Pickelhaube

Bavarian Military Pickelhaube

Kaiser Wilhelm II, August von Mackensen and others wearing Pickelhauben with cloth covers in 1915

Prussian police leather Pickelhaube

The Pickelhaube (plural Pickelhauben; from the old German Pickel = "point" or "pickaxe", and Haube = "bonnet", a general word for headgear), also "Pickelhelm," was a spiked helmet worn in the 19th and 20th centuries by German military, firefighters, and police. Although typically associated with the Prussian army, the helmet was widely imitated by other armies during this period.

History

The Pickelhaube was originally designed in 1842 by King Frederick William IV of Prussia, perhaps as a copy of similar helmets that were adopted at the same time by the Russian military. It is not clear whether this was a case of imitation, parallel invention, or if both were based on the earlier Napoleonic cuirassier. The early Russian type (known as "The Helmet of Yaroslav Mudry") was also used by cavalry, which had used the spike as a holder for a horsehair plume in full dress, a practice also followed with some Prussian models (see below).

Prussian infantry Pickelhaube in 1845.

Frederick William IV introduced the Pickelhaube for use by the majority of Prussian infantry on October 23, 1842 by a royal cabinet order. The use of the Pickelhaube spread rapidly to other German principalities. Oldenburg adopted it by 1849, Baden by 1870, and in 1887, the Kingdom of Bavaria was the last German state to adopt the Pickelhaube (they, since the Napoleonic Wars had their own design of helmet called the Raupenhelm). During the second half of the 19th century, the armies of a number of nations besides Russia (including Colombia, Chile, Mexico, Portugal, Norway, and Sweden) adopted the Pickelhaube or something very similar. The Pickelhaube also influenced the design of the British army Home Service helmet, as well as the custodian helmet still worn by police in England and Wales.

The basic Pickelhaube was made of hardened (boiled) leather, given a glossy-black finish, and reinforced with metal trim (usually plated with gold or silver for officers) that included a metal spike at the crown. Early versions had a high crown, but the height gradually was reduced and the helmet became more fitted in form. In 1867 an attempt at weight reduction by removing part of the front and rear peaks did not prove successful.

Some versions of the Pickelhaube worn by German artillery units employed a ball-shaped finial rather than the pointed spike. Prior to the outbreak of World War I in 1914 detachable black or white plumes were worn with the Pickelhaube in full dress by German generals, staff officers, dragoon regiments, infantry of the Prussian Guard and a number of line infantry regiments as a special distinction.

The Russian version initially had a horsehair plume fitted to the end of the spike, but this was later discarded in some units. The Russian spike was topped with a grenade motif. At the beginning of the Crimean War, such helmets were common amongst infantry and grenadiers, but soon fell out of place in favour of the fatigue cap. After 1862 the spiked helmet ceased to be generally worn by the Russian Army, although it was retained until 1914 by the Cuirassier regiments of the Imperial Guard and the Gendarmerie. The Russians prolonged the history of the pointed military cover with their own cloth Budenovka headgear in the early 20th century.

Aside from the spike finial, perhaps the most recognizable feature of the Pickelhaube was the ornamental front plate which denoted the regiment's province or state. The most common plate design consisted of a large, spread-winged eagle, the emblem used by Prussia. Different plate designs were used by Bavaria, Württemberg, Baden, and the other German states. The Russians used the traditional double-headed eagle.

Otto von Bismarck wearing a cuirassier officer's metal Pickelhaube.

German military Pickelhauben also mounted two round, colored cockades behind the chinstraps attached to the sides of the helmet. The right cockade, the national cockade, was red, black and white. The left cockade was used to denote the province of the soldier (Prussia-black and white; Bavaria-white and blue; etc.).

All-metal versions of the Pickelhaube were worn mainly by cuirassiers, and often appear in portraits of high-ranking military and political figures (such as Otto von Bismarck, pictured left). These helmets were sometimes referred to as lobster-tail helmets by allied forces due to their distinctive curved neck guard. The design of these is based on the cavalry helmets in common use since the 16th century, but with some features taken from the leather helmets. The version worn by the Prussian Gardes du Corps was of tombac (copper and zinc alloy) with silver mountings. That worn by the cuirassiers of the line since 1842 was of polished steel with brass mountings,

In 1892, a light brown cloth helmet cover, the M1892 Überzug, became standard issue for all Pickelhauben for manoeuvres and active service. The Überzug was intended to protect the helmet from dirt and reduce its combat visibility, as the brass and silver fittings on the Pickelhaube proved to be highly reflective. Regimental numbers were sewn or stenciled in red (green from August 1914) onto the front of the cover, other than in units of the Prussian Guards, which never carried regimental numbers or other adornments on the Überzug. With exposure to the sun, the Überzug faded into a tan shade. In October 1916 the colour was changed to be feldgrau (field grey), although by that date the plain metal Stahlhelm was standard issue for most troops.

All helmets produced for the infantry before and during 1914 were made of leather. As the war progressed, Germany's leather stockpiles dwindled. After extensive imports from South America, particularly Argentina, the German government began producing ersatz Pickelhauben made of other materials. In 1915, some Pickelhauben began to be made from thin sheet steel. However, the German high command needed to produce an even greater number of helmets, leading to the usage of pressurized felt and even paper to construct Pickelhauben.

The Pickelhaube was often used in propaganda against the Germans as in this World War I poster

During the early months of World War I, it was soon discovered that the Pickelhaube did not measure up to the demanding conditions of trench warfare. The leather helmets offered virtually no protection against shell fragments and shrapnel and the conspicuous spike made its wearer a target. These shortcomings, combined with material shortages, led to the introduction of the simplified model 1915 helmet described above, with a detachable spike. In September 1915 it was ordered that the new helmets were to be worn without spikes, when in the front line.

Beginning in 1916, the Pickelhaube was slowly replaced by a new German steel helmet (the Stahlhelm) intended to offer greater head protection from shell fragments. The German steel helmet decreased German head wound fatalities by 70%. After the adoption of the Stahlhelm the Pickelhaube was reduced to limited ceremonial wear by senior officers away from the war zones; plus the Leibgendarmerie S.M. des Kaisers whose role as an Imperial/Royal escort led them to retain peacetime full dress throughout the war. With the collapse of the German Empire in 1918, the Pickelhaube ceased to be part of the military uniform, and even the police adopted shakos of a Jäger style. In modified forms the new Stahlhelm helmet would continue to be worn by German troops into World War II.

Current use

Ceremonial nickel-plated Pickelhaube of the modern Swedish Royal Life Guard Regiments.

Colombian military band at Monument of Fallen Soldiers and Police in Bogota

The Pickelhaube is still part of the parade/ceremonial uniform of the Life Guards (Swedish Army); the Portuguese National Republican Guard; the Military Academies of Chile, Colombia, Venezuela, and Ecuador, and the Military College of Bolivia; the Chilean Army Central Band and Army School Band; and the Colombian Presidential Guard Battalion and National Police. Traffic police in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan also use a form of the Pickelhaube. The modern Romania Gendarmerie (Jandarmeria Romana) maintain a mounted detachment who wear a white plumed Pickelhaube of a model dating from the late 19th century, as part of their ceremonial uniform.

Cultural icon

As early as in 1844, the poet Heinrich Heine mocked the Pickelhaube as a symbol of reaction and an unsuitable head-dress. He cautioned that the spike could easily "draw modern lightnings down on your romantic head". The poem was part of his political satire on the contemporary monarchy, national chauvinism and militarism entitled Germany. A Winter's Tale. In the lead-up to the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, a moulded plastic version of the Pickelhaube was available as a fanware article. The common model was coloured in the black-red-gold of the current German flag, with a variety of other colours also available.

The spiked helmet continues to be part of a clichéd mental picture of Imperial Germany, especially in the United Kingdom. This is possibly because of the extensive use of the Pickelhaube in British propaganda during World War I, although the helmet was a well known icon of Imperial Germany even prior to 1914. Pickelhauben were popular targets for Allied souvenir hunters during the early months of the war. Supposedly this prompted German soldiers to leave booby trapped examples behind when retreating.

See also

• Budenovka
• Stahlhelm
• Wilhelminism
• Pith helmet

External links

• Colonel J's Pickelhaube Musings
• Evolution of the Pickelhaube
• Evolution of the Stahlhelm
• On-line guide to the different patterns of Imperial German Pickelhaube
• Pickelhaube replicas