An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Uniforms of World War I

My wife and I recently celebrated our thirty-eighth wedding anniversary (it has no name as such, and is one where the traditional gift is an example of a Beryl gemstone), and (as usual) my wife was stumped as to what to buy me.

I had recently bought a copy of AN ILLUSTRATED ENCYCLOPEDIA OF UNIFORMS OF WORLD WAR II: AN EXPERT GUIDE TO THE UNIFORMS OF BRITAIN, AMERICA, GERMANY, USSR AND JAPAN, TOGETHER WITH OTHER AXIS AND ALLIED FORCES, and Amazon had recommended that I might like to buy some of the other books in the series. I mentioned this to my wife ... and low and behold, copies of AN ILLUSTRATED ENCYCLOPEDIA OF UNIFORMS OF WORLD WAR I: AN EXPERT GUIDE TO THE UNIFORMS OF BRITAIN, FRANCE, RUSSIA, AMERICA, GERMAN, AND AUSTRIA-HUNGARY, WITH ADDITIONAL DETAIL ON THE ARMIES OF PORTUGAL, BELGIUM, ITALY, SERBIA, THE OTTOMANS, JAPAN, AND MORE and AN ILLUSTRATED ENCYCLOPEDIA OF UNIFORMS OF THE NAPOLEONIC WARS: AN EXPERT, IN-DEPTH REFERENCE TO THE OFFICERS AND SOLDIERS OF THE REVOLUTIONARY AND NAPOLEONIC PERIOD, 1792-1815 were presented to me as my anniversary present. I will review the second book separately.

AN ILLUSTRATED ENCYCLOPEDIA OF UNIFORMS OF WORLD WAR I: AN EXPERT GUIDE TO THE UNIFORMS OF BRITAIN, FRANCE, RUSSIA, AMERICA, GERMAN, AND AUSTRIA-HUNGARY, WITH ADDITIONAL DETAIL ON THE ARMIES OF PORTUGAL, BELGIUM, ITALY, SERBIA, THE OTTOMANS, JAPAN, AND MORE is split into seven chapters, each of which is divided in several sections:

• Introduction
• The Political Arena of 1914
• The War's Origins
• The World Reacts
• The Global View
• Manpower and Conscription
• Weapons and New Technology
• The Uniforms
• The Campaigns
• Aftermath and Peace
• Great Britain
• The British Army
• Generals and Staff
• Guards
• The Western Front
• Infantry Other Theatres
• Cavalry
• Yeomanry
• Aviation
• Artillery
• Technical Troops
• Troops from Canada and Newfoundland
• Troops from Australia and New Zealand
• African Troops
• The Indian Army
• France
• The French Army in 1914
• Wartime Developments
• Generals and Staff
• Infantry
• Chasseurs and Mountain Troops
• Foreign Troops
• Colonial Troops
• Cavalry
• Artillery
• Technical Troops
• Flying Troops
• Russia
• The Russian Empire in 1914
• The Russian Army
• Generals and Staff
• Imperial Guard
• Elite Infantry
• Infantry
• Cavalry
• Cossacks and Native Cavalry
• Artillery
• Technical Troops
• The Russian Civil War: Red Armies
• The Russian Civil War: White Armies
• America and Other Allies
• The USA Enters the War
• Allied Armies
• US Infantry
• US Marines
• US Technical Troops
• Portugal
• Belgium
• Italy
• Serbia and Montenegro
• Romania
• Greece
• Japan
• Germany
• A Military Staff
• Prussia and the German States
• Wartime Developments
• Generals and Staff
• Guards
• Infantry
• Colonial Uniforms
• Jages and Mountain Troops
• Stormtroopers
• Landwehr
• Cavalry
• Artillery
• Technical Troops
• Austria-Hungary and Germany's Other Allies
• The Hapsburg Monarchy
• Austro-Hungarian Generals and Staff
• Austro-Hungarian Infantry
• Austro-Hungarian Cavalry
• Austro-Hungarian Landwehr and Honved
• Austro-Hungarian Technical Troops
• The Ottoman Empire
• Bulgaria

The book also contains a glossary and an index, and is 256 pages long. It is easy to forget that the uniforms worn by the belligerents were not all drab in colour, and that small amounts of colour were used by most armies to help identify particular units.

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For anyone who might be interested, I gave my wife a Pandora bracelet and some charms that I knew that she wanted.

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AN ILLUSTRATED ENCYCLOPEDIA OF UNIFORMS OF WORLD WAR I: AN EXPERT GUIDE TO THE UNIFORMS OF BRITAIN, FRANCE, RUSSIA, AMERICA, GERMAN, AND AUSTRIA-HUNGARY, WITH ADDITIONAL DETAIL ON THE ARMIES OF PORTUGAL, BELGIUM, ITALY, SERBIA, THE OTTOMANS, JAPAN, AND MORE was written by Jonathan North and published in 2017 by Lorenz Books (ISBN 978 0 7548 2340 7).