A Little History on a Flag (or...)

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...how to piss everybody off all at once.

I am going to regret making this. I know I am going to regret making this. I know I have watchers on both ends of this spectrum (it's like autism!) who are going to want to skin me for this but this bothers me as someone who studies history so off we go!

Most anyone who has been in the US or seen the news in the past year or so has seen this flag:

North Virginia Third Bunting by SlingBlade87
Hate it, love it, it exists and a bunch of prats whose side lost the war like to wave it around proudly while another bunch of prats like to decry it as a symbol of racism and hatred. People go around calling this flag 'The Confederate Flag' and no matter which side of the damned field you lie chances are you feel passionately about this for one reason or another.

Now here's the thing, if you call this 'The Confederate Flag' you are wrong. This is not in fact the Confederate flag, it never has been the Confederate flag (amusingly I learned this from a Playmobil set I had as a kid of all things that I sadly cannot find any pictures of).

It is instead a battle standard, this specific one is the most famous but there are also other variants that alter this pattern but keep the same colors. In this case, the pattern belonged to and was used by General Lee's Army of Northern Virginia and different sizes of said standard were carried throughout the army to denote roles (cavalry, infantry, artillery etc). Because it is a battle flag specific to an army and not the national ensign of the Confederacy, I fully understand why some people wave this flag around and say 'heritage not hate'. These people aren't celebrating the cause of the Confederacy perse (though if they are, then in that case take pity upon their poor confused selves), rather they are celebrating the soldiers who fought in the Confederacy's army for whatever reason.

As for all the others that are waving this around celebrating the Confederacy, they're just misguided twits who either don't know or don't care about the accuracy of the flag. For better or worse, Lee made this flag famous and so whereas the Confederate flag has largely vanished from our national history, the unfortunate battle standard of the Army of Northern Virginia is now used by racists and white supremacists.

The actual Confederate flag is this:

Flag of the Confederate States of America (1861-18 by SlingBlade87

...or this (notice the battle standard has been integrated into it)

Flag of the Confederate States of America (1863-18 by SlingBlade87

...or this (because someone realized that an all white flag was a bit silly and might send the wrong message)

Flag of the Confederate States of America (1865) by SlingBlade87
So there are some idiots who essentially don't know which flag is which and I'm sure there are others who are simply proud of their forefathers for fighting heroically (albeit misguidedly) in a war that they ultimately lost.

And now the obligatory political correction.

Yes, the American Civil War was about slavery. Both sides recognized this in one way or another. The North started the war under the pretext of preserving the Union while the South made the claim that their rights were being infringed upon by the North. If you ask many of the people that wave the battle standard around this is what they'll tell you, they're celebrating the war fought to preserve the Southern States' rights against the violations of the North.

To a degree that's accurate. The vast majority of Southern soldiers weren't fighting to keep slaves perse, but rather to protect their homes. What they either did not realize or did not care to acknowledge was that they were also fighting for slavery. I do not have the exact count at present but the declarations of secession issued by many of the Southern States directly referenced slavery and the Confederacy's Constitution referenced it even more so, going so far as to call for its spread westwards and even to the south both into Mexico and the Caribbean.

At the end of the day, the argument over what the average Southern soldier was fighting for becomes an academic one because ultimately the government they were supporting did in fact intend to preserve and spread slavery.

A similar problem approaches us in the North. A good many Northerners didn't give a rats ass about the slaves, though certainly more of them did than their Southern counterparts. Most were motivated by a sense of patriotism in preserving the Union that the Southern States now sought to destroy. The Union didn't really embrace the 'free the slave' motivation in full until after Lincoln's Gettysburg Address and the Emancipation Proclamation. After those two events, the Union fully committed itself to the notion that the war was equally about preserving the Union and freeing the slave populations of the formerly united states.

And now that's outta the way, on to a related bit of nonsense (and here's hoping DA doesn't suspend my account for this journal).

Everyone knows this flag:

Flag of the NSDAP (19201945) by SlingBlade87

Ist der Nazis! (and yes this is going to be a running gag unto eternity)

Anyways, something similar with what happens with the flag for the Army of Northern Virginia seems to be making a comeback recently, at least in the United States. In this case though there really isn't any defense of the flag in question. The Nazis were assholes end of the story and it is one of the few times in Western history that one side could actually be said to have been genuinely evil for what they were doing.

However that doesn't mean you can drag other things into the mix.

I refer to these two symbols:

Bundeswehr Kreuz Black by SlingBlade87  Balkenkreuz by SlingBlade87

You see these all over the place, usually painted on the sides of German military hardware or being presented in one form or fashion by neo-Nazis who just want to look cool because the Germans for whatever other faults they have know how to make their military look good.

Now both these symbols were used by the German military during WWII. Does that make them inherently Nazi symbols?

No, not in the least.

In fact both emblems predate the Nazi movement and regime and are simply German (and I think specifically Prussian) in origin rather than Nazi who just co-opted the emblems because hey (this one is different I promise!), they're the Nazis.

And with that, onwards to things that will hopefully not risk my account getting suspended...as to all the potentially angry people that read this...well, let me play you the song of my people!
© 2018 - 2024 SlingBlade87
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tora-no-shi1369's avatar
I knew this, but I think it needs to be said more. People ask me why I salute hated flags. I salute those who died under those flags. I respect all who serve in the name of a country, whether the ideas of said country are right or wrong. I respect those who die under the flags.