Army and Navy Uniforms and Insignia: How to Know Rank, Corps and Service in the Military and Naval Forces of the United States and Foreign CountriesWilliams, Dion
History
Army and Navy Uniforms and Insignia: How to Know Rank, Corps and Service in the Military and Naval Forces of the United States and Foreign Countries
Williams, Dion
Armies -- Insignia; Military uniforms; Navies -- Insignia; United States. Army -- Insignia; United States. Navy -- Insignia
In the United States services there are also distinctive regimental and
corps devices which, while indicating the branch and corps to which the
wearer belongs, also keep alive the glorious traditions of the past
wars.
As France was the first country of modern times to establish by
governmental regulation and order a uniform dress for her armed forces
on shore, so has she been the most consistent of all countries in
dressing all branches of her service on much the same color scheme,
though here as in the other countries is sometimes seen the influence
of the native dress of the lands into which the French have extended
their colonial activities.
Until quite recently the common uniform of the French army consisted
of red trousers or breeches, blue coats and red caps. From the Barbary
coast of North Africa and especially the French colony of Algeria the
French colonial troops derived the style of dress known as “Zouave”
uniform, with baggy trousers, short braid decorated jacket and
tasselled turban. But even in these uniforms the general color scheme
of red trousers and blue coat with red head dress was carried out.
In the United States the influence of the Zouave uniform can be traced
to the same style of dress used by certain regiments of our great Civil
War of 1860-65. Notable among these regiments were the “Louisiana
Tigers” of the Confederate Army and the “Zouave Division” of the Union
Army.
In the uniforms of Germany the influence of the many individual states
and principalities which went to form the greater Germany of to-day
is seen in the colors and styles of the various regiments. The dress
uniforms of the German Army still retain some of the distinctive
colors of the original armies of Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony, Wurttemburg
and Brandenburg, but for field service in war the whole army has a
uniform of dull gray color, the various territorial distinctions being
indicated by colored stripes and straps only.
The Italian troops have a number of distinctive uniforms for different
corps and services, but the universal full dress coat is of a dark
blue shade, the color of the trousers varying with the corps, and the
different colors are used as cuffs and facings to distinguish different
branches. Their field uniform is almost universally of a gray shade,
though the influence of the prevailing background upon the color of
uniform is seen in the white uniforms worn by the troops that must
fight in the snow covered mountains of the northern frontier, and the
use of khaki is becoming more common.
In Austria-Hungary the effect of the many different peoples that go
to make up that empire has resulted in a great variety of colors and
styles for uniforms, almost every color and shade being shown in the
dress uniforms of the different corps. But for the field uniforms
necessity has again ruled and dull shades of gray and green predominate.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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