Austria – Cap badge (Kappenabzeichen) from 1918, with a message of peace.

Description

This is an Austrian cap badge (Kappenabzeichen) from 1918, with a message of peace. The badge deviates from the usual propaganda badges by celebrating peace instead of glorifying war.

Description and symbolism:

The text “1918 FRIEDE” means “1918 PEACE”, which refers to the end of the war in November 1918.

Motif:

An angel blowing a trumpet, a classic peace symbolic motif.

Two soldiers (one German and one Allied?) who seem to meet in reconciliation.

War landscape in the background, probably trenches.

Frame: Surrounded by an oak leaf wreath, which symbolizes strength and honor.

The pin on the reverse has been replaced and is not the original.

Historical context:

In November 1918, Germany and Austria-Hungary capitulated.

Charles I abdicated on November 11, 1918, and Austria became a republic.

This badge may have been made after the end of the war as a symbol of peace and reconciliation.