Why do the military salute by putting their hand to their head

The military jokingly say: "They don't put their hand to an empty head." They mean that military honor should be given only if there is a headdress. By the way, this rule does not apply everywhere. And why put your hand to your head at all and how did this custom, adopted in most armies of the world, appear?

This military gesture is called in different ways: to salute, salute, salute. But it also has an official name — "military greeting". The Charter defines this action as "the embodiment of the comradely cohesion of military personnel, evidence of mutual respect and a manifestation of politeness and good manners."

As for the "empty head", the rule to salute only in a headdress does not apply in all armies of the world. For example, in the Israel Defense Forces, you can salute with your head uncovered. Japanese servicemen in such cases replace the salute with a short bow.

In the US Army, there is another rule — the saluting person must have both hands free. This rule is periodically violated by the presidents of the country. Once Barack Obama greeted the military with a glass of coffee in his hand, and George W. Bush generally saluted the Marines, holding a dog under his arm. By the way, both cases caused outrage among patriotic and greedy Americans for rituals.

Salute in different ways. Somewhere it is customary to hold your hand palm down, somewhere - palm forward. In Poland, the military generally salute with only two fingers. But always the hand is applied to the head. Strange as it may seem, no military expert or historian can tell with certainty how the military greeting appeared. There are only versions of varying degrees of plausibility.

The two most popular versions are so "hyped" that many are absolutely sure of them. Someone believes that in ancient times warriors greeted each other by showing an open right palm. They demonstrated it in different ways, but the goal was always the same - to show that there is no weapon in the hand. Others assure that the greeting appeared in The Middle Ages. Then the knights at the meeting lifted the helmet visor with their hand, thereby showing peacefulness.

Both options are quite logical, but there is no confirmation of their truthfulness. In books on the history of the army, you can find a story that before you start saluting, the military took off their hats when they met. They bared their heads in front of their elders, nobles, and, of course, in the presence of the monarch's person or members of his family.

But over time, hats became more and more complicated and it was not easy to pull them off every minute from the head. Therefore, hats were taken off in special cases, with high authorities. In ordinary situations, they began to only symbolically touch the brim of the hat with their hand. The charter of military service of the Royal British Army of the sample of 1745 spoke about it like this:

In general, the life of the military has been simplified a little. But in the Austrian army since 1790 there have been two rules. Having a hat on his head, a person could limit himself to saluting. But if there was a headdress on the head called a bicorn, or a two-cornered hat, then it was supposed to be removed. This division of hats was abolished only in 1868.

Over time, it was decided to leave the hats alone and not touch them at all. The hand was simply brought to the head and that was enough. The salute became abstract for a reason. The hands of the military were not always clean, especially in the field. In addition, many wore gloves, with which it was not too convenient to take off a hat or a cap.

British sailors at the beginning of the 19th century, when meeting an officer, put their hand, folded in a handful, to the right side of the forehead. It was as if they were pinching the edge of the hat with their fingers, but they did not touch it. For Poles, a two—finger salute is a tribute to the state emblem depicted on the cockade.