Fighting Men and Their Uniforms

84 Pages·1971·10.534 MB·English

by  Kenneth Allen

TtTa HAMLYN POINTER BOOK
MEN
FIGHTING
and
their
UNIFORMS
byKenneth Allen
r355.14 m.l:
A-t5f
1361693 1
STORAGE
BASEMENT
REFERENCE
•/
N
I

IFf A HAMLYN POINTER BOOK
aid
their
By Kenneth Allen
Illustrated by John Berry
HAMLYN
LONDON NEW YORK SYDNEY TORONTO
Theillustrationsinthisbookhavebeen
selectedfromtheHamlynall-colourpaperback
MILITARYUNIFORMSbyReneNorth
Firstpublished1971
Secondimpression1972
PublishedbyTheHamlynPublishingGroupLimited
London NewYork Sydney Toronto
HamlynHouse.Feltham.Middlesex.England
©CopyrightTheHamlynPublishingGroupLimited1971
ISBN 60036027 X
PrintedbyOfficmeGraficheArnoldoMondadori.
Verona.Italy
1M>k>:j3
contents
Page
The Early Days Another Napoleon
of Military Uniforms 6 Declares War 38
Marlborough Goes to War 8 War of the Danish Duchies 40
The Battle of Fontenoy 10 The Blue and the Grey 42
Britain Fights for Canada 11 The Iron Chancellor 46
The Seven Years'War 12 War in Cuba 50
America Fights War Against the Boers 52
for Independence 14 The Boxer Rebellion 54
In the Days of Napoleon 18 The Bear and the Dragon 58
The Fighting Republic 28 The Balkan Wars 60
The Peasants' War 29 The Great War 1914—18 62
The Cadets of Chapultepec 30 Militaria 72
The Crimean War 31 Index 74
The Sepoy Rising 34
THE EARLY DAYS
OF MILITARY
UNIFORMS
Soldiers began to wear distinctive clothing in order
to tell immediately who were their friends and who
their enemies. The armies of the ancient world-
Egyptians, Greeks,AssyriansandRomans-allwore
suchuniforms. TheRomans,particularly,madesure
that their legionaries wore armour and clothing ofa
"uniform" style. At the same time the Eagle ofthe
Legion was paraded and honoured like the battle
standardsoflatertimes.
During the Middle Ages, knights and their
followers wore badges and colours so that they, too,
could instantly tell friend from foe. The end ofthis
period marked the rise of mercenaries-men who
fought for other countries for pay-especially the
Swiss. Thesemenalwaysdressedinsimilarclothing.
THE FIRST UNIFORMED ARMY
What may be called the first "modern" uniforms
beganinSweden.About1620,GustavusAdolphusII
formed an army which was drilled, equipped and
organizedonmodernlines. Hispikemenpresenteda
living steel-tipped hedge to the oncoming enemy;
his musketeers, firing by numbers, kept up a con-
tinualdischarge;hissquadronsofcuirassierscharged
at the gallop, firing their pistols when within range.
His regiments were called the "Blue", "Yellow"
and "Green" fromthemaincolouroftheirclothing.
FRANCE AND HER SOLDIERS
During the reign ofLouis XIV, the French cavalry
regimentswereuniformedinlightgreywithredfac- Above: Swedish Grenadier, 1700. He
ings. Louvois, the King's military adviser, then put wearsthetall head-pieceknownasthe
theinfantryintouniformsaswell, sothatafullyuni- mitre-cap.
formed army, in the modern sense, came into being.
The French regiments wore light grey, the Swiss
red, the Germans blackandthe Italians blue.
With the introduction of standing armies, uni-
forms became established, and were governed by
their ownrules andregulations.