Lampas are inserts from strips of fabric on the side seams of the uniform trousers of officers, generals and marshals, as well as representatives of the Cossack army, and differ in color from the main tone.
First stripes
The history of the appearance of stripes dates back to ancient times (VIII century BC). It is believed that then the Scythian warriors began to use leather ribbons covering the side seams on the pants as a distinctive sign.
The society of the Scythians had a clear division according to the type of life: from cattle breeders and artisans to sword-bearing warriors and "royal" Scythians. The latter also wore leather stripes, often trimmed with gold ornaments, on their trousers. It was a sign of belonging to a high class.
Cossack lampas
The tradition of the Scythians to wear stripes, according to one of the historical versions, was adopted by the Cossacks. But in Cossack circles there is another version of the legend on this subject, according to which the stripes on the pants of the Cossacks appeared like this:
Once the Cossack envoys, returning from Moscow after negotiations, brought the salary issued by the sovereign, paid in money, bread and cloth, with a special instruction on the fabric, ordering to give the best atamans a scarlet karmazin, and all the rest - a blue kindyak. However, the Cossacks follow this instructionrefused, believing that among them there are no better or worse - they are all equal. Therefore, it was decided to divide the entire fabric equally. There was more blue fabric, so each Cossack was cut off a large piece, which was enough for chekmeni and trousers, and scarlet was not enough, but it was still divided into equal parts. Each got a narrow strip, which was sewn on the side seams of the pants.
Cossacks' pants with stripes have become not only a distinguishing feature that speaks of belonging to the Cossacks, but also a kind of symbol of national identity, independence and liberty. Moreover, by the color of the stripes, it was possible to approximately determine which army the Cossack belongs to.
Amur, Astrakhan, Transbaikal and Ussuri Cossacks wore pants with yellow stripes. The Don and Yenisei Cossacks had red stripes. The Kuban and Ural have raspberry. The Cossacks of the Orenburg region wore light blue stripes. Siberian Cossacks flaunted in trousers with scarlet stripes. For Terek Cossacks, stripes were replaced by light blue edging.
More accurate belonging to a particular army was determined by the color of the uniform, shoulder straps and the color of the top of the cap.
The appearance of stripes in the Russian army
For the first time, stripes adorned the uniforms of the Russian army in 1783 during the reform carried out by Field Marshal G. A. Potemkin, who determined that stripes are an additional paraphernalia for uniforms, which makes it possible to establish whether a military man belongs to a command position in peacetime. For the duration of the war, lampaswere abolished, as they unmasked the commander on the battlefield.
However, Paul I, who took the throne in 1796, decided to re-carry out reforms in the Russian army, and first of all they affected the command staff. The established image of officer life, which was quite free during the reign of Catherine II (officers spent most of their service visiting social events), under Paul I changed dramatically. The new Military Regulations adopted by him forced the officers to take up their direct official duties. The changes also affected uniforms. In particular, the emperor decided that stripes were “not modern”, like the whole form adopted after the Potemkin reforms, while changing the entire Russian army into outfits in the likeness of the army of Frederick the Great, King of Prussia, while forcing officers to wear powdered wigs.
In 1803, Alexander I, who took his place on the throne instead of Paul I, who was killed during a palace coup, returned the stripes to the army. First, the changes affected the uniforms of the lancers, and later the rest of the troops.
Lampas in the Red and Soviet Army
In the worker-peasant spacecraft, trousers with stripes were introduced for senior officers, starting from the general. Initially, the color of the stripes depended on the type of troops:
- Red was worn by army generals of all military branches.
- Blue - aviation generals.
- Crimson - generals of the signal troops, technical and quartermaster service, engineering troops.
After some time, crimson stripes decorated the uniforms of the generalslegal service and physicians. But soon this color was abandoned.
Since 1943, cornflower blue stripes have been introduced for NKVD generals. For internal troops - maroon, and for border guards - green.
But in the year of the Great Victory (1945), different colors of the stripes were replaced with a single one - red.
Nothing has changed for the generals of the modern army. The red double stripes (photo below) are still their "calling card".
The rising military generation of Suvorov and Cadets have been taught stripes since childhood. On uniform trousers, they are presented as a single stripe in blue or red.
