Peaked Cap - Russia

Russia

Russia is the first country to adopt the peaked cap; one version of the headgear's origin is that it's derived from the kartuz, a traditional headgear of Russian peasants. The official act of adopting the cap for military use was done by Paul I of Russia in 1796. During the Napoleonic wars, various early versions of the peaked cap were in use in the Russian army. Imperial Russia abandoned the cap for a short period in the second half of the XIX century for a forage cap similar to the one used by Americans during their civil war, but soon returned. Early soldiers' peaked caps were, in fact, peakless, hence the nickname "солдатский блин" (soldier's flapjack) for the headgear; officers' caps had peaks from the start and looked like modern peaked caps. The peakless version remained in use in the Russian navy under the name of beskozyrka (lit. "peakless one") and is still worn by Russian seamen. Also during the Imperial period, peaked caps were introduced as part of government officials' uniforms.

In 1914, peakless caps were abolished everywhere in Russian armed forces except the Navy, and modern peaked caps were issued to all soldiers. However, after the October Revolution of 1917, it was replaced in Red Army field uniforms by the budenovka, and later by the garrison cap. The dress uniforms, on the other hand, retained this headgear, and various paramilitary Soviet agencies like the NKVD or VOKhR kept using it in all uniforms. Agencies like railway workers, firemen, pilots, mining supervisors, foresters, customs officers in the Soviet Union also were organized along military lines and wore uniforms with peaked caps of various designs.

In 1990s, the modern Russian peaked cap was designed and widely issued to the armed forces and police. Caps of this shape are most associated with Russia among foreigners, since they are large, high and generally impressive looking. The actual servicemen, on the other hand, dislike them and tend to refer to them by the ignoble nickname of "pinochetka" (lit. Pinochet's hat), referencing the earlier association of disproportionately large peaked caps with Latin American dictatorships.