Popular from existing warcries.
The most famous war cries
One of the most famous and formidable warriors of all times and peoples - the Roman legionnaires - shouted "Bar-rr-ra", imitating the roar of an elephant.
In addition, the cry “Nobiscum Deus!” that is, God is with us in Latin.
By the way, there is a version that the legionnaires did not use their cry all the time, but only as an encouragement for recruits or when they realized that the enemy was so weak that he could be suppressed primarily morally.
The use of battle cries by the Romans was mentioned in the description of the battle with the Samnites, but at the Battle of Mutina, the legions fought in silence.
An intermediate conclusion can be drawn as follows: the Romans seemed terrible elephants, and they were also fully aware of the fact that if the enemy is superior in strength, then no battle cry will help here.
By the way, the same Romans used the word baritus to mean the cry of elephants, as well as the war songs of the Germanic tribes. In general, in a number of texts the word "barite" or "baritus" is an analogue of the phrase "battle cry".
And, since we are talking about the military cries of the ancient peoples, it would be useful to mention that the Hellenes, that is, the Greeks, shouted "Alale!" (in their opinion, this is how the terribly scary owl bird screamed); "Aharai!" was the cry of the Jews (translated from Hebrew, it means “Follow me!”), And “Mara!” or "Marai!" - it was a call to murder among the Sarmatians.
In 1916, during the First World War, French General Robert Nivelle shouted the phrase: "On ne passe pas!" She was addressed German troops during the clash at Verdun and translated as "They will not pass!" This expression began to be actively used by the artist Maurice Louis Henri Newmont on propaganda posters. About a year later, it became the battle cry of all French soldiers and then Romanian.
In 1936, "They Shall Not Pass!" sounded in Madrid from the lips of the communist Dolores Ibarruri (Dolores Ibarruri). It was in the Spanish translation of "No pasaran" that this cry became known throughout the world. He continued to inspire soldiers in the Second world war and in civil wars Central America.
The emergence of the cry "Geronimo!" we are indebted to the Indian Goyatlai from the Apache tribe. He became a legendary figure, because for 25 years he led the resistance against the American invasion of their lands in the 19th century. When in battle an Indian rushed at the enemy, the soldiers cried out in horror to their Saint Jerome. So Goyatlay became Geronimo.
In 1939, director Paul Sloane dedicated his western Geronimo to the famous Indian. After watching this film, Private Eberhard of the 501st Airborne Regiment jumped out of the plane shouting "Geronimo!" while making test parachute jumps. His co-workers did the same. To date, the nickname of the brave Indian is the official cry of American paratroopers.
If someone hears "Allah Akbar", then the imagination immediately draws hard-hitting pictures of radical jihadists. But this phrase in itself does not carry any negative connotation. "Akbar" is superlative the word "important". Thus, "Allah Akbar" can be literally translated as "Allah is Great."
In ancient times, when China was ruled by the Tang Dynasty, the inhabitants widely used the phrase "Wu huang wansui", which can be translated as "May the emperor live 10 thousand years." Over time, only the second part of "wansui" remained from the expression. The Japanese adopted this wish, but in the transcription of the country rising sun the word sounded like "banzei". But they continued to use it only in relation to the ruler, wishing him a long hello.
In the 19th century, the word changed again. Now it sounded like "banzai" and was used not only in relation to the emperor. With the advent of World War II, "banzai" became the battle cry of Japanese soldiers, especially kamikaze.
It is interesting that war cries used to be a kind of marker of the genus. As an example, we can recall the Kazakh "uraniums". Each clan had its own "uranium", most of them cannot be restored today, since war cries outside the battlefield were considered taboo vocabulary and were kept secret.
Of the most ancient Kazakh "uraniums", the national one is known - "Alash!" We know about the battle cry of the Kazakhs from the manuscript "Baburname", which was written by the great-grandson of Tamerlane Babur.
In particular, it says: “Khan and those who stood near him also turned their faces to the banner and splashed koumiss on it. And immediately roared copper pipes, the drums were beaten, and the warriors lined up in a row began to loudly repeat the battle cry. From all this, an unimaginable noise arose around, which soon subsided. All this was repeated three times, after which the leaders jumped on their horses and circled the camp three times ... ".
This fragment of "Baburname" is important in that it shows that the battle cry was used not only in battle, but also before it. It was a kind of mood formula for a successful battle. The then uranium of the Kazakhs "Urr" was shouted out like our triple "Ur".
There are many versions of the etymology of the battle cry "Hurrah". Philologists are inclined to two versions of the origin of this word. It is used in English and German cultures. There are consonant Hurra, Hurah, Hooray. Linguists believe that the call originated from the High German word "hurren", that is, "move quickly."
According to the second version, the call was borrowed from the Mongol-Tatars. From the Turkic "ur" can be translated as "beat!"
Some historians elevate our "cheers" to the South Slavic "urrra", which literally means "we will take over." This version is weaker than the first. Borrowings from the South Slavic languages mainly concerned book vocabulary.
“And let it be the battle cry “Kok bөri” - a gray wolf.”
(“Legend of Oghuz-Kagan”, 13th century. Manuscript of epic content, the only list written in Uighur script. Kept in National Library in Paris),
Most Kazakh tribes, along with the tribal tamga, also have their own ұran - a battle cry. Most of the calls today are familiar only to a narrow circle of people, leading their lineage from one ancestor and representing one specific genus. But it is not uncommon for several clans to use one tamga and one common uranium, considering themselves descendants of one distant ancestor. Such uraniums could be called ordinary or standard. But in history Kazakh people there were also unusual, one might say, great uraniums, such as, for example, a nationwide battle cry - Alash. No less important were once the uraniums of three well-known Kazakh tribal unions- Senior zhuz, Middle zhuz and Junior zhuz, respectively: Bakhtiyar, Akzhol ...
The role of the latter for an ordinary steppe dweller was much more important and significant than his own ancestral uranium, because they helped him in a difficult moment to feel unity not only with his close relatives, but with the whole people, which could inspire him to accomplish unprecedented feats. But it should be noted that in the steppe, contrary to the prevailing stereotype, there were no continuous armed clashes with foreigners, when the Kazakhs every now and then were forced to gather under the banner of zhuzes or flock to the national banner. That is why the demand for great uraniums was not an ordinary phenomenon. In the Kazakh steppe, big wars were in themselves an extreme phenomenon. The Dzungarian invasion is the exception rather than the rule. In addition, it happened in the era of the decline of the Kazakh Khanate and its collapse into three separate, stable, competing for influence tribal unions. Evidence for this is the fact that Junior zhuz almost did not suffer from the invasion of the Dzungars, the Middle Zhuz was partially affected, while the main blow of the Dzungar hordes fell on Senior zhuz, which is why the maximum damage fell on the lot of the Kazakhs, nomadic in the south of the country. The fact that the occupation of Semirechie and vast territories along the Karatau Mountains lasted for three whole decades can testify to what efforts were required after that to drive out the invaders.
If we dwell in more detail on the issue of the strategy of maintaining big wars nomads, it should be noted that here the question of the role of a particular individual in the community comes to the fore. For success in such campaigns, a real leader had to appear among the nomads, capable of uniting the people by all available means and methods. A leader capable of rallying everyone into one powerful fist. And to do this in a nomadic environment has always been extremely difficult, because numerous tribes, where conservative elders ruled, zealous of their high position, have always been hostile to any encroachment on their power. Leaders like Mode, Kultegina, Genghis Khan or Tamerlane were not born very often. And in the long epochs of timelessness, when the weather conditions in the steppe favored normal housekeeping, the nomads, according to their simple nature, were rather inert and preferred to lead an idle lifestyle.
It is no coincidence that almost all travelers of the Middle Ages note this - “While the koumiss is stretching, they do not care about other food”(Guillaume de Rubruk, "Journey to Eastern Countries", XIII century).
But one should not think that the Kazakhs generally sat idly by. Nomad, probably, like no one else, understood that major military campaigns cost a lot and fraught with great dangers, which is why he preferred the common, familiar barymta - stealing horses from his neighbors. In addition to stealing livestock, they often went to steal girls and women, which saved them from the burdensome payment of bride price, and they also did not disdain to rob caravans. All this, of course, did not contribute to the rapprochement of disparate tribes and the rapid formation of united people, and, in the end, led to the fact that the great uraniums gradually completely fell out of use. In a word, the peak of the great uraniums, which originated at the dawn of the formation of nomadic communities, came and was most in demand during the era of upsurges, flourishing and unprecedented power of nomads - Saks, Xiongnu and Huns, Turks, the Golden Horde, when some battle cries gathered dozens under one banner, or even hundreds of thousands of armed horsemen. Probably, in those days the ancient general Kazakh uranium - Alash. But after the collapse of the empire of Genghis Khan, the role of the great battle cries began to steadily decline and slowly fade away. The root cause of this was the appearance in the steppe a large number weak rulers who hastened to divide a powerful state into separate fiefdoms.
And the more they became, the deeper they became mired in the struggle for power. All these endless internal conflicts and squabbles could not contribute to prosperity and increase military power nomads. On the contrary, pretty soon the once large tribal unions began to break up into parts and move from one khan or sultan to another. It was in such timelessness, in the second half of the 15th century, that the dissatisfied sultans Kerey and Zhanibek took with them some of his subordinates from Khan Abulkhayyr, who later formed the backbone of the future Kazakh Khanate. At the same time, in the places of their former wanderings, many of their fellow tribesmen remained with the same tribal tamgas and the same uraniums. A hundred years later, this multi-tribal composition of the nomads who left to "Cossack" joined large group Mangyts (their descendants are today's Nogais). They also had their own tamgas and uraniums. Hence, as part of many Turkic peoples genera appeared with the same names and similar tamgas. In this era of decline and timelessness, new battle cries, significant for the majority, could hardly have appeared. It seems that then the nomads had to use their ancestral uraniums more or some kind of cries that temporarily replaced the former ones.
Let's take a closer look at the issue of how nomads use their uranium. Reached our days Manuscript "Baburname", written by the great-grandson of Tamerlane himself - the ruler of Samarkand, Emir Babur. There are such curious lines: “Khan and those who stood near him also turned their faces to the banner and splashed koumiss on it. And then copper pipes roared, drums beat, and warriors lined up in a row began to loudly repeat the war cry. From all this, an unimaginable noise arose around, which soon subsided. All this was repeated three times, after which the leaders jumped on their horses and circled the camp three times ... ". From this it follows that uraniums were shouted out many times during the review of troops even before they set out on a campaign. Such a kind of medieval triple "Hurrah!". It seems that uraniums were shouted out immediately before the start of the battle, when the opposing sides lined up in battle formation face to face. But the nomads entered the battle in a different way: with a long, many-voiced cry "U-U-Ur!!!", which means, moreover, in the literal sense, the Russian "Bey!". By the way, the famous Slavic-Russian “Hurrah!!!” takes its roots from here. Later, advancing on the enemy, the warriors also began to shout “Ұ-ұ-ұr!”, And already biting into the front ranks of the bristling enemy, they exhaled a drawn-out “ah-ah ...” with force. From the merger of these two syllables, one word, familiar today to every inhabitant of the post-Soviet space, "Hurrah!" Was formed. Probably, it would be useful to say here that the root of the Turkic word "ұran" itself is - ur (bey).
It is noteworthy that the Russian "Hurrah!" already deeply rooted in the minds of today's Kazakhs. This happened even after, along with the collapse of large tribal unions and the fragmentation of strong nomadic communities, their great uraniums faded into the background or were completely forgotten. In this situation, the role of ordinary generic battle cries came to the fore and became much more significant. Of course, when dashing horsemen drove into pitch darkness herds of horses of their neighbors, they tried to keep their mouths shut, but shortly before, when they were just about to speak out on barymta, they probably cheered themselves up with the pronunciation of the generic uranium. Battle cries were also uttered during all sorts of gatherings. For example, during big toy or a feast arranged by the descendants of some major feudal lord or elder. At this time, horse races were held - baige or kokpar - goat-wrestling. At such gatherings, other competitions were also held, such as kures - wrestling or kyz kuu - catch up with the girl. Gluttons often competed with each other to see who would drink more koumiss or eat meat. And, of course, during these competitions and fun, the morale of the competitors was supported by nothing more than a loud shouting, or even better - shouting over the generic uranium.
In conclusion, I would like to cite a rare case of the use by a steppe dweller not of his ancestral uranium, but of a special battle cry, invented by him in a difficult hour for himself. This will help shed light on how some uraniums were replaced by others among the nomads. This unusual fact preserved in legends about the great Kazakh khan Abylay. As you know, Abylai Khan was given a different name at birth - Abilmansur (Abilmansur). It just so happened that his relatives were slaughtered by the Sarts (now they are usually called Uzbeks) and he, being then about nine years old, miraculously escaped from the hands of the villains, ended up in the Kazakh steppe. There he had to forget about his noble origin for a long time and hired as a laborer to the famous biy of the Senior Zhuz - Tole bi. At that time, he was hailed only as Sabalak - a shaggy, lousy dog. With this contemptuous nickname, the future khan went on a campaign as an ordinary militia against the hated Dzhungars. In the very first battle, Sabalak decides to accept the challenge of the famous warrior who cut off the head of more than one Kazakh, the Dzungarian noyon Sharysh-bahadur. To the surprise of his fellow tribesmen, before entering into single combat, he utters not one of the many generic uraniums, but a completely different word, hitherto unheard of by anyone - “Abylay!”. With this battle cry, he miraculously manages to defeat the experienced warrior, and when, after the massacre organized by the Kazakhs over their sworn enemy, they search for him and ask where he got this uranium, Sabalak confesses who he really is. And he took the uranium "Abylay" in memory of his grandfather, whom the Sarts called for ruthlessness "Kanisher Abylai" - Bloodsucker Abylai.
The relatives recognize him as their sultan, and over time, Abilmansur himself begins to be called none other than Abylai. So one day the name turned into uranium, and uranium turned into a name. True, history is silent about whether Abylai Khan used his unusual battle cry until the end of his life or after some time, he decided to change it to the original uranium of the Torah-Chingizids - Arkhar. But this is not so important anymore, the main thing is that uraniums could easily disappear over time, giving way to new ones, more significant at that time, as happened once in the steppe with the despicable shepherd Sabalak...
Of course, the most famous and replicated battle cry of the Russian troops is "Hurrah!" Historians are still arguing about where he came from. According to one version, "cheers" comes from the Tatar word "ur", which translates as "beat". This version deserves the right to exist, if only for the reason that Russians throughout history have come into contact with Tatar culture, our ancestors more than once had the opportunity to hear the battle cry of the Tatars. Let's not forget about the Mongol-Tatar yoke. However, there are other versions.
Some historians elevate our "cheers" to the South Slavic "urrra", which literally means "we will take over." This version is weaker than the first. Borrowings from the South Slavic languages mainly concerned book vocabulary.
There are also versions that "hurray" comes from the Lithuanian "virai", which means "men", from the Bulgarian "urge", that is, "up", and from the Turkic exclamation "Hu Raj", which translates as "in paradise ". In our opinion, these are the most unlikely hypotheses.
Another version deserves special attention. It says that "hurray" came from the Kalmyk "uralan". In Russian it means "forward". The version is quite convincing, especially considering the fact that the first documented use of the "Hurray" cry dates back to the time of Peter I. It was then that the irregular Kalmyk cavalry appeared in the Russian army, which used the "uralan" as a greeting.
In such an unsubstantiated case as the search for the origin of the war cry, of course, there were some pseudo-historical hypotheses. These include the version of the "historian" Mikhail Zadorny, who assures that "cheers" is nothing more than the praise of the Egyptian god of the sun Ra.
The battle cry is designed to motivate fighters to attack and defend, to cheer, provoke and destroy fear. Silently go on the attack is not accepted. It is customary to go loud and intimidating.
Of course, the most famous and replicated battle cry of the Russian troops is "Hurrah!" Historians are still arguing about where he came from. According to one version, "cheers" comes from the Tatar word "ur", which translates as "beat". This version deserves the right to exist, if only for the reason that the Russians throughout history have come into contact with the Tatar culture, our ancestors more than once had the opportunity to hear the battle cry of the Tatars. Let's not forget about the Mongol-Tatar yoke. However, there are other versions. Some historians elevate our "hurrah" to the South Slavic "urrra", which literally means "we will prevail." This version is weaker than the first. Borrowings from the South Slavic languages mainly concerned book vocabulary.
There are also versions that “hurray” comes from the Lithuanian “virai”, which means “men”, from the Bulgarian “urge”, that is, “up”, and from the Turkic exclamation “Hu Raj”, which translates as “in paradise ". In our opinion, these are the most unlikely hypotheses.
Another version deserves special attention. It says that "hurray" comes from the Kalmyk "uralan". In Russian it means "forward". The version is quite convincing, especially considering the fact that the first documented use of the “Hurray” cry dates back to the time of Peter I. It was then that the irregular Kalmyk cavalry appeared in the Russian army, which used the “uralan” as a greeting.
In such an unsubstantiated case as the search for the origin of the war cry, of course, there were some pseudo-historical hypotheses. These include the version of the "historian" Mikhail Zadorny, who assures that "cheers" is nothing more than a praise of the Egyptian god of the sun Ra.
Saryn on a kick!
Another Russian battle cry, which is believed to have been used by the Cossacks, is "Saryn on the kitch!" Although Dahl's dictionary explains both what a saryn (rabble, crowd) is and what a kichka (bow of a ship) is, the origin of this battle cry remains a mystery. If you believe Dahl, then such a cry was adopted among the sea robbers of the ushkuiniki, who, attacking the boats, shouted “Saryn to the kitch!”, which meant “all the rabble on the bow of the boat, do not get in the way.” There are other versions, they seem no less interesting. Thus, the art critic Boris Almazov suggested that "saryn on a kitchka" goes back to the Polovtsian "Sary o kichkou", which translates as "Polovtsy, forward!". Also of interest is the Saka version, according to which the call already known to us comes from the Saka “Seriini kγske”, which translates as “Let's give a fight!”. Kus is power, seriy is army.
It is interesting that war cries used to be a kind of marker of the genus. As an example, we can recall the Kazakh "uraniums". Each clan had its own "uranium", most of them cannot be restored today, since war cries outside the battlefield were considered taboo vocabulary and were kept secret. Of the most ancient Kazakh "uraniums", the national one is known - "Alash!" We know about the battle cry of the Kazakhs from the Baburname manuscript, which was written by Tamerlane's great-grandson Babur. In particular, it says:
“The Khan and those who stood near him also turned their faces to the banner and splashed koumiss on it. And then copper pipes roared, drums beat, and warriors lined up in a row began to loudly repeat the war cry. From all this, an unimaginable noise arose around, which soon subsided. All this was repeated three times, after which the leaders jumped on their horses and circled the camp three times ... ".
Geronimo!
There is no combined arms cry in the American army. But the fur seals have a battle cry - "Hoo", and the paratroopers - "Geronimo!". The origin of the latter is not without interest. In 1940, before jumping from an airplane, private of the 501st experimental airborne regiment, Eberhard, suggested that a timid colleague shout “Geronimo!” while jumping. Before that, their regiment had watched a movie about the Indians, and the name of the legendary Apache leader was on the soldiers' lips. And so it happened. After that, all the American paratroopers growled "Geronimo!" during the landing.
Other calls
The phenomenon of the battle cry has existed for as long as there has been war. Warriors Ottoman Empire shouted "Alla!", the ancient Jews - "Aharai!", the Roman legionnaires "Bar-rr-a!", "Horrido!" - Luftwaffe pilots, "Savoy!" - Italians in World War II, "Bonzai!" - Japanese, "Hurra!" - Finns. And so on. However, it must be admitted that often in the course of hostilities I motivate fighters to attack not at all with such cries, but with others. But the law does not allow us to write them in this material.
