Swiss cantons war flags

Last modified: 2004-08-14 by pascal gross
Keywords: switzerland | cantons | war |
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• Switzerland

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)

by T.F. Mills

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