Military Uniforms of the Nineteenth Century

One book that was in no danger of being 'culled' during the downsizing of my book collection was my copy of AN ILLUSTRATED ENCYCLOPEDIA OF MILITARY UNIFORMS OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

Even a quick glance through this book is enough to make the reader aware that military fashion during the period from 1850 to 1900 was dominated by certain influences. Initially most troops wore updated versions of Napoleonic uniforms, although the coats were shorter and had lost their tails and trousers had become almost universal. The shakos of the Napoleonic era gradually became less elaborate and eventually evolved into the shorter kepi or were replaced by the leather helmet. The latter started off as being quite tall, but over time it also became shorter and evolved into the pickelhaube. The peaked cap also seemed to have been popular, especially with officers of certain armies.

The colour of infantry uniforms also tended towards predominately blue jackets (there were some notable exceptions to this!) and dark-coloured trousers (again with some notable exceptions), sometimes worn tucked into boots and sometimes into gaiters worn with short boots. The trousers tended to follow civilian fashion and varied between tight to very baggy.

Towards the end of the period the growing number of colonial wars being fought by the European powers saw the introduction of predominately dust-coloured field uniforms, often worn with some form of light-weight cork helmet or wideawake hat.

So, what does this mean for the wargamer who – like me – likes to get lots of use out of the figures they have in their collection and who isn't too bothered about absolute uniform accuracy?

What it means is that with a little judicial buying of certain generic figures that are then painted in basic uniforms, several different armies can be represented on the tabletop using the same figures. For example, a Union infantry man in kepi, dark blue jacket and light blue trousers can make a passable Danish infantryman for the Second Schleswig War or a Greek infantryman from the First Balkan War. Likewise, a Confederate infantryman in a butternut-coloured uniform and slouch hat can easily pass as a Boer, and one in an all-grey uniform and kepi looks very similar to a British rifle volunteer of the 1880s.

One of the less obviously generic uniforms worn during the period was the Zouave-style uniform, which was first copied by the French and then by the Americans. It became the uniform worn by the Ottoman infantry until they adopted the ubiquitous brown uniform of the latter part of the era … and it was even adopted by the West Indian Regiment of the British Army.

Now I know that there are some wargamers who might read the above and want to shout at their computer or tablet screen that I am some sort of heretic who should not be allowed near ‘proper’ wargamers and wargames … but frankly, I don’t care. Let them enjoy the hobby their way, and I’ll enjoy it my way … and I suspect that is a view that is shared by quite a few of my regular blog readers.

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AN ILLUSTRATED ENCYCLOPEDIA OF MILITARY UNIFORMS OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY was written by Digby Smith, Jeremy Black, and Kevin F. Kiley, and published in 2009 by Lorenz Books (ISBN 978 0 7548 1901 1).