The influence of the flags of the Spanish Army on the armies of other countries

The Spanish Armed Forces are the custodians of very ancient military traditions. Some date back to the Middle Ages.

The meaning of the colors of the guidons and flags of the Spanish Army
When the infantry of Spain and Poland fought under the same Cross of Burgundy

The origin of the current guidons of the Spanish Army

Any observer, Spanish or from any other country, will recognize that Spanish military guidons and pennants stand out for their meticulous craftsmanship, symbolism, and diverse colors. This is not a matter of whim or chance: these flags reflect a history spanning several centuries. As we already saw here, the design of the guidons and flags of the Spanish Army recovered some traditions years ago, such as the inclusion of the Cross of Burgundy, which was part of the flag of the Spanish Empire, in addition to including colors related to the different specialties.

The square shape of these pennants and banners has a very ancient origin. Its origins can be traced back to the 15th century, when the use of square flags for infantry units began to be standardized. The reason for this shape is that at that time, flags were carried diagonally and even almost perpendicular to the ground during marches, as they rested on the standard-bearer's shoulder. In some cases, these were large flags, ideal for being highly visible in pitched battles, and their square shape prevented the fabric from touching the ground and becoming soiled during marches.

As I mentioned here eight years ago, the Cross of Burgundy began to be used in the Spanish Army at the end of the 15th century, coinciding with the arrival of the Habsburg dynasty in Spain. It was brought by Philip "the Handsome," then Duke of Burgundy, after his marriage to Joanna, daughter of Queen Isabella I of Castile, in 1496. Philip's Burgundian Guard would have been the first unit to use it in Spain. Its first appearance on the battlefield representing Spanish soldiers would have taken place at the Battle of Pavia in 1525.

With the arrival of the 18th century, Felipe V, the first monarch of the Bourbon dynasty, reformed the Spanish Army, following the model of France, his country of origin. The old tercios gave way to new regiments, specialized by branch of service: infantry, cavalry, artillery, etc. These units continued to use the Cross of Burgundy on their flags. In fact, during this period, the trend was to unify these flags with a white background (in the time of the tercios, it was common to combine the Cross of Burgundy with backgrounds of various colors and shapes), a custom that continued until the reign of Charles III (1759–1788).

At the beginning of the 18th century, the old flags with the Cross of Burgundy began to incorporate certain changes. The first of these was that the cross no longer reached the corners of the flag, and closed wreaths were added at its ends. Later, the custom of including coats of arms in the corners became widespread. In many cases, these coats of arms identified the unit's location, for example, in provincial militia regiments.

The possible Spanish influence on the standards of the French Army

Just as the Spanish Army used the Cross of Burgundy as its distinctive symbol (generally in red), the French Army had been using a white cross as its symbol since the Middle Ages. Just as with the Spanish tercios, during the 17th and 18th centuries French regiments displayed the white cross on backgrounds of different colors on their flags. The battlefields must have been very colorful landscapes in terms of uniforms and flags... This custom continued until the French Revolution (1789), when the flag of France ceased to be a white cross on a blue background, becoming the current blue, white and red tricolor flag.

During the revolutionary period, the traditional heraldic symbols of France were outlawed: both the white cross and the fleur-de-lis, the quintessential symbol of the French monarchy, were erased from the symbolism of the new state, which adopted the Roman fasces and the Phrygian cap as its new symbols. Interestingly, new regimental standards were designed at that time with a saltire pattern that strongly resembled the design of Spanish regimental flags. The design assumed one of the principles of neoclassicism then in fashion: symmetry, a principle that was already present in the Spanish military flags of the tercios.

During the First French Empire (1804-1815), Napoleon Bonaparte introduced changes to military standards. The most distinctive change was introduced in 1804 on regimental standards, featuring a white rhombus with blue and red corners. These new standards included the regiment's number in their corners. It was an atypical design in France due to its rhomboidal shape, but it certainly bore a strong resemblance to the saltire design of Spanish regimental guidons, which had included the unit's emblem in their corners for many years. Spain still held great military importance at that time, and there were close ties between Spain and France, as the French House of Bourbon, related to the Spanish, had held the French crown until 1883.

The French standard with the white diamond remained in use until 1814, when Napoleon Bonaparte departed for his first exile on Elba. Square tricolor flags began to be used in its place. Following the Bourbon Restoration (1814-1830), Napoleon III revived a design for military standards very similar to that of 1814. Before this, in 1852 a standard with the tricolor flag and four badges arranged in sour, an odd arrangement for a flag with vertical stripes. Are we seeing further evidence of possible Spanish influence?

With the definitive abolition of the monarchy and the arrival of the Third Republic in 1870, the French Army maintained the design of its standards with the regimental numbers in saltire. This can be seen in the model established in 1880, which we can see above and which is very similar to the military standards that the French Army still uses today, as we can see in the following photo of the Foreign Legion.

The Spanish influence on the standards of the Polish Army

That possible Spanish influence on the peculiar design of French military standards ended up resonating in a Slavic country. Thousands of Poles had fought in Napoleon Bonaparte's army, hoping for the possibility of regaining Poland's independence. That hope was rekindled in 1807, when Napoleon signed the Treaty of Tilsit with Russia, which created the Grand Duchy of Warsaw, which ceased to exist in 1815 after the final defeat of the French emperor. Thousands of Polish soldiers fought in Spain with the French Army, achieving one of the most heroic victories in Polish military history at the Battle of Somosierra on November 30, 1808.

Poland had already received a notable Spanish military influence in the 17th century. As we saw here six years ago, the admiration of a Polish prince for the Spanish tercios led Poland to use the Cross of Burgundy on infantry unit flags during the reign of Władysław IV of Poland (1632-1648) and in later years, remaining popular during the so-called "Swedish Deluge" (1655-1660).

After the Napoleonic Wars, French influence remained in Poland. This is shown by the banners used by the Congress Army of Poland during the November Uprising (1830-1831) against Russia, shaped like a saltire with insignia in the corners. The Second Polish Republic (1918-1939) revived this design in its military banners, forming a red cross with white corners, including various emblems in these, in a style very similar to the military guidons that the Spanish Army had been using since the first half of the 17th century.

The Polish People's Army established by the communist dictatorship broke with this tradition, as the shape of the banners of the Second Republic included a cross. The new flags were shaped like a saltire, with a design very similar to the flag of the city of Vigo and without the coats of arms on the insignia.

The Third Polish Republic, established after the fall of communism in 1989, revived the old standards, which are still used by the Polish Army today. As with the French Army, one might wonder if the current Polish Army standards would have this design if, at the beginning of the 18th century, the Spanish Army, which wielded considerable influence at the time, had not introduced those distinctive regimental flags whose tradition is still maintained in Spain today.

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Main photo: Elentir. Flags, guidons and pennants of different units of the Spanish Army at the start of the 2017 Patrol Competition of the Brigade "Galicia" VII in Tuy, Pontevedra.