Historical colours, standards and guidons

The following is a list of historical military colours, standards and guidons in different countries that do not exist today.

The King of France also had an official battle standard, the Oriflamme: a special flag, red with gold, and the motto "Montjoie Saint-Denis".

English soldiers during the same time period sometimes wore Saint George's Cross as a symbol of identification.

The same pattern was used by regiments made up of foreign nationals who served with the Royal Army infantry.

The name of the regiment was written in gold on the obverse, and the words Valeur et Discipline, together with the battalion number, on the reverse.

The line heavy cavalry regiments (cuirassiers and carabiniers) and all hussar formations, as well as the foot artillery companies, carried standards with similar inscriptions as the infantry while the line cavalry regiments of dragoons and the lancers and Chasseurs-à-Cheval, as well as the horse artillery, all had swallowtailed guidons.

The artillery and logistics trains, till 1812, carried swallowtailed guidons due to their mounted role.

In 1810, the standards and guidions of Imperial Guard cavalry formations raised before 1809 carried grenades or hunting horns in their colours depending on their role.

The colours of the regular infantry regiments remained virtually unchanged from 1742 until 1806, when catastrophic defeat at the hands of Napoleon all but destroyed the once-proud Prussian Army.

When new flags were issued to the reconstituted army beginning in 1811-12, their design was based on the original pattern, but with a number of modifications.

[2] During the period of the Constitucional Monarchy (1834-1910), each of the regiments and other independent units of the Portuguese Army had a regimental colour, which was the variant of the then Flag of Portugal, the field being vertically divided in blue and white, with the Royal coat of arms in the centre, surrounded by two golden olive branches tied by a red ribbon carrying the Order of Christ Cross, and the royal cypher at each corner.

Under the arms there was a white ribbon containing the number of the unit in the obverse of the colour and the regimental title in the verse.

(Distinguished units would be given a second colour, the Revolutionary Red Banner of Honour, by the all-Union CEC (before 1924 by the All-Russian Central Executive Committee).)

The first battalion would carry the coronela (King's Colour), which was white and bore the Royal Coat of Arms in the centre, sometimes on top of a burgundy Cross, surrounded by various regimental devices, while the second battalion (and independent battalions of light infantry) would carry the sencilla (Regimental Colour), which would have a burgundy cross with the provincial coat of arms at the four corners, and the name of the regiment in the top half.

This was a flag that adopted the national colours of red-yellow-red horizontal stripes, with a simplified royal coat of arms in the centre atop a small burgundy cross and the name of the regiment encircling it.

Following the victory of General Franco in the Spanish Civil War, the Spanish army adopted the policy of using only a single colour, the batallona, with the new coat of arms in its centre replacing the Royal arms, and the name of the regiment encircling it.