ВОЈНА ЗАСТАВА ‒ СВЕДОК ПОЛИТИЧКИХ ТУРБУЛEНЦИЈА У СРБИЈИ КРАЈЕМ 19. И ПОЧЕТКОМ 20. ВЕКА
MILITARY FLAG – THE WITNESS OF THE POLITICAL TURBULENCE IN SERBIA IN LATE 19TH AND EARLY 20TH CENTURY

Summary/Abstract: In the Military Museum in Belgrade there are two prototypes of military flags. Those flags, according to the regulation of 1904, were never appointed to the Serbian Army. Based on the details on one of the flags, it was determined that the canvas belonged to a flag from the earlier regulation, dating from 1884. It is the canvas of the flag of the 7th Infantry Regiment called “King Alexander I”, which was previously considered destroyed in 1903. Bearing in mind that there are no preserved flags from the period of this regulation, it was concluded that the Military Museum safeguards the only testimony of this flag model, remade in 1904. Flags, made according to the regulation of 1884, were appointed to the Army in 1886, on the Obrenović’s holiday “Cveti”. The names of the Obrenović Dynasty were inscribed on the canvas, and some of the regiments were named after them. Although they did not take part in the war with Bulgaria in 1885, these flags were presented as war flags in artworks. When the Karadjordjević Dynasty came to power, military flags with names of the Obrenović Dynasty were probably withdrawn or remade, and other flags got new ribbons, with the monogram of the new king. Other elements of the flags were not disputable for the Karadjordjević Dynasty. The regulation on flags was adopted in 1904, but the changes were not drastic, thus it happened that for the creation of a flag prototype, the canvas of the flag from earlier regulation was used. Flags were replaced shortly before the Balkan wars, in 1911. Before that, they had been used for almost seven years under the Obrenović Dynasty, plus eight years under the Karadjordjević Dynasty. Firstly, they were celebrated as the symbols of the Serbian Royal Army, and since 1904 they were a temporary solution until the definition of flag symbols that would have wider mobilization potential. Not crowned with war glory and being witnesses of politically unstable period, their lives after 1911 were not considered a significant testimony of the military history.

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