"War chant" redirects here. For the stallion with the same name, see War Chant. For other uses, see war song.
A battle cry or war cry is a yell or chant taken up in battle, usually by members of the same combatant group.
Battle cries are not necessarily articulate (e.g. "Eulaliaaaa!", "Alala"..), although they often aim to invoke patriotic or religious sentiment. Their purpose is a combination of arousing aggression and esprit de corps on one's own side and causing intimidation on the hostile side. Battle cries are a universal form of display behaviour (i.e., threat display) aiming at competitive advantage, ideally by overstating one's own aggressive potential to a point where the enemy prefers to avoid confrontation altogether and opts to flee. In order to overstate one's potential for aggression, battle cries need to be as loud as possible, and have historically often been amplified by acoustic devices such as horns, drums, conches, carnyxes, bagpipes, bugles, etc. (see also martial music).
A Māori performer giving a Haka at a folk festival in PolandSoldiers performing a battle cryAll Blacks performing a Haka, 1:39 min
Battle cries are closely related to other behavioral patterns of human aggression, such as war dances and taunting, performed during the "warming up" phase preceding the escalation of physical violence. From the Middle Ages, many cries appeared on speech scrolls in standards or coat of arms as slogans (see slogan (heraldry)) and were adopted as mottoes, an example being the motto "Dieu et mon droit" ("God and my right") of the English kings. It is said that this was Edward III's rallying cry during the Battle of Crécy. The word "slogan" originally derives from sluagh-gairm or sluagh-ghairm (sluagh = "people", "army", and gairm = "call", "proclamation"), the Scottish Gaelic word for "gathering-cry" and in times of war for "battle-cry". The Gaelic word was borrowed into English as slughorn, sluggorne, "slogum", and slogan.
The troops of ancient Athens, during the Medic Wars and the Peloponnesian War were noted for going into battle shouting "Alala!" or "Alale!", which was supposed to emulate the cry of the owl, the bird of their patron goddess Athena.[2]
Another common war cry in India was "Jai Bhavani" meaning, "Hail goddess Bhavani!”
A common war cry used in ancient Tamilakam was "Vetrivel, Veeravel", meaning, "Victorious vel, courageous vel." Vel is the spear of Murugan, the regional form of Kartikeya, the Hindu war deity. In the contemporary period, the battle cry "Vetrivel, Veeravel" is being used in the 191 Field Regiment of the Indian Army based in Madukkarai, Coimbatore.[5][6]
Middle Ages
During the Scottish wars of independence, Scottish soldiers used Alba gu bràth as a battle-cry, a phrase that means 'Scotland for ever' (literally, 'Scotland until judgement'.) This was depicted in the film Braveheart during which Mel Gibson, playing William Wallace, shouts the phrase to rally his soldiers just before a battle commenced.
Each Turkic tribe and tribal union had its distinct tamga (seal), totemic ongon bird, and distinct uran (battle cry) (hence the Slavic urah "battle cry").[7][8] While tamgas and ongons could be distinct down to individuals, the hue of horses and uran battle cries belonged to each tribe, were passed down from generation to generation, and some modern battle cries were recorded in antiquity. On split of the tribe, their unique distinction passed to a new political entity, endowing different modern states with the same uran battle cries of the split tribes, for example Kipchak battle cry among Kazakhs, Kirgizes, Turkmens, and Uzbeks. Some larger tribes' uran battle cries:
Desperta ferro! ("Awake iron!" in Catalan) was the most characteristic cry of the Almogavar warriors during the Crown of Aragon military campaigns across the Mediterranean from the 12th through to the 14th centuries.
Deus vult! ("God wills it!" in Latin) was the battle cry of the Crusaders.
Allāhu Akbar (الله أكبر, "God is [the] Greatest") and Allāhu Allāh (الله الله, "God! God!") were used by Muslim armies throughout history. Al-naṣr aw al-shahāda (النصر أو الشهادة, "Victory or martyrdom") was also a common battle cry; the At-Tawbah 9:52 says that God has promised to the righteous Muslim warrior one of these two glorious ideals.[original research?]
Óðinn á yðr alla (Odin owns you all) – A reference to Odin's self sacrifice at Yggdrasil. Attributed to Eric the Victorious.
Pre-modern
When suppressing peasants' rebellions in Germany and Scandinavia around 1500, such as in the Battle of Hemmingstedt, the Dutch mercenaries of the Black Guard yelled Wahr di buer, die garde kumt ("Beware, peasants, the guards are coming"). When the peasants counterattacked, they responded with Wahr di, Garr, de Buer de kumt ("Beware, Guard, of the peasant, [who is] coming").
The Spanish cried Santiago ("Saint James") both when reconquering Spain from the Moors and during conquest in early colonial America.
King Henry IV of France (1553–1610), a pleasure-loving and cynical military leader, was famed for wearing a striking white plume in his helmet and for his war cry: Ralliez-vous à mon panache blanc! ("Follow my white plume!").
Raj Karega Khalsa – (The Khalsa will rule) Aaakki Rahe Na Koye (And no opponent will remain)[12]
Gaj ke jaikara gajaave fateh paave nihaal ho jaavae, Sat Sri Akaal gurbaar akaal hee akaal|| (excerpt from ardas of Buddha Dal prayerbook (gutka) praising the blessing of uttering jaikara proclaiming supreme truth).
The Gurkha (Gorkha) soldiers' battle cry was, and still is, "Jai Mahakali, Ayo Gorkhali!" ("Victory to Goddess Mahakali, the Gurkhas are coming!")[14][15]
Finnish light cavalry troops in the Swedish Army in the 17th and 18th centuries would use the battle cry "Hakkaa päälle!" ("Cut them down!" in Finnish), lending them the name Hackapell.
Irish regiments of various armies used and continue to use Gaelic War cries, "Faugh a Ballagh" ("Clear the way!") or "Erin go Bragh" ("Ireland Forever")
The Swedish army in the 18th and 19th centuries would be issued with the command to attack with "För Fäderneslandet, gå på, Hurra!" ("For the Fatherland, onwards, Hurrah!")[16]
In the Battle of Dybbøl in 1864, both Danish and German forces used "Hurrah" as a war cry.
During World War I in the Italian Front of 1915. Before battle, Italian soldiers would yell "Savoia" or "Avanti Savoia", which is "Come on Savoy!" or "Onwards Savoy!" in Italian (compare "For the king!" among British soldiers of the same era).
Modern
During World War II, Tennōheika Banzai (天皇陛下万歳, May the Emperor live for ten thousand years) served as a battle cry of sorts for Japanese soldiers, particularly in a "banzai charge".[17] The most popular battle cry is "Ei ei oh" (エイエイオー), which is usually used at the start of battle.[18][19]
"Avanti Savoia!" (English: Go Savoy!) was the patriotic battle cry of the Italian Royal Army during World War I and to a lesser extent, World War II. Infantrymen would scream this motto when launching an offensive attack, namely against the Austro-Hungarians.
During the Greco-Italian War (in WWII), the Greeks would shout "Αέρα!" (wind) as their battle cry.
During the Korean War, the Korean People's Army used the phrase "김일성 수령님 만세" (transliterated gim-ilseong sulyeongnim manse, translated as "Long live the Great Leader Kim Il Sung").
"Merdeka atau mati!" (English: Freedom or death!) Used by Indonesian national army and freedom fighters (Indonesian: Pedjoeang/pejuang) during the Indonesian National Revolution.
In Afghanistan, Norwegian troops of the Telemark Battalion would sometimes use the battle cry "Til Valhall!" (To Valhalla!) followed by Oorah.[20]
During the Indochina War in Vietnam, the Viet Minh soldiers usually used "Xung phong" (English: Charge) whenever attacking the enemy. The same battle cry would be used later by PAVN and NLF forces during the Vietnam War.
Each individual regiment of the Indian Army has a unique war cry. These chants are sonorous with the beliefs of individual castes and religions from which the troops belong to.
Croatian armed forces during the Croatian War of Independence would use "Za dom spremni". One would start by saying "Za dom!" and the rest would follow with "Spremni!". It translates loosely to "For home – ready!" or "For homeland – ready!".
Leeroy Jenkins is an internet meme, which has often served the purpose of an ironic or fatalistic parody of a battle cry, originating from a famous video of a World of Warcraft clan creating an intricate battle plan, before being party-wiped as a result of Leeroy Jenkins, who had been AFK at the time, charging in head-first. This gave rise to the phrase in first-person shooter games, where players will shout "LEEROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOY JEEEEEENKIIIIIIIIIINS!" as they charge at the enemy. The phrase has gained notoriety, making appearances in various non-World of Warcraft media.
Various Kurdish groups such as PKK, YPG and Peshmerga use the following phrases "Bijî Kurdistan!" short for "Her Bijî Kurdistan" (English: Long Live Kurdistan), which is usually accompanied with "Her Bijî!" (English: Long live) "Yan Kurdistan Yan Neman" (English: Either Kurdistan or Extinction!)
During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, "Slava Ukraini" (Слава Україні! English: Glory to Ukraine!), often accompanied by a reply of "Heroiam Slava" (Героям слава! English: Glory to the heroes!), became an internationally-known battle cry not only among domestic forces, but also among Western, mostly NATO allies.
Guilhem Pepin, ‘Les cris de guerre " Guyenne! " et " Saint George! ". L’expression d’une identité politique du duché d’Aquitaine anglo-gascon’, Le Moyen Age, cxii (2006) pp 263–281
T.J. Craughwell, 2008, The Vikings, Vandals, Huns, Mongols, Goths, and Tartars who Razed the Old World and Formed the New, Fair Winds Press, p. 41, ISBN978-1-59233-303-5
Dal V.I., Explanatory Dictionary of the Live Great Russian language, vol. 4, p. 507, Diamant, Sankt Peterburg, 1998 (reprint of 1882 edition by M.O.Wolf Publisher), (In Russian)
Karpovdun G.I., Тіркмöн uruuluk en tamgalary. maalymattarynyn negizinde, in Karataev O.K., 2003, Kyrgyz-Oguz History (Кыргыз-Огуз Тарыхый – Этникалык Байланыштары), Kyrgyz Utuluk university, pp. 199–207
