Figure 1.--This image is unidentified, but is almost certainly German. Webelievce it was probably taken in the 1910s, perhaps during World War I. Many German boys wore these peaked caps, but not usually with a uniform. We wonder if these boys attended a military school. Or perhaps this ws just a patriotic style their mother made for them. Notice the two round badges on their caps. Image courtesy of the MD collection.

Boys in many European countries wore peaked militay caps durig th 19th cenyury. English boys wore them during te early Victorian era. Many European boys in the late-19th and early-20 cenury wore peaked military caps. They sem to have been especially popular in Germany. We have little chronological information, but believe these or similar styles were widely worn by Prussian school boys in the late 19th century, We are less sure about other German states. Even after unificatin in 1871, the different German states (Landen) mauntained control over education. These caps appear to have become popular throughout Germany after unification in 1870. We have noted these caps especially in Germany, but they appaer to have been worn to a lesser extent in other European countries as well, although we still have little information in this. These caps were adopted by Japanese schools and are still widely worn in Japan today, mostly by boys in secondary school. Before World War II Japanese primary school boys also wore these caps, but after the War they became mostly wore by boys in secondary schools.

Created: January 26, 2003
Last updated: January 26, 2003