I love history

[MORTARDUDE]

Lots of good info !! Thanks !!

Larry

[Packo]

How about China?

Pack

[82Rigger]

Packy,

Your question about China brought to mind the Beijing Olympics opening and closing ceremonies.

Pretty sure that Chinese color guard that carried the Olympic Flag was doing
some version of a goose step.

The Nazi goose step was a FULL goose step...leg from "vertical" to "straight out horizontal".

The old Soviet goose step was leg from "vertical" to "boot tip even with waist"...not quite as high.

This from Wikipedia:

In countries such as North Korea, China, Cuba or Vietnam, whose military forces are shaped by the Soviet model, the goose step is still regularly demonstrated.

The Chilean military, which is modeled after the Prussian army, the Reichswehr and the Wehrmacht, regularly practices goose-steps.

The Iranian army's tradition of goose-stepping during military parades has continued despite the Iranian Revolution of 1979.

[1CAVCCO15MED]

Row after row of geese marching down the street with knees umbent and swasticas on their wings. Now we can ask black or blue swasticas?

[Stick]

The vast majority of French soldiers while at war with England were being lost to the British archers and the head of the French forces offered a bounty on the forefinger and middle finger of the Brits. It followed that when a British soldier captured a Frenchman he would hold up his two fingers to the Frenchman to show that he still had them and told the Frenchman what he would do with those fingers if he ever found his wife.
Now comes the American Revolution where the French ally with the Americans to win indepence from England and the Americans notice this English gesture used against French soldiers.
Americans show their free thinking ways to the English when they capture any of them by holding up only their middle finger while telling the Brit that the Americans can do with one finger what it takes the English two to do and that British wife is surely going to be in love with the Americans after that finger is used on her in the most pleasurable way.
Hence the one finger salute is a patriotic American duty.