The history of the uniform. Uniform as a system of signs
"Daniel Rantzau captures the Turbi Bridge in Scania during the Seven Years' War 1563-1570."
The picture shows us a typical "transition period" battle from the era of chivalry to mercenary and national armies. Cuirassiers and spearmen are fighting in the center of the picture. Dragoons in leather jackets (on the right) shoot at men at arms with pistols. The infantry, led by officers in high hats and scarves over their shoulders, is hurrying across the bridge. Christian Holm (1804-1846).
State Museum of Art, Copenhagen
Of blue, purple and scarlet wool
they made service clothes,
to serve in the sanctuary;
also made sacred garments for Aaron,
as the Lord commanded Moses.
Exodus 39: 1
they made service clothes,
to serve in the sanctuary;
also made sacred garments for Aaron,
as the Lord commanded Moses.
Exodus 39: 1
History uniforms. As you can see, already in ancient times, and the Bible was written a long time ago, people distinguished between ordinary clothes from "service", which distinguished those dressed in it from the crowd. And today we will begin another series of articles, continuing the theme of "the history of clothing", a cycle entirely devoted to the history of military uniforms, that is, uniforms.
By the way, the very word "uniform", meaning uniform clothing, has been used in relation to army clothing for only about two centuries, however, in its current understanding, uniforms appeared at least a hundred years before that: in most European armies, it received a universal distribution at the turn of the XVII-XVIII centuries.
The uniform can be considered the robes of the knights of spiritual orders ... Still from the movie "The Crusaders" (1960)
And priests - monks, priests and cardinals. For example, how simple but tasteful the vestments of Cardinal Richelieu looked. Shot from the movie "The Three Musketeers" (1961)
If you look even further into the past and expand the concept of uniforms, speaking of military clothing in general, you will notice that some, characteristic only of people who wear weapon, the clothing culture has existed since time immemorial. One of its criteria is the use of a certain common sign adopted only in a given army.
But we will not talk about the ancestors of modern uniforms for now, but we will begin our story just from the end of the XNUMXth century, when combat units began to appear in the armies of different countries, dressed in suits of the same cut and color.
Armor of the harquebusier of 1638. Well, most likely, this is not the armor of an ordinary shooter, but the armor of an officer, made to order. Nevertheless, even then a camisole made of durable leather was worn under them. And in it it was quite possible to fight without armor! Royal Arsenal, Leeds
First of all, it should be noted that the presence of common insignia is characteristic not only of military clothing.
For example, the pantaloons of sans-culottes (fr. Sans-culottes; lit .: without short pants), fighters of the Great French Revolution, at that time served as just such a sign, distinguishing them from aristocrats who wore culottes - short pants made of expensive fabric, and looked out from under them stockings. A similar role was played by the beggarly bag in the Dutch revolution of the XNUMXth century or the armbands of the Petrograd Red Guards.
These examples are associated with turning historical events, however, signs that are a symbolic expression of group consciousness, belonging to a particular community, as an everyday phenomenon, are ubiquitous today, for example, "orange vests" in France.
By the way, it was France that excelled in the creation of uniformly dressed soldiers. Back in 1600, King Henry IV started a company of "carabinieri" from the nobility, armed with light carbines, which became his personal guard. In 1622, by order of King Louis XIII, carbines were replaced with long-barreled muskets, after which the Guardsmen were called “Musketeers of the Royal Military House” or simply “Royal Musketeers”.
French royal musketeer 1660
Illustration from the book V. Vuksic, Z. Grbasic. "Cavalry. The history of fighting elite 650BC – AD1914 ”London, Cassell, 1994. P. 133
The king's musketeers versus the cardinal's guards (essentially the same musketeers with the same functions). The red color of the guardsmen's cloaks was adopted by analogy with the color of the cardinal's mantle. A simple white cross is a symbol of faith. Note that they are wearing stockings, not boots. Why do they need boots if they are in the city? They were being worn when going on horseback!
Rice. Graham Turner
The musketeers' uniform was a short azure cloak with silver braids and white crosses sewn on it both in front and behind, and on its side blades. These crosses were of velvet, with embroidered golden royal lilies at the ends and scarlet trefoils in the crosshairs. Horses of gray color (or rather, white or gray in apples) gave the name "gray musketeers".
There were also "black musketeers" (after the color of the horses assigned to them in 1663). The armament consisted of a musket with a bipod, a sword, a broadsword (for fighting in equestrian ranks), a pair of pistols, a dagger (a dagger for the left hand) and a buffalo leather sling with cartridges, a powder flask, a sack for bullets and a spare wick. Well, after the appearance of the baginet, this set was also included. At the same time, the treasury gave the musketeers only a musket, while other weapons and equipment, including a horse and a servant, the musketeer had to buy or hire on his own.
Fashion changed - the uniform of the royal musketeers also changed ... This is how they looked at the end of the XNUMXth century.
Rice. Graham Turner
So, in 1673, the Musketeers received gold braids in the first company and silver ones in the second. And in 1677 they were dressed in red uniforms with gold or silver braids and black leather boots. The hat was also black with white ostrich feathers. But in 1688, the characteristic azure Cossack raincoats were replaced by the supervests of the same color (sleeveless jackets worn over the uniform).
Musketeers in superwests. Rice. Graham Turner
In fact, these were lightly armed horse archers who guarded the king's person during his exits and walks, and also accompanied him in those campaigns in which he personally participated. Subsequently, the form of the royal musketeers changed several times, following the general fashion, but they were finally abolished only in the era of the Restoration, that is, under Louis XVIII, in 1816!
Black Musketeers in Everyday Uniform, engraving by F.D.N. Dieudonne, 1815
In clothes of this type, a kind of conscious principle manifests itself, but this is by no means identical with normativity. If the issues related to this uniform or differing only in a certain general sign of clothing, for the purpose of its codification, the power begins to be dealt with, more or less dependent on which the group of people wearing this clothing is, defining this clothing or any of its details as mandatory for each member of this group, the first characteristic signs of uniforms begin to appear in the clothes.
Changing the shape of the royal musketeers from 1660 to 1814.
Fig. Charles Werner (1831-1887)
The uniform of the Polish "winged hussars" was also very characteristic. Approximately the same "three-quarter armor" was generally similar for them, "leopards" - the skin of a leopard, or even a tiger, was considered an indispensable attribute of a "real hussar". But the most important form element was the “wings” with feathers. It is known that 3 Polish hussars, equipped in this way, distinguished themselves in the battle of Vienna in 000!
Illustration from the book V. Vuksic, Z. Grbasic. "Cavalry. The history of fighting elite 650BC – AD1914 ”London, Cassell, 1994. P. 133
The attack of the "winged hussars" looked very impressive!
Still from the movie "With Fire and Sword" (1999)
The stronger the dependence on the legislative intentions of the authorities, which at first has a pronounced economic nature, and then gives rise to ideology, the more obvious are the external signs of the unification of the suit. These types of clothing of various groups, defined in the normative order, acquire a sign of durability and, due to their ideological conditioning, are less dependent on the changeable fashion of the time. The members of this group thus get out of the "competition" taking place in the society in outfits.
This degree of normativity manifested itself, for example, already in the clothing of knightly and monastic orders of the Middle Ages, becoming evidence that uniformity in clothing was the privilege of not only armies.
On the other hand, military clothing, although outwardly it really is a uniform, is by no means the result of volitional decisions alone - to a much greater extent, it becomes the result of adaptation to objective requirements.
There was at that time a certain arbitrariness in the choice of a military "suit". For example, these "three-quarter armor" were worn by German horsemen. Just creepy, isn't it?
Vienna Imperial Armory.
Photo by the author
It is interesting that the same armor in the XVI-XVII centuries. belonged to the spearmen, the only difference was in the presence of a spear hook on the cuirass. But their numbers were rapidly dwindling.
Vienna Imperial Armory
If in other uniformized groups common insignia are to a certain extent the product of arbitrary choice, then in the army the use of insignia is caused by the urgent needs of war: the ability to orientate during battle, distinguish between one's own and opponents - these are elementary requirements for the military of all countries, peoples and eras.
When a certain level of organization is reached, the whole clothing or most of its elements can become a symbol.
In irregular military formations, as, indeed, in the army itself, from a practical point of view, insignia and identification are sufficient, which are used only during battle. It can be either a piece of clothing of a certain color, or a family coat of arms, like the knights of the Middle Ages, or even a banner that played such a role already in the Roman legions.
The use of the coat of arms in military clothing was reflected in the etymology of the German word "Waffenrock" (uniform). No matter how natural the combination of its two parts may look, the first of them does not hide "die Waffe" (weapon), but "das Wappen" (coat of arms), which was depicted on a mantle or tunic worn over the armor. The orange-red belt introduced by Wallenstein in the Austrian army during the Thirty Years' War, as well as the cockades on helmets that appeared in the French army in the XNUMXth century, should also be considered as battle identification marks.
It was at this time that they began to be divided into musketeers and spear-pikemen. The Musketeers did not wear armor, but could wear helmets, although most preferred wide-brimmed hats, again in the fashion of the time. The uniform of the pikemen was a cuirass with legguards, a morion helmet or a cabasset. The heavy cavalry was divided into cuirassiers, reitars and spearmen. As already noted, the skin of a leopard, lion or tiger thrown over the shoulders instead of a cloak gave the Polish hussars a particularly warlike look ...
This illustration shows examples of early uniforms from the first half of the XNUMXth century (from left to right): a Polish winged hussar, a cabasset helmet (below), a horseman's spear, a musket stand (forket) and a musket itself, a musketeer on the bottom left, a pikeman on the right.
Foster G., Hoch P., Muller R. "Uniformen europaischer Armeen" VEB, Berlin, 1978. P. 55
The formation of the uniform was facilitated by the specific practice established throughout Europe in the XNUMXth-XNUMXth centuries, which consisted in the fact that local authorities (feudal lords, cities, nobility) billed more or less significant detachments of troops for the sovereign, who received uniforms in a centralized manner. Part of the salaries of the soldiers equipped in this way was spent on their clothing.
For example, foot and horse troops exhibited by Nuremberg in honor of the local ruler had a red and white uniform. Although these units had clothes of the same colors and styles, their choice was still random, depending on material capabilities and fashion. But the very custom of centralized purchases and supplies of individual military units, which finally took shape during the Thirty Years War, became the basis for such a practice of the XNUMXth century already in relation to the entire army.
During the Thirty Years' War, the appearance of the soldier continued to be standardized, although the general impoverishment of the last years of the war showed the opposite trend. Now the military costume of almost all soldiers consisted of leather jackets, flowing collars, wide trousers and a felt hat with wide brim.
The officer shown in this picture has a characteristic appearance from the era of the Thirty Years War. The officers were usually dressed like soldiers, but their jackets and trousers were more sumptuously decorated with braids. True, the soldiers had to pay for the clothes for the most part themselves, but officers and regimental commanders now more and more often began to purchase uniforms for their troops in bulk, which led to an even greater standardization of clothing. Next to him is a typical cuirassier from the era of the Thirty Years War. The three swords painted here belong to the late XNUMXth - early XNUMXth centuries. The last in the row is the Polish saber - the beginning of the XNUMXth century.
Foster G., Hoch P., Muller R. "Uniformen europaischer Armeen" VEB, Berlin, 1978. P. 57
One of the differences of that time was the multi-colored sashes and scarves over the shoulder. They were white, red, orange ...
To be continued ...
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