Excellent write up. In the indian subcontinent it is intresting to see the difference in the uniforms of the Mughals and the Armies of the Chhatrapti Shivaji. while the later were light and frugal on armoury the former were heavy and cumbersome leading to many lost opportunities and set back. One prominent example is : when Ikhlas Khan the Mughal commander under Daud Khan in the Battle of Vani-DIndori, (1670) left his troops who were busy tying up their armour and charged with a small party against Shivaji 's forces waiting across a pass (Kanchan-Manchan) with disastrous consequences. The Mughals lost that battle. Uniforms thus in the indian context have had operational consequences. Thanks loved reading your piece.
One of the most fascinating things to learn over the years was an account of how linen could take on different qualities depending upon when the flax was harvested and how it was treated. It can result in a quite hard wearing fabric useful to armies. Before that I had always wondered about linen clad warriors.
Still amuses me that when the French Army *eventually* accepted that red trousers were a bit conspicuous in the trenches ("Le pantalon rouge, c'est la France" notwithstanding), they conceded and switched to... horizon blue.
Yes, I didn’t dwell on how the question of recruitment played into decisions about uniforms (I didn’t want to get bogged down talking about the Marine Corps).
Excellent write up. In the indian subcontinent it is intresting to see the difference in the uniforms of the Mughals and the Armies of the Chhatrapti Shivaji. while the later were light and frugal on armoury the former were heavy and cumbersome leading to many lost opportunities and set back. One prominent example is : when Ikhlas Khan the Mughal commander under Daud Khan in the Battle of Vani-DIndori, (1670) left his troops who were busy tying up their armour and charged with a small party against Shivaji 's forces waiting across a pass (Kanchan-Manchan) with disastrous consequences. The Mughals lost that battle. Uniforms thus in the indian context have had operational consequences. Thanks loved reading your piece.
One of the most fascinating things to learn over the years was an account of how linen could take on different qualities depending upon when the flax was harvested and how it was treated. It can result in a quite hard wearing fabric useful to armies. Before that I had always wondered about linen clad warriors.
Still amuses me that when the French Army *eventually* accepted that red trousers were a bit conspicuous in the trenches ("Le pantalon rouge, c'est la France" notwithstanding), they conceded and switched to... horizon blue.
Yes, I didn’t dwell on how the question of recruitment played into decisions about uniforms (I didn’t want to get bogged down talking about the Marine Corps).
Ticonderoga didn't go well for the Black Watch, IIRC.
No, it didn’t but their persistence must have been noted.