MmARYIIHMS.1iIIi-1IIIa v RENE NORTH

Although special 'dress' for war wasin existence long before the seven­teenth century, it was not until the lat­ter part of that era that many countriesbegan to regulate the color and designof the clothing worn by the ir fighti ngforces.

The author, a well-known scholar ofcostume and mi litary affa irs, inter­weaves his comprehensive coverageof military dress with exciting detailson the causes and events of the warsduring which the uniforms were in use.

Set against two and a half centuries ofbattles and campaigns, the magnificentuniforms of infantry and cavalry, dra­goons and lancers of more than thirtycountries are described and illustratedin detail.

Two hundred and forty pieces of glow­ing full -color art depict the campaignand dress uniforms of European andAmerican men-at-arms.

Colorful events and uniforms moveacross the historical stage which in­cludes the War of the Spanish Succes­sion, the French and Indian War inNorth Amer ica, the Seven Years ' War,the American Revolutionary War, theNapoleonic Wars, the Latin AmericanWars for Independence, the CrimeanWar, the Indian Mutiny, the AmericanCivil War, the Boxer Rebell ion, the Bal­kan Wars and the First World Waramong dozens of others.

0846$3.95

----- ,A liBRARY OF INFORMATION

The GROSSET AlL-COlOR GUIDEShave been planned as an encyclopediccollection of over one hundred titlescovering the widest range of knowl­edge and cultural interests.

Authorita t ive an d com prehen sive .each GROSSET ALL-COlOR GUIDE isa storehouse of fascinating intorrna­tion. Each book is written by an expertin clear, concise prose, making livelyreadi ng of the most intricate subjectmalter. Every title will serve as a valu­able guide and handbook, and also arich reference book that encompassesthe pertinent background of the sub­ject. Hundreds of specially created,full -color i llustrations, precisely de­tailed and aesthetically pleasing, com­plement the text po int-for-point , inevery volume.

Areas of knowledge include the naturalsciences: zoology, geology, ecology,anthropology, botany and general bi­ology; the physical sciences: electrici­ty, chemistry, physics, nuclear physics;mythology and folklore; the arts; cul­tural history ; popular and spacescience; transportation; history; horti­culture: animals and hobbies.

BOARD OF CONSULTANTS:OR. RICHARD G. VAN GELDEA,Chairman , Mammals, American Museum of Nat-

ural HistoryOR. WllLlAM C. STEERE,Director, New York Botan ical GardensOR. SUNE ENGElBREKTSON,Space Science Coord inator, Port Chester Public

SchoolsOR. JOHN F. MIDDLETON,Chairman. Anthropology, New York UniversityDR. e ARL M. KORTEPETER,Assoc iate Professor. History, New Yo rk Uni­

vers ityMICHAEL COH N.Curator. Cultural History, Brooklyn Children's

MuseumFRANK X. CAITCHLOW,Electronics Engineering consultant and teacher

Supervising Editor: GEORG ZAPPLER

MmARY UNIFORMS._ 1-1918

AGROSSET

All-COlOR GUIDE

MS.BY RENE NORTH

Illustrated by John Berry

Supervising Edito r Georg Zappler

Board of Consu ltants

Richa rd G. Van Gelder Chairman and Curator, Mammals,American Museum of Natural History

WilIiam C. Steere Director , New York Botanical Gardens

Sune Engelbrektson Space Science Co-ordinator,Port Chester Public Schools

John F. Middleton Chairman. Anthropology,New York University

Carl M. Kortepeter Associate Professor, History.New York U niversity

Michael Cohn Curator, Cultural History,BrookIyn Children 's Museum

Frank X. Critchlow Consulting Engineer. Applied andTbeoretical Electronics

GROSSET & DUNLAP" NATIONAL GENERAL COMPANY

Publishers • New York

FOREWORD

To attempt a conde nsed history of military dress in a smallvolume may seem reckless in theextrerne, and this book cannotpossibly claim to bea cornpletesurveyofthe subject. However,by present ing the study under the headin gs of campaignsrather than co untries, a new and more interesting approachis achieved .

Even so, there must of necessity besome gaps . Also, manyinsta nces occur where authorities disagree on matters ofdetail , w he re regul ation dress was never worn, or where thedress worn was never authorized. These are problems whichexperienced researchers will recognize and readily concede .

There is also the question of campaign dress. Up to theturn of the eighteenth ce ntury on e w en t to war in full dress;but wh at of the twentieth ? Shall we show full dress or servicedress? Both are interesting , so exampl es of each are g iven .

The main conce rn, however. has been to include as manydifferent nationalities as possible within the limit ed compassof the w ork. even at the expense, perhaps , of leavin g out someevents .

I am greatly indebted to the following authorities for thenotes and sketches which they kindly sent me from time totime:

T he late Wynard Aerts , of Brussels, on the Belgian Army;Mr. M . Canter, of Regina, Saskatch ewan , on Mexican un i­forms and the American Civil War; the late Mr. A. Lubimov,of Leningrad , on the Russian Army of Napoleonic tim es;Mon sieur C. T avard, of Paris , on variou s artillery uniforms:Major G. T ylden , E. D., on the Boer artillery; and Mr. W.Zweguintzow , of Paris , on Russian uniforms.

Copyright 0 1970 by Crcsset & Dunlap, Inc.All Rights Reserved

Published Simultaneously in Canada

First Published in England and Copyrighted 0 byTbe Hamlyn Publishing Group Lrd., 1970

Library of Congress Catalog Card No: 76-120441

Printed in the United States of America

CONTENTS

4 Unilonn Clothing: The Early Stages6 The G reet Northe rn War (1700-21 )8 The War of the Spanish Succession

11701-13112 The War of the Austrian Succession

(1740-48114 The French and Indian War (1756-59118 The Seven Yea" War (1756-63122 The American Revolution (1775-78)28 The Brahanl Rebellion (1789130 The Napoleonic Wa" (1803-12)48 The War 01 181250 The Slruggles for Latin American

Independence (1810- 18152 The French Conquest of Algeria

(Ill3O-t7)54 The Me xlcan War (1846-48)56 The 1848 Revolutions58 The Crimean War (1854-56)68 The Indian Mutiny (1858174 The Franco-Austrian w er In Italy

(1858-59 )78 The War of the Danish Duchies

(IBM )82 The American Civil War (1861-65190 The Franco-German War (1870-71)98 The Spanish-American War (18981

102 The South Alrican War (1899-19021108 The Boxer Rehellion (1900 )116 The Russo-Japanese War ( 1~5)

120 The Ital o-Turklsh War (1911- 121122 The Balkan Wars (1912- 13)130 World War I (1914-18)154 Glossary156 Place s to Visit157 Books lu Read158 Index

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Unifonn Clothing:The Early StagesAlthough thecolorand designof military dress were not sub­ject to regulation before thelate seventeenth century, theprinciple of a uniform meth­od of clothing dates from amuch earlier age and stemsfrom the natural result ofbuying cloth and similar ma­terials in bulk.

In England, as in manyother countries, sundry RoyalWarrants from the Restora­tion onward specified thevarious colors of coats andfacings to be worn by differ­ent units , until we come tothe very detailed dress reg­ulations of modern times.

In 1686, for example, theEnglish 2nd Regiment ofFoo t was to wear a red coatlined in green, with greenbreeches and wh ite stock­ings. In 1688, the 3rd Foothad the same, but with 'crosspockets with three scallops,and large plain pewter but­tons'. If the artillerymen ofEngland did not conform, itwas merely becau se they wereoriginally administered. notby the war department , butby the Board of Ordnance.

T his explains the crimsonuniform of the artillery mat­ross shown here . since in

4

Pictured here are typicalEuropean military uniforms of thelate seventeenth century. Theprivate (above) is of the FrenchRegiment de Piernont. 1690. Onthe opposite page are (left ) amatross of the British Tra in ofArtillery, 169 5 and (right) aprivate of the Royal Regiment ofFuzileers. 1690. The matross isholding a Iinstock. a staff whichheld a lighted match for firingcannon.

those days the guns were not served by regular soldiers, butby a ' train ' recruited solely for the duration of a campaignand dismissed at its conclus ion. The issue of clothing, there­fore, presumably followed the same principle.

The Fusiliers were raised primarily to act as escor ts for the' train', bu t eventually they found their place in the line as the7th Foot. They were subseq uently named 'My Royal Regi­men t of Fuzileers' and thereby acquired blue facings in placeof the yellow originally worn.

T he Pied mont Regimen t of France was one of the seniorinfantry regiments of that cou ntry, wearing the very lightgray (gris-blanc) coat which was continued unt il well intothe eighteenth century.

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The Great Northern War(1700-21)In 1699, a coalition againstSweden forced Charles XII toadopt an aggressive attitudeon the principle that at tack isthe best means of defense, Hestruck accordingly , and hav­ing successfully disposed ofthe Danish menace, d irectedhisattention to Russia, w hoseanny he destroyed at theNa rvaonNovember 19, 1700.

Host ilities broke out againin 1707,when Charles march­ed from Saxony with an armyof 24,000 horse an d 20,000foot soldiers to attack the Rus­sians. T he latter, however, inan early exercise of thei r'scorched earth' policy, re­treated before the invader,trusting - as in later cam­paigns - to the effects of th edeadly Russian winter. As ithappened , the winter of 1708was the worst that Europehad known for a century, andin the following summer thesick and demoralized Swed­ish Anny was virtually anni­hilated at Poltava .

Originally , th e Swedish in­fantry wore coats of regi­mental colors - red, yellow,gray,green or blue , with cuffsin contrasting colors-s- butin 1690 a universa l blue uni­form was introduced . In

Swedish grenadier. 1700.

Charles XII's reign th e vari­ous regiments were distin­guished by breeches andstock ings in their own partic­ular colors, as we ll as by col­ored loops on the button­holes. T he grenadiers wore abrass mitre-cap with em­bossed devices of a regimen­talpattern . In the field , th e of­ficers were dressed in gray;waistcoats for all ranks con­tin ued to be mad e of leather.

T he cavalry wore the regu­lation blue coa t with heavyboots and th e ubiquitous triocome hat ofthe period, whichwas also the headdress for thebattalion companies in theinfantry.

On the Russian side, theuniforms conformed to thegeneral sty le of the period , al­though at the beginning ofPeter the G reat's reign thecolor- in th e infantry anddragoons at least -was leftto the discretion of individualcommanders.

For headdress, the infantryhad th e tricorne and grenad iercap, as well as a characteristicround cap, flat at the top,and provided with ear-Flapswhich could be turned upwhen they were not in use.

T he wa r finally came to anend in 1721 , in th e reign ofCharles' sister.

Russian dragoon.1700.

9

Private. l st Foot Guards. c. 170 4 .

Private. British line regiment.c. 1704 .

The War of t he Spanish Succession 0 701- 13)By the early eighteenth century military uni form was begin­ning to develop a distinctive character of its own. The hat,hitherto turned up more or less at the wearer's whim , wasnow cocked uncompromisingly in the three-eom ered shapethat was to endure for mo st of the century. and a greater uni­formity became appa rent in the leg-wear.

The coat was ample, with very wide cuffs which could beturned down in bad weather, and the waistbelt continued tobeworn in a comfortable position low on the abdomen. Yet,although the officers, for their part , contrived to achieve ameasure of smart ness, the same could not be said for themen. Admittedly, the long hair was often cut short Cat leaston service), hut the stockings were mostly ill-fitt ing andcrumpled at the ankles; and the square-toed shoes, probablyvery uncom fortable in wear, were not made in left or rightfitt ings, but to a single pattern for both feet . No r, one feels,was personal cleanliness much encouraged.

In short, the common soldier was meant for fighting andnot for show, and if the Duke of Marlborough recognized thevalue of morale, and looked after his troops accordi ngly, hewas probably a pioneer in that departure.

The first Foot Guards were very much his Favorites, for hadhe not joined the Regiment as an Ensign in 1667 and later he­come its Colonel?At Blenheim in 1704, the First Foot Guardswere chosen to lead the attack on the Schellenberg.

A picture by Laguerre in Marlborough House, shows theRegiment Iordin g a river, probably the Danube. The dressseems remarkable for its simplicity, although the grenadierswear the typica l mitre-eap wit h its blue cloth front andembroidered devices. The officers, cur iously enough, aredressed in blue coats with gold lace and wear their hair longand powdered under a small triccrne.

The war of the Spanish Su ccession grew out of the rivalclaims to the Spani sh throne of Loui s XIV's grandson Phi lipand the Arehduke Charles of Austria; while France backedby Spain and Bavaria naturally suppo rted the former, theArchduke's cause was eagerly embraced by Great Britain , aswell as Austria, as an opportunity to curb the power of theFrench king. Holland , Denmark and eventually Portugal also

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Early eighteenthcentury uniforms ofthe French infantry .(Left) a private ofthe Regiment deChampagne and(rig ht ) a private ofthe RegimentRoyal.

fought for the Archduke's cause.Little pictorial evidence survives of the uniform of British

line regiments at this time. They appear to have beenclothed in the same style as the Guards, with the possible ex­ception of the buttonhole loops. The coat remained red in allunits, which were identified mainly by the color of theircuffs and linings, and sometimes by their breeches andstockings. The commanding officer's taste, rather than offi­cial regulations, probably had much to do with this.

In France, on the other hand, the picture was different.The troops wore silver-gray coats, with cuffs of the samecolor, or in some cases, in regimental colors (mostly blue orred). Buttons were either brass or white metal , but the chiefdistinction lay in the patterns of the pocket-flaps.

Thus the Regiment de Champagne, shown here, haddouble vertical pockets, with six brass buttons set in pairs oneach flap, and four buttons on each cuff. Picardie ( the seniorline regiment in the French Army) wore the same, except

10

that the pocket-flaps had ninebrass buttons each, set inthrees to form three triangleswith the apex pointing to thefront of the garment, and thecuffs had only three buttons.In both regiments the cornersof the flaps were roundedand the edges straight.

Among the Austrians wasa Walloon regiment , for theNet herlands, at that time,were part of the AustrianEmpire. T he green coat wasunusual for an Imperial-and­Royal unit, but was worn inall the eight Netherlandishregiments which were thenin the Austrian service.

In 1708, all infantry regi­ments based in metropolitanAustria-Hungary received'pearl-white' coats, the unitsbeing identified by the colorof their cuffs, linings, waist­coats, breeches and stock­ings. At the same time, thebandsmen were ordered towear reversed colors (for ex­ample, red coats with whitecuffs where the troops wore,,:hite coats with red cuffs), adistinction which, rather sur­prisingly, was shared by thenoncommissioned officers.Officers did not go into uni­form until about 1718, and itwould seem that in the earlystages they too wore reverseduniform colors.

Private. Walloon Regiment.Austrian Infantry, 1707 .(Below) Grenadier cap of thesame regiment.

De Ligne Dragoon. AustrianArmy. c. 1748. (Opposite)privates. British 13th Foot andFrench Regiment du Bov. c. 1745.

The War of the Austrian Succession (1740-481At the death of the Hapsburg Emperor Charles VI in 1740,the inevitable international quarrels arose over the election ofhis successor. At Warsaw, on January 8, 1745, the Quadrup leAlliance-Great Britain , Austria, Holland and Saxony-wasformed as a counter to the menacing alt itude of the French .

The immediate object of the French army was to cover thesiege of Tournai. Louis XV and the Dauphin came to watchthe operations, whi ch opened at Font enoy with that legend­ary and much discussed piece of bravado, IT irez les pre­mi ers, Messieurs les Anglais '. Fortescue informs us that theBritish line fired, killing fifty officers and 7fJJ men of thethree foremos t French regiments, with the Regiment du Royalone losing thirty-seven office rs and 345 men at the hands ofthe 2nd Regiment of Foot Guards.

T he presence of the Royal party did much for Frenchmorale: the tireless Maurice de Saxe himself, though ill, did

12

not hesitate to mount his horse and collect cavalry for acharge, Furtherartillery was then brought up, and in one tre­mendous blow the battle was won for France.

By this period, the coat skirts were turned back to facili­tate marching. Stockings-most inadequate in bad weatherand muddy conditions- were now protected by gaiters~eaching above the knee . The coat remained ample ( it was,In fact, the equivalent of a modem overcoat, since a sleevedwaistcoat was worn underneath) , and the turned-over lapelsusually showed a lining in the same color asthe cuffs. In mostarmies , this color denoted the regiment.

The French Army, still wearing the traditi onal silver-grayfollowed the same broad pattern , with the addi tional regi­mental distinctions of pockets and bulto ns.

The Austrian regiment of de Ligne's Dragoons was a Wal­loon unit which later made a name for itself as Vincent's andLatour 's, and of which the Belgians are still justly proud .

13

The French andIndian War (1756-59)In the early seventeenth cen­tury, colonization of theNorth Ameri can continenthad been undertaken by theFrench and English almostsimultaneo usly . As timewent on, the British becamefirmly established in such ter­ritories as Virginia. Mary­land , the Carolinas and NewYork ( named after the Dukeof York, later [ arnes ll ) . TheFrench were concentrated inLouisiana, Michigan, Illi­nois and Canada.

Ill-feeling between Franceand England soon broke outinto petty skirmishing, result­ing in a full-fledged attac kshortly after the War of theSpanish Succession. Thecampaign was short, but itinit iated that long-drawn outconflict wh ich occurred offand on in North America un­til the early nineteenthcentury.

The 60th Foot was raisedin New York in 1755 und erthe title of T he Royal Ameri­can Regimen t. Originally anormal line unit , it later be­came the first of the Britishrifle regiments, The King'sRoyal Rifle Corps: a strangeconversion occasioned by thefact that its 5th Battalion was

14

British Marine, 1756. and theMarine cap (above) .

Privates. British 60th Foot and Roger's Rangers. 17 57 .

trained entirely for skirmishing and clothed according ly indark green. T he experiment proved so successful that thewhole regiment was eventually equipped for a 'rifle' role.

The value of experienced backwoodsmen became in­creasingly evi dent in wooded country quite unsuitable forthe mass deployrnents characteristic of the period . Both sidesemployed Indians, but the French also had their CO UTe U TS

des bois, the British answer to which was numerous corps ofirregular rangers raised from the local inhabitants. Of these,Roger's is one of the most famou s.

T hese departures, of course, did not deprive the existingline regiments of their own light companies, nor of thegrenadier companies which acted as shock troops. Thegrenadier retained the mitre-cap, which had originally been

15

designed as a more sta ble headdress than the conventionalhat. In the British Army, at this period, these caps weremostly red, with a tall front in the regimental facing colorbearing the Royal Cypher, while the little flap displayed theWhite Horse of Hanover on a red ground, with the mott o'NEC ASPERA TERRENT' above.

One of the outstanding actions of the war was Generaljames Wolfe's famous victory on the Plains of Abraham , atQuebec, on September 13. 1759. T he battl e was a typicalexample of a surprise attack in unexpected quarters, and theepisode of the boatloads of soldiers, being rowed silently upriver at dead of night, is a classic of its kind.

The RoyalSu ssex Regiment proudly displaya whi te plumein their badge. This, they tell us, is to commemorate theirvictorya t Quebec when,as the3 5th Foot, they took the plumesfrom the opposing French Regiment's headdresses. But no

French Orleans D ragoon and private 01 the Royal RoussillonRegiment. 1758.

French record reveals thepresence of a wh ite plume onthe hats of the Royal Rous­sillon Regiment.

However, one hesitates tocompletely disregard thestory. It often happened thata commanding officer wouldorder his regiment to wearsome distinguishing markwhen the uniform couldlend itself to confusion. Oakleaves were frequently used ,but in the case of Royal Rous­sillon it is possible that whitefeathers were available andadapted for that purpose.

The uniform did , in fact,bear a close resemblance tothe Regiment de la Sane,with its blue cuffs and brassbuttons, the only differencebeing that,while La Sane hadround-eornered pocket-flaps,Roussillon 's were pointed:and La Sane's three buttonson the cuffs were replaced bysix in Roussillon.

The sixteen regiments, ofwhich Orleans Dragoons wasnumbered 7th, were distin­guished not only by the colorof their cuffs and waistcoats,but also by the patt ern on theborder edging the saddle­cloth and holster-caps.

British Grenadier caps. (From thetop) 44th Foot. 4 2nd Foot.27th Foot. 48th Foot and46 th Foot .

Officers of theBritish 11th Dragoonsand 24' 1. Foot. 1756.

!.J

The Seven Years War (l75lHi31In the second half of the eighteenth century, military uni­forms were beginning to lose some of their heaviness, espe­cially in the Prussian Army. Frederick II took a great interestin his troops -his nickname of de' alte Fritz denoted affec­tion rather than derision -and he was probably personallyresponsible for many of the innovations which were made intheir dress.

T he infantry regiments, as in other countries, each had itsown grenadier and light companies, but in Prussia the lightcompany was known as fusiliers and the main body wereclassed as musketeers. At this period they were distinguishedby their headdress , the musketeers wearing the conventionaltricome , the grenadiers a tall mitre-cap with a metal front ,and the fusiliers a small metal-fronted cap, something like a

18

miniature mitre-cap with apointed ornament at the top .Perhaps this was a fore­runner of the famous pickel­haube. One is tempted tothink so, although there isno evidence to that effect.

T he need for light cavalrywas beginning to manifestitself at this period, andmany countries were raisingregiments of hussars on theHungarian model. The uni­form was always based onHungarian national cos­tume, and the very name isderived from the Hungarianword hU5ZiiT, meaning the'twentieth man' and denot­ing the one man in twentywho was picked by ballot forservice in the Hungarianarmy.

T he growing menace ofFrederick the Great's Prussiawas causing concern in Eu­rope, with the result that yetanother coalition came intobeing, consisting of Austria,France, Russia. Sweden andSaxony. T his formidable op­position did not deter thePrussian king, and he struckfirst, marching to the Saxonfrontier on August 29, 1756,and proving the wisdom 0 l!r'l;:oo,•.u...his move by beatingAustrians and Saxons be O'UOtl'i.'"the year was out.

Prussian privateof the Regiment vo nSchwerin. 1757

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In 1759 British troops were sent to Frederick's assistance,and on August I the famous battl e of Minden took place. Min­den was one of the major British successes in this war- thebattle which is still remembered in six infantry regimentswhen they wear roses in their hats on Minden Oay to com­memorate the action of the 12th, 20th , 23rd, 25th , 37th and51st Regiments of Fool. T ommy Atkins was not yet born, buthis ancestors already displayed his cheery optimism as theyadvanced under fire through the rose gardens of Minden,picking the blooms and decking their hats in jaunty defiance.

As in earlier wars, there were red-eoated regiment s of Irishand Swiss in the French service. One of these Swiss units ­Oiesbach's-fought at Rossbach, on November 3, 1757, withsuch bravery that it earned the admiration of the Great Fred­erick himself. T he battle was already lost for the French, but

2 1

the Swiss refused togivein.Curious, the King of Prussia asked,'What are those red brick walls which my artillery cannotbreach?'On being told their identity, the King remained silent,then slowly raised his hat, deeply moved by their steadfastdevotion.

T he faithfu lness of the Swiss, in any service, is proverbial:and it is appropriate here to dispel the notion of the 'Swissmercenary'. The facts are given concisely by Captain de Val­lierein his book 'Honneurel Fideute', for this is what he writes:'The Swiss regiment s were fully operational units whichSwitzerland lent to France. T he Cantons had the right to recalltheir troop s when necessary. This was a very special arrange­ment , supervised officially by the contracting states, and hadnothing to do with the individual recruitin g of mercenaries'.

French infantry privates: Tourai ne Regimentand Swiss R~giment de Diesbach .

(Abo ve ) fusilier cap. 40th Prus­sian Infantry Regiment. 1757.and (right ) 8 th Prussian Hussars.1758.

Officer. British 15thFoot 1776.

The American Revolution(1775-781Forsome time a feeling of un­rest had prevailed among theNorth American colonists,owing chiefly to a mishand­ling of their problems by theBritish Government and theirrepresentatives in the colo­nies. The last straw was theimposition of a tax of three­pence on every pound of tea,when the colonists were be­ing denied a representativevoice in the policies withwhich they were directly con­cerned. On December 16,1773, 340 chests of tea wereseized by the inhabitants ofBoston and thrown over­board .

A kind of uneasy truce en­sued. The colonists were pur­posely disregarding the orderto surrender theirarms, and inApril, 1775 a British detach­ment was sent to Concord toseize a store of weapons. Onthe way it passed through thevillage of Lexington, wh ere itencountered a small party ofenraged colonists. A single in­dividual recklessly fired hismusket, thereby sparking offthe war which led to indepen­dence.

In the following month, onMay 10, Fort Ticonderogawas taken by the Americans,but British reinforcementswere now landing at Boston .

T he colonists were now in Royal Artillery gunner, 1777 .

open rebellion, and CeorgeWashington was appointedcommander-in-chief of theirforces in June.

The war, developing as itdid in wooded country pro­fusely interspersed with tor­tuous water-courses, wasdefin itely an infantryman 'sbusiness- and light infantryat that. Yet no operation canproceed without mountedtroops wherever the terrainissuitable, and light dragoonsseemed the most appropriatefor the conditions prevailingin North America.

Light cavalry was more orless in its infancy , at least inGreat Britain . The hussarswhich were forming in othercountries did not appear inthe British Army until the endof the century, but light dra­goons had been in existencefor some years. Of these , the16th and 17th were chosenforservice in North America.

Both regiments wore theelegant light cavalry helmetof the period , with its shortcrimson 'mane' falling overthe right side. The 17th worewhite facings; the 16th, blue.The Death's Head badge is re­puted to have been given tothe 17th on its formation byits first commanding officer,who wished to commemorate ,

the death of General Wolfe at Quebec in 1759, but the originof the device may actually be far older.

The general appearan ce of the light dragoon officer's uni­form reveals the continuing trend for the garments to shedtheir former cumbersome fullness : coats now fitted closer tothe body, cuffs and lapels became narrower and sleeveswere tighter .

The Royal Regiment of Artillery, firmly established on apermanent basis for over sixty years, continued to appear inthe traditional blue coat which it has worn ever since. It wasstill administered by the Board of Ordnance, and its badge wasthe Ordnance Arms. In dress, it followed the pattern of theArmy, at this period governed by the 1768Clothing Warrant.

In 1777,gunners' hats were to have a gold lace, but it seemslikely that the troops on service in North America continued towear a plain, or black-laced hat . The 4th Battalion, at thisperiod , was authorized, for some unknown reason, to wear a

Officer of theBritish 17th LightDragoons. 177 5.

24

•A private ofthe Hessian Regiment Erbpr inz1776.

.'

black feather in their hats.The waistcoat and breeches, which had been buff until

1768, were now white. The hair was powdered and 'clubbed '(Le. turned up at the neck and tied, instead of hanging downthe back). Needless to say, little powdering was done on activeservice, although commanding officers would see that theirmen's hair was kept tidy.

A portrait of an officer of the 15th Foot, on the other hand ,shows him hatless and with hair carefully dressed and pow­dered;obviously painstakingly prepared for the occasion. The15th was very active in America, and the officer's coat showsthe yellow collar, lapels and cuffs proper to the Regiment.The button sand loops,set in pairs, are silver. The stock,waist­coatand breeches are correctly shown as white, while the sash,until lately worn over the right shoulder, now encircles thewaist ,and in this case appears to be twisted corkscrew fashion.The hat would very likely have a silver lace around the edge toconform with the silver loops on the coat, and the cockadewould certainly be black.

A number of Hessian troops was employed by the British,

25

at a cost of over £ 3,000,000to the Exchequer. Their blu euniforms sometimes causedconfusion in their similarity,at a distance, to the Amen­cans': they were good sol­diers. and two regiments­van Knyphausen 's and vanLossberg's- became famous.

Naturally enough, in theearly stages of the war, theAmericans paid little atten­tion to the question of uni ­fonn . Arms and ammuni­tion were the main concern,yet clothing had eventuallyto be provided. Many localcorps were formed and dress­ed in as near an approach touniform as could be supplied.

One such body was thefamous 'Green MountainBoys', formed in 1770 in whatis today Vermont to protectthe rights of settlers againstthe claims of New York offi­cials to ownership of theirland . They took part in theFort T iconderoga battle in1775, led by their founderEthan Alien . Later, underSeth Warner, they were sentto the Army of the North.T hey achieved a notable vic­tory at Bennington in 1777,during the Saratoga Ca m­paign, a turning point in thewar.

T he 1st New York Regi­ment ( Mc Dougall's) was

26

(Above) American GreenMountain Boys. private. 177 6.and (below) Brit ish lightinfantry helmet (5th Foot).c. 1775. (Opposite) Americantroops. 1775 : private. 1st NewYork Regiment and officer.Rhode Island Art illery .

typ icalof the American infantry,with itsdark blue coat and redfacings.T he cutof thegarments and mu ch of theequipment re­sembled the Briti sh pattern , but in many cases th ick woollenstockings were worn with short black gaiters. For summerwear, there was a preference for long white pantaloons, shapedlike gaiters in the lower leg, and buttoned over the footwear.

Alth ough a national corps of artill ery existed, dressed verymuch like its British counterpart in blue coats with red facings,the principle of local bodi es of artillery was by no means dis­couraged. T hus, we find the inhabitants of Rhode Island rais­ing a force of gunners clothed in brown, with red facings. Thebreeches were buff, and the headdress appears to have been acurious kind of blue cap of a nautical appearance further en­hanced by the addition of an anchor badge on the front.

27

28

The colorful uniforms of two ofthe military units formed by localpatriots during the rebellion inBrabant. The office r of the YpresVol unteers (left ) has the Belgiancorers in his plume andcockade. (Above) the uniform ofthe St . Christopher Vo lunteers, aBrussels unit .

The Brabant Rebellion (17891Revolution was in the air as the eighteenth century dre w to itsclose.The successofthe Americancolonists'venture may haveprompted other liberal minds in Europe to at tempt similaraction, especia lly in view of the friendship whi ch had sprungup between France and the United States- a logical conclu­sion to the help which the French had given the Americans.

In 1789, the Belgian province of Brabant was under Austrianrule, aspart of the Neth erland s. T he people, however, enjoyedcertain inherited right s wh ich they were anxious to preserve,and whenthe Emperor [oseph II attempted to infringe uponthese rights, trouble was bound to ensue. T he news fromFrance wassufficient incentive, and very soo n undisgui sed rev­olution broke out, led by Henry Van der Noot.

Asusual , thousands of local patr iots formed themselves intosundry military units , each with its ow n uniform , but allmarching under the oolors whi ch have since become those ofthe nation al flag of Belgium - black,yellow and red . T hese arebased upon the heraldic arms of the Province: black for thefield of the blazon , yellow for the Lion of Brabant and red forits tongue and claws.

T he uniforms, fortunately, were recorded on the spot by anartist whose work may still be seen in the Royal Army Museumin Brussels - a remarkablecollection of verydetailed paintings.

On the whole, the pattern is French in character, particu­larly in the cut of the garments and the wearing of epaulettes inthe French manner by theofficers. T hus, the Ypres Volunteers,for example, could easily be mistaken for French infantry ofthe period were it not for their black lapels and the Belgiancolors in their plume and cockade.

T he same might be said of the Tongerloo Dragoons, but herethe cuff is of a very distinctive pattern, which is repeated ,incidentally , in the Brussels Volunteers. It was not usual, atthis period, to find troops wea ring pointed cuffs with a centralcuff-slash bearing a row of button s. T he conventional design ,wherebuttonswere includ ed ,was to sew these on a rectangul arup right slash covering a square cuff.

The country was liberated on December 17, 1789. T hefollowing day Van der Noot and his staff made their triumphalentry into Brussels after only six weeks fighting.

29

The Napoleonic Wars Private. Br itish 4th Foot . 180 5(1803-12)The paradox of the FrenchRevolution is that , far frominitiatinga longera of populargovernment, it produced ­and very soon, at that-notonly a reversion to a sov­ereign's rule , but a pure anduncompromising Empire.

When Napoleon Bona­parte crowned himself asNapoleon I, Empereur desFrane;tlis, in 1804,one can butsuppose that France, weak­ened by ideological quarrels,looked forward with relief to aperiod of stable governmentunder a purposeful leader.

Unfortunately, the newmonarch 's idea of achievingstability was to render therest of Europe incapable ofmolesting him: a splendididea if only others will co­operate. But inevitably, theoutcomecould only result in aseries of wars-long and te-diouswarswhich lasted virtu-allyas long as the first FrenchEmpire itself.

In these , Great Britainplayed an important part ,both in the political and in themilitary fields. The BritishArmy had been in a state ofalert since the outbreak of theRevolution in 1789. This wasthe first time for centuriesthat a powerful European·~"t':l2monarch had been deposed,

30

and public opinion in England - probably still recalling itsOwn Carolean regicide -promptly regarded France as thearchenemy.

At the turn of the century, the British Army had discardedthe long-tailed coat in favor of a short jacket with a high stand­ing collar, short tails and , instead of lapels, a system of butt on­holes looped in regimental lace and set in singles or pairs ac­cording to regiment. A furtherdistinction occurred in the shapeof these loops, which could be square-ended, pointed or 'bas­tion'-shaped(i.e. pointed , but with incurving sides in the formof a pike-head).

3 1

The hat had become larger, and two-cornered in shape,while the gaiters now reached just below the knee. Very soon,however, the hat was exchanged for a cylindrical shako -the'stove-pipe cap' made of lacquered material at first, but re­placed by one of felt in 1806.

In light infantry regiments, the cap was conical in shape,with a green plume and bugle-horn badge in front . Rifle regi­ments were clothed in very dark green , with red facings for the60th and black for the 95th.

The Household Cavalry and dragoon s wore a handsomeleather helmet with a comb of classical design and a longstreamer of black horseh air hanging down the back. The oneexception was the 2nd Dragoons-The Royal Scots Greys­wh o had the bearskin cap which is still worn today.

T he light dragoons, now a well-establi shed bran ch of theArmy, wore dark blue jackets, profusely laced in gold or silver,and 'Tarleton ' helmets-a hard leather headdress with a col­ored turban.

This was also the type of helmet worn by the Royal Horse

Artillery , that new branch formed in 1793 to provide fast-mov­ing guns for the cavalry, Indeed. on ??e famous occas~on.

the Ho rse Artillery carried out a specifically cavalry action,when Captain Norman Ramsay's T roop , at full gallop 'withhorses stretching like greyhounds over the plain ' ( Napier)charged the enemy at Fue ntesde Onoro on May 5, 1811, gunsand limbers bounding behind in a headlong cavalcade.

The field artillery, in conformity with the usual practice,wore an infantry-pattern uniform, but in blue instead of red.

T he Queued hair , whi ch had been in force for so long, wasabolished on August I. 1808, mu ch to the relief of the troops;and in l 8 l1 a new type of shake was authorized : the ' Belgic'cap of Waterloo fame.

This was issued to the infantry of the line and the foot ar­tillery,and consisted of a black felt crown fJ% inches high fittedwith an 8~-inch false front.

T he light infantry continued to wear their conical caps,butacompletechangeoccurred in the light dragoons. A shake,bell-topped and of French appearance, now replaced the hel-

Trooper. The Life Guards.18 15 and sergeant. RoyalHorse Artillery, 181 5.

Private. British 13th lightDragoons. 1814.

-32 33

--~. ,

.-French Army uniform s. A chasseur of the Guard and (right ) atrumpeter , 16th Dragoons. 18 12.

met; and the laced jacket was di scarded for a simpler but morecolorful version resembling a Polish kurtka. T his was a short­tailed jacket , with broad lapels, collar, cuffs and turnbacksin the regimental facing color, bearing fringed epaulettes ineither yellow or white, according to the metal in wh ich thebuttons were made.

Although lancers had not yet found their place in the BritishArmy, hussars were now becoming a popular branch of thelight cavalry. The 7th, 10th, 15th and 18th Ligh t Dragoon swere converted to hussars and clothed in the truly resplendentuniforms of that branch - dark blue jackets with lavish braid­ing ofgold or silver, elaborate pelisses with the same display ofsplendor, and the curious 'rnirliton' -a tall peakless conical

34

FrenchCavalry. 181 5 .4th Hussarsand (right) trooper . 11thCuirassiers.

cap, wound around with a co lored silk streamer. This waslater replaced by the conventional hussar bu sby , worn with acolored bag and plume.

On the Fren ch side , the pattern was unexpectedly conserv­ative. Admitted ly, the white coats symbolizing the AncienRegime had been supplanted by the blu e ones of the NationalGua rd; bu t the general effect of the costume, with its wideexpanse of waist coat and long coattails, was very much thatof the 1780's.

In the infantry of the line, the lapels were normally white,piped in red at the edges. T he breeches were also whi te, butwornwi th long gaiters ( black in winter and white in summer)reaching above the knee. For headdress, the bell-top ped shake

35

i~",,~i

'::-:..Frenc h head­dresses 18 15.Carebimer's hel­met. Polishczapka and helmetof dragoons01 the Guard .

36

was the normal ' wear , al­though the felt bicorne typi­cal of the Revolutionary per­iod was used extensively onactive service .

In the light infantry, on theother hand , things were dif­ferent. The uniform was ba­sically blue throughout, butthe gaiters were of the shortvariety, reaching half-way upthe calf, while the jacket wasshort-tailed with white metalbuttons, as opposed to thebrass ones of the line.

T he infantry of the Gu ardconsisted mainly of grena­diers and chasseurs- bothdressed very much alike inbearskin caps and blue coats,the main difference beingthat the grenadiers wore acopper ( not brass) plate onthe bearskin , while the chas­seurs had none .

The chief cavalry brancheswe re the cuirassiers, cara­biniers, dragoons, chasseurs,hussars and lancers, of whichthe dragoons. chasseurs andlancers each co ntributed oneregiment for the Gu ard. Itwill be recalled , incidentally,that Na poleon's favorite at­tire was the familiar undresscoat of a colonel of the chas­seurs acheva l of the Guard.T he Gu ard also incl udedsuch troops as horse gren­adiers and R,endarmes d'eIite;

French troops 1815. (Left to right) foot ar tillery gunner, light in­fantry cornet, and corporal , infantry of the line.

and it naturally had its own artillery, wh ich consisted of horseand foo t units.

T he horse artillery was dressed hussar-fashion in blue withred facings and lacing, and wore a large busby with a red bagand plume . T he horses were uniformly black. In the footbranch , the uniform was entirely blu e with red facings, buthere the headdress was the grenadier bea rskin fitted with aleather peak ove r the eyes.

T he artillery of the line was dressed somewhat similarlyto the guard, except for the headdress, whi ch took the formof the regulation bell-topped shake in both the horse and thefoot branches of this arm of service .

37

39

T he chasseurs wore green,with differen t facing colorsaccording to regiments. andthe regulation bell-toppedshake: but in the hu ssarsevery regiment was clotheddiffe rent ly. T he headdresswas the normal shako, exceptin the elite compa nies, whereit was replaced by the busby.This distinction also appliedto the same compa nies in thechasseurs as well as to theGuard regiment of that arm.Indeed , the latter un it re­sembled a hussar regimen trather than chasseurs, sincethey wore a green jacketlaced in bright yellow , and ascarlet pelisse.

T he lancers were alsocalled chevau/egers, or lighthorse. In the line, there weresix regiments, wearing greencoats with regimental Facingsand carabinier-type helm etswith a black crest. In theGuard, however, the lancerswe rea Polish regiment , dress­ed in blue with crimson fac­ings, A second Gu ard regi­ment was added later , drawnfrom the former Dutch Army,and clothed in scarlet. Bothunits wore the distinctivePolish lance-cap.

~*~~.~he Austrian infantry att IS ime was wearing thetraditional white uniformwhich was to remain until

Theartillery gunners (below) arewearing the uniform cclors ->

brown coat with red facings­which were to be retainedunti l 1914.

•

Dragoon officer.Austrian Army.1805.

T he cuirassiers wore the classical-type helmet with along black horsehair streamer at the back and the distinctivestee l cuirass whi ch gave them their name. T he coat was bluewith collar, cuffs and turnbacks in regimenta l colors.

T he same type of helmet, but in brass, was worn by thedragoons. T he coat, however, was green, and here the regi­ments were dis tinguished by the color of the collar, lapels andcuffs, and also by the set of the pocket-flaps (Le. whethervertical or horizontal) .

T he carabiniers, of which there we re two regiments , werefirst dressed grenadier-fashion, with bea rskin caps and bluecoats , but on December24, 1809 an entirely new uniform wasauthorized, consis ting of a large dragoon-type helmet decora­ted withan impressive scarletcrest,awh ite coat with light bluefacings and a brass cuirass. Scarlet epaulettes completed thisvery resplendent ensemble.

38

the latt er half of the nextcentury, with regimental fac­ing colors displayed on thecollar, cuffs and turnbacks.By a system of subtle d iffer­ences in the tone of theco lors, it was poss ible todress every regiment d iffer­en tly, especia lly as the 'Ger­mans' had white breechesand the Hu ngarians had blu e.

For many years the artil­lery had worn brown coatswith red facings, and th eycont inued todoso until l9 14.But the cava lry, with itsvarious branches, presenteda much more colorful ap­pearance. T he cuirassierswore the white coat and ablackened steel breast -plate( no back-plate ) with a blackhe lmet surmounted bya brasscomb supporting a black­over-yellow crest. The facingcolor appeared on the collar­pat ch , cuffs and one-inchedging of the turnbacks.

T he lancers,of whom therewere four regiments, we redressed in green uniforms ofPo lish des ign: two regimentsin dark green and two in'grass green '. The facings ofthe tun ic were red for all fourregiments.

The hu ssar uniform pro­vided ample opportunity forno two regiments to bedress­ed alike; but in the dragoon

(Opposi te ) British.officers'swords. (Left to right ) infant ry.1796 ; Household Cavalry, 18 15;heavy cavalry, 1822 . (Be.bwl adrummer. Russian grenadiers.1814.

branch aconside rable amoun tof co nfusion arose wh en somechevauleger regiments wereordered to exchange theirgreen coats for white, andsome dragoons , hitherto'white', beca me 'green'.

In 1806 the stou t leatherhelm et was disca rded and abe ll-topped headd ress takeninto wear, one of the earliestexamples of a shake fitt edwith a peak back and front.T his rear peak was imitatedin other armies and remainedin wear , in such cou ntries asSwi tze rland , Denm ark andSwe den, until the time ofWorld War l over a centurylater.

The Austrian grenadiers'bearskin cap wa s a verydistinctive article , of a typicaldesign found nowhere else.It can perhaps best be de­scribed as a peaked bea rskin,carrying a large fron tal brassplate, but with much of th etop and back removed to leavea kind of vo lumi nous fur capwith a large up right frontaroun d the plate. T he cut ­away back part was coveredwith cloth in th e regimentalfacing color, wit h lines oflace.

In Russi a, the basic color,at all events for the infantryand artillery, was a fairlydark green, and th e head-

41

dress was the ubiquitous bell-topped shako. In the early stagesof the Napoleon ic Wars, thi s was of standard design , butin 1812 it was altered to a d ifferent shape in which the top ,hitherto flat and level, was now incurved in the middl e, torise at the back and front .

In the infant ry, the collar and cuffs were scarlet for all unit s,and the regiments in a divi sion were designated by the calorof the shoulder-straps ( which carried the divisional number) .T he 1st regiment wore scarlet; the 2nd , white ; the 3rd ,yellow;and the 4th green with red piping.

The Russian cavalry was particularly splendid ,and includedsuch bodies as cuirassiers, dragoons , hussars, lancers, andof course the famou s Cossacks which were truly the nationalcavalry of the Empire. The regular cavalry hran ches weredressed in the conventional style of the period , much in­fluen ced, seemingly,by the Prussian pattern; but the Cossacks

Russian troop s. (Left) officer .Don Cossacks. c. 18 12 . and(right ) a grenadier. c. 1808.

42

had their own traditional dress.It may come as a surprise to learn that they even had a full­

dress uniform, although whether this was much worn is amatter for conjectu re. T hus, the Ukrainian Cossac ks, forinstance, of whom there were four regiments, wore shortblue jackets and khaki trousers, with the regimental facingcolor shown on the collar, cuffs, trouser-band and bu sby-bag.T he Ural Cossac ks had long blue coats and trousers with adouble crimson band , and the Cossac ks of the Bug had an all­blue uniform with whit e facings, Even two regiment s ofKalmucks are recorded as having a dress uniform co nsisting ofa black fur lance-cap with a square yellow top , and a bluecoat and trou sers with red piping and trouser -band s. ThePrussian uniform s bore a strong resemblance to the Russian,except that they were blue instead of green .

T he Prussian Army was virtu ally annihilated at [en a andAuerstadt in 1806, but until then the infantry consisted ofsixty regiments distinguished by a combination of facingcolors and buttons. Later, however, in the 1809 reorganiza­tion, the system was much simplified, whereby the facingcolor (co llar and cuffs) denoted the province (e.g, East Prus­sia, red; \Vest Prussia, crimson; Pornerania, whit e; Silesia,yellow). Within each province the regiments were identi­fied by the color of the shoulder-straps, as follows: 1st regi­ment, whit e; 2nd, red ; 3rd , yellow; and 4th , light blue.

Accordin g to the Dress Regulations of October 23, andOctobe r 26, 1808, the shako was to be bell-to pped andseven inches high. For the grenadiers it carried a brass eagleplate and a monumental black plume, while the mu sketeershad the royal cyper in brass, and the fusiliers a large whit e andblack cockade. In addition, the officers' shako was decoratedwith a small eagle badge at the side.

Later, Great Britain supplied much of the clothing to assistthe rebirth of the Prussian Army, hence the great resemblanceof the Silesian jagers and their British counterpar ts of theRifle regiment s.

Th e cavalry included regiments of cuirassiers in white anddragoons in light blue. Hussars were in various calms anduhlans (la ncers) were in dark blue. The latt er troop s had beenin existe nce in Pru ssia since 1740 and were recruited mainly

43

German troops. (Left to right) Silesian jaqer . 181 5; grenadier, 2ndPorneraruan Regiment. 181 0 ; gunner, Wu rttemberg GuardArtille ry , 181 2.

from the Polish provinces to the east of the country.Every one of the German states had its own army, and after

the 1806defeat s, most of the states found it expedient to comeover to the French side, bringing a tremendous influx of man­power to the N apoleonic ambitions. A strong contingentfrom Badcn , for instance , fou ght in the Peni nsul a, wh ere theywore blue uniforms of either German or French appearance,according to available supplies . Adequate clo thing was apro blem ,and we find th at a Baden regimental band , in need ofnew headgear, simplymade useof some helmets abandoned by

44

the British 23rd Ligh t Dragoons afterthe batt le of Talavera onMarch 28 , 1809.

Bavaria was a freq uent , if not traditional ally of France inmany continentalwars. T he uniform of this period was mostlylight b lue in th e infantry, white in th e heavy cavalry andgreen in the light cavalry. while the hussars and lancers woreda rk blue and green , respecti vely.

In Wiirttem berg th e basic color was dark blu e with regi­mental facing colors on the collar, cuffs, tumbacks and,from about 1800 to 1813, the lapel s as well. The cavalry con­sisted of dragoon s in blue and light cavalry in green. Two com­plete sets of uniforms are preserved in the Military Museumat Hastatt : one of the Wurtternberg Light Infantry RegimentNo . 9 ( ligh t green wi th black facin gs) and the other of theartillery of the Gua rd ( light blu e with black facings).

The Portuguese deserve mention here , especially in viewof thei r activi ty in the Pen insular War . T he infan try of theline wore da rk blue jackets and trousers, with a tall-fron tedshako which could well have bee n the prototype of th e Brit­ish ' Belgic' shako.

However. the better-know n units were the Cm;adores orlight infantry, wearing the brown jackets that have since cometo signify Por tu guese troops in the popu lar mind. In 1809 anew uniform was introduced , with black facings, lacing and aconical cap to replace the tall-fronted shake first issued .

T he Dutch-Belgians took an active part in the battl e ofWaterloo , with regim ents of heavy and ligh t cavalry, as wellas infant ry of the line, chasse urs, and artille ry. The heavycavalry consisted of two regiments of carabiniers (one Dutchand on e Belgian ) dre ssed in dark blue w ith red Iacin gs anda hand some steel helmet with brass fittings an d a black crest.

The infant ry of the line had a blue uniform and ashako ( truly Belgic in this event) very similar to th e Britishand Portuguese versions. The chasseurs, or light infantry,wore green coats with primrose facings and a bell-toppedshako with a rear peak , which was also th at of the artillery.T he latter , however , were clo thed in blu e, with red fac­ings.

Under Frederick Augus tus , Duke of Warsaw , th e PolishArmy was reorganized on French lines, except in the fif-

45

teen lancer regiments which retained their traditional Polishdress of dark blue with different colored facings to dis­tinguish each of the regiments.

Th e Polish square-topped czapka was worn in the in­fantry as well as in the lancers, but in the former case mostlyby the voltigeurs, or light companies. T he battalion com­panies wore the conventional bell-topped shako, and thegrenadiers wore the French-pattern bearskin cap with itsbrass plate. The jacket was dark blue.

The chasseurs a cheval, or light horse, were dressed ingreen: the hussars were in dark blue with crimson facings;

Port uguese cecador .181 2. and Belgiancarabir nerv j Bf fi .

4a46

A private of the 8t hPolish Lancers and aSpanish infantry private.the Oueen's Regiment.1606.

the 14th Cuirassiers in French uniforms. The remainderformed the uhlans, or lancer branch. The artillery woredark green with black facings piped red in both the horseand foot branches.

The white of the Spanish Army recalled the Frenchuniforms of the Ancien Regime, but in 1812 the infantryadopted a dark blue coat for all regiments, with gray trousersand a conical cap of British light infantry pattern , whilethe dragoons were some of the few troops to wear ye llowas the basic color of their uniform coats.

47

The War of 1812Eng land and France bothwanted United States assis­ta nce in their own waragai nsteach other , wh ieh the UnitedStates, deeply involved in itsow n internal problem s. re­fused to provid e to eithe r side.In retaliation Britain beganimpounding Ame rican sail­ors on the high seas, claimi ngthey were escaped Britishsai lors. At the same time ,the Uni ted States was tryingto extend its boundaries intoCa nada , adding additio nalfrict ion to the already tensesituation. Relations graduallyworsened, and war wasfinally declared on ] une 18th .

T he British Army took toth e field in the regu lation fieldservice dress of th e day: the' Belgic' shako ( where it hadbeen issued ) , red jacket andblue-gray trousers.

On the other hand , theUnited States had by nowdeveloped a new uniform.more in keeping with con­temporary costume. At thestartof the campa ign the coatswere uniformly blue, w ithscarlet collars and cuffs, andthere see ms to have been nodistinction s of facin g colorsbetween the regiments. Inthe main, the cut and lacingclosely resembled the Britishde sign , and regimental desig­natio ns appe ared on buttonsand cap-plate on ly.48

British troops. ( Top) field officer .4 9th Foot; (bottom) bandsman.1st Foot. I~

Platoon officers and otherranks wore a jacket verysimilar to the British exceptfor color, while th e field of­fieers had a lon g-tailed coat ,also of blue. The cap, cylin­drical in shape, carried a ver­sion of plate and plume muchlarger than the Briti shmodels .The plume was eightinches high for officers andsix for other ranks.

Various peculiarities ofmanufacture are to benoted.Thus, thesleevesof the jacketwe re usua lly much too long,to allow for shrinkage. By thelate summer of 1812, it be­came more difficult to ob­tain white materi al for thesoldier's vests , and these,therefore, appea red in a var­iety of colors, such as grayor even drab. Rank distinc­tions were shown by theepaulett es - silver for offi­cers and w hite for non­commiss ioned officers.

In customary traditi on, thedrum mers' uniform was farmore elaborate and colorfu lsince it embodied the princi­ple of 'reversed colors' , Inthis case , the refore, a drum­mer would w ear a red coa twith blue facings with regu­lation breeches or pantaloo ns .

American troops. (Top) infantryprivate; (bo ttom) light art illeryserge,ant. 49

Argentine 'internale'Struggles for Latin American Independence (18111-181By the time the Napoleonic Wars had ended, revolt wasgaining ground in the America n possessions of Spain andPortugal. The Spanish territories , particularly, far too vast tobe administered adequately by a weakened home govern­ment thousands of miles away. were beginning to feel thatthey could manage their own affairs.

In Mexico . for instance , the first intimation was a tentativesuggestion, at the turn of the eighteent h century, for theereation of three Spanish-American Kingdoms unde r theCrown of Spai n. This was rejected. and various revolutio n­ary governments thereafter ruled the country, with all theattendant strife. Any army uniforms that happened to be worndo not appear to have been subject to consistent regulation.

Dress of the Mexican militia (left) and the Mexican Grenadiers ofToluca.

50

At the other end of the continen t, the Argentines pro­claimed their independence on May 25, 1810, and led bySan Marti n and Belgrano, defeated the Spanish forces atChacabuco in 1817 and Maipu in 1818. San Martin thenled his victorious troops into Peru and occupied Lima onJune 9, 1821.

T his was where the Argentine infernales, the red-coateddevil-riders of the plains, acqui red their fame as light cavalry.Wh ether or not their clothing was a regu lation uniformremains problematical. since few authorities have been ableto agree on the subject.

51

French infantrymen. c. 1830 . Line regiment and Chasseursd'Orleans.

The French Conquest of Algeria (1830-471We have now come to the time when the French soldier beganto wear the red trousers which later became so distinctive apartof his attire: an outcome, we are told, of the necessity forfinding a commercial use for the red madd er dye then beingproduced extensively in the French territories in North Africa.

T he French conquest of-Algeria grew out of a long-standingquarrel wi th the Dey of Algiers over corn supplied to Franceduring the Directorate. French troops landed at Sidi-Fe rruchon June 14, 1830, capturing Algiers on July 5. It was not untilDecember 23. 1847 that the legend ary Arab leader Abd-e l­Kader finally surrendered to Ge neral Lamoriciere.

T he French infantry of the line - still sub-divided intogrenad iers. battalion companies and voltigeurs- had retain eda style of d ress much resembling the Napoleonic . with its

52

Private. French Foreign Legion. 1832.

bell-topped shako and long-tailed coat.By the 1840·s. however. a new branch of light infantry had

come into exis tence : the Chasseurs d 'Orleans, clothed in darkblue with blue-gray trousers. T hey event ually replaced theexisting Infanterie legere and, under the new denom inationof Chasseurs a Pied . continued to wear basically the sameuniform until 1914.

The Foreign Legion needs no introduction.This remarkablecorps owed its origin to the eight foreign regiments wh ich,after Waterloo. were formed into the Legion de Hohenlohe. In1830. however . the corps was disband ed . but many of itsformer members rejoined in 1831. wh en the Legio n Etrangerewas raised.

Several new bodies of French troops. apart from the nativeregiments, came into being as a result of the conquest ofAlgeria. in part icular the mounted Chasse urs d"Afriqu e, andthe Zouaves. originally Arab infantry. but event ually entirelyEuropean in composition.

53

The Mexican War lllW>­481Texas, originally part ofthe repu blic of Mex ico, wasannexed by the Uni tedStateson December 22, 1845,causing an immediate retalia­tion by Mexi co.The invad ingUnited States Army did nothave an easy time , however.The Mexican s were stubbornfighter s, and the heroic resis­tance of the cadets at Chapul­tepee has become one of theminor epics of modern war­fare.

The Mexican Army, nowregularly organized, wasdressed in a un iform modelledmostly on the Fren ch , theshako being almost a replicaof the French pa ttern.

T he cavalry branch in­cluded several regimen ts oflancers in different uniforms .such as the Activa Regimentin green , with red epaulettes ,and the Guadalajara Regi­men t in dark blue , with red'wings'. T he Ca lifornianLancers we re more pic­turesque in their typicallyMexican dress cons isting of ablack som brero and a green,red or brown double-breastedshirt-jacket wi th silver but­tons and wh ite piping.Around the wa ist they wore ared sash, and their trouserswere the Mexi can bell-bot-

54

A UnitedStates dragoon.

tamed overalls which could be blu e,brown or black. Evide ntly,there was little attempt to adhere to dress regul ations.

T he artillery was dressed as the infantry, except for redtrousers in place of blu e. These were worn over white gaiters.T he off icers ' epaulettes were gold, on the French patt ern.

On the United States side, the troops of Ge neral ZacharyT aylor we re clothed in a campaign dress of sober design, T hecoat was the fat igue jacket of 1833, which carried yellowfacings for the cavalry- a calor, inciden tally , which somecountries retained for th at branch until 1945. In th e Unitedstates, however, the ye llow band on the forage cap, at thisperiod, was unauthorized.

55

The 1848 Revolutionsin EuropeIn the early months of 1848France was in a fermentover the cou ntry's franchise .Louis-Philippe ' King of theFrench by the Grace of Godand the Will of the People',had attempted to esta blish aco nstitutio nal monarchy onthe British pattern. But thesolid basis of a sou nd trad i­tion was lacking and mal­content s at each end of thesocia l scale were Quick tocriticize shortco mings whileigno ring the good points : the1830 barricades were, afterall, still a vivid memory.

On February 24, 1848, theind ustrial population of theParis faubourgs stormed intothe city, and the lucklessLouis-Philippe was forced toflee to Great Britain.

T he spirit of revolt qu icklyspread to other co untries, thevast and heterogeneous Aus­trian Empire being a pre­destined victim. Riots brokeout in Vienna, and Metter­nich escaped on March 13 toco mmiserate with Louis­Philippe in England.

T he Austro-HungarianArmy at this time still worethe white short-tailed jacket,but the headdress was now acylindricalshake . Regimentaldis tinc tions continued to be

56

Austrian infantry private . Prussian infantry private (left)and drummer. French 3rd LightInfantry.

shown by the color of thecollar, cuffs and turnbackscombined with the whitemetal orbrassof the buttons.

Oneof the most interestingrevolts. however, occurred onMarch I, 1848 at Ne uchate l,That territory-which, inci­den tally, had prod uced deMeuron's Regimen t for theDutch and British services, aswell as Berthier's yellow­coated batta lion for Napoleon- had been ceded to Prussiaafter th~ · Napoleonic wars,and many of the 'Canaries'joined the newly formedPrussian GardeschUtze-Ba­tai llcn for service in Ber­lin . Fortu nately for them ,beca use they were thenspared the agonizing duty ofhaving to fire on the ir owncountryme n w he n the lattermarched down from the]uraMountains to attac k thecastle at Neuchatel. T hePrussians were soo n ove r­come, the inevitable republicproclaimed , and Neuchatelbecame a Swiss canton.

. The Prussian troops hadnow taken t he famou s spikedhelm et into wear- but in amuch taller version than thefamiliar 1914 patt ern . T hetunic was beg inning to re­place the long-skirted coat,and long trousers were beingworn in preference tobreeches and gaiters.

57

Private. British 4th Light Dra­goons, 1854 . and (opposfte)British officers. 1854: 19th Footand Royal Artillery.

The Crimean War (1854-56)The British Army was now wea ring a close-fitting long-skirtedcoat and a tall cylindrical headdress with peaks in the frontand back, reputed ly introduced by the Prince Co nsort andknown as the 'Albert ' shake . Curiously enough, though , thewh ole style of dress was altered during th e campaign, so thatthe troops who had set out in coats and shakos came back intunics and kepis of French inspiration . In th e artillery thechange was even more spectacular, because here the shako wasreplaced by a fur bu sby with a scarlet bag and white hackle.

T he Light Brigade of the British cavalry has been immortal­ized by the poet Tennyson; but while the epic charge of Bala­clava was a magnificent piece of devotion and discipline , itcontributed little if anything to the eventual outcome. 'C 'esrbea u, mais ce n'es t pas la gue rre', said a senior French officer­and indeed the less-pu blicized charge of the Heavy Brigadewas actually more effective.

58

T he Light Brigade consisted of the 4th and 13th LightDragoon s, the 8th and 11th Hussars, and th e 17t h Lancers; theHeavies we re the 1st Royal Dragoons, the Scots Greys, theInniskillings and the 4th and 5th Dragoon s. T he DragoonGuards and Dragoons wore almost ident ical uniforms: redcoat and da rk blue breeches, with a helm et of ' Roman' design;the Scots Greys retain ed their trad itional bearskin .

In the infantry , the more ample tunic appears to have beenado pted fairly early in the campaign. A ph otograph of Lieu­tenant W. G . D.l\lassyof the 19th Foot ( T he Green Howards)shows him wearing adouble-breasted tunic, which in the earlystages may well have been worn with the Albert shako. Thisofficer d isplayed extraordinary bravery at the storming of theHedan , and was promoted captain in the field.

T he French made good use of th eir Algerian troops in theform of the Chasse urs d 'Afrique and Zouaves. Of th e former,there were now four regiments. the 4th Regiment being

59

present at Balaclava and coming to the assistance of the sorelypressed British cavalry.

The Zouaves had originated as a native corps of Kabyles oftheZouaoua Tribe. By the time of the Crimean War, however,the Arab element had been transferred to the essentially nativetroops and the Zouaves remained an entirely European body,bu t still clad in Eastern style.

T he Ist and 2nd Zouaves were in the Crimea, the regiment sbeing distinguished by the color within the oval ornamentsof their jackets: red for the l st , white for the 2nd . The 3rdRegiment had primrose.Afurther distinction lay in the methodof wearing the cap or ch"chia: the 1st included it well overthe right ear, the 2nd over the left. The Zouaves of the Guardwere dressed in much the same manner. save that a whiteturban encircled the ch"chia.

French troops. 18 54. Trooper.4th Chasseurs d'Afrique andinfantry off icer.

- ..... - ..

At this time the FrenchArmy boasted a fine force ofcavalry of all arms-cuiras­siers in blue. dragoons ingreen, hussars in various col­ors, chasseurs in green andlancers in blue - all with theuniversal red breeches.

T he artillery wore the con­ventional all-blue with redfacings- with a busby for theGuard and a shako for theline regiments.

Rank badges for officerswereshown by theepaulettes.A captain wore two goldepaulettes with fringes; alieutenant one on the leftshoulderand another with outfringe on the right , while asous-lieutena nt wore thesame but on reverse shoul­ders. Field officers and gen­erals wore gold epauletteswith a bullion fringe.

Non-commissioned offi­cers were distinguished bythe diagonal stripes above thecuffs, which were already inuse underthe Ancien Regime:one gold or silver for a ser­geant, two red for a corporaland one fora 1st Class soldieror lance -corporal. A sergeant­major had two gold or silverstripes; and where the cuffswere pointed, all these stripestook the form of chevrons toconform with the shape ofthe cuff.

Private. French 2nd zoueves.1854.

01

Little contemporaryevidence seems to exist on the dress ofthe T urkish Army at this time. T his is un fortunate, since theCrimean War deve loped from the age-old quarrel betweenRussia and Turkey. Turkey, after some sporadic fightingon the frontier s, declared war on Russia in October 1853, withthe result that the Turkish Fleet was destroyed at Sinope onNovember 30 of the same year.

Thisdefeat alarmed Britain and France, fearing a strong andconfident Russia might threaten Europe, and the two coun­tries, joined later by Sardinia, declared war on the T sar.

Meanwhil e , the Turks had won several actions in succes­sion, but the Russians retaliated with a determined offensive,penetrating deep into the Balkan Peninsula. Perhaps a littletoo deep, for the lines of communication became somewhatstretched - and in the north an Austrian anny of observationwas poised. T he Russians withdrew.

Yet Russia's power at sea was still a fonnid able menace, andthere was no longer a Turkish fleet to hold it in check. Con­sequently, Great Britain and France were determined to strikeat the naval base of Seb astopol in the Crimea, and on Sep­tember 7, 1854 a convoy of l50 ships crossed the Black Sea.

A well-known photograph by Roger Fenton shows theBritish, French and Turkish commanders in conference, inwhich the Pasha wears a dark coat, with presumably gold lace,and a fez, probably red . A contemporary print of the RoyalWelsh Fusiliers shows, in the background, a Turkish officer inblue, wi th a red fez, in conversation with two British officers .

Of the other ranks we know littl e, although Knoetelinforms us ( Handbltch der Unifonn kltnde) that the infant rywore a short bluejacket with an upri ght red collar, blue trousersand red fez, while the cavalry was dressed in a da rk blue tu nicwit h hussar braiding and three rows of buttons. A gray cloak,with hood , was issued to all arms.

The uniforms of the Sard inian Army at this period formedthe basis of the pattern adopted later in the forces of the newKingdom of Italy. The cavalry consisted of six regimentsof heavy cavalry in blue tunics and blue-gray overalls withbands in the facing color, whi le the helmet was a handsomeaffairof classical design with an imposing brass comb and the\Vhite Cross of Savoy on the front. There was also one regi-

62

(Left) Turkish officer. 18 55 ;(right) trooper. Sardinian GenoaCavalry Regiment. 1855.

63

ment of light cavalry clothed much the same as the heavies,except for a shako and facings in light blue.

T he .Russians, for their part, had recogn ized for centuriesthat win ter was one of their best allies. T ha t the terribl eweather in the Crimea proved a valuable asse t to the Russianscann.ot be doubted, although they too m ust have sufferedconsiderahly from its effects.

The full dress of the Russian Army , always spectacular and~Iorful, naturally enough was not worn in the field, and theflghtmg dress of the Tsar's soldiers consisted normally ofthe black leather helmet with its tall flame-shaped spike, and along greatcoat of heavy drab cloth.

The Russian cavalry, apar t from the complex formations ofCossacks, consisted of cuirassiers, dragoons, hussars andlancers: all in part icularly splendid att ire, especially in the

Russian Privates. 1854. (Left)3 1st Infantry Regiment, and(right) artillery of the Guard.

64

Gunner. Russian horse artilleryof the Guard. 1855.

"

Guard. T he Horse Grenadiers of the Guard deserve especialnotice for their rem arkable helmet , co nventio nal in its mainpart, but crowned by a black fur crest wh ich was set, not backand front in the usual way, butcrosswise, from temple to tern­pieover the top. It was furtherdecorated at the back by a hang­ingbagof red edged in yellow lace. The drummers' crests werered, and they wore a profusion of yellow , or gold, chevro ns oneach sleeve , and laced swallows-nests under their red epau­lettes. T heir most remarkable feature was that they carriedinfantry-pattern side-drum s.

T he artillery, the men who served the guns at Balaclava,must have worn infantry-style uniform and , probably, darkgreen flat caps wit h a black band and red piping . In full d ressthey wo uld have a dark green uni form with black facings andred piping, whil e the helmet would be of the general-servicepatte rn. A specimen of this headdress is preserved in theCastle Museum at York, and it d isplays no other ornamentsthan crossed guns in brass and a somewhat unlikely white­over-crimson plume issuing from abrass socket in lieuof spike.

65

H

wasworn in Russ ia. Great Britain.Spain . Portugal and Germany.The hussar busby was based onthenationa lfurcapol Hungar y .

The illustrations on these pagesshow :(a) Aust ro ·Hungarian gren ­adier cap, early ninetee nth cen­tury ; (b) Austro-Hungarian hel­met ; (c) Brit ish 'Belgic' cap,18 12-1 6 ; (d) French busby,First Empi re; (e) Russian dra­goon helmet. 190 0-14; (1)Norw egian guardsma n's hat.1900- 14 ; (g) French kepi,1900-14; (h) Sw iss shake.1900-14; (i) Bavar ian off icer'shelmet. 1914 ; (j) French hel­met. 191 6 ; (k) German helmet.191 7 .

HeaddressesUp to the end of the eighteenthcentury headwear was usua llyno more than an adapta tion of th ecivilian trtcorne.although he lme tsof vario us formswere often wornin the cavalry . W it h the elabora­tion of military dress. however.more distinctive designs began toemerge. frequently of a nat ionalcharacter; these. incidentally,w ere ofte n co pied by othe rarmie s.

Thus the French kepi reap­peared in Denmark, the UnitedStates. Russia and numero usSouth American republics. toname but a few . The spiked hel­met. probably of Eastern origin.

The Indian Mutiny (18581

Great Britain had hardly re­covered from the CrimeanWar when trouble broke outin India. There had beenseveral outbreaks there asearly as 1764, and discontentwas present in some form fora long time. However, in July1856 a general enlistmentorder, resulting from the warin Persia,arousedHindu fearsthat they might lose caste ifthey had to cross the sea.

Further, the rumors ofBritishreverses in the Crimeagave cause for disquiet , sothat what with the prophecyof British rule ending a hun­dred years after Plassey(1757) and sundry minor dis­turbances, the atmospherewas truly ripe for agitators,who promptly exploited thefact that the cartridges forthe new Minie rifle weregreased with the fat of cowsand pigs . To listen to them,this was obviously an attemptto force the sepoys intoChri stianity when they bitthe greased cartridges andthus became outcasts fromtheir own religions. AtBerhampur, on February27, 1858, the 19th BengalInfantry Regiment refused

Officer. Hodson's Horse. 18 57 .in white service uniform

68

(V

/Private and sergeant-major, British infantry, 1857

to parade to draw percussion caps -and even the old-patterncartridges were rejected.

On April 24 eighty-five men of the native cavalry at Meerutrefused their cartridges and were promptly jailed. On thefollowing day, however, while the British troops were atchurch parade, the remainder of the native regiments took uptheir arms and released their imprisoned comrades . Thehysteria spread rapidly, and two native infantry regimentsshot their officers. The revolt had now reached dangerousproportions.

A number of irregular units existed in India at the time ofthe Mutiny. Hodson's Horse was famou s among them :a corps

69

Sepov. 20th Bombay NativeRegiment. 1857

70

which was an amalgamationof several independent unitsin the Punjab , embodiedunder Lieutenant W. S. R.Hndson in 1857.

European officers andother ranks often wore whiteor light khaki uniforms, thelatt er probably being thewhite outfit dyed. T he head­dress in this case was usuallythe undress cap encased in awhite or khaki cap-cover witha neck-curtain at the back. Apaintingdone atSu bzimandi ,Delh i, in 1857 shows twoEuropean soldiers in a lightkhaki kit bea ring a remarkableresemblance to present-daybattledress. T he uni t is notindicated, but the grenade onthe belt-plates would suggestthe 2nd Fusiliers, wh o werecertainly present .

Unlike the French inAlgeria, the Brit ish had madelittle atte mpt to design uni­forms in keeping with nativedress. Admittedly, the head­dresswasalways based on thenative pattern, but forthe restof the un iform it was simply amatter of providing Britishregulation coats with the ap­propri ate facings and lace. Atthis period even the trouserswere the dark infan try pat­tern , or white for the very hot

weather. Boots, however,we re distinctly unpopular,and the sta rtling spec tacle ofasoldier in sandals, or evenbarefoot, was a commonsight.

In the cavalry it wasadiffer­ent matter. Breeches andboots werea necessity; but onthe other hand, many unitswore the native kurta, orsmock-like tunic.

As time went on, the rebelsentrenched themselves sol­idly in Dehli , which wasaccord ingly besieged by theBritish. Hodson's Horse waspresent wit h the attackers, inkhaki uniforms with red Fac­ings. T he word 'khaki' isde rived from the Persian ,meaning dust or ashes; it isinteresting to note that theofficialname for the color was'drab'.

The Gurkhas, that uniquebody of Himalayan moun­taineers, were first taken intothe service of the HonorableEast India Co mpany in 1815,not as Indian troops, but assubjects of the King of Nepaland allies of the British .

Being wiry and active, theGurkhas were formed intorifle regiments and dressed assuch in dark green with sun­dry minor distinctions of aregimental character. Theyremained faithful to th~

British during the Mutiny and

71

performed many deeds of valor, often making good use oftheirnational weapon, the kukri, that erossbetween sword and knifethat could intimida te the bravest enemy. The Gurkhas' mottoreads , ' It is better to die than to live a coward', and these toughlittle soldiers have never failed their watchwo rd.

T he Punjab Irregular Force ( P.I.F.) came into being whena num ber of ind ependent uni ts, working on the frontierbetween the Punj ab and Wazirabad, were brought under asingle command in the early part of the nineteenth century.The 'Piffers' moun ted branch comprised the Corps of Guides,raised in December 1846, and five regiments of cavalry.

T he 1st Regiment was formed at Peshawar in 1849 andclothed in native dress, 'wi th the sole addition', according tothe 'Illustrated London News' of 1857, 'of the long boots ofEuropea n horsemen' (Carman), T he British officers wore adark blue jacket with a buff collar and pointed cuffs in thesame color, There was silver lace tracing around the co llar.and the cuffs had a silver crew's foot . Silver lace was set allaround the garment, which carried silver plaited cords onthe shoulders. The Regiment later became Prince AlbertVicto r's Own Cava lry.

Sower. 2nd PunjabCavalry. 1857.

72

Express Camel trooper. 6 thIrregular Cavalry. 18 50. andsowar. 1st PunjabCavalry. c. 18 57 .

T he 2nd Punjab Cavalry- later 22nd Sam Brcwne'sCavalry- was raised at Lahore in April 1849. Sam Brownewas second-in-command when it was formed, and he was nomore than a lieutenant at the time. He soon acqu ired fame.though , in some fierce hand-to-hand fighting in wh ich he lostone ann from a sword-cut at the shoulder; yet his far betterknown. though less spec tacular, achievement was his 'inven­tion' of the cross-belt for officers which bears his name and isstill worn.

Bengal, too , had its own regiments of irregular cavalry,some of which comprised a detachment of camel troops, suchas the 6th . This regiment was raised in 1838 for service withthe Kingof Oudh , und er the name of T he Cavalry Regiment oftheOudh Auxiliary Force. When it was absorbed in the BengalArmy in 1840, it received the title of 6th Regiment of BengalIrregular Cava lry.

In 1848, the European officers of the regiment wore a blackhelmet with a white falling plume-a close imitation of thePrussian pickelhaube of the period . repu ted to have beengiven to the regim ent, as an honor, by the King of Prussiaafter Prince Waldemar's visit to Sind.

73

First class gunner, French arti l­lery of the Guard

75

bach 's 'Daug hter of the DrumMajor' and, incidentally, theearly nu mbers of 'La VieParisienn' . Who, for in­stance ,can resist the charm ofthe de lightful lit tle cantin­ieres in the ir gay un iforms?T he time had come whenthose dedicated persons wereno longer mere carnp-fol­lowers picking up and wear­ing odd items of discardedclot hing. T hey now had aregulation uniform of theirown , and if the contemporaryprints err. on the side of glam­our, even the fat and forteamong them could hardly failto benefit from the change.

T he French ImperialGuard w as more resplendentthan ever, as if the neph ew ofNa poleon I was be nt on out­doing his uncle. T here werelancers in dazz ling whiteblend ing with ligh t blue andscarle t; guides and chasseursin green and gold; dragoo nsand cuirassiers in shiningbrass and steel.

The artillery was perhapsthe most soberly dressed ofall th is spendid company, indark blu e and red , with abusby for the Guard and ashako for the line.

The French infan try unitshad hardly changed since theCrimean War which , after all,had ended only four yearsearlier, but on the Austrian

'Cantiniere'. French lancers ofthe Guard

. , . -­"

The Franco-AustrianWar in Italy (1858-59)

'L'Empire.c'est la paix'. Thusthe Emperor Napoleon III toascepticalworldin need of re­assurance: a world , indeed ,that had found little oppor­tuni ty to observe that 'Em­pire' did indeed mean 'Peace'.Nor could it derive muchcomfort from the spectacle ofthat monarch sett ing himselfup as a champion of theliberty of nations.

Italy was one of his partic­ular protegees, and Gari­baldi 's march on Rome pro­vided a ready incentive . Au s­tria saw it in a different light,as well she migh t, with manyof her p ossessions threatened ;nor were the French Cath­olics impressed, since theyfeared the downfall of thePapacy. Things came to ahead in 1858 when the Em­peror just missed being assas ­sinated by an Italian patriot ,Orsini , whereupon he de­cided that he really mu st 'dosomething for Italy '.

France and Austria weresoon at each other's throats,w ith Piedmont-Sardinia onthe French side. In the FrenchArmy, this period is perhapsits most colorful in the matterof dress, reflecting the scintil­lating light-heartedness of anera that could produce Offen·......-·

7 4 ~~

Hungarian infantry private

side much had occurred since we last discussed that army.True, the white coat had remained , but it was now a double­breasted tuni c, introduced in 1849,with the regiment indicatedby the calor of the collar, cuffs, shoulder-straps and piping, aswell as by the metal of the buttons. In service dress the tunicwas plain, with the regimental ca lor shown on the collar-patchbut nowhere else.

As before, the Hungarian regiments wore mid-blue close­fitting trousers with short ankle-boots, while the shako hadbecome a slightly conical affair, smaller at the top than it wasat the bottom.

T he jager, or light infantry , had originated as early as theSeve n Years War and were now clothed in a gray-green uni­form, officially described as 'pike-gray' with green facings.

In thecavalry, thecuirassiers and dragoons had now adoptedthe white tuni c and dispensed with the crest on their helmets,while light blue overalls were taken into wear in 1840. Hussarswore uniforms of light or dark blue, according to the regi-

76

Austrian Kaiserjaqer off icer

ment, wi th a further distinction in the calor of the shako,which could be green, white or scarlet. The lancers were indark green, with the regimental color shown on the lance­cap; and the artillery wore the traditional brown tunic withred Iacings.

T he two most outstanding battles of this war were perhapsMagenta on [une-l , 1859 and Solferino on Jun e 24, 1859. T helatter was marked by much desperate fighting, the Austrianslosing some 22,000 men and the Franco-Sardinians, 17,000. Itwas witnessed by a citizen of Geneva, Henri Dunant, who wasso appalled by the sufferings of the wounded , that, on hisreturn , he collected a few friends and with their assistancefounded that institution which has since developed into theInternational Red Cross.

However, the war was drawing to its close . Prussia, everwatchful, was threatening intervention, and an armistice wassigned by Napoleon III and Francis [oseph of Austria atVillefranche on July 11 of the same year.

77

The War of the Danish Duchies (1864)It is the unfortunate destiny of frontier provinces to be inco nstant dispute between their neighbors: the unwill ing ,though often resigned victims of interstate tugs-of-war,sometimes going to one country, sometimes to another.

Schleswig and Hol stein were two small provinces lyingbet ween Prussia and Denmark. Half of the people spo keGerman; the other half spoke Dani sh. They had been ruledby the Danish king since 1813 but were not formally part ofthat count ry. In 1863 Denmark annexed these two provincesoutright.

On Febru ary 18, 1864, some Prussian hu ssars on patrol

(Left ) officer. Austrian 27thInfantry Regiment; (right) officer .Prussian dragoons of the Guard .

crossed the bord er and occupied the Danish village of Kolding.Denmark complained, and Bismarck, plainly seeking annexa­tion , replied as might be ex pected, prevailing on Austria tosupport his case .

T he Prussians and Austrians attacked; and the Danes,though outnumbered, put up a stubborn resistance . In twoweeks, however, Denmark was defeated.

T he Austrian infantry had now given up its tall cylindricalshako in favor of a conical variety not unlike the French kepi.In the field, this was encased in an oilskin cover.

In the cavalry, which consisted of cuirassiers, dragoons,hussarsand lancers,.there had been little change since the warin Italy.Thecuirassiers discarded their cuirass in 1860, and thedragoon s, who were now wearing a moderni zed version of theclassical helmet , had absorbed the chevaulegers in 1852. T hehussars, twelve regiments strong, were . clothed in light or

Trooper. Austrian 2nd Dragoons

79

Warrant officer . 4th MagdeburgField Artillery Regiment.

80

dark blue jackets, and hadbreeches and pelisses tomatch. Their shakos were ofdifferent colors according totheir regiments.

The lancers were still indark green with red facings ,and had reverted to the yel­low epaulettes which hadbeen discarded about 1840.

In the Prussian Army, thepickelhaube was now firmlyestablished as the standardheaddress, although in theartillery the spike was re­placed by a ball .

The Prussian dragoons atthis time were wearing a lightblue tunic, a color whichwas theirs since Napoleonictimes, with faeings in regi­mental colorings. The cuiras­siers were in white and thehussars, as usual, in uniformsof different colors for everyregiment. A black busby hadbeen in wear since 1850 andthe pelisse was discontinuedin 1853.

The lancers, or uhlans,wore the traditional lancers'dress of Polish origin (i .e., thesquare-topped lance-cap anddistin ctive tunic,orulanka, ofblue cloth with regimentalfacing colors).

In the infantry of the line , adark blue tunic had beenauthorized in 1843, with redcollar-patches. The trousers

Danish troops; guide and infantry private.

were of a very dark blue, almost black, with red piping downthe sides.

The light infantry were termed jager and wore the 1843tun ic, but in dark green with red collar-pa tches . A helmetwas issued origin ally, but replaced in 1854 by a tall conicalshako with a peak back and front.

The Danish infantry was in dark blue kepi s and tunics,piped red , and light blue trou sers, while the dragoons andhussars wore light blue tunics with a 'Roman' helmet for thedragoo ns and probably a shako for the hu ssars.

Peace was signed on Augu st I, 1864 and ratified on Octobe r30. The King of Denmark renounced all his rights in favorofthe Emperorof Austr ia and th e King of Prussia. The duchieswere merged in the larger Question of the relations betweenthese two powers, who were soon fighting each other; Prussiafinally established her supremacy at Sadowa in 1866.

81

The American Civil War (l861-US1To say that the war arose from the rival attitudes of theNorth and South to the ques tion of slavery is to understatethe case. Admittedly, this was no doubt the primary matterin dispute, but the root cause was more likely to have beenthe profound differences of character in the Northern andSouthern citizens of the United States. T he Northernerswere eager and businesslike, often the descendants of menwho, dissati sfied with their lot , had left Europe to seek a newlife in America; whil e the Southerner, heir to an old traditionof co loni al prosperity I wa s more easy-go ing and self-assured.Hi s America was almost entirely agricultural, while theNorth was expanding industrially and commercially.

82

The trouble started wheneleven Southern states decid­ed to secede from the Union .This was in early 1861, andthe seceding states , callingthemse lves the Confedera testates of America , were V ir­ginia,. North and SouthCarolina, Geo rgia, Florida,Alabama, Mississippi , Lou­isiana, Texas, Arkansas andTennessee. In Misso uri, Ken­tucky and Maryland opinionwas divided, but these stateseventually sided with theNor th.

Jefferson Daviswas electedPresident of the Confederacyas the government preparedto meet an at tack by theUnio n. T he Southern stateshad earlier ceded land to theFederal Governm ent for thepurpose of coast defense.T hey now considered them­selves entitled to resume oc­cupation of the forts, andfinding diplomatic approach­es ineffect ual, decided toadopt sterner measures. Ac­cordingly, Fort Sumter, atCharleston, was bombardedby the South Carolinians onApril 12, 1861.The Northerngarrison held out as long aspossible, then surrendered, tobe conveyed by Southernwarships toUnion territory.

In spite of this generousgesture, howe ver, the affront

Three of the uniform s worn bythe Federal forces in the CivilWar . (Above) Engineer off icer.(Oppo site, left) a private of the5th New York Zc uaves. one ofthe many zouave units whoseuniforms copied the Frenchmodel almost exactly. Theuniform (opposite. right) is acavalry officer's.

83

.,

remained. Besides, lives had been lost, and President Lin­coln called out 75,000 troops. A few states refused their con­tingents, but a large number of men volunteered from civil­ian life: many more, in fact, than had been requested .

In addition, there were numbers of volunteer uni ts alreadyin existence, wearing all manner of dress. Uniforms ofFrench design were very popular , and the quantity of'zouave' regiments which sprang up, based on the French. onboth sides, was truly astounding. In the regular army, theFrench influence was marked especially by the kepi whichwas worn in practically all branches-an almost exact replicaof the cap then issued to the French troops.

T he Confederates, for their part, started organizing theirarmy on a proper footing. Dress regulations were promul­gated, settin g out a uniform consisting of a gray tunic andlight blue trousers. The kepi had a dark blue band aroundthe base and the top was made in the particular calor of thebranch concerned: yellow for the Cavalry, red for the artil­lery and light blue for the infantry, These colors were re­peated in the collar, cuffs and piping on the tunic, which wasdouble-breasted and had brass buttons.

Badges of rank consisted of short horizontal gold bars onthe collar and stars for field officers, supplemented by largeAustrian knots , after the French pattern, in gold tracing onthe sleeves. The cuffs were pointed, and there were no orna­ments on the shoulders. However, considering that the Gov­ernment had a war on its hands, it is unlikely that the regu­lation uniform was ever worn to any great extent.

On the other hand , records exist of some really magnifi­cent uniforms in this hurriedly assembled army, such as theone worn by the drum major of the 1st Virginia Regiment.

If, as is probable, the volunteer uni ts on both sides wereallowed to design their own outfits, then it is not surprisingto find the most unaccoun table vagaries of dress. T he periodwas still one in which the soldier went blithely to war, al­though in this bitter conflict- the first of the wars foughtwith modem techn iques-he returned much sobered. True,the bandsmen in all ages and all countries were alwaysdressed in a more spectac ular manner than the rank-and-file,a principle which was acknowledged even in the more

84

Troops of the Confederate Army.(Left) drum major of the ~ stVirginia Regiment. and (nght)gunne r. 1st Tennessee A~tillery .

Federal bandsman

86

somber clothing of theNorthern regular forces.

Originally both Northernand Southern troops werevolunteers, but as the strugglecontinued it became neces­sary to resort to conscription,first in the Confedera cy andthen in the Uni on. Even so,the South was by far theweaker contestant, both nu­merically and otherwise, andcould seldom oppose equalnumbers to the Northerntroops in the field.

The zouave units were pic­turesque in the extreme, es­pecially in view of the nightsof sartorial fancy wh ich theircostume invited. Manycopied the French model al­most literally, such as theEllsworth Zouaves and the5th New York, who bothwore blue jackets and scarletbreeches. Hawkin 's NewYork Zouaves were in darkblue with pu rple facings,while the Wallace Zouavesof Illinois favored light blue.Berdan's Sharpshooters weredressed entirely in grassgreen, and the MassachusettsIron Brigade was in light bluewit h black felt hats.

The most remarkableregiment was surely the 79thCameron Highlanders , abody of Scott ish volunteerswho had borrowed not only

the British regim ent's title.but its number as well. Un­derstandably, they could notcall themselves The Queen'sOw n', but they wore High­land dress, with a Cameron ofErracht kilt - and they con­formed to the French trend ofthe times with a pair ofFringed epaulettes. The regi­ment had been formed in1859 in New York under thecommand of Colonel [arnesCameron, a brother of Abra­ham Lincoln's Secretary ofWar, and in May 1861, at astrength of 895 men , itmarched down Broadway onits way to the war. Twomonths later it distinguisheditselfat the first Battle of BullRun, at which Colonel Cam­eron was killed. This was thefirst major battle of the war,and like the second Battle ofBull Run , in August 1862,waswon by the Confederates.

This was in the earlystages, bu t as the war draggedon and each side became in­creasingly bitter, as only civilwar antagonists can, a deepdetermination gradually tookthe placeof the initialenthu si­asm. T he two armies showedequal resolu tion in battle ,although their discipline wassomewhat elastic by Euro­pean standards. Yet, this didnot prevent individual acts of

Federal infantry sergeant

87

Uniforms of the Con­federate Armv. (Left)the Virginia cavalry.(Opposite page) aprivate of the LouisianaTigers. a zcueve regi ­ment. and a sergeant.the M ississippi Rifles.

gallantry on both sides- indeed, it may have favored them.Irish brigades were present in both Northern and South­

ern armies, wi th the tragic result that in some battles, suchas Fredericksburg, for example, they shot each other downregardless of kinship.

In the Southern sta tes, the popularity of the zouaves canmore readily be explained from the large num ber of French­speaking inhabit ant s of these former French colonies. In fact,the dress of the Louisiana Zouaves , as opposed to LouisianaTigers, was, except for small details, an exact replica of theFrench uniform.

As in most other armies, the metal buttons of the tunicswere used as an additional mean s of identification. In theConfederacy, a general's buttons carried the badge of aneagle surrounded by a circle of stars. T he cavalry had aletter 'C', the artillery a letter 'N , and the infantry's showedthe number of the unit.

In the Union, the ann-of-service designation was shownon the cap or the hat, the cavalry wearing crossed swords,

BB

me artillery crossed guns with a numeral above , and theinfantry a bugle-horn of conventio nal design, with the unit 'snumber displayed within the circle of the horn . Rifle regi­ments had a bugle of modem pattern , placed vertically withthe bell downward , and the numeral inside the loop of theinstrument. General officers wore the initials 'U .S: inGothic capita ls within an open wreath of laurels.

T he war ended with the victory of the Army of the Poto­mac and the surrender of General Robert E. Lee, com­mander-in-chief of the Confederate armies, at AppomattoxCourt House, on April 9, 1865. T he President of the Un itedStates proclaimed a general amnesty on May 29, 1865; butthere was no rejoicing, and no hard conditions. Slaverywas now abolished throughout the Un ited States of Amer­ica, and a period of great social and economic changesbegan. The Confedera tes surrendered thei r equipmentand pledged never again to take up arms against the Fed­eral Union .

B9

The Franco-German War(1870-711After Prussia 's decisive vie­tory over Austria atSadowa in1866, it became ab unda ntlyclear tha t Bismarck's am bi­tions wou ld not stay at that .Napoleon Ill , successful inother wars, was a potentialmenace: an armed conflict,therefore,became inevitable.

France, on her side. hadlittle cause for anxiety.The Chassepot breech-load­ing rifle, which was now be­ing issued . was far superiorto the German needle-gun,and the new mi trailleuse wasa recently invented and dead­ly machine-gun. Unfortu­nately , time was short andthere was delay in equippingall un its of the army with thenew weapons. T herefore, inorder to gain time, the Em­peror sent General L.ebrunto Vienn a wi th a view to en­listing Austrian support; andItaly was also approached .

The plan was for the Frencharmies to concentrate inNorthern Bavaria, to be joinedthere by the Austrians andItalians, and then for all topress on to Berlin. However,the prospect of revenge didnot appeal to the Au strians,and Italy remained lukewarm .Nor was Bavaria. so often afaith ful ally of Franch, dis-

90

FIench military uniforms of the18 70 's. (Above) an officer ofthe Garde Mobi le. a reservebody consisting mainly ofinfantry . (Opposite) a navalrating and an Alger ian'tir ailleur".

posed to court further troubl e with Prussia, after havingresolutely opposed her in the Danish question and activelysided with Austria in 1866. Napo leon decided to act alone .

T he French Army had plenty of experience of warfare andcould face the coming even ts with confidence. In composi­tion and dress it remained practially unchanged as, in thatfateful Augus t of 1870, it went out to meet the German divi­sions that had crossed the frontier in Lorraine and Alsace.

The infantry of the line was wearing the field serviceorder which it retained un til 1914: the red kep i. blue great­COat turned back at the sides and the traditi onal red trou sers.

91

particularly well, to say nothing of those picturesque Arabhorsemen , the Spa his. The Tirailleurs distinguished them­selves in a memorable action at Wissembourg, in Alsace ,where a memorial still stands as a tribute to their gallantry.

The French Navy, naturally enough, wore conventionalnaval dress, and could be recognized by the characteristicred ball-tuft on the top of the cap and the white chinstrapwhich was usually worn over the top.

The cuirassiers of the Guard differed from the line chieflyin the matter of epau lettes, which were white in the Guardand red for the others. In full dress they also wore whiteaiguillettes at the right shoulder.

In the early part of the war, many regiments of chasseurs acheval were still wearing the green, black-braided jacket ofhussar pattern. The busby carried a red-over-green plume

Trooper . French 4th Chas­seurs aCheval.

Corporal. French cuirassiers of the Guard .

In 1870, however, red epaulettes were also worn.The light infantry -the chasseurs a pied -disdained the

greatcoat and fought in their dark blue tunics and blue-graytrousers, with green epaulettes on their shoulders.

As the war went on, with several reverses for the French,the reserves were called out to fill the gaps. In this category,the Garde Mobile proved a valuable asset in the Frenchdefense: a body consisting mainly of infant ry, clothed in thestyle of the times, but in light blue trousers with a broadscarlet band. The kepi was in reversed colors and therewere no epau lettes. T he artillery uni ts wore practicallythe same uniform as the regular gunners.

Colonial troops and even the Navy were called in, as everyeffort was made to increase the numerical -strength, and theZouaves, Cha sseurs d'Afrique and T irailleurs Algeriens did

92

";",

in front, and the red overallshad a double band of darkgreen. However, a new uni ­fonn had been designed earlyin 1870, and some regimentsturned out in a blue tunic,laced hussar-fashion wi th fiveblack ' ribs', while the overall­stripes now became blue.T he piumes were laid asidefor active service.

T he dragoons and lancers,too, changed their style ofd ress: the dragoon s fromgreen to blue, and the lancersdiscarded the coat with itscolored plastron in favor of aplain blue tunic.

Thiscon flict is often calledthe Franco-Prussia n War, butalthough Pru ssia was witho uta doubt the prime mover, theotherCennanstates were alsofully involved. Bavaria andSaxony , Baden and Wilrttem­berg, all threw in their lotwith the powerful Pru ssia.

In many respec ts, the Ger­man uniforms were similarfrom country to country, es­pecially in the in fantry, al­though the pickelhau be wasnot introduced in Bavariaun til afte r th e campaign .Where the helmet was inwear, each state had a differ­ent helmet-plate to distin­guish it from the others; thus,

Trumpeter. Prussian 11th Uhlans

94

•

A private of the Bavarian infantry and an officer of the Saxoninfantry.

Prussia used th e eagle; Wiirttemberg, the royal coat-of anns;Baden , the griffin; and Saxony, the sta r. T he general pattern ,however, closely followed th e Prussian model: dark bluetunics and almost black trousers, except in Bavaria wherethe blue was lighter. In march ing order the ends of thetrou sers were tu cked into the boots.

German bandsmen , trumpeters and drummers were dis­tinguis hed from their comrades by a pair of 'swallows -nestson the shoulders. These were usually in the facin g coIor andcovered with bars of gold or silver lace placed vertically inthe infantry and diagonally in the cava lry.

T he Bavarian infantry retained its own pattern of helmet ,with the black fur crest in place of the spike. The shape ofthe helmet was mu ch like the Prussian , but in thi s case thebadge on the front took th e form of a crowned cypher 'L ' inbrass or white metal. T he ammunition-pouches were stillworn suspended from the waistbelt , and the system of wearing

95

Prussian Cuirassier trooper

the greatcoat rolled bandolier-fashi on was much in favor.It seems a little ironical that, a bare sixty years earlier,

troops from Baden had been fighting for Napoleon in thePenin sular. However, France was no longer the power that itoncewas,and the Grand Duke foresaw a much better futureonthe Prussian side. This attitude was reflected quite definitelyin the Prussian-style uniform worn by his troops, although hewas carefu l to retain his own emblem in the helmet-plate.

The Prussian cuirassiers did not shrink from going to warin their white uniform, which must have suffered considerablyin action; and their helmet was an interesting survival of the'lobs ter' of the English Civil War period, with its long scaledneck-protector. The French helmet had the same in a smallerversion but relied mainly on the horsehair streamer for pro­tection from swo rd cuts.

96

In Bavana. the crested helmet appeared again in th e green­clad chevaulegers, and in Wurttcmberg. somewhat surpris­ingly, the headdress was a form of kepi , which was wornbot h in the infantry and cavalry until 1870 , when th e cavalrywen t ove r to the spiked helmet.

The end of the war is well known: Bazain e's surrender atMetz, followed by the Em peror's defeat at Sed an in 1871;and fina lly the heroic but hopeless resistan ce of th e newrepublican army and the long-drawn-out siege of Paris.

Germa ny exacted harsh term s, including th e cess ion of thewhole of Alsace and mu ch of Lorraine to Pru ssia. France hadno option but to comply and peace was signed in the Hall ofMirrors at Versailles . As a crowning humili ation, the Kingof Prussia was acclaimed Emperor of Gennany on the sameoccasion.

Bismarck had won again. He could not himself pro poseWilli am of Pru ssia for the Imperial throne, but the mentallyunba lanced King of Bavaria did it for him.

A private of the Badennfantry .

The Spanish-American War (1898)By the end of th e nin eteen th cent ury , Cuba was one of th elast rem ainin g Spanish possessions in Am erica, and a causeof friction between Spain and the United Sta tes . In January1898, the United States had called her warsh ips home, andon February 15 the battleship Maine was dest royed by anexp losion while lyin g in Havan a harbor , with a loss of 266lives. T he cause was never clearly established , although theevide nce seemed to point to a mine. On February 20 theUnited States dem anded th e withdrawal of Spain fromCu ba and two days later blockaded the Cuban ports . Spaindecla red war on February 24.

It was mostly a sea wa r. United States troops landed un­opposed on the Cu ban beaches, but Spanis h resistance stif­fened as they progressed inland . At El Caney, in particular,

United States troops. A Rough Aider in field uniform. and (right) alight artillery off icer.

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United States arti llery private in the garrison held ou t for ashirt sleeve order. considerable time despit e the

great American supremacy innumbers.

Among the United States 'troops were th e 1st Volun­teer Cavalry-the famousRough Rid ers - commandedby Co lone l Leonard Wood­ward , with Lieutenant Co l­onel Theodore Roosevelt assecond-in-command. Roose­veil's at tack on 700 Spa niardsoppos ite San Juan Hill waslater to become famo us .

T he Americans were be ingissued a khaki un iform forfield service, wi th th e flat­b rimmed felt hat , but few ofthe troops sent to Cuba hadacq uired it before th ey sailed .Consequently, most of th emwere in the blue field uni ­form ado pted in 1880. T heRough Riders, however, areusually sho wn in a blu e shirtand khaki breeches withbrown leather gaiters.

In the cavalry and infantry,full dress at thi s period boresome resemblance to the Brit­ish , principally in the bluespiked helmet , wh ich carrieda fallin g plume in th e arm-of­service color on ceremonialoccasions. The helmet-platewas in the form of a brassAmerican eag le,

T he Med ical Departmentwa s ident ified by a gilt crosson the co llar, but on service a

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Red Cross armband was also worn for easier recogrnuon.Stretcher-bea rers, not being qualified medical troops, d id notwea r the Red Cross armband , bu t a plain red band instead .

The war was not confined to Cuba. The Philippines werealso in Spanish hands, and an American squadro n eventuallyappeared outside Manila, whi ch was beseiged for some timeby Major Ge neral Wesley Merritt , wit h about 20,000 men ,until the Spanish Captain-Ge neral, surrounded by insur­gen ts, was ob liged to surrender on May 13, 1898.

T he Spanish tropical kit consis ted of a white duck uni­form wit h blue stripes, and a straw hat like the version wo rnby British sailors at the time. Infan try uniform for field ser­vice at home, however, was very similar to the French, withred trousers and a blue-gray turned-b ack greatcoat. Instead ofepaulettes the Spaniards had red shou lde r-pads in the formof 'wings'; and on the feet they wo re their distinctive na­tional footwea r, lacing up the leg.

Gunner , Spanish artillery

Spanish troops. Infantry private and off icer, Princesa Hussars.

T he cavalry consisted of mou nted cazado res, or light cav­alry, lancers, and hussars. The cazado res wore a light bluehussar tunic with black braidin g and white-metal buttons,embodying a red collar and pointed cuffs of the same calor.Breeches were red with light blue bands, and the kepi waslight blue with a red band at the top . The lancers wore thesame uniform , except that they had a stee l helmet with spikeand other fittings in brass.

T he Princesa's Hussars were dressed in light blu e, with awhi te pelisse and kepi. T he Pavia Hussars were similarlyattired, except that in this regiment the tunic was red and thepelisse light blue. T he kepi was of a darker shade of blue. Inbot h regiments the braidin g was yellow .

T he Americans invaded Puerto Rico on July 21, 1898. Itwas occup ied almost without resistance, and the populationturned out to be very favorably disposed toward their newoccupiers. When peace was signed on Augus t 12, 1898,over three hundred years of Spanish rule in America cameto an end .

10 1

Sergeant. 6t h Inniskilling Dra­goons. 1900.

The South African War (1899-1902 )In the Orange Free State and Transvaal, the large number ofBritish and other Uitlanders ( immigrants) had tried , unsuc­cessfully, to obta in the franchise. By 1895 they formed a major­ity of the population, owned half the land and nine-tenths ofthe property - but had no say in the affairs of Sout h Africa.

Obviously , this situation could not continue. A number ofsugges tions were made, wi thout result. A ten-point memoran­dum was prepared, setting out the Uit landcrs' grievances, butstill Boer Presiden t Pau l Kruger remained adamant. Finally, indesperation , Englishman Dr. [ameson set out on his abortiveraidon December 29, 1895. The idea was to stir up rebellion inPretoria, but when the 500 partisans arrived, the town was fullofBoers. Dr.[ameson had been warned, buthe refused to listenand was arrested on January 2, 1896.

T he German Emperor then took the unheard-ofstep of send ­ing a telegram to President Kruger cong ratulating him onrepelling the raide rs 'without appea ling for the help of a

10 2

friendly power'. T he BritishGove rnment reminded hisImperial Majesty in replythat the Londo n Con­vention reserved the super­vising of the Transvaal's for­eign affairs to Great Britainalone .

Naturally, however,all thisdid not make thesitua tion anybetter, and things finallycame to a head when warwasdecla red on October 11, 1899in response to an ultim atumfrom the Transvaa l.

British troops bega n to ar­rive in Cape T own soo n after­ward, dressed entirely inkhaki and wearing the Wolse­ley type of pith helmet. Inthis un iform there was littl eto dis tinguish one regimentfrom another, but on dressoccas ions, at home, there wasst ill plenty of color.

The cavalry, except for theRoyal Horse Guards, hussarsand lancers, were in scarlettunics, with helmets for theLife Guards , Dragoon Gu ardsand Dragoon s, and bearskincaps for the Royal ScotsGreys, as before. T he othersremained in blue.

T he infantry of the line,also in scarlet, was now wear­ing thedar kblue helmet , witha brass sp ike and star-shaped

British infantry. 1900. Private.the Highland Light Infantry (top)and sergeant. the Rifle Brigade.

plate bearing the regimental badge in the centcr. Fusilierswore the racoon-skin cap, and the light infantry wore a darkgreen helmet , while the rifle regiments were in their tradi­tional dark green, almost black, uniform with the small blackfur cap. The Highland regiments were kilted in the appropri­ate tartan, except the Highland Light Infantry, who woreligh t infantry uniform with a diced border round the shakoand trews of Mackenzie tartan.

The Royal Field Artillery, after experimenting with aspiked helmet, replaced the spike by a ball in August 1881.The helmet-plate was the regimental badge in the form of theRoyal coat-of-arms above a field gun in profile, and the uni­form remained dark blue wi th a scarlet collar. The RoyalHorse Artillery retained the busby and yellow-b raided jacket.

T he Boer commandos, on the other hand , did not weara uniform as such, the only co ncession to military appearancebeing a varying quantity of cartridge-belts.

However, uniforms were certainly designed for the arti l­lery of the T ransvaal and Orange Free Sta te, and a photo­graph exists of an officer of the T ransvaal artillery in a darkblu e outfit and a kepi very mu ch like the patte rn worn in theNe therlands at the time. T he rank was shown by means ofstars on the co llar, a major having three .

There was also what is described as a mouse-coloredcorduroy service dress whi ch w as worn w ith a slouch hat:but full dress consisted of a dark blue tunic, braided hussar­fashion , dark blue breeches and a whi te helmet of Britishdesign with a white falling plume.

The Orange Free State artillery were dressed in mouse­colored corduroy, like the T ransvaalers, with either a slouchhat or an undress cap bearin g the arms of the Republic as abadge. About 1880 there was a blu e full-dress uni form with ahelmet bearing a white-and-orange falling plume.

The War ended with the signing of the T reaty of Vereen­iging on May 31, 1902. T he Boers accep ted British sover­eignty, and Great Britain allowed a grant of £ 3,000,000 incompensation for the destruction of farms during the twoand a half years of fighting.

British infantry man and Transvaal artillery off icer.

104

N

vices to pre vent the various beltsand slings from slipping off theshoulder .

The illustrations on thesepages show: (s ) French cuff .ear ly eigh teenth century; (b)Brit ish cuff mid-eighteenth cen­tury ; (c) Brit ish cuff. 18 12 ; Id )French cuff, First Empire; te)epaulettes (left to right) : eigh ­teent h century (general pattern).French First Emp ire and Frenchtwentieth century ; (f) shoulder­straps . various patterns co mmonto all countries; (g) British cav­alry epaulette, mid -nineteenthcentury ; (h) Briti sh volunteer 'swing. late eighteenth century;(i) German sho ulder-strap anddrum mer's 'swallow 's nest' .twentieth century; (j) pointedcuff ; (k) gaunlet cuff; (I) Aust r ianknot ; (m) crew's- toot cu ff , (n)loop s (top to bo ttom) : square.pointed, bastion; (0) Britishlight infa ntry officer 's wing.early nine teenth century; (p)Dutch-Belqia n wing. 18 15 .

The early cuffs were designed tobe lowered in bad weather toprotect the hand s; and th e but ­ton s (which later becam e mereor naments ) served originally tokeep them in posit ion whenturned up. Thi s con ti nual button­ing and unbuttoning caused con­siderable wear o n the button­holes. which soon had to bestrengthened by ' loops' of braid.These gradually appeared oncuffs and coats alike and in tim eserved no more tha n a decorativepurpose.

The origin of epaulettes isobscure. They start ed as verysmall or naments in the eighteenthcentury and assumed ever-in­creasmg proportions unti l by thetwentieth cent ury a very largesize wa s reached . while the plainshoulder-st raps were simp ly de-

Cuffs, Epaulettes,Shoulder Straps,Loops and Wings

./B

106

Gunner, Royal Marine Artillery

The Boxer Rebellion (19001T he concentrated attacks of Chinese mobs on the Europeanlegations in Peking was perhaps one of the earliest oppor­tunities for the forces of different nations to act togetheragainst a common enemy, and although there was no su­preme command, the ultimate result was successful- theprotection of accredited diplomats in a country which couldnot . or wou ld not. protect them itself.

The 'Boxers' were a Chinese secret society whose ritual isbelieved to have embraced certain pugilistic attitudes orexercises, and whose doctrine was based upon a hatred offoreign exploiters. In the early' summer of 1900 they begantheir attack on European establishments in Shantung andthe neighboring district . killing a number of traders. wh ile

108

Sepoy, 3rd Sikhs and (right) sapper, Bombay Sappers and M iners.

the Manchu court in Peking did nothing to stop the riots.Indeed, even when the German minister-plenipotentiary W 2S

murdered, it turned a blind eye. Chinese government troopsactually joined with the Boxers in allacking the Pekinglegations in June.

Shortly German. British and French forces were fightingthei r way up from the coast. With furth er molestationthreatening the legations, more countries sent contingents tothe rescue: Russia. Austria and Italy , to be joined immedi­ately by the Americans and Japanese. The revolt was finallyput down in August.

T he British contingen t included a nu mber of Indiantroops sent over from the nearest possible bases. Their uni­form. as in the time of the Mutiny. was still largely European

109

French officers of all arms displayed their rank in an elaborateAustrian knot on both sleeves, carried out in gold or silverthread and reaching well above the elbow.

T he Marine Infant ry, or Infanterie Coloniale, performedthe same duties as the British Marines and, like them , weredressed in the regulation infantry uniform. In this case, how­ever, while the line regiments wore kepis , trousers andepau lettes of red, the Marines' caps were dark blue, theirepaulettes yellow and their trousers medium-blue.

T he Foreign Legion, too, had been brought up to date,with a uniform identical to that of the infant ry of the line, ex­cept that the Legion wore a small red grenade on the front ofthe kepi. Later, the Legion's epaulettes were given a greentop as a special distinction.

T he Iongstanding joke about the 'Horse Marines' , becamea reality in the German contingent of mounted artillerymen

(Opposite) private. Frenchmarine infantry and officerFrench marine artillery. (Right)non-commissioned officer.German marine artillery .

in concept, but the headdresses were distinctly native incharacter; and the Sikhs added a picturesque touch withtheir impressive beards.

The Sappers and Miners, true to sapper tradition, worethe red tunic of the Royal Engineers, with blue fadngs-infact, the Royal Artillery colors in reverse. These colors ofred, dark blue and yellow were repeated in the pagri; and thebreeches, of dark blue with a scarlet band , were the same asthe Gunners'.

The gunneruniform, indeed , was repeated to a great extentin the dress of the Royal Marine Artillery. The Marines, to­day a single entity, were then divided into Royal MarineLight Infant ry in red tunics, and Royal Marine Artillery inblue.

France, also, had a fine body of marine artillery, heredressed very much like their shore brethren . At this period,and until 1914, the characteristic mark of the French gunnerwas the wide double band of scarlet down the seams of histrousers. The collar and cuffs were red, but in the marineartillery the collar carried an anchor badge. In full dress,

110

of precisely that corps. The Gennan Marines wore the blackshako of the jagers, and white facings on the tuni c.

Colonial troops of the Germ an Empire were clothed inkhaki, and wore either the standard pith helmet or a felt hatturned up on the right side .

T he German East-Asian Brigade consisted of three infan­try regiments, one SQuadron of light cavalry ( jager zu Pferd ) ,one field artillery detachment, one company each of pioneersand transport , medical services and three battalions ofmarines. In the infantry, the regimen tal number was shownon the shoulder-straps.

T he United States Marine Corps at this date wore almostthe same un iform as today, allowing for the differences oftaste and design. The tun ic, in those days, was double­breasted, but the light blue trousers, with their scarlet band ,have remained as they we re.

On the other hand , the infantry has changed considerably.

Privates of the German East Asia Brigade. 3rd Regiment, andthe French Foreign Legion.

Infantry and marine off icers of the United States Army.

Here we have the felt hat , almost as that worn in the Cuba nWar, and a smart khaki outfit much like the British uniformof the same period .

T he Italian Army, at the turn of the cent ury, typified theawakening consciousness of a newly united nation barelythirty years old. Italy was taking its place among theimportant states of Europe, and service in the Army I thoughcompulsory, was considered in the light of a patriotic duty,much as it was in France and Germany .

The infant ry of the line, as in most other Europea n armies,was clothed in blue, with a cap of specifically Italiandesign - neither kepi nor shako. T he walking-out dress wassmart and sober-and included a pair of white gloves.

On the Japanese side, things had moved rapidly since thecountry had finally abandoned its policy of hostility toforeigners and foreign influence. Regrettably , in many ways,

113

115

battalions each. The uniform Chinese 'Boxer '

was the same regulation darkblue, but the facing colorwas white on the tunics ofthe Guard , with a red bandon their caps. In the line, thewhite facings were worn onboth tuni c and cap, and inthe coast artillery the samearrangement applied, but inyellow.

T he Boxers, of course,wore no recognized uniform,but in the Chinese Army therewere signs of Western influ­ence as early as 1897, whensome small units appear tohave experimented with a uni­form of American design: aflat cap with a straight peakand a tunic braided in black.

About 1903, when theCinese Army took seriouslyto Western reorganizationunder European instructors,the uniform assumed a Rus­sian look, with tall leatherboots and wide shoulder­straps. The basic color wasdark blue , and the headdressvaguely resembled a turban ,also in dark blue. The shoul­der-straps were in differentcolors, maybe denotingunits, and various Chinesecharacters appeared on thebreast of the tunic. By about1910, the turban-type head­dress had been abandoned infavor of a peaked cap.

Italian infantry private and(right) officer, !J apanesearti llery .

the old traditions were being replaced by Western alti tudes.The armed forces were being completely reorganized on theEuropean pat tern, with units of the line and an ImperialGuard in the best occidenta l manner.

As usual, the French Army served as model. T he kepi andred trousers had a particular fascination for the Japanese,although for active service they developed a more practicalcostume of their own.

The infantry consisted of four regiment s of the Guard ,with two battalions each, and twenty-Four line regimentswith three battalions each. T he uniform here was dark bluethroughout , with the f"cing color ( red for the Guard andyellow for the line) displayed on the cap-band and collar.

In the artillery, the estab lishment consisted of one regi­ment of artillery of the Gu ard divided into two batterieseach, six regiments of foot artillery, each with three troops oftwo batteries. and four regiments of coast artillery, of three

11 4

Russian gunner . horse artillery.

The Russo-Japanese War (l!J04-j)5)Russia and j apan were both trying to extend their sph ereof influence: Russia to the east , japan to the west. A clashwas inevitable.

j apan resented the fact that half the island of 5aghalienhad been ceded to Russia, and Russia needed Port Arthuron the Chinese mainland, as an ice-free harbor for theextension of the T rans-Siberian Railway. Negotiationproved fruitless, and diplomatic relations were severed onFebruary 6. 1904.

Russiawas unprepared and apathetic -almost indifferent tothe cause and object of the war. In the East she had 80000guards and patrols along the railroad , and the garrisons ofPort Arthur and Vladivostok. japan had a first-line army of270.000 men ; but Russia, on the other hand . with her enor­mous population, could draw on almost unlimited reserves.

Navaloperations,as may be expected, initiated the fi~h t i n~ .japanesetorpedo-boats from Adm iral Togo's batt le fleet made

1 16

Russian troops. (Above) private, 1st Reqiment Lithuania. andofficer. 12th Dragoons (undress).

a daring raid on the Russian Squadron in Port Arthur harbor;later the Russian admiral Makarov went out to pursue theJapanese ships. T his was perhaps the earliest occasion onwhich explosive mines were laid in enemy waters; it wascertainly the first instance of naval warfare in the modernsense. The Russians, perhaps more by good luck than goodnavigation, managed to avoid the danger, but on the way back,one of their best ships, the Pet ropavlovsk, struck a mine andsank with the admiral and 200 men on board.

The Russian Army had undergone 3 measure of reorganiza­tion in 1882. when all the cavalry except the Gu ard was con­verted to dragoons. Thus, the colorful hussars and lancersceased to exist until 1910, when they eme rged again in their fullsplendor. The Cossacks, of course, were unaffected.

T he artillery was still wearing the dark green uniform

11 7

with red pipin g and shoulder- Officer. Japanese cavalry of thest raps, and black collars and Guard.cuffs for the officers. In thehorse artillery, the dress wasthe same except that thebreeches were blue, whilein the field art illery theywere dark green, like thetun ic.

In the infan try the stand­ard dark green was in wea r:tunic,tall boot s and small furcaps for dress occas ions. Forundress, a flat round cap,without a peak, was worn .

The Japanese love of colorwas reflected in the dress ofthe cavalry and the militaryband s. T he cavalry of theGuard wore a very dark bluejacket, laced hussar-fashionin scarlet. wit h brass buttonsand scarlet pipi ng. T he full­dress shako was scarlet, witha short red-over-w hite plume,and the scarlet breeches had alight green band stitcheddown the sides.

In the line, the dress wassimilar,except that the scarletwas replaced by white (in thejacket and cap) and on thebreeches a whit e piping re­placed the green stripes . T heshako was black th roughout,with a whi te-over-red plume.

The military bandswere particularly resplen­dent. T here were tw o co m­panies of these , one for the

118

Japanese troops. Gunner. Coast artillery and (right) private.infantry of the Guard .

Gu ard and the other for the line. Both companies were dressedin the regulation dark blu e tunic, but their shakos and trouserswe re scarlet colored.

Rank badges for officers were akin to the French system oflarge Austrian knots of gold or silver thread on the sleeves,but in a som ewhat simplified version. For the non-corn­missioned office rs, a system of straight bars of lace was inforce, worn at right angles to the edge of the sleeve. T hesebands were in arm-o f-service color, and set just above the cuff.

The wardragged on, wit h varying successes on ei ther side.Peace was eventually signed on September 5, 1905, throughthe mediation of the President of the United States and theinfluence of the Uni ted States , Britain and Ge rmany. By thiswar, Japan gained a position as a world power.

119

The ltaI<>-Turkish War (1911-121With Italian influence gradua lly expandi ng as a result of th eco lonization of Eritrea and the founding of various co m­mercial ventures in the Turkish possession of 'Tripolitania,sooner or later the newcomers were bound to come into con­flict wi th the Porte. When the Young T urks assu med powerin Cons tantinople. the situation worsened: Italian enterprisewas hampered , especially in Tripolitania, un til by December1910, it was clear th at some kind of assurances were needed .

In July 1911 Rome informed Co nsta nt inople that if mattersdid not improve , military preparation s would begin onSeptember 20. In reply, the Turks sent arms to T ripo li.Italy declared war on September 29.

T he Italian Bersaglieri were soon involved. On October 23,two companies were attacked in an oasis near T ripoli wh enTurks and Arabs advanced in force. They were beaten off,

Italian troops. Trooper, Libyan cavalry, ~nd a bersagliere.

120

Trooper . Turkish lancers of theGuard.

but the Bersaglieri were cutto pieces by natives who hadinflitrated th eir lines. Thesetroops we re the ligh t infantryof the Italian Army , and infull d ress wore a very pic tur­esq ue hat , we ll tilted to theright and decorated with animpressive plume of fallingcock-tail feathers.

Native units of co lonialtroops were also begi nningto appear, clothed in uni ­forms based upon a keen re­gard for Oriental dress.

On the Turkish side, anastrakhan fez was the di stinc­tive headdress for the cavalryand artillery. It was wornwith a dark blue tunic andgray breeches with a scarletband , whil e th e facing colorappea red in the pointed cuffsand the collar-patch . The Er­togru l Leib-Regiment worethe same , except that the col­lar was uniformly red , thecuffs were straig ht wi th a redcuff-s lash and th e breecheswere dark blue. In addition,there was a red plastron but­toned over the front of thetunic.

Peace was finally signedbetween the two co untries atOuchy, near Lausanne, onOctober 14, 1912, Turkeyrecognizi ng the Italian an­nexations in Africa , and Italyrestoring the Aegean Islandsto Turkey.

12 1

The Balkan Wars (l912-13}In 1912, the Ottoman Empire extended as far west as theAdriatic a.nd includ~d many territories which were ethnologi­cally foreign to the" T urkish rulers. Turkey, weakened byher recent war with Italy,. was therefore ripe for attack bysundry Balkan nations anx ious to regain their lost provinces.In .the autu mn of that year, a state of tension graduallybuilt up, until on October 17, the kingdoms of Bulgaria~erbia and Greece declared war on Turkey. Montenegr~joined them shortly afterward , actually starting the fighting.~t the turn of the century , the Greek artillery was equ ipped

with 12·pou nder and 9·pou nder Krupp guns, which werepresumably sti ll in use in 19 12. The uniform of this arm in­c1uded the French type of overalls, with false boots ofleather, and a red plume for full dress, also copied from theFrench artillery.

Greek Army uniforms: Evzone and private. infantry of the line.

122

A gunner of theGreek Arm y.

. .~~

T he most picturesque of the Greek troops were theEvzones, or light infantryI wh o have survived in their tra­dit ional costume to the present day as the Royal Gu ard inAthens. Sources disagree as to their exact un iform , and evencontempo rary photograph s seldom show two figures dressedalike. There were eight battalions, and the explanation maybe that every battalion had its own version of the dress.

T he infantry of the line consisted of ten regiments in theearly years of the century. They were dressed in a sober darkblue tunic, with red Iacings, and light gray trousers. At thisperiod they carried the Gras rifle, with thirty-eight round s inthe pouches and forty-eight in the haversack. The cavalrywas small in numbers, namely eight regiment s only I dressedin olive green with crimson Iacings.

The Turks were in an unenvi able position, having to fighton three fronts simultaneously : on the Bulgarian frontier inT hrace, on the Greek frontier in Macedonia and on theSerbo-Bulgarian border.

T he Serbs, reinforced by one Bulgarian division, attacked123

Serbian cavalry trooper .

the lines of the Hiver Vardar and enveloped Scutari andMonastir, while the Greeks concentrated on Salonika,against which a Bulgarian divison was also advancing.

Th e Serbian un iform was more 'national' in characterthan the Greeks' (a part from the Evzones), for although thetunic was of the plain universal pattern, the cap and foot­wear were distinctly indigenou s. This, of course, appliedchiefly to the service dress of 1912, for in the years imm edi­ate ly precedin g the war, 'we find that full d ress, here too,succumbed to the French influence - or maybe was evenimit ated at third hand from the Russians of the 1890's, whohad adopted the kepi for many of their units.

In 1901, however, this was exchanged for a fur cap ofRussian appearance, and the dark blue tunic was decoratedwi th red facings. Trousers were black for full dress, butblue-gray for field service wear.

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Serbian artillery gunner and infantry private .

The Serbi an cavalry was probably dressed in khaki foractive service, bu t devoid of the dark blu e collars andshoulder-straps ( the latter bearing the regimental number)wh ich characterized the former ligh t blue tunics.

The Bulgarian divisions were well up to strength: theywere, in fact, large fonnations of some 20,000 men each,which meant that the Bulgarian Army could put about180,000 men in the field. In addition, there were two divi­sions of similar strength in reserve.

In the original plan, six of the active divisions were to beallocated to the Eastern front , with their ob jectives as LuleBurgas and ultimately Constantinople. The remaining threewere to coope rate with the Serbs against Macedonia; but atthe last minu te the Bulgarian High Command decid ed to alterthis arrangement by keeping eight divisions for the Easternfrontand employing no more than one on the Western .

125

This ~ay have been a sound decision strategically, be­cause while the Turks could be reinforced in Macedoni a. todo so In Thrace was quite a different proposition. However,the Serbs took a different view. T hey felt themselves tosome extent abandoned by their ally and began to harbor ameasure of resentment which was to break out , in the fol­lowin g year, into open conflict.

The Bulgarian Army was dressed in a distinctly Russianstyle .as a.result . no doubt. of the influence exercised by theRussian Instructors who officered the Bulgarian legion ofvolunteers formed in 1877 at Bucharest and Ploesti . Thesma~J fur.cap and tall boots, in particular, were a close copy,but In this case the cap badge was a brass Bulgarian Cross.

At the turn o.f the century. there were four cavalry regi­ments In Bulgaria, In dark blue uniforms with scarlet collars.cuffs and shoulder-straps. The regiments were distinguishedby the color of the piping on the tun ic and breeches: thu s the

Trooper. Bulgarian 3rd Cavalry Regiment.

Ist regiment wore white; the Znd, red; the 3rd. yellow; andthe qth . light blue.

T he infantry uniform was dark green. with the regimentalfacing color shown on shoulder-straps. cuff-slashes andpiping (e.g. white for 'Ferdinand ' Regiment . light blue for'Clementine' . red for 'Alexander').

In the artillery, the dark green tunic was worn, but with ablack collar and pointed cuffs in the same calor. T hebreeches were dark blue and the piping was red.

For summer wear in the field an entirely white uniformwas designed. again unquestionably based on the Russianmodel. but now worn with a whi te peaked cap.

Officers' ranks were denoted by the number of stars on theepau lettes or shoulder-straps; and in full dress a silver sashwith green and red strands was worn. Commanding officersof regiments and those of higher rank wore the same sashwith the addition of large tassels hanging on the side.

Bulgarian artillery officer: private. Bulgarian Clementine InfantryRegiment.

127

Turkish light infantry sergeant. Montenegro was one ofEurope's smallest states, orig­inally a principality in its ownright with a small army ofmilitiamen. When it becamea kingdom in 1910 , however ,a more modern army was or­ganized and clothed in gray,except for the Royal Escortwh ich wore a picturesqueuni form based on th e na­tional dress of the country.

T he arms of service weredenoted by the calor of thepiping on the shoulde r-strapsas follows: infantry, sca rlet;machine-gun corps , lightblue; artillery, ye llow; eng­ineers, red . General officerswere dist ingu ished by darkred facings, and if surprisemay be felt that such ranksexisted in so small an army, itmust be remem bered th at allMon tenegrins from the ageof fourteen were liable formilitary service for the re­mainder of their lives . It isrecorded , therefore, that in1910 , the country could haveas many as 38,000 men und erarms, out of a population ofno more than 300 ,000.

The T ur kish Army wasstill clo thed in the uniformthat was in wear d ur ing theItalian conflict, at all eve ntsas far as full dress was con­cerned.

In the infantry, this con­sisted of a dark blue tu nic and

tro users, with a scarlet fez for headdress. The line regim entswore scarlet collar-patches, sho ulder-straps , cuff-slashes andpiping, but in th e ligh t infantry the facin g calor for the tunicwas dark green.

Badges of rank for non-commissioned officers took th e formof large chevrons in th e facing ca lor, worn on the left sl~eve,and based approx ima tely on the same pattern as the Brit ish.

After the peace was signed in Londo n on May 30, 1?13, mostof Turkey in Europe was partitioned among Bulgaria, Serbiaand Greece. th e larger portion going to Bulgaria. But some partsremained in dispute , resulting in a new outbreak between theformer allies, Bulgaria striking first without warning. Pea~ewas signed this time in Bucharest on August 10. 1913. Bulgarialosing most of her earlier gains .

Montenegrin troops. Roval Escort and infantry of the line privates.

World War I (1914-181Less than a year after the Balkan Wars came to an end fur­ther trouble in that distu rbed penin sula resulted in the mostaU-emb racing and far-reaching conflict so far experienced .

Several provinces of the Austro-Hungarian Empire wereinhabited by a Serbian-speaking populat ion harboring asmall numbe rof malcontents, some of whom were organizedin secret societies. On June 28, 1914 , the Archduke Franz­Ferdinand, heir to the Im perial T hrone, on a State visit toSa rajevo in Bosn ia, was assassinated by members of one ofthese societies.

Aust ria reacted quickly, demand ing satisfaction fromSerbia, who promptly sought the aid of Russia. This wasthe opportunity that Germany had been waiting for. AsAustria 's ally she was bound to oppose any move by Ru ssia,w ho in turn was allied to France .

Diplomatic breakdowns, threats and cou nte r-threats criss­crossed over Europe in Quick succession until at last thewhole situation exploded on August 3, 1914. France andGe rmany had declared war, and Germany, in order to out­flank her age-old enemy, thought nothing of attac king a

British Army uniforms of theVYorld War I period. The staffsergeant (left) is of the RoyalScots Greys. the only mountedregiment in the British Army towear the bearskin cap.

130

neutral and almost defenseless Belgium. Great Britain, as aguarantor of Belgian neutrality , immediately se~t an ulti­matum to Gennany-which, of course, was rejected; onAugust 4, Britain found herself at war with the GermanEmpire.

The German Government had gambled on British neu­trality; but the shock was not severe, since the 'contemptiblelit tle army' could be destroyed with case. It was even cross­ing the Channel openly to invite such destruction at littl ecost to the Germans.

The British Army went out in the now familiar khaki fieldservice dress, wearing the 1908 web equipmen t and armedwith the short magazine Lee-Enfield rifle whi ch proved sodeadly to the Germans.

The regular army was supplemented by a large number of

131

who made history at Gallipoli ; the Canadians of VimyRidge; the South Africans in their own country, .under Gen­eral Srnuts, a former enemy; the magnificent Indian Army In

several theaters of war-all came unhesitat ingly to swell theranks of Britain and her allies. Apart from its own regulartroops, almost every Dominion had a num~r of Scotti shunits most of them allied to a parent regiment In Scotland.

Some of the finest fighting men came from the native regi­ments: the Nigeria Regiment and the King's Africa~ Rifles;the Sikhs and Punjabis of the Indian Army: the WIry littleGurkhas of Nepal, to name but a few.

The Australian Light Horse were volunteers who pro­vided their own mounts. There were twenty-three regimentsof this branch, all dressed in the same uniform , without anyapparent regimen tal distinctions. . .

When the French Army mobilized for war, u went out In

Officer. the New Brunswick Scottish. 19 14. and (right) the King'sAfrican Rifles. 191 8 .

Trooper. the Australian LightHorse. 1914.

volunteer units organized as infantry battalions of the Ter­ritorial Force and Yeomanry regiments of cavalry. MostTerritorial units were attached to county regiments as addi­tional battalions, but in London they were either line orrifle regiments in their own right. Many of these , such as theHonourable Artillery Company were of ancient lineage, andthe 11th London (T he Finsbury Rifles) even claimed de­scent from the Finsbury Archers of the Middle Ages, al­though a direct line has never been fully established.

The Royal Scots Greys ( 2nd Dragoons) is the onlymounted regiment in the British Army to wear the bearskincap, and the only Scottish regiment of regular cavalry. Theirbadge of the Napo leonic Eagle commemorates the remark­able feat of Sergeant Ewart at Waterloo when he capturedthe Eagle of the French 45th Regiment of the line.

It was not long before all the overseas countries of theEmpire were sending men and equipm ent in loyal support ofthe Mother Coun try: the Australians and New Zealanders

132133

the campaign dress then in wear: the blue greatcoat in the in­fantry and the blue tunic in the cavalry and artillery. It wasthe only army to retain bright colors in the field , and the redtrousers of the French contrasted oddly with the drab khakiof the "Tomrnies', The red kepi, however, was now coveredwith a blue cap-cover for war.

The chasseurs, on the other hand, were not concernedwith vivid colors. Their uniform was dark blue and theirtrousers gray, which they wore with the regulation kepi forthe bataillons de plaine and a dark blue beret for the moun­tain battalions. These were the famous Chasseurs Alpinswho fought in the Vosges and earned for themselves thenickname of the 'Blue Devils'. The beret, today worn withthe bugle-horn to the right, was then worn with the badgeon the left, as in the present-day British army. By tradition .the chasseur was tough : he could outmarch any mere in­fantrym an of the line, and the monumental pack wh ich hecarried was rivalled only by the Zouaves,

French troops. 1914. Alpine chasseur and a private. infantry ofthe line

Trooper. French dragoons. 1914

134

The French infantry was armed with the Lebel rifle,which carried a built-in magazine in front of the trigger­guard, thu s imparting an unusually bulky appearance to thatpart of the weapon . When marching at the 's lope', it wascarried high on the right shoulder, trigger to the front . Thebayonet was long and narrow, triangul ar in cross-section andfitted with a hooked crossbar.

The cavalry consisted mainly of cuirassiers, dragoons,hussars and chasseurs. At the outset, all arms wore the mod­ified full dress that served as service dress , with thecuirasses and helmets covered in khaki cloth to avoid reflec­tions; but here too the regulation red breeches were retained .

In full dress the dragoon helmet differed from that of thecuirassiers in that it did not carry the small black tuft at thetip of the comb. The large trefoils worn in lieu of epauletteswere common to all cavalry branches except the cuirassiers,who had red epaulettes. The collar, in the dragoons, waswhite for all regiment s, who were distinguished solely by the

135

white numeral on a dark blue collar-patch.In some units of light cavalry a new helmet had been

authorized , similar in design to the dragoons', to replace theshako; but few issues had been made by the time the warbroke out. The hussars' shako was sky-blue, with a whiteAustrian knot in front and a plume of cock-tail feathers,while the chasseurs' version was the same, but with a brassbugle-horn badge and a spherical ball-tuft. T he tunic wassky-blue in both branches, with white metal buttons andhussar-type lacing (white for the hussars and black for thechasseurs) . The regimental number was shown on the collar,which in the hussars was of the same color as the tunic.

(Below) French troops. 191 4 : off icer. 19t h Chasseurs a Cheval,and artillery gunner.

136

T he chasseurs' collar andcuff-slashes were red.

T he French artillery hadkept its dark blue uniformwith thecharacteristic doubleband of scarlet down theseams of the trousers: adistinction it had enjoyedsince the late 1820's. Thefield branch was equippedwith that splendid weapon,the 7Smm. quick-firing gun,whose breech-mechanismwas a masterpiece of mech­anical design.

Service dress in the Frencharmy had altered little since1870, but as the war pro­gressed and replacements be­came necessary, the old uni­form was scrapped and anentirely new design evolved.The general cut remained thesame, but the color waschanged to 'horizon-blue' forall arms-a color which wassupposed to merge into thelandscape. Puttees, on theBritish model, were issued,and about 1916a steel helmetappeared , painted blue-gray,and easilythe most handsomeof the necessary but unattrac­riveheaddresses produced bythe various belligerent coun­tries. It carried a small combon the top and was secured bya brown leather chinstrap

Private. French infantry of theline, 19 17 .

137

which fastened over the front peak of the helmet when not inuse. T he badge on the front took the form of a grenade in theartillery and infantry of the line. and a bugle-horn in allbranches of chasseurs,

The potential strength of the Russian army was enormous.It was confidently expected to 'steam-roller' the Germans onthe Eastern Front by sheer weight of numbers. and indeedwhen it gained. several initial successes in East Prussia every­body thought that Berlin lay within easy reach. But theGermans had planned their retreat well: the Russians werepushed back on the rebound. and with the Austrians helpingin Calicia, the whole front settled down to the same staticwarfare as in the West.

A new uniform had been designed for the Russian Armyin 1913: a brilliant conception whi ch oould enable plain ser­vice dress to be transformed to full dress by the simple pro­cess of buttoning on a oolored plastron and attaching theappropriate oollar and cuffs. T hese articles were yellow for

Privates. Russian infantry of the line. 19 14 .

grenadier units and crimson for the jagers or light infantry . Inthe infantry of theline. various oolorings appeared. such as red.blue.white and green-black. the last three being piped in red.

The cap was made of gray lambskin . with a khaki top . andsome regiments bore the small brass scroll which was wornas a battle-honor. Officers' breeches had red piping stitcheddown the seams. Most of the troops were dressed in the lightkhaki shirt-tun ic. with its high collar, which was typical ofthe Russian Army at this period. It was worn with a peakedcap of the same color, usually well tilted to the right .

The greatooat was carried bandolier-fashion on the leftshoulder. with the ends tucked into a brass mess-tin . Therewas no pack. but instead a large leather-bound haversack wasworn on the left hip . balanced by a smaller variety worn onthe right hip .

Full dress uniforms were particularly resplendent , especi­allyin the Guard, which comprised the Emperor's bodyguards

Russian troops. 1914. Sergeant. 15t Siberian Jagers. and officer.horse artillery of the Garde du Corps.

138

and escorts, regiments of cuirassiers,dragoons, lancers, hussarsand cossacks, as well as infantry, artillery and the ancillaryservices. T he distinctive shako, peculiarto the Russian Ann y,appears to be an interesting modification of the bell-toppedmodel of the early nineteent h century. It was worn in the in­fantry ofthe Guard as well as in the artillery.

T he BelgianArmy,led by that resoluteyoung monarch KingAlbert I,put upstoutresistance against the German onslaught.However, the Belgians were heavily outnumbered and in spiteofBritish support had to fall back to the Yser.

In general, the Belgian uniforms resembled the French,except for the red trousers. T he cavalry branch included tworegiments of guides, four of lancers, and two of mounted chas­seurs, all in hussar-type tun ics with different colored lacingaccording to the regimen ts. Thus, the guides had a green tunic

Belgian Army uniforms of1914. Trooper. 4th Lancers.

140

artilleryofficer

with a crimson collar andpointed cuffs, and brightyellow lacing, while thebreeches were crimson withtwo yellow stripes. The lane­ers were in blue, wi th blue­gray breeches. Regimentaldist inctions were shown bythe color of the collar, cuffsand lance-cap top: lst , crim­son; 2nd, yellow; 3rd, white;4th, ultramarine. Further,the lacing on the tunic waswhite for Regiments 1 and2 and yellow for 3 and 4.

In the chasseurs, the color­ings were a yellow shako,collar and cuffs for the 1stRegiment , and the same inscarlet for the 2nd.

Theartillerywasmuch likethe French in appearance, bu tinstead of a kepi wore a smallblack busby with a scarletbag. The epaulettes were redfor non-eommissioned offi­cers and other ranks, gold orgold-and-silver (accordiqg torank) for officers, and yellowfor trumpeters.

T he infantry was dividedinto line regiments, gren­adiers, chasseurs and carabi­niers. The line regimentswore a double-breasted tun icwith brass buttons andpointed cuffs outlined withred piping. T he collar wasred and the trousers graywithred piping. T he headdress

141

wasa blackshako with yellowfittingsand a red ball-tuft andplume. Later in the war aFrench-type uniform wasadopted for the whole Bel­gian army, but in khaki.

The United States did notenter the war until April 2,1917, when indiscriminatesinkings of American ship­ping by German U-boatsprompted Congress to de­clare war on the CentralPowers. This was much inthe Allies' favor, because theAmericans would now rein­force the Western Front tocounter the vast influx ofman-power released !Tom theEastern Front following thecollapse of Russia a fewmonths earlier.

For service in France, theUnited States Army wore thekhakiservicedressof the peri ­od, but full dress was still inwearat home. The khaki uni­form resembled the Britishin some respec ts, such as theident ical steel helmet. Forordinary wear, however, thefelthat served forall ranks, nolonger dented lengthwise inthe manner of a civilian' trilby' but with four dentson the model of the RoyalCanadian Mounted Policeand fitted with a light blu~cord in the infantry.

Arm -of - service badges

142

Artillerytrumpeter,1914.

United States troops. Machine-gun sergeant and private,191 7 .

were worn in the shape of a bronze button on the left collar­end ( i.e. swords in the cavalry, guns in the artillery and riflesin the infantry). The button on the other side was stampedwith the initials US and the regimental number.

Since 1912, the Serbian Army had enjoyed little respite.Conversely, the experience gained in the Balkan wars hadturned it into a seasoned and well-organized force. Theinitial Austrian attack was met with resilience and althoughthe primary retreat was arduous, the counter-offensive andre-capture of Belgrade in December 1914 did much to restoremorale. At the start of the war Serbian uniforms had notchanged much since 1912.

Italy, too, had recent campaign experience when she de­clared war on Austria-Hungary (but not Germany) on May20, 1915. T he theater of operations was in Northern Italy,

143

mostly in the Trentino. An Austrian offensive on the Isonzowas repulsed in 1916, but on October 24, 1917 the disasterof Caporetto nearly proved fatal. However, exactly one yearlater to the day, the Italian Army gained the final and de­cisive victory of Vittorio Veneto.

The Italian field uniform was gray-green in color, and thesteel helmet was of the French patt ern, painted gray-green.The Bersaglieri wore this dress , with the cock-tail feather s onthe helmet for special occasions; of course, full dress was stillin force in peace time. Another characteristic Italian bodywas the Alpini-a counterpart of the French chasseursalpins-mountain troops wearing a felt hat with a singlefeather on the left.

Serbian cavalry officer, 1914 and Portuguese infantryprivate. 19 17 .

14 4

T he Japanese Army had been furt her modernized sincethe Russo-japanese war. However, its contribution to theAllied war effort was limited , resolving itself principally inthe siege of Ts'ing-tao and the despatch of a brigade toSingapore at the British request in 1916. It also furnished aneffective guard for the Trans-Siberian Railway betweenVladivostok and Lake Baikal in 1917.

Portugal came into the war in Marc h 1916 as a result of adeclaration of war by Germany, who had already made somedesultory attacks on Portuguese terri toryin Africa. Indeed,the main war effort of Portugal was concentra ted in that con­tinent, although she did send a token force to the WesternFront. These troops were clothed in horizon-blue and wore a

Italian bersagliere. 19 16 ; Japanese infantry private. 191 4 .

14 5

Trooper, Prussian 9th Uhlans.1914

dark blue tunic and black trousers with a red collar, shoulderstraps and cuff-slashes, and the regiment al number in yellowon the shoulder-straps, while a white piping surrounded thecuff-slashes.

T he cavalry consisted of cuirassiers, dragoons, hussars,uhlans and Jager zu Pjerde ( mounted rifles) . In addition,there were chevauleger regiments in Bavaria ( in place ofuhlans) and regimen ts of heavy cavalry in Saxony and Bavaria( in place of cuirassiers) . T he cuirassiers were in wh ite asbefore, and the dragoons in light blue. T he hussars wore red ,black, brown, green or light blue according to the regiment,and the uhlans were disti nguished mainly by the color of theplastron. T hey wore the conventional lance-cap, but in Ba­varia, as chevaulegers, the pickelhaube was their headdress,and their uniforms were dark green.

T he infantry side-d rums were of a very shallow pattern

14 7

helmet resembling the British , except for the corrugated ap­pearance of the pressed steel in the Portuguese version. Ineffect, the Portuguese looked like a British sold ier dyed blue,much as the Belgian looked like a Frenchman dyed khaki.

T he peace-time German uniforms were varied and colorful,especially in the cavalry, and the existence of a num ber ofstates in the Empire. each w ith its own mili tary organiza tion,makes the study of Germa n uniforms an extremely interestingsubject.

T he Ge rman troops set out in the brand new field-grayservice dress. Colored pipi ng and similar ornaments had notyet been conside red unsuitable, and every effort was made toretain some measure of traditional appearance.

In full dress, however, the matter was easily resolved .Generally speaking, every regimen t, of whatever country,proclaimed its identity in the facing color, Thus, the 35thBrandenburg Infantry Regimen t was dressed in the regulation

German troops. 19 14 . Officer. 35th Brandenburg Infantry Regi·ment in service dress. and drummer. Bavarian Leib Regiment.

introduced in 1854and carried from a fastening on the waist­belt. The stretchers consisted of five screws , distributedaround the circumference . and the hoops were decorated withtwenty-fi ve triangles. There was no Royal Guard in Bavaria,but the Leib-Infanterie Regiment served that purpose. TheBavarian uniform was basically light blue throughout , for theinfantry regiments at any rate, of whi ch there were twenty­three, apart from the Life Regiment.

The jager were the light infantry of the German Army,dressed in the dark green tunics traditional to that corps. The

. 10th Battalion was apparently descended from a unit whichhad seen service at Gibraltar and wore that battl e-honor onthe cuff, an honor shared by Hanoverian Infan try RegimentsNos. 73 and 79. The light infantry branch was represented inthe Prussian Guard by two battalions: the Carde-jagerBataillon and the Garde-Schiitzen Bataillon , the latter beingoriginally the rifle battalion raised at Neuchatel, in Switzer­land, after the Napoleonic wars, mostly from survivors ofBerthier's yellow-coated Bataillon de Neuchatel,

Most of the German artillery wore the regulation dark bluetun ic with black collar and cuffs. The shoulder-straps werein different colors, usually scarlet, white or light blue, whilethe helmet aways carried the ball ornament. In the two Ba­varian foot artillery regiments, however, the helmet was fittedwith a spike as in the infant ry.The Saxon artillery was dressedin green,with scarlet collarand cuffs, but otherwise the generalpattern conformed to the Prussian model.

With thewardraggingonyearafteryear,and with the Britishblockade proving increasingly effective, the German need formetal resulted first in the removal of the spikes and other orna­ments from the helmets. Next, the helmets were discardedaltogether and replaced by the ugliest , although doubtlesslythe most efficient trench helmet ever devised: the 'coal scuttle'which survived until 1945.

The service dress of the Austro-Hungarian Army was of alight gray-green color officially described as hechtgrau (pike­gray), but full dress, especially in the cavalry was colorful

German Army uniforms. 1914 . Private. Prussian 10th Jager Bat­talion. and (righ t) gunner, 32nd Saxon Field Artillery Regiment .

148

as well as picturesque, by reason of the slung coat which wasworn pelisse-fashion over the left shoulder by all mountedunits , even the transport corps .

The chevaulegers had been disbanded in 1852, and thecuirassiers in 1868, thus leaving the dragoon s, hussars anduhlans to represent the Austrian cavalry. An interestingfeature was that by now the uhlans no longer carried lances.

Hungary is the home of the hussar; therefore it is notsurprising that this arm, with its sixteen regiments, formedthe bulk of the Imperial and Royal cavalry in 1914. Therewere also several Hungarian second-line ( honved) hussarregiments dressed in blue tunics and pelisses with red lacingand white fur, with the regimental identity , in this case,shown by the calor of the shako.

Austro-Hungarian troops, 19 14 . Artillery gunner and infantryoff icer.

Thedragoons continued towear the handsome black hel­met with its large comb curv­ing over the top, and in thisbranch the regiments weredenoted by the color of thecollar,cuffs and piping on thelight blue tun ic. T he samecalor was used for the uhlans'tun ic,but here the regimentalfacing calor appeared in thelance-cap only. In all threearms the breeches were red.T he traditional brown coatof the Austrian gunners re­mained in wear , with red fac­ings as before, worn withblue trousers.

In the infantry , the char­acteristic white coat was ex­changed for a more service­able blue tun ic in 1868. Thisgarment showed the regi­mental facing calor on thecollar, shoulder-straps, cuffsand small pads, or rolls, set atthe base of the shoulder­straps.

T he Bosnian infantry, asMohammedans, wore a scar­letfezofTurkish pattern, andknee-breeches,while thelightinfantry - the Kaiserjager-;were dressed in pike-graywith a black felt hat decoratedwith a large plume of cock­tail feathers. T hese weremountain troops operatingin the same manner as theItalian Alpini and the French

Austro·Hungarian cavalry:trooper. 11th Hussars. 1914.

chasseurs alpins,It was not only Austria­

Hungary wh ose friendshipGerma ny had ac tively culti­vated , but for years the Otto­man Empire had been openlycourted as well. A seniorGerman officer had been lentto th e Porte to reorganize theT urkish Army; German armsand equipment were beingsupplied , and it is thereforenot surprising that the T urk­ish Army assisted the Germanships Breslau and Goe ben tobombard Odessa in the au t­umn of 1914. This, naturallyenough, resulted in a declara­tion of war by the allies inNovember.

T he T urks operated first inthe Caucasusagainst the Rus­sians , and later were success­ful in forcing Allenby tosurrender at Kut-el-Amara,while also repelling the Alliedlandingsat Gallipoli. In Pales­tine, how ever, they were notso fortunate, foron December9, 1917, the keys of j erusalemwere handed over withoutstruggle to a rather surp risedsergeant of the St. Pan crasRifl es, and on October 30,1918, with her allies crumb­ling on all sides,T urkey askedfor an Armistice.

The Turkish Army wasclothed in khaki service dre sswith a curious type of helm et

152

Private. Bulgarianinfantry of the line. 19 17 .

Turkish engineer officer. 1914. and private. Turkish infantryof the line. 191 6 . .

devoid of a front peak-a concess ion to the religious belief ofthe Muslimswho must not shade their eyes from the sun.

T he rema ining ally of the Central Powers was Bulgaria,who was really in no shape to undertake another war afterbeing so soundly beaten a few years earlier. How ever, pressurewas brough t to bear on her and she declared war on Serbiain October 1915. Whether thi s in tervention was effective ornot is problematical; but in any case it served to swell thenumbers on the side of the Ge rmans and Austri ans, besidestying down im portan t Allied forces in th e Balkans. In Bulgariaherself , opposition to the warwas widespread.

T he Bulgarian troops, still wearin g a uniform predom­inantly Russian in design, were now dressed in khaki. Someunits were also supplied with German field-gray clothing,worn with Bulgarian badges and shoulder-straps; and theequipmentwas en tirely German. It is interesting to note, how ­ever, that in many cases the national footwear was in use,although probably un officially.

153

GLOSSARY

Aiguilleltes: Orn amental co rds.usual ly gold. terminat ing insmall metal tags. worn mostlyat the right shou lder.

Ann of service s A somewhatloo se term de noting thevarious branches of an arm y.

Austrian Knot: Sometimescalled 'Hungarian knot ', Anorna mental pattern of cord­ing, usually worn on the cuff,arranged in two large ringsflanking a taller poin ted shapein the center.

Bearskin Cap: The large bear­skin headdress worn bygrenadiers.

Bell-topped Sbako: A shako(q.v.) broader at the top tha nat the bottom.

Busby: A fur headdress. smallerthan a bearskin. worn byhussars and sometimes horseart illery . It nearly alwayscarried a colored clot h topwhich fell to the side (busby­bag) and was o ften decoratedwith an upright plume , eitherin fro nt or at the side.

Cantiniere: In the French ar my,the woman who atte nded tothe regimen tal ca nteen. Orig­inally litt le more tha n a camp­follower. dressed in cast -offitems of uniform, she gradu­ally acquired status andevent ually ach ieved officialrecognition on the ra tion­stre ngth of her unit.

Cap-Lines : The more or lessornamenta l cords which con ­nected a headd ress with the

154

body . Sometimes ca lled 'bod y­lines'.

Chesseursr French light infan­try. (Ger. Jdgen .

Cbecbia: A Zouave's headdress .A red cap with a black tasse l,somewha t resembling a fez.but cylindrical in shape andnot rigid.

Cockade: A rosette worn o nthe headd ress. From theeighteenth cent ury onwardit denoted the country (e.g.,black for Grea t Britain , whitefor France) and laterdisplayed the nat ional colors.

Comb: Th e curved plate ofupright metal surmounting ahelmet . IGerm.: Bilge/) .

Crest : A fur orna ment, usuallysurmounting the co mb. (Fr.:chenille. Ge r.: Raupe ).

Crow's Foot: An orna mentalpattern of co rd ing, usuallyworn on the cuff, formi nga trefoil of three rings.

Cuff-Slash : The upright strip ofcloth , usually bea ring threebutton s, worn o ver a straightcuff.

Czapka: A Polish lance-cap.Dolman: A hussar jacket or

tunic, ornamented on thefront with a varying numberof loo ps or lac ing.

Epaulette: A detachableshoulde r-piece formed by astra p widen ing ou t as acresce nt over the top of theshoulder and decorate d witha fringe. Wher e the fringe isabsent it is sometimes termed

a cou nter-epau lette .Fadngs: The parts of a uniform.

such as collar, cuffs and lapelswhich are different in colorfrom the main garment.

Flank Companies: Th e grena­dier and light companies of aninfantry battalion. (Fr.: com­pagnies d 'elite v.

Field Officer: A major, lieu­tenant-colonel or colonel.

Go rget: The last relic of armor.A metal crescent-shaped plateworn at the th roat by officers.

Hackle: A sho rt upright plume.Kepi: A French soldie r's peaked

cap, normally sma ller at thetop than at the base .

Kurtka: A Polish lancer 's tunic,fitted with a plastron (q.v.).(Germ .: Ulanka ).

Lace, Regimental: In the Brit­ish army, the white stripswith colored lines (diffe rentfrom regiment to regiment)which decorated the jacketsof corporals and othe r ranks.Sergeants wore white lace andofficers ei the r gold or silver.

Loop : Th e lace surrounding abutto n-hole.

Matross: In the early da ys ofart illery , a common gunner.

MlrUton: A tall coni cal head­dress, without a peak, andwound around with a spiralof colored cloth .

Overalls: Long trousers with anunder -boot strap or chai n,worn by mounted men .Originally designed for servicedress but nowadays worn in avery tigh t-fitt ing versio n ondress occasions.

Pagri: An Indian 's tu rban.Pelisse: The fur-trimm ed coat

carried by hussar s, slung overthe left shoulder when not inwear .

PickeIh aube: Literall y, 'spike­bo nnet'. The Germans' slangterm for their helmet.

Plastron: The cloth fron t but­toned over a lancer's kurtkato ac t as a wind-cheate r.

Poshteen: A snee pskin je rkinworn by Indian troops.

Rifle: A firearm with a grooved.or rifled barrel, impart ing aspin to the bullet.

Shoulder·Straps: Cloth shoul­der-pieces , buttoning near thecollar, originally inte nded tokeep the shoulder-belts inposition.

Sepoy: An Indian infantryman.Shako: A rigid peaked head­

dress, which may be cylin­drical , conical or bell-topped(q .v.) in shape.

Swallows'-Nests: Clot h shoul­der -ornaments, usually laced ,de noting bandsmen. Wornmostly in Germany.

Sword-Knot: The strap attachedto a sword-hilt, serving tosecure the weapo n to thesoldier's wrist. (Fr. : dragonne .Genn.: Fauslriemen).

T urban: The cloth or skin sur­rounding the base of a helmet.

T um backs: The turned-overpart of the coat-tails.

Wings: Shou lder-orname nts inthe form of a large cresce ntusually denoti ng bandsmenand (in the Brit ish army ) flankco mpanies (q.v.},

155

PLACES TO VISIT

United States Military AcademyMuseum , West Point. New Yor k

Fort Ticonderoga Museum, Tlconderoga. New YorkGe uys burg National Military Park , Ge ttysburg, Pen nsylvan iaNewport Artillery Company Museum. Newport, Rhode IslandCastle Museum . Yor k, EnglandImperial War Museum. London . EnglandRoyal United Services Museum. Edinburgh, ScotlandRegimental Museums in Great BritainHeeresgeschichtliches Museum , Vienna, AustriaMusee Royal de l'Armee, Brussels. BelgiumHistorisches Museum. Restart. Ge rmanyLege r-en Wapenmuseum , Leyde n, Ge rmanyMusee de I'Arm ee. Paris. Fra nceMusee Histo riqu e, Strasbourg. FranceSchw eizeri sches Nazion almuseum, Zurich. SwitzerlandMusee du Chateau. Colombier , SwitzerlandThe Arm y Museum. Halifax . Nova ScotiaSouth African National War Museum. Johannesburg, Sou th Africa

156

BOOKS TO READ

A Pageant of America: R. H. G abriel. (ed) . Yale University Pre ss. 1937.Military Uniforms in Calor. Preben Kannik . Macmillan. 1968.Encyclopaedia Britannica. 11th edition. London, 1910.Europ ean Military Uniforms. Pau l Martin. Spring Books, London. 1967.History of the British Army. Sir John Fortes cue . MacmilJan, 1910.British Military Uniforms. W. Y. Carma n. Spring Books, Lond on. 1968.A History of the Uniforms ofthe British Army. C. C. P. Lawson . (4 Vols.•

Norman Publi cations . London, 1961-1966.Indian A rmy Uniforms. W. Y. Ca rman. Leonard Hill. Lond on. 1961.Manuscrip ts (volumes o f notes. drawings. cuui ngs e tc.I, P. W. Reynolds.

Deposited in the Victori a & Albert Museum. Lond on .Military Drawings and Paintings in the Royal Collection. A. E. H. Mille r

and N. P. Dawnay. Pha idon Press, London. 1966.The Uniform s and History of the Scott ish Regiments. R. M. Bames and

C. K. Alien. Seeley Service. London, 1956.

Th ere have also been published numerou s series of military prin ts anddrawings. amo ng which are:Cavalry Uniforms of the British A rmy by P. G. Sm ltherman, Hugb Eve­

Iyn. London.Infantry Uniforms of the British Army by P. H. Smitherman. (3 series:

1660-1790; 1790-1850; 1850- 19(0) Hugh Evely n, London .Colored plate s of American Uniforms, with historical notes by H. C.

McBarron. American Arm y publication, 1967.North 's 'Paint- Yo ur-Own' Uniform Cards and Military Uniform Charts

by Rene North. London .Th e Hugh Evelyn prints have bee n published in book form.

157

INDEX

Page numbers'in bold typererer to illust rat ion s.

Ac nva Regiment 54Aiauilertes 93, 154Albert. Prince 58Algeria 59Ahzcri a. Conquest of 52-53Alien . Ethan 26Alpins 134Am eri can Revolution

22-27Arm of Serv ice 154Artillery matross 4Austrian Knot 107, 154Austrian Succession , Wa r

of the 12

Bad en infantry 97Balaclava 65Balkan Wars 122-129Bandsmen 48, 49Bav ari an infant ry 95. 146Bearskin 32. 154Bell-topped Sha ke 154Bengal ?) -Berdan 's Sharpshooters 86Ber sazlieri 120. 120. 121

145 •Ble nheim 8'Blue Devils' 134Boa rd of Ordnance 4, 24Doe r War 102-105Doers 104Bom ba y Sappers and

Miners 109. 110Bosnia lJOBos nian infantry 151Boxer Rebellion IOR- 115Dra ban t Rebelli on 28Bran dc nburg Infantry 146Browne, Sam 73Busby 35. 47. 6 1. 93. 154

Ce ce dcres 45Ca liforn ian Lan cers 54Came ro n Highlanders 86Cannntere 75, 75. 1"4Cap-Lines 154Carabiniers 38Cavalry 19, 23Caeadores 101Champagne, Rej;/iment de,.Charles VI 12Charles XII 6Chasseurs 34. 39, 53. 60.

134, 154Chechia 60. 154Chevaulege rs97, 147Civil War, Am erican 82- 89Cockade 154Comb 154Concord 22Co nfede ra te Army .'14 -88

158

Cossacks 42-43, 64Crest 154Crtmean War 58Crew 's Foot 154Curts 106-107Cuff-Sl.ash 154Cuirassie rs 35. 38, 40Czap ka 36, 1>4

Danish Duchies, War of 78De Meuron's Reg iment 57Diesba ch , Re giment de 20Do lman 154Dragoons 7. 12. 16.,19. 23.

25. 33.38. 59Drums 65

Eas t·As ia n Brigade 112. 112Epaulettes 61,65. 92, 93,

106-107.154Eveones 122. 123

Facings 155Fee 121, 129. 151Fie ld Office r 155Fin sbury Rifle s 132Fla nk Companies 155Foreign Legion 53. Ill . 112Franco-Austri an War 74Franco-G erman Wa r 90Fred eri ck the G reat 18, 19,

20, 21French and Ind ian War 14Fusilier s-t , 18,20

G allipo li D 3, 152G ard e du Corps 139Garde Mobile 90. 92Ga rdesc hu tze- Bata illon 57Gorget 155G rea t No rt he rn War 6G reen Mount ain Boys 26,,.G re nad iers 6. IS, 17. 18, 41G uadalajara Regiment >4Gu ard s 10, 33. 59Gurkhas 71. 72

Hackle 155Headdresses 66Helmet s 66Hessian Rell:iment 25Hij;/hland l ight Infan t ry 103Highlanders 31Hod son 's Horse 68. 69Hussa rs 19. 20. 35. 4 1, 59

Imperial Guard (Fra nce ) 75Indi an Mutiny 68Ind ian troops 109Indi an s, Am erican 15tnramene Cotontafe 111Infe rnales 51Inniskilling Dr agoons 59,I.'

Internat iona l Red Cross 77Italo-Turk ish War 120-121lt aly.62. 74

Jllj;/er 76. 81. 139Joseph 11 29

Kepi 66. 84, 155Khak i 70Kina's Afri can Rifles 133King's Roy al Rifle Corps 14Kukri 72Kurta 71Kut -el-Amara 152

Lace , Regimental 155Lan ce rs 34. 39. 4 1. 59Latin Ame rica 50-5 1Lexington 22Light Brigade 58Lith uanian Re giment 1t7Loops 106-1 07, 155loUISXV 12Louisian a T ill:ers89

~1arines 14Marl bo rou gh . Duke o f 8Massach usetts Iron Brigade

86Matross 4, 5. 155Mexican War 54Mi nde n 20Mirliton 34, 155Mississippi Rifles 89Mu sket eers 18

Napo leon I 30,36Napoleo n 111 74, 90. 97Napo leonic War s 30Narva. the 6NeucMtc:l57New Brunswich Scott ish

I3JNew York Regiment 26Nige ria Re gime nt 133

O ran ge Free State 104O rleans, Chasseurs d ' 53Orleans Dr agoo ns 17Overalls 155

Paj;/ ri 155Pavia Hussars 10 IPelisse 155Peter the Great 7Picard ie Regiment 10Pickelhaube 19, 73, 80. 94.

147,155Piedmont Regiment 5Piffe rs 72Pith helm et 103Pla stron 155Ponava 6Pome ra nian Regim ent 44Pcs hteen 155

Prince sa Hu ssars 101Pun jab Irre gular Fo rce 72Punees 137

Qu ebec 16

Rhod e Island Artillery 26Rifle 155Rifle Brigade 103Roger's Ran gers IS, 15Rou gh Riders 99Roy, Regiment du 12Royal American Regiment

14Royal Artille ry 23. 24, JJRoyal Ca nad ian Mounted

Police 142Roy al Horse Artille ry 39Royal Marine Artille ry 108Royal Roussillo n Regiment

16. 17Royal Scots G rey s 132Royal Sussex Re giment 16Russo-Jap anese War 116

Sarre. Regiment de la 17Saxe. Maurice de 12Saxon infantry 95Schwerin, Regiment von 19Scots G reys 59Sepoys 60. 109. 155Seven Years War 18Sha ko 32. 33. 41. 61, Db.

141. 155Sho ulde r Straps 106-107.

155Silesia n Regiment ..4South African Wa r 102- 105Spahis 93Spanish Succession, War o f

the 8Spanish-American War 98-

101Sumr e r, Fort 83S....allows'-Nests 155Swon:l·Knot I55

Swords ..O

Taylor, Zachary 55T en nessee Artille ry 85Tt conder oga . Fort 22, 26T iraill eur 9 1.92T on ge rloo Dragoon 28. 29Tour aine Regiment 20T ran svaul 104 . 105Trews 104Tncome 66T urban 155Turnbacks 155

Uh la ns!lO. 147U1anka 80Uniform clo thing 4Uniforms , Argenti na 51Un iform s, Au st r ia 11. 12.

38-39,40-41.56, 67. 7779-80, 132. 133

Unifo rms, Austria·Hun gary150-15 1

Uni for ms . Belgium 29. 45­46. 140-141

Uni forms. Brita in 9. 13, 1930, 48,58-5 9. 67.68-6 9,103-105. 106-107.1 30­131

Uniforms , Bulgaria 126-127, 152. 153

Uni forms. China 115Uniforms, Denm ark 8 1Uniforms, France 10. 12.

34- 37. 52-53. 60. 67.74-75, 90- 93, 106-107.110. 134- 137

Uniform s. Ge rmany 106­107.111.112.146-1 49

Unifor ms , Greece 122-1 23Uniforms, Hun gary 19.677.Uni forms , Ital y 113, I U .

120.144 . U SUniforms. Jap an 113- 1I5,

1111-11 9. 145,145

Uniforms, Mexico SO. 54-55

Uniforms, Mo nten egro 129Uni forms, Ne therlands 45Uniforms, Norway 67Uniforms, Poland 40, 45-46Un iforms, Portugal 45-4 6,

144.145Uniforms, Pru ssia 19. 43-44

57, 67.78- 80, 94- 97Un iforms. Russia 7. 41-43,

64-65. 67. 116-11 8,138-139

Uniforms, Sardinia 62-63Uniforms. Se rbia 124-125,

'44Uniforms, Spain 46. 47100-101

Uniforms, Swede n 6Uniforms, Switze rland 67Un iforms. Turkey 62-63,

121.128.152.153Uniforms. Un ited Stal es

26.48-49,55,82-89,98-99, 112- 113, 142- 143

Van der Noor . Henry 29Vin cent'sand Latour's IJVirgi nia cav alry 88Vir ll:in ia Regiment 85

Walloons 11War of 18 1248Warner. Se th 26Wa shington, Georae 23Waterloo 45Wings 106-107. 155Wolfe , lames 16World War 11 30-1 53w uruemberg Guard

Artillery 44

Yp res Volunteers 28. 29

Zouaves 53, 59-61. 82. 8486,92

159

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