Kepi


The kepi is a cap with a flat circular top and a peak, or visor. In English, the term is a loanword of képi, itself a re-spelled version of the Käppi, a diminutive form of Kappe, meaning "cap". In Europe, this headgear is most commonly associated with French military and police uniforms, though versions of it were widely worn by other armies during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In North America, it is usually associated with the American Civil War, as it was worn by soldiers on both sides of the conflict.
of the Free French Forces wearing a kepi

French army – history

The kepi was formerly the most common headgear in the French Army. Its predecessor originally appeared during the 1830s, in the course of the initial stages of the occupation of Algeria, as a series of various lightweight cane-framed cloth undress caps called casquette d'Afrique. These were intended as alternatives to the heavier, cloth-covered leather French Army shako. As a light and comfortable headdress, it was adopted by the metropolitan infantry regiments for service and daily wear, with the less practical shako being relegated to parade use. In 1852, a new soft cloth cap was introduced for campaign and off-duty. Called bonnet de police à visière, this was the first proper model of the kepi. The visor was generally squarish in shape and oversized and was referred to as bec de canard. This kepi had no chinstrap. Subsequent designs reduced the size of the cap and introduced chinstraps and buttons. The kepi became well known outside France during the Crimean War and was subsequently adopted in various forms by a number of other armies during the 1860s and 1870s.
In 1870, when troops were mobilized for the Franco-Prussian War, large numbers of French soldiers either refused to wear the issued shakos or threw them away. Emperor Napoléon III abolished the infantry shako for active service and replaced it with the kepi on 30 July 1870.
In 1876, a new model appeared with a rounded visor, as the squared visor drooped when wet and curled when drying. The model used in World War I was the 1886 pattern, which was a fuller shape incorporating air vents. Described as "a ideal headdress - which was cheap, distinctive and easy to produce", the M1886 kepi's only significant drawback was that the sunken crown collected rain.
By 1900, the kepi had become the standard headdress of most French army units and a symbol of the French soldier. It appeared in full dress and service versions. Officers' ranks were shown by gold or silver braiding on the kepi. The different branches were distinguished by the colours of the cap – see the table. Cavalry normally wore shakos or plumed helmets, reserving red kepis with light or dark blue bands for wear in barracks. General officers wore kepis with gold oak leaves embroidered around the band.
In 1914, most French soldiers wore their kepis to war. The highly visible colours were hidden by a medium blue-grey cover, following the example of the Foreign Legion and other North African units who had long worn their kepis with white covers in the field. With the adoption of "horizon blue" uniforms and steel Adrian helmets in 1915 to replace the conspicuous peacetime uniforms worn during the early months of war, the kepi was generally replaced by folding forage caps. Officers, however, still wore kepis behind the lines.
, Police Nationale, French Foreign Legion, unrelated, RATP Public Transport, Gendarmerie Nationale
Following the war, the kepi was gradually reintroduced in the peacetime French Army, but was never adopted for wear in the Navy or Air Force. The Foreign Legion resumed wearing it in 1926; initially in red and blue, and then in 1939, with white covers on all occasions. The bulk of the French army readopted the kepi in the various traditional branch colours for off-duty wear during the 1930s. It had now become a straight-sided and higher headdress than the traditional soft cap. This made it unsuitable for wartime wear, and after 1940, it was seldom worn, except by officers. An exception was the Foreign Legion, who, previously just one of the many units that wore the kepi, now adopted it in its white version as a symbol.

Modern French usage

Army

The decision following the 1991 Gulf War to end conscription in France and to rely on voluntary enlistment has led to the readoption of various traditional items for dress wear. This has included the reappearance in the army of the kepi which is now worn by all ranks in the majority of units, on appropriate occasions. Within the army, particularly notable are the kepis of the French Foreign Legion, whose members are sometimes called Képis blancs, because of the unit's regulation white headgear. Former cavalry units wear light blue kepis with red tops and silver braid and insignia. Other colours include all dark blue with red piping, dark blue with red tops and crimson with red tops. The "dark blue" of officers' kepis is actually very similar to black.
CorpsColour of bandColour of crownBraid and insignia
Infantry, Zouaves & Chasseurs-Paratroopersdark blueredgold
Tirailleurslight blueredgold
Shock Parachuters, Shock Commandos,
Supply & Quartermaster's Corps		dark blueredsilver
Cuirassiers, Dragoons, Hussars,
Tanks & Matériel		light blueredsilver
Infantry Chasseursdark bluedark bluesilver French horn
Spahislight blueredgold
Artillery, Marines & Transmissionsdark bluedark bluegold
Engineers & Bandsblackblackgold
Légion étrangèrewhite
black 		white
red		gold
silver
Army Aviationbluebluegold
Medical Corps crimsonredgold
Pharmaceutical Corpsgreenredgold
Veterinarian Corpspurpleredsilver
Dental Corpsbrownredgold
Waters and Forest dark green dark green (vert financesilver French horn

Other organizations

The French National Police discarded their dark blue kepis in 1982, adopting a low peaked cap.
The reason given was that the rigid kepi, while smart and distinctive, was inconvenient for ordinary use and too high to be comfortably worn in vehicles.
French customs officers and the Gendarmerie still wear kepis for ceremonial duty. Customs officers wear a baseball style cap for ordinary duties while the Gendarmerie introduced a "soft kepi" in the early 2000s.

North American usage

In the United States, the kepi is most often associated with the American Civil War era, and continued into the Indian Wars. Union Officers were generally issued kepis for fatigue use. A close copy of the contemporary French kepi, it had a sunken top and squared visor. It was often called a "McClellan cap", after the Union commander of the Army of the Potomac, G.B. McClellan. For field officers, the caps were often decorated in a French-influenced style, with a dark velvet band around the base and black silk braiding on the crown. The kepi was also popular with various state units and as privately purchased headgear; e.g., it was standard issue in 1861 for New York infantry regiments.
The kepi is not to be confused with the model 1858 forage cap, sometimes called a "bummer cap" or McDowell cap, which evolved directly from the shako used by the regular army earlier in the 1850s. Essentially, the forage cap, described by some troops as "shapeless as a feedbag", was a less-expensive and more comfortable version of the earlier shako with the stiffening removed. The forage cap became the most common form of cap worn by U.S. regulars and volunteers during the American Civil War, though it is most commonly associated with the eastern theater of the war, since western troops generally preferred broad-brimmed felt hats. The forage cap appears in films such as Gettysburg, Gods and Generals, and Glory. Some Union units wore coloured variants, as some illustrative examples show:
While some Confederate troops wore the forage cap, Confederate uniform regulations specified a French-style kepi. These were to be trimmed as follows:
The regulations were often ignored because of the scarcity of materials and the need for rapid production. The average Confederate kepi usually was a simple gray or butternut cap made of wool or jean wool. To save leather for shoes and accoutrements, by mid-war Confederate kepi brims often were made of tarred cloth; chinstraps were sometimes omitted. Many Confederate units wore unique versions of the kepi. These included:
After the war the U.S. Army issued a series of kepi undress caps, characterised by their increasing smartness and decreasing practicality. The last model was issued in 1896. When the United States introduced a revised blue dress uniform in 1902, the kepi was discontinued in favour of a conventional visor cap with wide top and a steep visor.
The US Army's and Air Force's current patrol cap, the standard covers in utility uniforms, is a variation of the flat-topped, visored kepi. Its modern lineage can be traced to World War II, and during the Cold War period was "blocked" with heavy starching and ironing. It was replaced with a baseball-style cap during the Vietnam War. The present-day patrol cap was introduced in the 1980s with the transition to the M81 BDU uniforms, and was retained when the Army adopted the UCP digital-pattern camouflage uniforms in 2005, and Air Force's adoption of the ABU in 2007.

South America

During the Paraguayan War between Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay versus Paraguay — the Brazilian, Argentine, and Uruguayan troops and officers primarily wore kepis, though many Brazilian troops wore brimmed hats, and Uruguayan and Argentine light infantry wore shakos. The Paraguayans mostly wore leather shakos, but senior officers were given kepis. Leather kepis were however issued as a forage cap to Paraguayan troops, and because of poor supply standards, were often seen in combat.
With the exception noted below, the Chilean Army no longer wears kepis, but during the War of the Pacific, it was part of the standard army uniform. Similarly, the kepi is no longer worn by the modern Peruvian armed forces and police, but was part of the uniforms worn during the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Today, the following ceremonial units in both countries still use the kepi:
The Argentine National Gendarmerie members wears a green kepi as part of fatigue and full dress uniforms.

Military/police usage elsewhere

The practical nature and relative cheapness of the kepi made it a popular military headdress from the mid-nineteenth century on. Many Latin American armies wore kepis in the late 19th and early 20th centuries which were close copies of the French model. Other armies that favoured kepis during the final period of colourful uniforms that ended with World War I included the Danish, Portuguese, Dutch, Italian, and Romanian armies. Even the Japanese Army adopted French-style kepis for senior officers in full dress, as well as for their Gendarmerie units and military bands. Significantly such historic opponents of France as Germany and Britain, avoided the use of kepis, with only a few short-lived exceptions, such as for service in India during the 1850s-60s. During this time the Albert Shako was preferred. This may have been for practical rather than patriotic reasons, as the distinctive profile of the kepi would be likely to lead to confusion in battle.

Belgium

Influenced by France's adoption of the kepi, Belgium introduced it in 1845 as a forage cap for infantry other ranks. This headdress was worn until 1868 when a new model without a vizor was adopted. Officers of infantry and cavalry regiments wore their own version of the kepi from 1859 until the First World War.
It was modified several times over the decades, the last version being the 1900/1910 model. By that time it had evolved into a comparatively tall cylinder with the national emblem at the front and a cross-shaped Austrian knot on the crown. The wearer's rank was indicated by a system of horizontal and vertical bands of gold or silver braid. The kepi was also worn by officers of the General Staff.
In September 1914 the wide range of peacetime headdresses still being worn by the Belgian Army, were replaced by the universal "Yser" kepi. This consisted of a dark blue or green soft cap with folding double flaps.
With the adoption of a British-style khaki uniform from 1915, the kepi was abandoned in favour of the peaked cap for all ranks,
with the exception of the paramilitary Gendarmerie, who continued to wear the kepi as part of their parade dress until the 1960s.

Denmark

Used by all soldiers of the Danish army until World War II, it is now only retained as part of the full dress uniforms for officers.

Greece

Until the early 20th century the Greek Army wore dark blue or green kepis, and continued the same style of headress in khaki when field uniforms of that colour were introduced in 1910. Officer cadets and NCO trainees still wear kepis as part of the full dress uniforms of their respective military academies.

India

In India, during the French colonial rule of Pondicherry, Yanam, Karaikal and Mahé, Kepis were worn by two kinds of policemen, the Armed and the Indigenous, differentiated by the colour of the kepis they wore. While the law and order forces wore bright red caps, the armed constabulary was conspicuous by its blue kepis. After Indian Independence, the former French colonial territory was integrated into the Union Territory of Puducherry and the bright red kepi continues to be the headgear of the constabulary — both for the local and the armed police signifying the cultural and administrative legacies left by the former colonialists.

Iran

In Iran this kind of headdress was known as the "Pahlavi hat". Only worn for a brief period, from 1927 until the 1930s, it was generally of a grey color.

Latvia

In modern ceremonial dress the Latvian National Armed Forces Staff Battalion and Staff Orchestra both wear backward sloping kepis of the style worn by the Belgian Army immediately prior to World War I.

Luxembourg

Kepis with a slightly higher back were formerly worn by the Luxembourg Army until 1945. Since World War II they were replaced by British Army-style peak caps.
The same kepis with higher back were also worn by the former Grand Ducal Gendarmerie in a blue version corresponding to the colour of their uniforms.
The kepi is still used by the newly created Grand Ducal Police which replaced the Gendarmerie and the local police forces in 2000.

Nazi Germany

The brown stiff képi of Hitler's Brownshirt Stormtroopers and its black version initially worn by the members of the SS were derived from surplus Austrian equipment.

Northern Ireland

A form of kepi is worn by female officers in the modern Police Service of Northern Ireland.

Norway

The Norwegian armed forces used kepis until World War II and still retain them as part of the full dress of officer cadets.

Spain

In Spain, a version of the kepi, the ros, is used by the Guardia Real and the Regimiento de Infantería Inmemorial del Rey for ceremonial functions. The Spanish 1887 regulation kepi or Teresiana was made of black oilcloth with a tortoise shell visor. A plainer form of kepi was retained by the Civil Guard as its non-ceremonial headdress for normal police duties, until it was abolished under the 2011 revised regulations and replaced by a baseball cap.

Sweden

In Sweden, the kepi has been used with several uniform types for the Swedish Army. The most common was the grey kepi worn as part of the M1923 field uniform and the dark blue kepi worn as part of the uniform types m/1886 and m/1895, and still in use by the Life Guards.

Switzerland

In Switzerland, the kepi was worn as a part of the dress uniforms of senior NCOs and officers until the 1995 army reform. Since then, it is only worn by senior staff officers.

Thailand

In Thailand, the kepi has been using with study uniform and casual uniform of police cadets at the Thai Royal Police Cadet Academy.

Non-military use

Kepis also found their way into the uniforms of numerous railway and streetcar operators in the United States. From there it was adopted by other public transport operators around the world, including the examples given below: