"Motorcycle troops": who and why invented the aiguillette

  • Mar 04, 2021
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"Motorcycle troops": who and why invented the aiguillette
"Motorcycle troops": who and why invented the aiguillette

On the Internet there are a huge number of funny photos of demobels with "luxurious" aiguillettes almost the size of a sea rope! Jokes and jokes, but in reality the aiguillette is an extremely important element of the ceremonial military uniform and at the same time a sign of distinction among the military personnel. When did this subject appear and what is its history in Russia?

The history of the aiguillette began during the Dutch revolution. / Photo: alternathistory.com.
The history of the aiguillette began during the Dutch revolution. / Photo: alternathistory.com.

Initially, the aiguillette was an element of civil and military dress worn in the 16th century by representatives of the noble class. It consisted of small strings for tying together the seams of clothing. The most common version boils down to the fact that aiguillette developed as a mark of distinction in the 17th century in the time of the Dutch revolution, when Holland began the national liberation struggle from Spanish rule. It was then that the soldiers who showed their best side began to be marked with a new insignia.

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Alexey Alekseevich Brusilov in imperial uniform. / Photo: chugunka10.net.

The military liked the new attribute of clothing and gradually aiguillette penetrates an increasing number of countries. First of all, they begin to wear it in the officer's environment as a badge of distinction and an element of a dress uniform. The aiguillette reached the Russian Empire in 1762. The soldiers of the musketeer and grenadier battalions were entitled to jewelry made of simple threads. The officers of the same units were supposed to wear silver-plated and gilded aiguillettes.

General Brusilov in the center, already in Soviet uniform. In the Red Army, the aiguillette was abolished. / Photo: russia.tv.

In the first half of the 19th century, the aiguillette in the Russian Empire was supposed to be worn only by generals, wings, adjutants, as well as other officers, provided that they served under the General Staff. After the 1917 revolution, the aiguillette was abolished from the military uniform, as an element of the tsarist and white army.

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The aiguillette returned to the USSR in the 1970s. / Photo: aeslib.ru.

This accessory returned to the Soviet Union on February 16, 1971. Then several types of aiguillette were established for soldiers and sergeants, officers, as well as for the guard of honor and a military band. At the same time, among the soldier's environment, a fashion and tradition was born to independently produce "demobilized" aiguillettes on the occasion of dismissal from military service to the reserve.

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In the Russian Federation, the situation with the aiguillette has not changed, and it is successfully used with a full dress, just as in the days of the USSR.

Aiguillette is still used in Russia today. / Photo: mayaksbor.ru.

Continuing the topic, read about how the name of the cloth helmet changed, and why he did not "live" to the war.
A source:
https://novate.ru/blogs/040820/55560/