- War flag
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- Military standard redirects here. See field sign for the wider meaning of the term. See United States Military Standard for the term as used in the United States military.
A war flag (military flag or battle flag) is a variant of a national flag for use by the nation's military forces on land. The nautical equivalent is a naval ensign — the battle ensign. Under this strict sense of the term, few nations currently have war flags, most preferring to use instead their state flag or standard national flag for this purpose.
Contents
History
A knight (Jan I van Brabant) flying a heraldic flag in battle, in addition to the heraldic device displayed on his shield (Codex Manesse, ca. 1304)
Field signs were used in early warfare at least since the Bronze Age. The word standard itself is from an Old Frankish term for a field sign (not necessarily a flag). The use of flags as field signs apparently emerges in Asia, during the Iron Age, possibly in either China or India.[1] Early field signs that include, but are not limited to a flag, are also called vexilloid or "flag-like", for example the Roman Eagle standard or the dragon standard of the Sarmatians. The Roman Vexillum itself is also "flag-like" in the sense that it was suspended from a horizontal crossbar as opposed to a simple flagpole.
Use of simple flags as military ensigns becomes common during the medieval period, developing in parallel with heraldry as a complement to the heraldic device shown on shields. The maritime flag also develops in the medieval period. The medieval Japanese Sashimono carried by foot-soldiers are a parallel development.
Some medieval free cities or communes did not have coats of arms, and used war flags that were not derived from a coat of arms. Thus, the city of Lucerne used a blue-white flag as a field sign from the mid 13th century, without deriving it from a heraldic shield design.
Current war flags
Used by armed forces only
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Flag of the Armed Forces of Moldova
Officially not the war flag of Moldova -
Myanmar -
War Flag of the United Kingdom (note 3:5 ratio)
Army (Land) use only
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Bulgarian land forces War flag -
Georgia -
Myanmar -
South Korea -
Thailand
(also used for the Royal Thai Armed Forces HQ) -
Venezuela
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War Flag and Naval Ensign of Russian Federation
Other war flags
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War Flag (regimental colour) of the Hellenic Army
Former war flags
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Cross of Burgundy Flag, Spain (1506–1843) -
War Flag of the People's Republic of Congo (1970–91) -
War Flag of East Germany (1960–90) -
Reichskriegsflagge, the war flag for the German Wehrmacht and official flag of the Kriegsmarine (banned in most European nations) -
State and War Flag of the Kingdom of Greece (1863–1924 and 1935–70) -
War Flag of the Italian Social Republic (1943–45) -
War Flag of Prussia (1816) -
War Flag of the German Empire (1903–19) -
War Flag of the Roman Republic of 1849 -
Royal Siam Armed Forces (1892–1936) -
Royal Siam Army in Haw wars (1885–1890)
See also
References
- ^ flag. (2008). Encyclopædia Britannica. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica.
External links
Categories:- Military flags
- Vexillology
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