How Camouflage Evolved

How did we go from bright red coats to digital patterned uniforms? Camouflaged uniforms are basically patterns scientifically and artistically designed to deceive your eye. It’s a jedi mind trick on your eyeballs to make them think there really is no danger in right front of you.

When military camouflage is done correctly it's capable of making even the least stealthy of soldiers practically invisible to our perceptions. But today we take this “craft” naye!...this artform for granted, we act like camo has been around forever when the fact is it’s still a relatively new battlefield development….for humans anyway. For centuries troops wore bright red colors into the fight, British Troops fought in bright red coats as recently as 1885.

Written by: Chris Cappy

#camouflage #uniform #military

[Taskandpurpose]

thanks for watching Spare Parts Army, I really appreciate it ! Leave a comment below, what was your favorite camouflage pattern?

[gameragodzilla]

Red uniforms were also used because black powder threw up a lot of smoke on the battlefield and made it hard to discern what was going on, so bright colors were more easily seen and allowed you to know what was going on with your own troops. I think the switch towards more natural colors came alongside the advent of smokeless powder, which not only threw up far less smoke as the name implied, but also dramatically increased the effective range of the infantry weapon.

[nonpartisangunowner]

Fun fact: The reason red was chosen for British Army uniforms was that the coloring dye was the cheapest to make and therefore most economical for equipping a large force.

[block]

A former co-worker of mine was in the Army in the later 1980's. Being color blind he could spot any camo from a distance. So he always was on point. Being based in Germany he never fought anywhere.

[cheatcharoninc]

*fun fact: some filipino soldiers in the Zamboanga siege actually used cardboard boxes as camouflage. when used they would look like random trash on the ground which would have confused the enemy*

[marclaplante]

Just a clarification. The 1914 “Battle of the Frontier” cost the French not 28, 000 KIA in total but in a single day- August 22, 1914. The first month of war cost the French a quarter of a million KIA in a month, from a nation of 35 million. Almost unimaginable losses.

[wizzzer]

mud and dirt is and will always be the best camouflage. bonus for hiding thermals too!

[USonuMabeaCh]

When I was in the corps, when my unit finally got full marpat digital, we would practice convoy ambushes, and those of us playing the attackers would hide in brush and woods, man I couldn't make out my squadmates after looking away, and I had phenomenal vision then.

[SergeyTaboritsky]

Fun Fact the first camouflage which was developed with science was the German Leibertarn, Professor Johann Georg Schick had developed this pattern, the name Leibertarn or also Leibermuster came from the engineer Hellmut Leiber with his printing technique this has manufactured. And no the Leibertarn was not a Waffen SS Camo it was devolped for both Waffen SS and Wehrmacht, this was to replace all camouflage, how far the development went in the direction of Zeltbahn is not known, but it is very likely that it would have gone in this direction.

[rouge]

A reason why soldiers wore bright colors you didn't mention, until the invention of smokeless powder it was a necessity to see soldiers on the battlefield for officers because there were quickly too much smoke to see clairly their troops and enemy during the battle

[kaziiqbal]

I feel like it’s such a massive flex that the Italians took one shot at a camo pattern and absolutely knocked it out the park.

[shevetlevi]

There's also the IDF mitznefet, a kind of floppy chef's hat that covers their helmets to break up the rounded helmet outline. It's reversible with one side suitable for camoflage in the wooded north and desert camo on the other side. It has enough excess material so that it can also be pulled down on one side of the head as sun protection.

[john.rc.]

An informative lesson on camouflage, also entertaining with just the right amount of comic relief. Great job.

[jamesclark]

When I was in Afghanistan in 2012, the Army was switching to the Multicam from the UCP. The UCP were supposed to be thrown out in special bins for retrieval and destruction. A few month later while in country I had to assist in the BDA of FOB Bastion after it got attacked. The bodies of the insurgents were wearing UCP uniforms with name tags and rank tabs.

[zanriboy]

Hi. I appreciated that creative psychedelic digression about the one that you call "Telo Memento" - which is probably the reason of all the misunderstanding - but I must warn you about the real name of that early Italian camo pattern: it is called Telo MIMETICO. "Mimetico" is an adjective from the noun "mimesi" (from anciant Greek "mymesis") that litterary means "imitation" - as you can see, the root "mime" is still contained in the more modern latin version of this word, "imitatio". So, Telo Mimetico just means "fabric" or "cloth" (printed with) an imitative (of nature, indeed) pattern. Short: Imitative Cloth, Telo Mimetico.
Take care

[peterb]

US Army: Find me the best expert in the art of Camouflage.
Me: ... that might take some time.

[lc]

After watching more of your videos, I realized your balanced way of explanation is awesome. Keep it up!

[brucepaul]

The British changed their red uniforms for their first camo in the second part of the Anglo Boer War. In the first part the Boer Republics forces shot the British to pieces due to them standing out on the South African veld especially in winter. The British finally realised standing out maybe wasn't a good idea and adopted the colour of the veld, dry grass. This realisation happened almost the same time on two fronts. In India and in South Africa.

[Maxaldojo]

What a blast! Thanks, Cappy.
I come into this from a civilian using camo when hunting. We need to deal with deer vision and smell. I generally use a Realtree or Mossyoak pattern.

[janvesely]

It reminded me of Franz Marc, German impressionist who died in WWI. For a long time, I thought he was just this unfortunate artist drafted into the cruel war machine, yet later I learned that he actually become interested in camouflage and utilized his talent and skills to create some innovative patterns to hide artillery positions from aerial recon.