War flag

<h2 id="history">History</h2>
<p class="note">Further information: <a href="/facts/Oriflamme/XmPVoMQ4">Oriflamme</a>, <a href="/facts/Heraldic_flag/oFT50rTH">Heraldic flag</a>, <a href="/facts/Banner/m6WEs4cl">Banner</a>, <a href="/facts/Vexilloid/eIx3UuFb">Vexilloid</a>, <a href="/facts/Field_sign/sTu9w8KR">Field sign</a>, and <a href="/facts/Royal_Standard/oFT50rTH">Royal Standard</a></p>
<blockquote><p>Sound trumpets! Let our bloody colours wave! And either victory, or else a grave.</p>— Edward, Prince of Wales, in <i><a href="/facts/Henry_VI%2c_Part_3/KzCSSfxD">Henry VI, Part 3</a></i>, Act II, Scene II</blockquote>
<p><a href="/facts/Field_sign/sTu9w8KR">Field signs</a> were used in <a href="/facts/Early_warfare/4ThdhytQ">early warfare</a> at least since the <a href="/facts/Bronze_Age/c09qWcTt">Bronze Age</a>. 
The word <i>standard</i> itself is from an <a href="/facts/Old_Frankish/3uluTEgR">Old Frankish</a> term for a field sign (not necessarily a flag).
</p>

<p>The use of flags as field signs apparently emerges in Asia, during the Iron Age, possibly in either China or India.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:2" href="#fn:2"><sup>2</sup></a> in <a href="/facts/Achaemenid_Persia/avlzWxF0">Achaemenid Persia</a>, each army division had its own standard, and "all officers had banners over their tents".<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:3" href="#fn:3"><sup>3</sup></a>  Early field signs that include, but are not limited to a flag, are also called <a href="/facts/Vexilloid/eIx3UuFb">vexilloid</a> or "flag-like", for example the Roman <a href="/facts/Aquila_(Roman)/moa4eh3B">Eagle standard</a> or the <a href="/facts/Draconarius/FA6UBXD0">dragon standard</a> of the <a href="/facts/Sarmatians/peXYHqbc">Sarmatians</a>. The Roman <a href="/facts/Vexillum/S4QGyHfy">Vexillum</a> itself is also "flag-like" in the sense that it was suspended from a horizontal crossbar as opposed to a simple flagpole.
</p><p>Use of simple flags as military ensigns becomes common during the medieval period, developing in parallel with <a href="/facts/Heraldry/cmkn0H85">heraldry</a> as a complement to the heraldic device shown on shields.  The <a href="/facts/Maritime_flag/c9VsGcBP">maritime flag</a> also develops in the medieval period. The <a href="/facts/Muromachi_period/HsPfQf4A">medieval</a> Japanese <a href="/facts/Sashimono/Lsqke7db">Sashimono</a> carried by foot-soldiers are a parallel development.
</p><p>Some medieval <a href="/facts/City_state/aj1EjbYy">free cities</a> or <a href="/facts/Medieval_commune/qy7FpSe6">communes</a> did not have coats of arms, and used war flags that were not derived from a coat of arms. Thus, the city of <a href="/facts/Lucerne/VIVKyRVM">Lucerne</a> used a blue-white flag as a field sign from the mid 13th century, without deriving it from a heraldic shield design.
</p>
<h2 id="current-war-flags">Current war flags</h2>
<h3>Used by armed forces only</h3>

<h3>War flags that are also naval ensigns</h3>

<h2 id="former-war-flags">Former war flags</h2>

<h2 id="see-also">See also</h2>
<ul><li><a href="/facts/Colours%2c_standards_and_guidons/ocDuaydj">Colours, standards and guidons</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Hata-jirushi/fDj4gy0C">Hata-jirushi</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Sashimono/Lsqke7db">Sashimono</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Uma-jirushi/j3Xma0QL">Uma-jirushi</a></li></ul>

<h2 id="further-reading">Further reading</h2>
<ul><li>Wise, Terence (1978) <i>Military flags of the world, in color</i>. New York: Arco Publishing. 184p. <a href="/facts/ISBN_(identifier)/15AdSPa9">ISBN</a> 0668044721. War flags of 1618–1900.</li></ul>
<h2 id="external-links">External links</h2>
<ul><li><a href="http://www.fotw.info/flags/xf-fis.html">FIAV Flag Information Symbols</a> at <a href="/facts/Flags_of_the_World_(website)/hasn1Q5P">Flags of the World</a></li></ul>

<h2 id="references">References</h2>

<ol>
<li id="fn:1"><p>"standard". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.) <a href="https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/188962" target="_blank">https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/188962</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:2"><p>flag. (2008). Encyclopædia Britannica. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica. <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:3"><p>E. Pottier, Douris, London, 1909, p. 105 fig. 20, Plate XXV.b <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
</ol>

War flag open-in-new

War flag