Universal History Annotation << Back COMBAT INSIGNIAS (FLAGS, BADGES), THE CONTROL SYSTEM OF MILITARY UNITS AS A COMPONENT OF THE MILITARY CULTURE OF THE CIRCASSIANS A.S. Mirzoyev The article is devoted to the consideration of several aspects of the military culture of the Circassians, such as: the control system of military units, combat insignia (flags, standards) and other attributes. They played an important role and performed certain functions. Banners played an important role in the class-political, ideological, military Circassians and ritual attributes and performed certain functions. The article examines their significance as an attribute of a military field life. The banners designated political and military structures of a national, sub-ethnic, federal (union) nature. In addition, they denoted the estate-political status of the feudal owners, who stood at the head of their own squads. Badges, in contrast to flags, designated medium-sized separate military units, without indicating the class-political status of their commanders. The most important function of standard bearers and battle banners is the management of military units. To control the troops, armies were divided into separate units, designated by their own insignia - banners and badges. They made it possible in the course of hostilities to distinguish both individual units of their own army from each other and from units of the enemy’s army. Banners performed not only the functions of command and control of troops and their subunits, but also represented a psychological factor in supporting the morale. Among the means of commanding the troops were musical instruments and other attributes. During the war and military campaigns, commanders appointed duty offi cers and messengers to control and communicate with military units. Military culture is a cross-cutting theme of Circassian history, which for a long historical period determined the ethnic, historical and cultural identity of the Circassian ethnos and from this perspective entered world history. In confronting external threats and challenges, the military art of the Circassians, various components of military culture, including those considered in the article, were formed. Keywords: military culture, combat insignia, replacement, flags, badges, military paraphernalia, command and control system. DOI: 10.25791/vseist.02.2021.1127 Pp. 03-09.