Figure 1.--This German boy wears a military-styled peaked student cap. The cap colors helped identify the school and form. The photographer of this cabinent card portrait was Hugo Engler in Desden (negative number 18923). The portrait is undated, but we would guess was taken in the 1880s, perhaps the 1890s..

Peaked military caps first appeared in the early-19th century. We are not sure just when, but it was sometime after the Napoleonic wars, we think by the 1830s. We do not have much information from the 19th century. It was clearly a military style adopted from the Napoleonic Wars. This needs to be confirmed. We see then being worn when large numbers of photographic portraits first become available through CDVs (1860s). These caps became an ocoic smbol of German school boys in much the same ways that rounded crown school caps became a symbol of British schools boys. We have seen more information when amateur photography and the snap shot provide us more informal images (1900). Germany did not have school uniforms except for a few military cadet schools, thus we see boys wearing these caps with what ever the popular styles of the day were. This included sailor suits. The caps we see in ye late-19th and early-20 century see small caps with small brims and peaks. While we do not have much information from the 19th century. We have a great deal of photographic evidence from the early-20th century. They were still being worn in Germny in the 1930s before World War II. We do not see very many during the War, but believe they were worn. We no longer see them after World War II (1945). This was quite a sharp break in tradition. We are not entirely sure why they were discontinued, perhaps because they had a military look.

The 19th Century

Peaked military caps first appeared in the early-19th century. We are not sure just when, but it was sometime after the Napoleonic wars, we think by the 1830s. We do not have much information from the 19th century, especially the first half of the century. It was clearly a military style adopted from the Napoleonic Wars. This needs to be confirmed. We see then being worn when large numbers of photographic portraits first become available through CDVs (1860s). These caps became an iconic symbol of German school boys in much the same ways that rounded crown school caps became a symbol of British schools boys. The Meiji Resoration occurred in Japan (1860s). The Japanese began building a modern country. They were so impressed with Prussia that they chose the German cadet uniform for a school uniform as they began building a modern school system (1870s). Germany was unified under the Prussian crown (1871). Education remained, however, the responsivility of the various constituent states (Landen). Notice that the 19th century example we have here is a rather small cap, both the brim and cap itself (figure 1). You have to look closely to see the brim. Also note it was not black, although we are not sure what the color was.

The 20th Century

We have seen more information when amateur photography and the snap shot provide us more informal images (1900). Germany did not have school uniforms except for a few military cadet schools, thus we see boys wearing these caps with what ever the popular styles of the day were. This included sailor suits. The sailor suit was a very popular school garment, especially for younger boys and pre-teens. Many of the boys wearing these caps with salor suits were younger boys wearing them as a school style and not as a cap designated by a secondary school. Here there were some excetions as some younger teens wore sailor suits to their secondary school. The caps we see in the late-19th and early-20 century see small caps with small brims and peaks. As our archive is limited for this period, we are not entirely sure how prevalent these small-style caps were. While we do not have much information from the 19th century. We have a great deal of photographic evidence from the early-20th century. They were still being worn in Germny in the 1930s before World War II. The caps we see in the 20s and 30s are larger than what we see at the begnning of the century. They also look to be mostly black. There was no one single style, but they were all similar. While this was a German school style. We see these caps in Eastern European and Central European countries influenced by Germany. We do not have a chronological fix on this, but we see a good many examples in the inter-War era. We do not see very many during the War, but believe they were worn. We no longer see them after World War II (1945). This was quite a sharp break in tradition. We are not entirely sure why they were discontinued, perhaps because they had a military look.

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Created: 8:29 PM 2/20/2009
Last updated: 3:59 PM 4/16/2017