Swiss Cantons War and Military Flags

Last modified: 2024-09-07 by martin karner
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• Cantons War and Military Flags
• Modern Military Colours and Standards
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• FLAMMES in Dictionary of Vexillology

During the 17th and 18th century modern army regulations replaced more and more the ancient orders of battle (e.g. the Defensionale of Baden in 1688, which also regulated the military cooperation and common defense of the cantons). Flags of regiments, battalions and companies took the place of the old battle banners, draft flags, shooter flags etc. The old banners were still used for some occasions, but over time the flag system became more and more standardized, not least due to the influence of foreign mercenary services and their flags. The white cross traversante and the coloured stripes in the cantons indicating the origin of the troops or the colours of the commander were the precursors of the flamed military flags of the 18th century. It makes thus sense to use thereafter the term "military flags" rather than "war flags" because they were the flags of the regular armies in times of war and peace. – Pictures above: #1: Cantonal war flags at the battle of Nancy, 1477 (source); #2: Cantonal military flags at the border defense in Basel, 1792. Both old and new kind of military flags were in use (source).
Martin Karner

The Swiss Confederation of 1803–1813 consisted of 19 cantons, each with a war flag consisting of two flame colours in the quarters and the white cross "traversante". Cantonal crests normally were centered on the junction of the cross. In 1814 three more cantons joined, and in 1817 Switzerland started to slowly gain some military uniformity. French-style cravats in two cantonal colours were replaced on the cantonal war flags by a federal red-white cravat. Most cantonal crests in the center of the flags were replaced by a simple inscription in gold of the name of the canton on the horizontal bar of the white cross.
In 1833 Aargau was the first to break ranks and adopt a federal war flag in place of the cantonal one. General Guillaume-Henri Dufour championed this idea, and in 1840 he prevailed: Every canton gave up its own war flag and adopted the federal white cross on white field with cravat in cantonal colours (the reverse of previous practice). The federal Constitution of 1848 reinforced this concept. In 1884, the Canton name on one side of the flag was replaced by the battalion number (e.g. Fusilier Bat. 32).
T.F. Mills, 26 August 1997

At the beginning of the 20th century, flamed flags were still in use, with the white cross replaced by a (baroque) shield in the centre of the flag. These decorative flags had been used until WWII and then somewhat forgotten in preference of the current cantonal flags. [Today they are being produced again. See also "Early 20th century flag design": CH, AG, AI, AR, BE, BL, BS, FR, GE, GL, GR, JU, LU, NE, NW, OW, SG, SH, SO, SZ, TG, TI, UR, VD, VS, ZG, ZH and Modern flamed flags below on this page.]
Pascal Gross, 30 June 2002

The two-colour flamed canton war flags of 1803–1840, and the two-colour cravats are as follows (in order of the cantons' entry into the Confederation):

1291	Uri	yellow/black
1291	Schwyz	red
1291	Unterwalden	red/white
1332	Lucerne	white/blue
1351	Zurich	blue/white
1352	Glarus	red/black/white/red
1352	Zug	white/blue/white
1353	Bern	red/black
1481	Fribourg	black/white
1481	Solothurn	red/white
1501	Basel	BS: white/black,  BL: white/red
1501	Schaffhausen	green/black
1513	Appenzell	white/black
1803	St. Gallen	green/white
1803	Graubünden	black/white/blue
1803	Aargau	black/blue
1803	Thurgau	green/white
1803	Ticino	red/blue (no flames)
1803	Vaud	white/green
1815	Valais	white/red
1815	Neuchâtel	red/yellow
1815	Geneva	yellow/red
1979	Jura	white/red (no flames)

T.F. Mills, 26 August 1997

Aargau

image by T.F. Mills

Aargau joined the Swiss confederation in 1803 and in 1805 adopted a military organisation and war flag. This flag was typical of the period for most cantons: white cross "traversante" dividing the flag into four quarters with "piles wavy" radiating from the center. Almost every canton had bicoloured flames, Aargau being black and blue. The name of the canton was inscribed in gold on the horizontal arms of the cross. [photo, source]
T.F. Mills, 1 September 1997

Bern

image by T.F. Mills

In Bern a particular flamed flag is extremely popular. The flames are black-red with a white cross reaching to the edge. This is the old war flag of the canton of Bern from the time before the founding of the Swiss Confederation.
Harald Müller, 14 May 1996

[Only the white cross traversante is from the time aforementioned. The pattern with the red and black flames is from the regulation from 1703.]
[photo (flag 18th c.), source]

Genève

Military flag from 1820 (source).

Glarus

Military flag from the 18th century (photo, source).

Neuchâtel

image by T.F. Mills

Some time ago I posted the Neuchâtel war flag of 1815, principally by way of illustrating the central coat of arms (which included the Prussian eagle). The general pattern in 1803–1817 was for cantons to display the coat of arms in the center, and thereafter these were replaced by the inscribed name of the canton instead. Aargau, as a new canton in 1803, opted for the newer style from the start.
T.F. Mills, 1 September 1997

The 1836–1843 war standard of Neuchâtel is displayed – although not described – in Neubecker (1932). The standard is a square flag with a white cross (arms approximately 1 in 7), with each quarter containing 7 flames in orange-black-white-orange-black-white-orange (the black may be dark brown instead, but the colours of Prussia would make sense here). There is no charge on the cross.
Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 6 July 2002

St. Gallen

Flag of the Freiwillige Legion (volunteer legion) from 1804 (source).

Thurgau

Flag of 3rd Battalion (formed in 1809) of Thurgau canton. The banner was designed after the regulation of 1805. (source).

Valais

Battalion flag, designed after the regulation of 1827 (source).

Vaud

Battalion flag after the regulation of 1819. The flames have been shortened to make space to the writings, which is unique for cantonal military flags (source).

Modern Military Colours and Standards

image by Joe McMillan

A colour is the national flag, 1.1 meters square, with the title of the unit in gold Roman letters 65–75 mm high on the horizontal bar of the cross. The Fahne is nailed to a 2.7 m long staff, painted in a red and white spiral and topped with a spearhead 26.5 cm long. Below the spearhead is a cravat (Schleife) in red and white for mixed cantons units or in the cantonal colours for cantonal units. An example is displayed above.

A Standarte is similar but smaller, 60 x 60 cm, mounted with a sleeve on a 2.15 m staff red and white spiral staff with an 18.5 cm spearhead and a cravat in either Confederation or cantonal colours as appropriate. It is trimmed with fringe 47 mm wide in alternating red and white sections.

Source: Josef Inauer, ed., Schweizer Armee 99 (Frauenfeld: Huber, 1998)

Joe McMillan, 4 December 2003

Over ten years ago, the old flamed military flags were redesigned [historically correct] for public sale. Created by Art Fahnen AG in Luzern and Aarwangen with the supervision of the SWF (Stiftung Schweizer Wappen und Fahnen, Foundation for Swiss Arms and Flags), these flags have no official function and are purely decorative.
The design readopts the white cross with the 4 fields with 7 flames each but as only 10 cantons have their own colours (Bern, Uri, Schwyz, Glarus, Schaffhausen, Graubünden, Aargau, Ticino, Neuchâtel and Geneva), there has been a need to differentiate the others. This has been done by adding the cantonal arms in the center of the white cross on all the flamed flags. As Schwyz has only one cantonal colour (red), there has been a need to separate the 7 flames by a small white fimbriation. A national version of this flag design has also been created (SWF (2001)). [Photos from Luzern: here and here; source: (SWF (2001))]
Pascal Gross, 30 June, 2002

Switzerland
Aargau	Appenzell Ausserrhoden	Appenzell Innerrhoden
Basel-Stadt	Baselland	Bern/Berne
Fribourg/Freiburg	Genève	Glarus
Graubünden/Grischun/Grigioni	Jura	Luzern
Neuchâtel	St. Gallen	Schaffhausen
Schwyz	Solothurn	Thurgau
Ticino	Nidwalden	Obwalden
Uri	Vaud	Valais/Wallis
Zug	Zürich

 images by Pascal Gross


 See also:   "Early 20th century flag design": CH, AG, AI, AR, BE, BL, BS, FR, GE, GL, GR, JU, LU, NE, NW, OW, SG, SH, SO, SZ, TG, TI, UR, VD, VS, ZG, ZH
 
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