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S.P.Q.R.
Senatus Populusque Romanus
The Senate and the People of Rome
The Roman Army's Eagle Standard:
The eagle (aquila in Latin) perfectly symbolized the Roman army's role as protector of the Roman world. Like an eagle, it is a dominant force that naturally rules its domain. Many animals (like lions) fit this category, but one thing sets the eagle apart: since it roams the skies, the eagle has the ability to watch over a large territory of land. The Roman army had the same task, so the eagle became its perfect symbol.
The Eagle
Symbol of Military and Imperial Dominance
The Roman Army's "Eagle Standard", perched atop the "SPQR" insignia. Many nations would adopt the eagle as a symbol of their military and imperial dominance, but none, including the United States, ever became "the eagle" of the world like Rome had been for nearly one thousand years.
The American Eagle, as seen on the back of the one-dollar bill. While the U.S. may have enjoyed economic and military superiority over the rest of the world for a century or so, it has never managed to significantly increase its territory beyond North America and provide security and prosperity to areas beyond itself. If it manages to do so, then it may claim to be a true "eagle" as the Romans had been.
France adopted this eagle standard during Napolean's ultimately unsuccessful attempt to expand French imperial rule across the nations of Western Europe. France under Napolean was on track to become Europe's imperial eagle, but it could not maintain control of its new domain. After his initial success, Napolean made another comparison to Rome when he adopted the title of "First Consul" for himself, a reference to the old Roman heads of the Senate of the same name.
The infamous eagle standard of the Nazis, shown above, was Adolf Hitler's way of symbolizing his vision of a German Empire built on supreme military strength and the subjugation of all non-Aryan peoples within his domain. Like Napolean, he had initial success but his bid for eagle status was ultimately defeated by the Allied forces of Great Britain, the Soviets and the United States.
