Military uniform

[1] The Terracotta Army discovered in the tomb of the first Emperor of China (c. 200 BC) have a superficial similarity but closer examination shows up to seven different styles of armour, which do not appear to have been standardised within separate units.

Centurions – the century commanders who made up the long serving backbone of the legions – were distinguished by transverse crests on their helmets, various chest ornaments (phaleræ) corresponding to modern medals, torques (a symbol borrowed from the Gauls and also used as a military award), and the vine stick (Vitis) that they carried as a mark of their office.

[8] The regular thematic (provincial) and Tagmata (central) troops of the Byzantine Empire (East Roman) are the first known soldiers to have had what would now be considered regimental or unit identification.

[12] Field signs were easily removed or donned,[11] as in the example of John Smith, a squire on the Royalist side who at the Battle of Edgehill put on the orange scarf of the Parliamentarians and with no more elaborate disguise recaptured the royal standard from the Earl of Essex's own secretary.

In the earlier years of the latter, though the richer colonels uniformed their men (for instance, the Marquess of Newcastle's "Whitecoats" and King Charles's own red-coated Lifeguard of foot), the rustics and the citizens turned out for war in their ordinary rough clothes, donning armour and sword-belt.

[13] During the 18th century the normal military uniform in Europe comprised a standardised form of civilian dress (tricorn hat, long-skirted coat, waistcoat and breeches).

The distinction normally lay in colours: red coats for the British and Danes, light grey then white for the French, Spanish, and Austrian[15] infantry, dark blue for the Prussians and Portuguese, green for the Russians, etc.

In part this was because the uniform dress issued to the rank and file was considered a form of livery — the mark of a servant and demeaning to members of the social class from which officers came.

The gorget hanging from a chain around the neck (a last survival of medieval armour) was the only universally recognised mark of an officer until epaulettes developed from clusters of ribbons formerly worn on the shoulder.

Sometimes the Napoleonic Wars are identified as being the acme of colourful and ornate uniforms, but actually the several decades of relative peace that followed were a time of even more decorative styles and embellishments.

Existing state units and quickly raised volunteer regiments on both sides wore a wide variety of styles and colours in the early stages of the war.

From 1910 the Imperial Chinese Army adopted dark blue uniforms of Japanese style with coloured facings of red, white, or yellow to distinguish the different branches.

[41] The Imperial German field grey of 1910 retained a number of traditional features such as spiked helmets, shakos, busbies, and coloured piping from the older uniforms.

Elsewhere full or coloured dress of traditional cut was generally restricted to formal uniforms for officers and long service regulars, ceremonial guards, and a few other limited categories.

The Spanish Army (which had not been involved in the First World War) exceptionally continued to issue coloured uniforms to all its conscript rank and file until 1926 and thereafter to the garrisons of Seville, Barcelona, and Madrid for special ceremonials until 1931.

Steel helmets, originally simply items of utilitarian protective clothing, were adopted as parade headdress by the French, German, Italian, and Soviet armies, amongst others, between the Wars.

Uniforms of varying shades of khaki and grey were universal in the Second World War but the cut and outline appearance of the different armies still made identification in the field relatively straight forward.

The US Army discarded its First World War style field uniforms in 1941 in favour of a very plain and practical combat dress in a thin light brown wool shirt (sometimes with an olive green cast) and slightly darker trousers.

As an interesting example of the combining of old and new features of uniform the French Spahis and the Spanish Regulares still wear the flowing cloaks, fezzes, turbans and sashes of the North African colonial regiments from which they are descended with modern khaki or camouflage clothing, on appropriate occasions.

France has adopted a light beige dress uniform which is worn with coloured kepis,[43] sashes, fringed epaulettes, fourragères and other traditional items on appropriate occasions.

Parade dress for the modern Indian Army normally involve the addition of pagris (turbans), cravats and cummerbunds in regimental colours to olive green uniforms.

[48] The Russian Army has retained a number of features, such as officers' epaulettes, high boots and long greatcoats with collar patches for all ranks, which can be traced back to Tsarist days.

The British Army generally retains its traditional full dress uniforms only for bands and units performing ceremonial functions (notably the Household Brigade).

For example, most U.S. servicemen now wear camouflage utilities for daily duty and all but the most formal occasions-whereas in the past the service uniform would be worn unless a soldier was engaged in a dirty or physical task.

Another purpose in historical times was to make it difficult for deserters to avoid detection; military uniforms were so distinctive with many metal buttons and unique colours that they could not be modified into unrecognisable clothing.

During the Boxer Rebellion, the Muslim Gansu Braves under General Dong Fuxiang used traditional Chinese clothing instead of western-style uniforms, reflecting the opposition of the movement to foreign influences.

The decision to adopt the religious garment as military dress, enforced unity and cohesion among his forces, and eliminated traditional visual markers differentiating potentially fractious tribes.

However, with the growing prevalence of accurate rifles and other ranged firearms as standard weapons for infantry, it was found, from about the 1880s on, that these colours made soldiers easy targets for enemies to shoot at a distance.

In reaction, the various militaries, beginning with the British Army, changed the colours, predominantly to such ones that blended in more with the terrain, such as khaki, grey or olive drab for the purposes of camouflage.

Many modern military forces now use a system of combat uniforms that not only break up the outline of the soldier for use on the battlefield during the daytime, but also employ a distinctive appearance that makes them difficult to detect with light amplification devices, such as night-vision goggles (NVGs).

Italian , French , Spanish , Portuguese , Indonesian and Indian military personnel in uniform during a parade in Rome, Italy
Roman centurion ( Historical reenactment ).
Facing colours were introduced to distinguish the various regiments. Here, the Régiment du Lyonnais with red and green facings on the standard grey uniform (1720–1734)
Uniforms used by European military forces from 1670 to 1865
Solaks, the Janissary archer bodyguard of the Sultan by Lambert de Vos , c. 1575
Uniforms used by the Prussian Army from 1701 to 1919
Uniforms used by the Royal Navy during the mid-19th century
Colour plate from the War of the Rebellion Atlas depicting Union and Confederate uniforms
Coldstream Guards on parade in their scarlet dress uniform. By the 20th century most militaries had relegated their more colourful uniforms for ceremonial use only.
Test uniforms created in 1912 by Edouard Detaille for the French infantry in order to lessen the visibility of the troops on the battlefield as can be seen on the campaign dresses (right).
Italian troops wearing steel helmets during the Spanish Civil War
Operational uniforms used by the Belgian, British, French and German forces during the Second World War
Uniforms and military equipment of German, Norwegian, French and British armies, dating to the Second World War
Members of the Brazilian Army 's Independence Dragoons. The soldier on the left is wearing the unit's ceremonial uniform, while the other is wearing combat fatigues .
Members of the French Army in parade dress
Field grey has been retained in the dress uniforms of the German Army
Soldiers of the Assam Regiment of the Indian Army in parade dress
Indonesian flag-officers in their Full dress uniform
A female contingent from the Russian Armed Forces in their formal uniforms during a parade, 2013.
Royal Irish Rangers soldiers and officers in Numbers 8, 14, 10, 1, 2 and 12 dress, flanked by a bandsman, bugler, piper and drummer in full-dress.
A yeoman dressed in BDU is reenlisted by a United States Army general dressed in ACUs . The ACU replaced the BDU as the army's combat uniform during the 21st century
U.S. Marines in MARPAT combat uniforms. The marines was one of several service branches in the U.S. to adopt multi-scale camouflage during the 21st century.
A Sudanese prisoner with Reginald Wingate after the Battle of Atbara . The prisoner is wearing a jibba , a garment that was worn by followers of Muhammad Ahmad .
The rise of rifles and smokeless powder led to the decline of more-colourful uniforms in favour of drab .
Soldiers of the Canadian Army in CADPAT camouflage uniforms. Camouflaged uniforms are used to make its wearers less visible.
18th century Prussian grenadier mitre caps. Some military units have historically adopted tall headgear as a part of their uniform to exaggerate the wearer's height.