I really love how profound you do your research. The fact that sign language uses the "Pickelhaube" to identify german nationality normally is not in the horizon of historic research.
We in Yorkshire inherited the 'harsh' or 'kurt' German accent from the Anglo-Saxons. The other English (soft Southern gits), think we are harsh and quire rude.... th-cam.com/video/f6U-JFWeSsI/w-d-xo.html
@@christopherstein2024 It is the accent I was thinking the same thing but once you get past the accent it was actually really good. You are probably used to a distinct German accent and the way certain sounds roll off the tongue which if you pick it apart based on that yeah it was not perfect but learning the language and developing an accent are two very different things. Me being of Prussian and Saxony areas when I hear an Austrian/Bavarian it is kind of similar to a Texan talking to a New Yorker or someone from Boston.
There is history for just about anything you can think of. Fashion history in general is quite interesting to me personally. It’s fascinating how much tastes can change over time, and how different cultures influence each other in such visible ways
An excellent video. As a former Swedish Royal Lifeguard soldier, let me also say that the Pickelhaube worn while marching is quite uncomfortable. It tends to slip forward and cover your eyes, or it tends to slip backwards and have the neckband choke you, while you look ridiculous. Nor does it protect properly from neither wind or the sun since it has no brims, nor from headblows as it is too thin. Nor from shrapnel, which was explained in this video. It only makes you look sharp as a soldier on a parade.
There were some variants, like German artillery having a ball instead of spike (probably called a "Ballhaube"); and German lancers having a "square", adopted from Poliah "czapka". Still one of the most iconic helmets. I can highly recommend Philip J. Haythornethwaite's "A Photohistory orf World War One", depicting a large variety of headgear used during The Great War (if wars can be great)....
I’m not a native German speaker, but I’ve been learning it for a year and half, and I can say that your German at the beginning of the video was amazing! Very good job, anybody who I try to teach German to can’t even say so much as a single word 😂
As someone from Chile, I always found these helmets to be funny-looking in parades! When I later learned about the Prussian influence and all that, it made a whole lot more sense (though I still find them funny!). I'm going through the entire series and leaving a 👍 in each video.
Those Mongolian dress helmets are seriously cool looking, love the idea of blending modern uniforms with cultural tradition. Great work as always friend
I kept thinking of that German officer in "Those Magnificent Men in their Flying machines". He wore a pickelhaube while he piloted a balloon, and when he stood up and laughed at a rival in another balloon, he punctured the balloon with his pickelhaube's spike!
Careful: Analysing Pickelhaube as Pickel (pickaxe) + Haube (hood) is a later folk-etymological reinterpretation. The word is derived from Beckenhabe (bascinet) with a few sound shifts: Beckenhaube > Beckelhaube > Bickelhaube > Pickelhaube. When the word was first colloquially applied to this form of helmet in the 1840s (the official term was "Helm mit Spitze"), it referred to the round shape and not to the spike.
It's official designation was "Helm" right up to its replacement in 1916, too. Interesting, too, is that the Stahlhelm bears a resemblance to the bascinet, since both provided cover to the neck. Some have remarked that the Germans and the British both looked to their military history when they designed their respective steel headgear in the First World War.
@@berndf0yes, that is true, but if you look at the patents for it, its official designation, in the Heer, was simply, "Helm". "Pickelhaube" as you note, was popular term, im Volksmunde, as it were.
Von Hindenburg, as head of the Weimar Republic, wore the pickelhaube still in 1933. So it didn't completely ended with WW 1. Else, very interesting story.
Yes, it was a tradition. Hindenburg and other former Imperial officers would wear their old dress uniforms at public military events. Von Mackensen wore the dress uniform of his old cavalry regiment, too, complete with black Attila and grey fur busby with the death's-head badge. That tradition reached all the way back to Frederick the Great's army. They were still officers, even if they were retired.
@@DJOttmarI think they wore the Tschako, though, the shako, the headgear the Jäger wore in the old army. But old Pickelhauben were remodeled after the war and converted to helmets for the fire brigades. The spike and base were replaced with a metal spine running front to back. After WWII, old Stahlhelme were recycled that way, too.
@@theBaron0530The tschako was what the Prussian police and many others used (until the 1970s even). I think the Bavarians kept it during the Weimar Republic. Maybe it was just limited to the Landjäger, I cannot seem to find ad hoc any photos.
@@DJOttmar yes, and I seem to recall, too, that the Bavarian army didn't adopt the shako for its Jäger at first, at the time of the unification. I want to say that they wore the Bavarian version of the helmet, first the Raupenhelm, then a Pickelhaube, then the shako. But I have to go back to my references to confirm. I cast and paint toy soldiers, so these things interest me very much.
Another great histoire des chapeux, thank you. Thewoman soldier in the pickelhaube looked absolutely captivating. Good miltary outfit today, very fetching. Thank you.
The Korean empire also had it’s own version of the Picklehaube, you can see photos of the Korean Emperor around the 1900’s of him wearing a spiked helmet, sometimes along with the Crown prince.
Interestingly enough since 1878 , Iranian Army ( or Persia as you said) was modernised by Austrian Hungrian army. Most of their uniforms were made by Austria , but a second hand german pickle helm were sent from Germany for both royal guard and elite units. They were called as Jalali Foj which means the Glorious unit
In the film The Last Valley, set in Germany during the Thirty Years War, Michael Caine's mercenary leader puts his pickelhaube to practical use, using its spike to despatch a mutinous soldier.
Attention! In , Thirty Years War ' an open helmet replaced the closed helmets of Cuirassiers. This lighter version of helmet was similar to the steel- or tombacmade german Cuirassiers helmet of Imperial Germany. The examples of 17th century had been called either ,Zischägge' or , Orientalische Sturmhaube '. Sturmhaube was a term for infantry helmets in Landsknecht era, so the Moiron' was in Germany also called , Spanische Sturmhaube '.
Wow! In this video, you speak German with a 'Deutsche Hochsprache' accent. It is a new standard pronunciation, actually. When the "Pickelhaube" was "famous" in 19th to 20th Century, however, German people spoke German with the first standard pronunciation called "die deutsche Bühnenaussprache". It required a trilled 'r' like Spanish-r. Hitler and people living many many years ago spoke German with this trill 'r' on stage. Since 1950s, the Germans have formally used a French-r in speaking German, but that French-r appears only at the beginning of words or syllables. At the end of words or syllables and before consonants, the letter 'r' is pronounced like the schwa in British English as in 'father', 'author', sorts of. However, you did it very well. And I love it.
with exception of Suriname, Guyana and French Guyana, all south american countries used the spiked helmet, but little by little it was replaced due to the increase in the influence of the US in south america, few countries maintain this helmet, such as Chile, Bolivia, Venezuela, Bolivia and Ecuador.
My step dad was an officer in the Bolivian army and part of the military junta in the early 50s. The army had switched to the stalhem helmet by then and WW Two era uniforms.I lost some photos of him goose stepping in his grey tunic German uniform, stalhelm helmet and officer boots, the troops outstretched right arm as if govingy the Nazi salute but two fingers forming a V for presidente Victor (Paz Estensoro) instead.
In America, you don’t really see “American pickelhaube” that much, but in Halloween costumes of a army man, they have a very stalhelm like design., witch as you said, was inspired by the pickelhaube. The hat also has a very large relationship with Otto Von Bismarck. I also saw at the Us Canadian border, they had a few pictures of the pointed hat that the British used.
I had a Marine Corps spiked helmet from the turn of the century for a number of years, but lost it in Sandy. I've only seen maybe a dozen others from our beloved Corps and maybe two or three from the Army, yet rarely in museums. Rather, I've seen them at militaria stalls at flea markets and in the hands of individual collectors. Always wanted to get another! As for the resemblance of our current headgear - as imitated in costumes - to the Stahlhelm, that's a given. Doesn't mean that after almost four decades of use, I don't think the most distinctive helmets for North America aren't the "Tommy" and the M1.
Brilliant! I know quite a bit about the history of the Kaiserreich Heer, or Imperial German Army; including the Picklehaub, however, I learned quite a few new facts from your video. I have subscribed, and anticipate more quality videos.
I read the Forgotten Soldier by Guy Sajer and he is a Franco-German soldier on the eastern front. He always talked about his “atrocious accent” when among French or German soldiers. Hearing you speak German gave me an idea of what fluent German with a French accent sounded like. Thanks
Fun fact: Charles III, who reigned over the Ducy of Parma and Piacenza (a little italian duchy) from 1849-54, adopted "Uniformi in stile prussiano" (prussian style uniforms) for his troops, including the pickelhaube. So yes, in the first half of the XIX century an italian duchy wore the pickelhaube.
Another practical use of the spiked helmet was to give leadership a fast count of its troops in mass formations. Kings, potentates and other senior leaders tended to view the battlefield from an elevated position. The spike made it possible to get a quick estimate of trooop strenght.
Superbly done, as usual, in both scholarship and presentation. Only one qualm: I can imagine a situation in combat in which it would be both effective and safe to butt an opponent with the spike of one of these helmets.
Very interesting, thank you! And even Prussia's biggest rival during the 19. century, Austria, had Pickelhauben for their imperial Horse Guards ("Leibgardereitereskadron"). Best wishes from Vienna!
40+ years ago, when in ROTC at Cornell, the Barton Hall stairwell was decorated with 1880-90 pictures of the Army cadet corps in dress uniform adorned with their pickelhaubes.
The Pickelhaube in South America is still a symbol of the German influence between 1895-1936, in the beginning it was only adopted by Peru, Chile and Brazil (in some units), but with the hiring of German officers for some countries, such as Emil Korner in Chile, Colmar von der Goltz in Argentina and Hans Kundt in Bolivia, it was spread to others, mainly by Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Paraguay and even Central American countries hired Chilean officers to train their armies, however little by little it was being substituted due to the gradual fall of German influence and the increase of the influence of the US by the American continent, so many countries ended up replacing their armies of Prussian or French influence for the American one, but it still continues to be carried by countries that have the Prussian tradition in its army, mainly Chile and Bolivia.
It would be great for bands and parade units---who often still wear the 1941 helmet which REALLY carries baggage..at this " point" the helmet looks quaint and endearing..
Gotta tip my hat to you for the German intro. There were some small grammar mistakes, for example it should be "des deutschen Staates" not "der deutschen Staates" in this case. Gotta love the dreaded der, die, das and all of their cases. Just one small note, I think saying that Prussia was the most powerful German state before the Unification is only half correct as Prussia and Austria were both vying for influence over the smaller German states in the German Confederation, until the Deutsch-Deutscher Krieg in 1866. One more question: I have heard a few times, that the brass plate was not only decorative, but supposed to protect against musket fire. Is this mostly an apocryphal tale?
Danke! Yeah, sorry for the few mistakes, I studied German but always had trouble with the der/die/das so I generally just go for it and hope for the best :p Given hos thin the brass plate is, I can't see it being of any use against musket fire, so I would tend to think that that is a legend, maybe based on some anecdotal stories of glancing blows being deflected by it, but that was not its original purpose
@@hathistorianjc I was wondering if you knew any german or just looked up some sentences for the video. It was perfectly understandable, so no need to apologize.
@@hathistorianjc - just in case you’re some times around Frankfurt/Main, Germany, a 15min drive from there is Bad Homburg (where bad means 'Spa') the hometown of the *Homburg(er)* hat, that have become fashion bc King Edward VII. of Great Britain has worn it during his visits in Bad Homburg (that's why we have an English and a Russian Church, besides two Thai temples), meeting other aristocrats. Never too late to visit the local hat museum (and/or buy a handmade hat in the "Altstadt" (the old center of Homburg). en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homburg_hat en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gothic_House_(Bad_Homburg) homburger-hutsalon.de/impressionen.html Gruß 🙂
A few union regiments wore the pickelhalbe in the American Civil War , ‘ I fights mit Segal ‘ I suspect though most were left in garrison as if everyone else is wearing Kepis it’s easier to replace with kepis .
I thought the spike was just decorative, didn't know it had a practical origin. But I will always remember how Colonel Klink used it in Hogan's Heroes... to impale receipts and bills :D
My Grandad who fought in WW1 spoke of souvenir hunting/trading, he was in a captured German trench when he spotted the point of a Pickelhaube helmet sticking out of the mud he pulled it out to find the the head was still in it, undaunted by this horror he shook the head out and washed it in a puddle. He would rarely speak about his experiences but I remember all his horrific tales.
Right after the fall of the Berlin wall I bought a DDR army felt hat with the red star and distinct Mongolian style pointed top (the pointed part being shaped by felt instead of metal). In Mongolia all headgear is pointed upwards (just take a look at traditional Mongolian hats, .... the female version is slightly different). I believe the pointed top is linked to religious respect to the powers above. I have not studied the details of origin, however I believe there is enough evidence that the origin of this type of headgear comes from the central Asian Steppe. Don't remind any Persians on what Mongols have done to them in the middle ages. It is probably the other way round, Ghengiz Khan's armies brought this style to Persia and not the other way round. It is actually "funny" to look at the respective propaganda campaigns. The Germans considered the Soviets as marauding Huns with the respective headgear. And the French being one slot further West depicted the Germans the same way 🙂 It's time to change the image of my Mongolian friends.
The latter cap might be a "budyonovka", a Red Army cap used before beginning of the WW2, then gradually phased out. Or it might be so called 'banya cap', a headwear intended to protect a scalp during hot steam baths. Sometimes they emulate general shape of 'budyonovkas', along with felt red stars. Of course, if the cap has a strap, brass buttons and a cockarde then it is not a steam bath cap.
The Swedish royal guards, the mounted guards and the musical corps wear the polished steel pickelhaube with their blue dress uniform. Sometimes you see them with a white horse-hair plume instead of the spike, and this means that the monarch is present.
Brilliant video, thanks from England. Can you believe that this well spoken, intelligent fellow is a Yankee!! We need him in England. If all yanks were like him, the World would be perfect. Peace and goodwill.
Very good video, and I enjoyed Foyer's German. When I'm in Germany, Germans say I speak with a French (or Berlin) accent. Germans always seem to have preferred helmets, as seen in many units in the Napoleonic wars. Foyer also has a great collection. Wonder where he gets them. The Pickelhaube was also worn by police until WWI ended, when policemen switched to a conical shako used until the 50's. As for using the helmet today, I think it looks too antiquarian. I'd much prefer the Stahlhelm or peaked cap, and the hell with someone on this thread who said there is too much history. The headgear looks very sharp. Much better than those crummy berets the Bundeswehr wear...just lousy headgear. Real "Eurojunk." Bring back the DDR uniforms. They had some class. The Americans started wearing spiked helmets the 1870's. There is a photo of George Custer in dress uniform, spiked helmet by his side.
Or, as a not-terribly-bright first-year art foundation student put it, "...because Persia is a mountainous country and it was to stop them being jumped from above."
I say "bring back the Pickelhaube!" It's awesome! It's funny that sign language uses the upward-pointing spike sign to mean "German" - I didn't know that! I work with a German woman and I'll have to tell her!
You mentioned in some detail how spiked helmets were worn by certain British troops. But you failed to mention the tall helmets worn by police constables in England. Surely their helmets have the same anscestry?
In the Mexican revolution some government officials used them and the revolutionaries laughed at them saying that the spikes made them easier to aim at their heads.
I really love how profound you do your research. The fact that sign language uses the "Pickelhaube" to identify german nationality normally is not in the horizon of historic research.
Excellent pronunciation. Thanks from Germany.
Danke Schön!
I wouldn't say excellent but the effort warmed my heart.
@@hathistorianjci can only agree, your pronunciation is really good!
We in Yorkshire inherited the 'harsh' or 'kurt' German accent from the Anglo-Saxons. The other English (soft Southern gits), think we are harsh and quire rude.... th-cam.com/video/f6U-JFWeSsI/w-d-xo.html
@@christopherstein2024 It is the accent I was thinking the same thing but once you get past the accent it was actually really good. You are probably used to a distinct German accent and the way certain sounds roll off the tongue which if you pick it apart based on that yeah it was not perfect but learning the language and developing an accent are two very different things. Me being of Prussian and Saxony areas when I hear an Austrian/Bavarian it is kind of similar to a Texan talking to a New Yorker or someone from Boston.
It had never occurred to me that there would be such a person as a hat historian. Now I see how much history one can learn from only its headgear.
There’s also an Eel Historian out there.
The History Guy videos on hats.
@@88njtrigg88True, the History Guy does a lot of historical topics including hats, this chap appears to do only hats.
There is history for just about anything you can think of. Fashion history in general is quite interesting to me personally. It’s fascinating how much tastes can change over time, and how different cultures influence each other in such visible ways
An excellent video. As a former Swedish Royal Lifeguard soldier, let me also say that the Pickelhaube worn while marching is quite uncomfortable. It tends to slip forward and cover your eyes, or it tends to slip backwards and have the neckband choke you, while you look ridiculous. Nor does it protect properly from neither wind or the sun since it has no brims, nor from headblows as it is too thin. Nor from shrapnel, which was explained in this video.
It only makes you look sharp as a soldier on a parade.
that last shot of a modern helmet with infrared goggle mount and pickelhaube point really tickled me, be careful, you may have started something!
There were some variants, like German artillery having a ball instead of spike (probably called a "Ballhaube"); and German lancers having a "square", adopted from Poliah "czapka". Still one of the most iconic helmets.
I can highly recommend Philip J. Haythornethwaite's "A Photohistory orf World War One", depicting a large variety of headgear used during The Great War (if wars can be great)....
I’m not a native German speaker, but I’ve been learning it for a year and half, and I can say that your German at the beginning of the video was amazing! Very good job, anybody who I try to teach German to can’t even say so much as a single word 😂
As someone from Chile, I always found these helmets to be funny-looking in parades! When I later learned about the Prussian influence and all that, it made a whole lot more sense (though I still find them funny!). I'm going through the entire series and leaving a 👍 in each video.
I never knew this helmet had such an interesting history. Great video!
The Pickelhaube was essential protection from the ANZAC's weaponised Drop Bears during WWI.
Great channel, you've earned an Aussie subscriber.
Maybe your diggers could adopt this helmet for parades?
*Everything, everywhere flashbacks*
Those Mongolian dress helmets are seriously cool looking, love the idea of blending modern uniforms with cultural tradition. Great work as always friend
Your german pronunciation is really good, and the story is even better. What a niche but great channel!
Sehr gut ausgesprochen!
One advantage of the pickelhaube was that if you ever accidently sat on it, you would remember never to do it again...
ROFL
Unless you enjoyed it very much 🤪
I kept thinking of that German officer in "Those Magnificent Men in their Flying machines". He wore a pickelhaube while he piloted a balloon, and when he stood up and laughed at a rival in another balloon, he punctured the balloon with his pickelhaube's spike!
Careful: Analysing Pickelhaube as Pickel (pickaxe) + Haube (hood) is a later folk-etymological reinterpretation. The word is derived from Beckenhabe (bascinet) with a few sound shifts: Beckenhaube > Beckelhaube > Bickelhaube > Pickelhaube.
When the word was first colloquially applied to this form of helmet in the 1840s (the official term was "Helm mit Spitze"), it referred to the round shape and not to the spike.
It's official designation was "Helm" right up to its replacement in 1916, too.
Interesting, too, is that the Stahlhelm bears a resemblance to the bascinet, since both provided cover to the neck. Some have remarked that the Germans and the British both looked to their military history when they designed their respective steel headgear in the First World War.
@@theBaron0530"Helm" is simply the German word for "helmet" or "hard hat". It applies to any helmet or hard hat.
@@berndf0yes, that is true, but if you look at the patents for it, its official designation, in the Heer, was simply, "Helm". "Pickelhaube" as you note, was popular term, im Volksmunde, as it were.
Von Hindenburg, as head of the Weimar Republic, wore the pickelhaube still in 1933. So it didn't completely ended with WW 1.
Else, very interesting story.
Yes, it was a tradition. Hindenburg and other former Imperial officers would wear their old dress uniforms at public military events. Von Mackensen wore the dress uniform of his old cavalry regiment, too, complete with black Attila and grey fur busby with the death's-head badge. That tradition reached all the way back to Frederick the Great's army. They were still officers, even if they were retired.
The Bavarian police kept it until the 30s, too, I think.
@@DJOttmarI think they wore the Tschako, though, the shako, the headgear the Jäger wore in the old army.
But old Pickelhauben were remodeled after the war and converted to helmets for the fire brigades. The spike and base were replaced with a metal spine running front to back. After WWII, old Stahlhelme were recycled that way, too.
@@theBaron0530The tschako was what the Prussian police and many others used (until the 1970s even). I think the Bavarians kept it during the Weimar Republic. Maybe it was just limited to the Landjäger, I cannot seem to find ad hoc any photos.
@@DJOttmar yes, and I seem to recall, too, that the Bavarian army didn't adopt the shako for its Jäger at first, at the time of the unification. I want to say that they wore the Bavarian version of the helmet, first the Raupenhelm, then a Pickelhaube, then the shako. But I have to go back to my references to confirm.
I cast and paint toy soldiers, so these things interest me very much.
Another great histoire des chapeux, thank you. Thewoman soldier in the pickelhaube looked absolutely captivating. Good miltary outfit today, very fetching. Thank you.
I hit this by accident and for a lecture on what could have been a dull moment was anything but. Loved it. Gave it a thumbs up. Great job!
The Korean empire also had it’s own version of the Picklehaube, you can see photos of the Korean Emperor around the 1900’s of him wearing a spiked helmet, sometimes along with the Crown prince.
hats - who would have thought such a fascinating series would come from them? brilliantly presented by this young man as always
Vous êtes une vraie encyclopédie, merci
il y a un autre canal du monsieur en Francais.
Thank you for covering this iconic head gear.
Interesting video 👍👍
JUST SUBSCRIBED!! I am a Veteran of 2 wars and I find your content EXCELLENT!!!
Interesting videos mate. You clearly have a passion for interesting historical headwear. Love it, keep it up!
Interestingly enough since 1878 , Iranian Army ( or Persia as you said) was modernised by Austrian Hungrian army. Most of their uniforms were made by Austria , but a second hand german pickle helm were sent from Germany for both royal guard and elite units. They were called as Jalali Foj which means the Glorious unit
In the film The Last Valley, set in Germany during the Thirty Years War, Michael Caine's mercenary leader puts his pickelhaube to practical use, using its spike to despatch a mutinous soldier.
How horrid.
Attention! In , Thirty Years War ' an open helmet replaced the closed helmets of Cuirassiers. This lighter version of helmet was similar to the steel- or tombacmade german Cuirassiers helmet of Imperial Germany. The examples of 17th century had been called either ,Zischägge' or , Orientalische Sturmhaube '. Sturmhaube was a term for infantry helmets in Landsknecht era, so the Moiron' was in Germany also called , Spanische Sturmhaube '.
Sweden used picklehaubes since 1845
Btw I have already fallen in love with your channel, cant wait to watch more!
Wow! In this video, you speak German with a 'Deutsche Hochsprache' accent. It is a new standard pronunciation, actually. When the "Pickelhaube" was "famous" in 19th to 20th Century, however, German people spoke German with the first standard pronunciation called "die deutsche Bühnenaussprache". It required a trilled 'r' like Spanish-r. Hitler and people living many many years ago spoke German with this trill 'r' on stage. Since 1950s, the Germans have formally used a French-r in speaking German, but that French-r appears only at the beginning of words or syllables. At the end of words or syllables and before consonants, the letter 'r' is pronounced like the schwa in British English as in 'father', 'author', sorts of. However, you did it very well. And I love it.
TIL the pickelhaube also went into hiding in South America.
with exception of Suriname, Guyana and French Guyana, all south american countries used the spiked helmet, but little by little it was replaced due to the increase in the influence of the US in south america, few countries maintain this helmet, such as Chile, Bolivia, Venezuela, Bolivia and Ecuador.
@@fritzfromsouth5935 & Bolivia...✌🏼
Yeah, hiding 🤭
@@hungryghost23 He said Bolivia.
@@Springtrapisafurry Yeah... I know. Twice.!..
I thought it was worth saying again.. 3rd time lucky...😁
The Romanian Gendarmerie also used a version of the pickelhaube, it is still worn as dress uniform by the mounted units of the Jandarmeria Română
My step dad was an officer in the Bolivian army and part of the military junta in the early 50s. The army had switched to the stalhem helmet by then and WW Two era uniforms.I lost some photos of him goose stepping in his grey tunic German uniform, stalhelm helmet and officer boots, the troops outstretched right arm as if govingy the Nazi salute but two fingers forming a V for presidente Victor (Paz Estensoro) instead.
There was also one type that had a "ball" rather than a spike to denote a member of the artillery.
And to avoid accidents of guncrew.
Most excellent again. To a generation of American boys (now old men), it was the funny hat on Klink’s desk in Hogan’s Heroes.
In America, you don’t really see “American pickelhaube” that much, but in Halloween costumes of a army man, they have a very stalhelm like design., witch as you said, was inspired by the pickelhaube. The hat also has a very large relationship with Otto Von Bismarck. I also saw at the Us Canadian border, they had a few pictures of the pointed hat that the British used.
I had a Marine Corps spiked helmet from the turn of the century for a number of years, but lost it in Sandy. I've only seen maybe a dozen others from our beloved Corps and maybe two or three from the Army, yet rarely in museums. Rather, I've seen them at militaria stalls at flea markets and in the hands of individual collectors. Always wanted to get another!
As for the resemblance of our current headgear - as imitated in costumes - to the Stahlhelm, that's a given. Doesn't mean that after almost four decades of use, I don't think the most distinctive helmets for North America aren't the "Tommy" and the M1.
Brilliant! I know quite a bit about the history of the Kaiserreich Heer, or Imperial German Army; including the Picklehaub, however, I learned quite a few new facts from your video.
I have subscribed, and anticipate more quality videos.
I read the Forgotten Soldier by Guy Sajer and he is a Franco-German soldier on the eastern front. He always talked about his “atrocious accent” when among French or German soldiers. Hearing you speak German gave me an idea of what fluent German with a French accent sounded like. Thanks
Fun fact: Charles III, who reigned over the Ducy of Parma and Piacenza (a little italian duchy) from 1849-54, adopted "Uniformi in stile prussiano" (prussian style uniforms) for his troops, including the pickelhaube. So yes, in the first half of the XIX century an italian duchy wore the pickelhaube.
Another practical use of the spiked helmet was to give leadership a fast count of its troops in mass formations. Kings, potentates and other senior leaders tended to view the battlefield from an elevated position. The spike made it possible to get a quick estimate of trooop strenght.
I am invredibly impressed with your multi-lingual ability. May I suggest making seperate French and English channels?
Superbly done, as usual, in both scholarship and presentation. Only one qualm: I can imagine a situation in combat in which it would be both effective and safe to butt an opponent with the spike of one of these helmets.
Wonderful, thank you!
I love all the languages and accents you do for your videos.
Impressive research, narration and wardrobe.
Thank you
Imagine if a radio antenna were to be incorporated into a helmet and it ends up looking like the pickelhaube
I wonder what kind of reception the wearer would receive?
I love this channel it is so good keep on going with the videos
Fascinating bit of history and one of its coolest helmets.
Excellent as usual . Keep up the the good work .😸
Thank you very interesting. 👍
Very interesting, thank you!
And even Prussia's biggest rival during the 19. century, Austria, had Pickelhauben for their imperial Horse Guards ("Leibgardereitereskadron").
Best wishes from Vienna!
Excellent as always its truly amazing how much history is wrapped in headgear
Education and enjoyment
School was never like this! Thanks once more 🤴
Whenever i think of the Imperial German army in The Great War, i think of the spiked Picklehaube helmet.
there even was a firefighters version, with the pickle being replaced by a ridge, running from the mid front to the back
Jesus Chroist, mate!
As a Deutscher myself, i confess to being utterly impressed with your pronunciation of our language, good sir!
Excellent!
What sporting event did they use the plastic ones? Great video I didn’t know some of the facts about these cool looking helmets
40+ years ago, when in ROTC at Cornell, the Barton Hall stairwell was decorated with 1880-90 pictures of the Army cadet corps in dress uniform adorned with their pickelhaubes.
As can be seen in a documentstion about early airplanes the Pickelhaube also can cause problems when worn in a baloon.
Such a deep history of what is arguably the silliest looking hat, a flag pole topper glued on top.
Nowadays in German a "Pickel" is the word used for a pimple. JFTR
Btw, that German introduction was flawlessly (sort of). Respect!
The Pickelhaube in South America is still a symbol of the German influence between 1895-1936, in the beginning it was only adopted by Peru, Chile and Brazil (in some units), but with the hiring of German officers for some countries, such as Emil Korner in Chile, Colmar von der Goltz in Argentina and Hans Kundt in Bolivia, it was spread to others, mainly by Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Paraguay and even Central American countries hired Chilean officers to train their armies, however little by little it was being substituted due to the gradual fall of German influence and the increase of the influence of the US by the American continent, so many countries ended up replacing their armies of Prussian or French influence for the American one, but it still continues to be carried by countries that have the Prussian tradition in its army, mainly Chile and Bolivia.
Thanks for the additional info!
@@hathistorianjc np, i really love the Pickelhaube and i felt i needed to add more information about this helmet here.
Mexico had them as did the Papacy..
Chile is Prussian, but Bolivia is Imperial German
I don’t know who you are, but you are insane and I love you. You also seem to have respect for the institutions.
Thanks❤
It would be great for bands and parade units---who often still wear the 1941 helmet which REALLY carries baggage..at this " point" the helmet looks quaint and endearing..
Huzzah! Fascinating stuff sir.
Gotta tip my hat to you for the German intro. There were some small grammar mistakes, for example it should be "des deutschen Staates" not "der deutschen Staates" in this case. Gotta love the dreaded der, die, das and all of their cases.
Just one small note, I think saying that Prussia was the most powerful German state before the Unification is only half correct as Prussia and Austria were both vying for influence over the smaller German states in the German Confederation, until the Deutsch-Deutscher Krieg in 1866.
One more question: I have heard a few times, that the brass plate was not only decorative, but supposed to protect against musket fire. Is this mostly an apocryphal tale?
Danke! Yeah, sorry for the few mistakes, I studied German but always had trouble with the der/die/das so I generally just go for it and hope for the best :p
Given hos thin the brass plate is, I can't see it being of any use against musket fire, so I would tend to think that that is a legend, maybe based on some anecdotal stories of glancing blows being deflected by it, but that was not its original purpose
@@hathistorianjc I was wondering if you knew any german or just looked up some sentences for the video.
It was perfectly understandable, so no need to apologize.
@@hathistorianjc - just in case you’re some times around Frankfurt/Main, Germany, a 15min drive from there is Bad Homburg (where bad means 'Spa') the hometown of the *Homburg(er)* hat, that have become fashion bc King Edward VII. of Great Britain has worn it during his visits in Bad Homburg (that's why we have an English and a Russian Church, besides two Thai temples), meeting other aristocrats.
Never too late to visit the local hat museum (and/or buy a handmade hat in the "Altstadt" (the old center of Homburg).
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homburg_hat
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gothic_House_(Bad_Homburg)
homburger-hutsalon.de/impressionen.html
Gruß 🙂
A few union regiments wore the pickelhalbe in the American Civil War , ‘ I fights mit Segal ‘ I suspect though most were left in garrison as if everyone else is wearing Kepis it’s easier to replace with kepis .
Attention! A Pickel is in german language a pickaxe, sometimes also called Spitzhacke, pointed hew.
Wunderbar!
Wonderful stuff! Many thanks!
I thought the spike was just decorative, didn't know it had a practical origin. But I will always remember how Colonel Klink used it in Hogan's Heroes... to impale receipts and bills :D
My Grandad who fought in WW1 spoke of souvenir hunting/trading, he was in a captured German trench when he spotted the point of a Pickelhaube helmet sticking out of the mud he pulled it out to find the the head was still in it, undaunted by this horror he shook the head out and washed it in a puddle. He would rarely speak about his experiences but I remember all his horrific tales.
The 1960's TV Series Hogan's Heroes uses a PH coupled with a US Army cap in its intro
Thank you. Deflect sabre cuts. I knew that but nobody said deflect in which direction. As much use as a torn melodeon. Could deflect into your skull.
Right after the fall of the Berlin wall I bought a DDR army felt hat with the red star and distinct Mongolian style pointed top (the pointed part being shaped by felt instead of metal). In Mongolia all headgear is pointed upwards (just take a look at traditional Mongolian hats, .... the female version is slightly different). I believe the pointed top is linked to religious respect to the powers above.
I have not studied the details of origin, however I believe there is enough evidence that the origin of this type of headgear comes from the central Asian Steppe. Don't remind any Persians on what Mongols have done to them in the middle ages.
It is probably the other way round, Ghengiz Khan's armies brought this style to Persia and not the other way round.
It is actually "funny" to look at the respective propaganda campaigns. The Germans considered the Soviets as marauding Huns with the respective headgear. And the French being one slot further West depicted the Germans the same way 🙂
It's time to change the image of my Mongolian friends.
The latter cap might be a "budyonovka", a Red Army cap used before beginning of the WW2, then gradually phased out. Or it might be so called 'banya cap', a headwear intended to protect a scalp during hot steam baths. Sometimes they emulate general shape of 'budyonovkas', along with felt red stars. Of course, if the cap has a strap, brass buttons and a cockarde then it is not a steam bath cap.
The Swedish royal guards, the mounted guards and the musical corps wear the polished steel pickelhaube with their blue dress uniform.
Sometimes you see them with a white horse-hair plume instead of the spike, and this means that the monarch is present.
Brilliant video, thanks from England. Can you believe that this well spoken, intelligent fellow is a Yankee!! We need him in England. If all yanks were like him, the World would be perfect. Peace and goodwill.
Great video. What sources do you use to find the information?
Love the SatW reference!
More of your Deutsch bitte. It's wonderful 😊🎉❤
wonderful!
I saw several original ones at a pawn shop in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1997. They were about $400-700.
Would metal helmets be very cold in winter and hot in summer, due to their conductivity?
Which sign language do you mention in the end? American of British? They are quite distinct.
please consider using the OxBridge comma
Brilliant!
Nice!
Very good video, and I enjoyed Foyer's German. When I'm in Germany, Germans say I speak with a French (or Berlin) accent. Germans always seem to have preferred helmets, as seen in many units in the Napoleonic wars. Foyer also has a great collection. Wonder where he gets them. The Pickelhaube was also worn by police until WWI ended, when policemen switched to a conical shako used until the 50's. As for using the helmet today, I think it looks too antiquarian. I'd much prefer the Stahlhelm or peaked cap, and the hell with someone on this thread who said there is too much history. The headgear looks very sharp. Much better than those crummy berets the Bundeswehr wear...just lousy headgear. Real "Eurojunk." Bring back the DDR uniforms. They had some class. The Americans started wearing spiked helmets the 1870's. There is a photo of George Custer in dress uniform, spiked helmet by his side.
Thumbnail picture - Nice boy!
Or, as a not-terribly-bright first-year art foundation student put it, "...because Persia is a mountainous country and it was to stop them being jumped from above."
When you say sign language, are you talking about ASL or a different sign language? Or is it more general than that?
Thank you
are you sure the spike isnt an antenna for the bluetooth headst?
I have that but why is there some oily substance on it?
Why do the reproductions (as you are wearing) from the sub-continent lack a nicely pointed spike, like originals?
I say "bring back the Pickelhaube!" It's awesome!
It's funny that sign language uses the upward-pointing spike sign to mean "German" - I didn't know that!
I work with a German woman and I'll have to tell her!
Ger itself means a kind of spear used by the Ger-men
I always wondered what the "Point" of that pointless spike was, I thought it was either ceremonial or some indicator of rank. Possibly both..
You mentioned in some detail how spiked helmets were worn by certain British troops. But you failed to mention the tall helmets worn by police constables in England. Surely their helmets have the same anscestry?
Bundeswehr pickelhabe: you're brilliant, man!
We should adopt it earlier rather than later.
In the Mexican revolution some government officials used them and the revolutionaries laughed at them saying that the spikes made them easier to aim at their heads.