from medieval crusaders to IDF soldiers – Libération

This gesture by the Israeli army, which planted its standard yesterday in southern Lebanon, is part of a long history that links flags, appropriated land and military conquests, explains historian Florian Besson.

On the occasion of the “Rendez-vous de l’histoire”, which is being held in Blois from October 9 to 13, 2024, journalists from Release invite around thirty historians to take a different look at current events. Find this special issue on newsstands Thursday October 10 and all articles from this edition in this folder.

The image immediately made the rounds on social networks: Israeli soldiers planting a flag in the Lebanese village of Maroun el-Ras. We think, of course, above all, of famous echoes from contemporary history in general and the world wars in particular – the American soldiers at Iwo Jima (1945), the Soviet soldiers in Berlin.

IDF soldiers probably play, consciously or not, with these images which largely inhabit the collective imagination, and which make the planted flag the sign of the end of a battle. But the gesture of appropriating a space by planting a flag there comes from much further: it dates back to the Middle Ages and, in particular, to the period of the Crusades (1096-1291).

“It was customary in our army, as soon as the banner of a Frank was raised