Eagles vs Hawks; U.K. vs Napolean & U.S.

[The Saucepan Man]

Hey. Not many of us Brits date back to pre-WWI these days! [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]

Actually, I did study this period of history at school, but I'll be darned if I can remember it sufficiently well to talk with authority now. [img]smilies/frown.gif[/img]

But, the wars between Britain and France/the US would, I think, have been pretty distant memories during JRRT's childhood. More recent enemies were the Russians (Crimea) and, during his childhood, the Boers in South Africa (where, of course, he was born).

Indeed, during JRRT's childhood, us Brits were (surprisingly for us [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img] ) drawing closer to the French, with the "Entente Cordiale", while Germany was coming to be seen as the threat. The origins of WWI date back to the turn of the century. And, of course, the symbol of Germany (at that time, as well as later when the Nazis came to power) was, lo and behold, the Eagle.

So, perhaps it was the association between the Eagle and Germany that put him off using it at first. But then, if that sort of thing concerned him, why would he be happy to use the Eagle later on, while it was still being used as a symbol by the Nazis?

Oh yes. And I was right. The French animal symbol is the Rooster. The Eagle was, I think, specific to Napoleon (Napoleon I, that is). Here is an extract from the President of the French Republic's web-site:

It returned to favour from 1830 onwards. In an ordinance of July 30, 1830, the Gallic rooster had to figure on the buttons of the uniforms of the National Guard and surmount the Guard's colours.
Napoleon III naturally viewed the rooster with disfavour, but it virtually became an official symbol of the Third Republic: the wrought-iron gates of the Elysée Palace, erected at the end of the 19th century, feature a rooster, as did the gold coin struck in 1899. During word war I, the French rooster stood in opposition to the German eagle.

So, since the French were allies, we could have had Foghorn Thoronhorn: "Now wait, I say, now wait a minute there, Hurin". [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]