Awar ensign, also known as amilitary flag,battle flag, orstandard,[1] is a variant of anational flag for use by a country's military forces when on land. The nautical equivalent is anaval ensign. Under the strictest sense of the term, few countries today currently have distinct war flags, most using a flag design that is also thestate flag or general national flag for this purpose.
Sound trumpets! Let our bloody colours wave! And either victory, or else a grave.
— Edward, Prince of Wales, inHenry VI, Part 3, Act II, Scene II
Field signs were used inearly warfare at least since theBronze Age. The wordstandard itself is from anOld 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.[2] inAchaemenid Persia, each army division had its own standard, and "all officers had banners over their tents".[3] Early field signs that include, but are not limited to a flag, are also calledvexilloid or "flag-like", for example the RomanEagle standard or thedragon standard of theSarmatians. The RomanVexillum 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 withheraldry as a complement to the heraldic device shown on shields. Themaritime flag also develops in the medieval period. Themedieval JapaneseSashimono carried by foot-soldiers are a parallel development.
Some medievalfree cities orcommunes did not have coats of arms, and used war flags that were not derived from a coat of arms. Thus, the city ofLucerne used a blue-white flag as a field sign from the mid 13th century, without deriving it from a heraldic shield design.
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![War flag of Mughals (1526–1857)[4]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aMughals_war_Flag.gif)
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