Deus vult

While it has been associated with nationalist ideologies in modern contexts, others interpret it as a historical expression of faith and dedication to divine purpose.

[9] The phrase appears in another form in the Vulgate translation of 2 Samuel 14:14 from the Bible: nec vult Deus perire animam ("God does not want any soul to perish").

According to Heinrich Hagenmeyer, the personal pronoun 'le' (or 'lo') was very likely part of the original motto as shouted during the First Crusade at Amalfi, since both the authors of the Gesta Francorum and the Historia Belli Sacri report it.

[13][14] The battle cry of the First Crusade is first reported in the Gesta Francorum, a chronicle written c. 1100 by an anonymous author associated with Bohemond I of Antioch shortly after the successful campaign.

[15] Medieval historian Guibert de Nogent mentions that "Deus le volt" has been retained by the pilgrims to the detriment of other cries.

[17] Robert the Monk, who re-wrote the Gesta Francorum c. 1120, added an account of the speech of Pope Urban II at the Council of Clermont in 1095, of which he was an eyewitness.

When the venerable Roman pontiff heard that, with eyes uplifted to heaven he gave thanks to God and, with his hand commanding silence, said: Most beloved brethren, today is manifest in you what the Lord says in the Gospel, "Where two or three are gathered together in my name there am I in the midst of them."

[21] Admiral Alfred Thayer Mahan (1840–1914), a Protestant Episcopalian, used the expression for his argument of the dominion of Christ as "essentially imperial" and that Christianity and warfare had a great deal in common: "'Deus vult!'

"[6] When Adolf Hitler staged the Munich Beer Hall Putsch in November 1923, Houston Stewart Chamberlain wrote an essay for the Völkischer Beobachter entitled "God Wills It!"

'"[33] “It is this bloody, militant intent that comes first when seeking to understand its current usage as a symbol for those pledging their allegiances in contemporary politics — and this is why it has been appropriated by the so-called ‘alt right,’” Hill said.

[33] Pete Hegseth, a retired Major in the Army National Guard and part-time Fox News contributor who is also President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for Secretary of Defense as of November 2024, has the motto tattooed on his bicep.