Canadian monarch .
Norway
Ottoman Empire
The janissaries were in the Ottoman Empire an elite troops of the infantry . They also provided the sultan's bodyguard and often reached the highest positions in the Ottoman state. The troops originated in the 14th century and were disbanded in 1826.
Russia / Soviet Union
The guard units of the Imperial Russian Army were disbanded after the October Revolution in 1918, so originally there was no guard in the Red Army, which was newly organized by the Bolshevik government .
After the start of the Great Patriotic War , the Soviet leadership introduced new guards to strengthen the morale after the heavy defeats. The first four rifle divisions were promoted to Garden on September 18, 1941 for their use in the heavy defensive battles around Smolensk . The guards of the Red Army were seen as elite , they generally received more supplies of material and soldiers, and the personnel were better paid. Sometimes land and air guards received an excess of equipment over their target inventory. In the course of the war the number of guard units increased, but only a part of them were appointed to such units by normal units because of their performance. Units that were armed with powerful weapons such as the Katyusha rocket launchers , heavy IS-2 tanks or heavy ISU-152 assault guns were even given guard ranks when they were deployed. Units of the Red Army could only acquire the status of a guard unit in times of war.
After the dissolution of the Soviet Union , the Russian Armed Forces continued to command some guards, but they were all of Soviet origin. By order of then President Vladimir Putin , September 2nd has been celebrated annually as Russian Guard Day since 2000 in memory of the merits of these elite troops in World War II .
Sweden
Spain
The Guardia Real is an independent unit that protects the King of Spain and his family. It has existed in ever changing form since the Middle Ages, but was abolished in 1931 by the Second Republic. After the end of the Spanish Civil War it was reintroduced by Franco as the Casa Militar de su Excelencia el Generalísimo y Jefe del Estado . It was the direct predecessor of today's Guardia Real. It also serves to protect foreign heads of state and buildings such as the Palacio Real in Madrid , the Palacio de la Zarzuela , the Palacio El Pardo and others.
United States
In the United States of America there are no guard units in the strict sense. However, the 1st Battalion of the 3rd Infantry Regiment takes on the ceremonial tasks for the US President (official name: Escort to the President) and thus takes on a role similar to a guard. The unit is the oldest regiment of the United States (founded in 1784) and carries the unofficial name "The Old Guard" (dt .: "The Old Guard "). When deployed on special occasions (such as a state visit ), the soldiers occasionally also wear historical uniforms from the time of the War of Independence . The 3rd Infantry Regiment also provides the guard of honor at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, DC
Vatican
Since 1970, when Pope Paul VI. the Nobel Guard and the Palating Guard dissolved and the gendarmerie assigned classic police duties, the Swiss Guard is the last of the four papal guards. From 1300 there were Swiss guards at almost all European courts . The Swiss Guard in the Vatican has been protecting the Pope as life guard since 1506. During the sack of Rome on May 6, 1527 , more than three quarters of the troops died together with their commander Kaspar Röist while covering the retreat of Pope Clement VII in Castel Sant'Angelo . Today the Swiss Guard secures the Apostolic Palace , the entrances to the Vatican City , the entrance to the summer residence of the Pope Castel Gandolfo and is responsible for the personal safety of the Pope.
United Kingdom
The King's or Queen's Body Guard of the Yeomen of the Guard was one of the British monarch's first bodyguards. Founded in 1485 by Henry VII before the Battle of Bosworth Field, they fought as a bodyguard throughout the centuries that followed. Last they took part in the Battle of Dettingen in 1743. In the following years, the tasks of the Yeomen of the Guard changed more and more from a real bodyguard to a unit with ceremonial tasks.
In the UK today, all guards are grouped together in the Household Division . This includes:
- Household Cavalry ( Life Guards and Blues and Royals )
- Foot Guards ( Grenadier Guards , Coldstream Guards , Scots Guards , Irish Guards and Welsh Guards )
The regiments regularly take part in many important protocol events in Britain, such as B. Trooping the Color . But they also do their job as normal combat units. The Household Cavalry functions as an armored reconnaissance unit .
literature
- Rolf M. Urrisk, The kuk Leibgarden at the Austro-Hungarian Court, 1518–1918 , Weishaupt, 2004, ISBN 978-3-7059-0203-9
- Electoral Guardie. The Saxon Electors and their Life Guards in the Age of Reformation , Ed .: Armory, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden; Northern Saxony district; Large district town Torgau, Dresden, Sandstein Verlag, 2012, ISBN 978-3-942422-92-5
- Bernard Barbiche: Les Institutions de la monarchie française à l'époque moderne. XVIe - XVIIIe siècle. Presses Universitaires de France, Paris 1999, ISBN 2-13-048195-7 .
- Gilbert Bodinier: Les Gardes du corps de Louis XVI. Étude institutionalnelle, sociale et politique, dictionnaire biographique. Éditions Mémoire & Documents et al., Versailles et al. 2005, ISBN 2-914611-35-8 .
- Jean Chagniot: Maison militaire du roi. In: Lucien Bély (ed.): Dictionnaire de l'Ancien régime. Presses Universitaires de France, Paris 1996, ISBN 2-13-047731-3 .
- Hervé Drévillon: L'Impôt you sang. Le métier des armes sous Louis XIV. Tallandier, Paris 2005, ISBN 2-84734-247-8 .
- Léon de Forges de Parny: Les Gardes du corps du roi. Devaye, Cannes 1972.
- François Grouvel: Histoire des Gardes du Corps du Roi pendant la Période Révolutionnaire. FGC, Coudoux 1998.
- Liliane Funcken , Fred Funcken : Le costume et les armes des soldats de tous les temps. Volume 1: The pharaoh à Louis XV. Casterman, Tournai 1966.
- Liliane Funcken, Fred Funcken: L'uniforme et les armes des soldats de la Guerre en dentelles. Volume 1: France, maison du roi et infanterie sous Louis XV et Louis XVI, Grande-Bretagne et Prusse, infanterie, 1700 à 1800. Casterman, Paris 1975, ISBN 2-203-14315-0 .
- David C. O'Brien: Traditional virtues, Feudal ties and Royal Guards: The Culture of Service in the Eighteen-Century "Maison Militaire du Roi". In: French History. Vol. 17, No. 1, ISSN 0269-1191 , pp. 19-47, doi: 10.1093 / fh / 17.1.19 .
- Rigo [di: Albert Rigondaud]: Le Plumet. L'uniformes et les drapeaux de l'armée de l'Ancien régime et du 1er Empire. Paris 1971.
Individual evidence
- ^ Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon , Volume 8. Leipzig 1907, pp. 303-320.