A Short History of the Uniform - Part 4 - The Development of the Uniform from the 17th to the 18th Century.

Under the regency of Louis XIV a standardized uniforming was introduced in France, in isolated cases already in 1670, but in 1674 for the entire army with the exception of the cavalry.

Uniforms were introduced - also for cost reasons - made of (undyed) grey natural wool.

Until about 1708 the regiment proprietors in Austria were allowed to determine the uniforms of their respective units themselves.

From that period on, the infantry used - as a standard colour - light-grey natural wool.

The initially (light-)grey base colour of the uniforms gradually developed into white.

Interestingly, particularly Catholic states such as France, Austria, Spain (from 1710), but also Saxony, outfitted their troops in white uniforms, while (wealthy) states with relatively small armies preferred the costly red (= madder dyeing) base colour, e.g. Great Britain, Hanover and Denmark. This also applied to the early militaries of the Hanseatic cities, which maintained, alongside mercenaries, above all a citizens’ militia.

(Protestant) states - such as Sweden (generally from 1690) and Brandenburg-Prussia (Life Guard already from 1632, generally from 1685) clothed their soldiers mainly in (dark-)blue (= indigo dyeing) coats.

At times heraldic motifs also influenced the choice of colour, e.g. in Hesse. There the Life Guard of the Landgrave, for example, was clothed in the Hessian coat of arms colours: silver, blue and red.

The Parliamentary army under Oliver Cromwell appeared in the English Civil War in clothing still following the civilian cut, but uniformly in scarlet colour.

The Life Guard on Foot founded in 1656 in Dutch exile by the later King Charles II of England also wore red undergarments including red stockings, together with a knitted cap and a leather jerkin.

The Life Guard on Horseback founded in 1660 wore a red wool cloak with short sleeves and blue - trimmed - sleeve cuffs over a leather jerkin.

The red colour remained characteristic of the English army.

By about 1680 braiding and facings were already established.

The grenadier cap with a short bag received a firmer shape already from 1700 (see the illustration above).

According to Knötel, a general uniforming in Sweden was already introduced under Karl Gustav X (* 08.11.1622 in Nyköping; † 13.02.1660 in Göteborg).

The different colours of the coats or jackets and of the trousers initially followed the coats of arms of the various provinces.

From 1690 a blue standard uniform was introduced. Trousers and stockings of different colours served as regimental insignia.

Yellow lapels were only worn by the Life Guard on Foot.

The colours blue and yellow were taken from the Swedish coat of arms and became determinative for the uniforming of Swedish troops.

The waistcoats were made of leather.

Officers, however, often wore a grey uniform in the field for a long time.

The blue uniforming of the dragoons and artillery had (under King Charles XII (* 27.06.1682 in Stockholm; † 11.12.1718 near Fredrikshald) no differently coloured insignia.

An attempt at uniforming the Danish army was already made under King Christian IV (* 12.04.1577 at Frederiksborg Castle; † 28.02.1648 at Rosenborg Castle, Copenhagen, king of Denmark and Norway from 1588 to 1648), but it was not really implemented until after the Scanian War (1675–79).

The Danish grenadiers shown above wear a grenadier cap with a front plate, which developed from the camp cap. It is an early form of the pointed grenadier cap common later in the 18th century.

The red coat had a rich braid trimming.

For the Netherlands 1680 is regarded as the year of the introduction of the uniform, namely in iron-grey for the infantry and in blue for the guard.

The Russian army already numbered about 370,000 men under the predecessors of Peter the Great (09.06.1672 - 08.02.1725, accession: 1689) and consisted of troops in the traditional Russian manner (113,000 men) and of troops of foreign type (90,000 men). Cossacks and other irregular cavalry (160,000 men) and artillery (3,400 men).

The traditionally dressed Streltsy (= archers) shown below belonged to an hereditary military estate and had great significance in internal politics.

After the great Streltsy uprising in 1698 the Streltsy were cruelly punished and the corresponding regiments were dissolved.

Peter the Great ordered a modernization of his huge and backward realm along European lines. This affected especially the Russian army, not only in its internal organization but also in the pattern and cut of the uniforms as well as in the armament.

From 1720 Russia adopted dark green.

On the new uniforming Fuchs (Theodor Fuchs, Geschichte des europäischen Kriegswesens. Teil II: Von der Aufstellung der ersten stehenden Heere bis zum Aufkommen der modernen Volksheere, Munich 1974, p. 158) writes the following:

"The uniform colour of the coats initially depended on the regimental commanders. Thus, for example, the Preobrazhensky Regiment wore dark green, which later became the general colour of the Russians. However, all regiments had dark-green, sometimes also red, trousers and camisoles, as well as dark-green stockings. The cut of the coats corresponded to that in the German regiments. That was partly true of the hats as well. The other part wore round, lightly sloped caps with a front-attached, mostly upward-turned peak and a flap sewn to the edge, which was folded down in cold weather. In winter a red cloak with a small collar was worn over it. The officers' uniform corresponded to that of the rank-and-file. Only it was trimmed with gold lace on all seams. The hat had the same ornamentation and was furthermore decorated on the upper edges with small white and red plumes. The sash was red, green and white. As with officers in the rest of Europe, a standing collar, sword and spontoon belonged to the general officer's insignia."

The beginnings of the uniforming of the Prussian army go back to the time of Elector George William; the Elector's Life Guard (1,000 foot and 150 horse) was said to have been clothed in dark blue in 1632. Only since 1670 did the uniform appear on a larger scale in Prussia.

In 1685 the Great Elector ordered that "to every regiment a certain colour of standards and clothes" should be given. With some exceptions the infantry was already uniformed in dark blue at that time. Nevertheless, the infantry regiments under the Great Elector were often very differently clothed; under Frederick I, however, a clear tendency toward the colours blue and red can be observed.

A comprehensive regulation that considered even the smallest detail of military clothing was not enacted until the reign of King Frederick William I.

The other states oriented themselves (especially within the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation) depending on their political alignment - toward France or Austria, or toward Prussia.

The uniforms in Bavaria (from 1670) were at first predominantly blue and later received the light-blue colour characteristic for Bavarian troops.

In the Hessian uniform history the landgravates of Hesse-Darmstadt (later Grand Duchy) and Hesse-Kassel (Electorate/Courland of Hesse) must be distinguished.

Before 1700 Hesse-Darmstadt had a territorial committee of militia, which were later converted into field troops.

For the early period blue coats are reported, e.g. for the territorial militia; later blue (such as the above-shown infantry regiment von Schrautenbach and the Kreis regiment) and white (e.g. the battalions Düring, Dallwig and Lehrbach) coats became common. The Life Grenadier Corps wore white coats in the period from 1739 to 1768.

Around 1683 the Life Regiment wore red and the rest of the infantry grey uniform coats. The lining of these was different.

From 1695 the infantry and the mounted troops in Saxony were uniformed red. Knötel describes the red colour for the Electoral Saxon infantry in this early phase as quite generally customary.

At that time no distinction was made between musketeers and pikemen.

In 1701 there were 21 infantry regiments. Their coats had no facings and a single row of buttons (from 1742 two rows of buttons, no facings anymore), so that they could be fully buttoned down the front.

Even in 1730 the infantry wore red coats with facings, lapels, sleeve cuffs and waistcoats of different colours. The accoutrements were leather-coloured, the stockings white.

The grenadier caps were fitted with a red front shield with brass fittings and a coloured bag.

Later white uniform coats became common. By 1754 only the Life Grenadier Guard still had red uniform coats, the remaining (12) infantry regiments had white and the (4) Kreis regiments light-grey uniforms.

In the early uniforming of Württemberg troops coats in white, light blue or yellow are found.

From 1734 white coats prevailed in the infantry with different insignia colours. Three of the five regiments had red facings. The sleeve cuffs were red or blue, as were the waistcoats. The buttons were white or yellow. The Life Regiment and the Kreis regiment had red and blue braid respectively.

From 1745 the entire Württemberg infantry wore yellow coats, but not the Kreis regiment. In 1752 blue coats were introduced.