In World War One the country of Germany did not exist. There were two main kingdoms, Prussia and Bavaria. Prussia controlled a collection of Kingdoms, Grand Duchies, Duchies, Principalities, amd free cities. Bavaria did not control any other region. For ease of discussion, I will refer to the different regions as states. The term army will include all the military forces not just the infantry.

Each state tried to show their identity in some way. The three quickest ways to identify a state was uniform variation, helmet plate or the kokard on the helmet.

The design of the helmet plate was usually based on the coat of arms of the state. Sometimes the helmet plate design would indicate a special unit within the army of the state. Most of the helmet plates were of a brass or gold color. Some units would have a silver colored plate. The officers would often have enameled parts on the helmet plate. Officers and high ranking NCOs would often have parts of the crown on the eagle cut out. The number of helmet plates in WWI cannot be covered on this page, there were too many. I will cover some of the more common plates. For a detailed study of the helmet plates refer to my book.

The rarity of a helmet can be based on the helmet plate. I have tried to caculate the percentage of helmet plates used by the different states. I have based these calculations on the size and formation of the army in 1914. These are my calculations and should only be used as a guide. After the war started the army grew very fast and the composition of the army changed. Therefore, my percentages will no longer be valid after August 1914.

A note on the rarity of helmets. The kingdom of Saxony was behind the Iron curtain. Therefore, helmets from Saxony were harder to find. Now that the curtain has fallen more Saxon helmets are coming on the collectors market.

The four kingdoms of Prussia (70.7%), Bavaria (9.6%), Saxony (7.0%), and Wurttemberg (3.6%) supplied the bulk of the army (90.9%).

The five Grand Duchies of Baden (3.6%), Hesse-Darmstadt (1.9%), Oldenburg (0.4%), Mecklenburg-Schwerin (0.8%), and Mecklenburg-Strelitz (0.1)(not pictured) supplied another 6.7% to the army

The remaining 2.4% was supplied by:

The six duchies of Braunschweig, Anhalt, Saxe-Weimar, Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Saxe-Meiningen, and Saxe-Altenburg.

The seven Principalities of Schwartzburg-Rudolstadt, Schwartzburg-Sonderhausen, Waldeck, Reuss, Lippe, Schaumburg-Lippe.

The three free cities of Bremen, Hamburg and Lubeck. NOTE: These cities used a prussian line eagle helmet plate, the kokard was used to indicate the different cities.

Here are some examples of the different helmet plates used by the prussian Army.

Here are some examples of the different helmet plates used by the Hussars on their fur helmets.