Template:History of Germany
The Reichsadler (English: Empire's Eagle, or Eagle of the Empire) was a historic eagle national insignia deriving from the heraldic Roman Aquila during various times of Germany's history, including the German Empire, the Weimar Republic and Nazi Germany.
Emperor Henry VI, Hadlaub, Codex Manesse, about 1300
It can be traced back to the banner of the Holy Roman Empire, when the eagle was the insignia of the Imperial power as distinguished from the Imperial states. It was meant to embody the reference to the Roman tradition (translatio imperii), similar to the double-headed eagle used by the Palaiologi emperors of the Byzantine Empire or the tsars of Russia.
The Reichsadler began to appear in the 9th century on the banner of Charlemagne and his successors. A double-headed eagle was attributed to Frederick II of Hohenstaufen in the Chronica Majora by Matthew Paris about 1250. Sigismund of Luxembourg used a black double-headed eagle after he was crowned Emperor in 1433, while the single-head eagle remained an ensign of the elected King of the Romans and Emperor-to-be.
The Teutonic Order under Hermann von Salza had the privilege to display the Imperial eagle in their coat of arms, granted by Emperor Frederick II. The black eagle was adopted when the Teutonic State was transformed into the Duchy of Prussia in 1525. Furthermore the Reichsadler was widely used by Imperial cities such as Lübeck, Besançon or Cheb to underline their Imperial immediacy.
After the Empire's dissolution in 1806, the Habsburg Monarchy adopted the double-headed eagle as coat of arms of the Austrian Empire. Since 1919 a single-head eagle is depicted in the coat of arms of Austria.
During the revolutions of 1848 in the German states, some attempts were made to reimplement the Reichsadler as a symbol of national unity. These ideas were taken up again when a single-head eagle with a Prussian inescutcheon became the insignia of Bismarcks's kleindeutsche Lösung in the shape of the German Empire in 1871. After World War I the Weimar Republic under President Friedrich Ebert assumed a plain version of the Reichsadler, which stayed in use until 1935.
During Nazi rule, a stylised eagle combined with the Nazi swastika was made the national emblem (Hoheitszeichen) by order of Adolf Hitler in 1935. Despite its mediæval origin, the term "Reichsadler" in common English understanding is mostly associated with this specific Nazi times version. The Nazi Party had used a very similar symbol for itself, called the Parteiadler ("Party's eagle"). These two insignia can be distinguished as the Reichsadler looks to its right shoulder whereas the Parteiadler looks to its left shoulder.
After World War II the Federal Republic of Germany re-implemented the eagle used by the Weimar Republic by enactment of President Theodor Heuss in 1950. The modern German coat of arms is called Bundesadler.
See also[]
- Aquila (Roman)
- Armorial of the Holy Roman Empire
- Coat of arms of Germany
- Western use of the Swastika in the early 20th century
de:Reichsadler es:Reichsadler ru:Герб Третьего рейха