Evolution Of The French Uniform WW1
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- čas přidán 5. 08. 2024
- With the beginning of modern warfare, the French army had to adapt quickly which led to each year almost being a whole new look for the French Poilu. This video gives a quick look to the viewer of an example of what each soldier would have worn during the years of the Great War.
A Horizon Blue Media Video
Music by Auri Forda
special thanks to those who came out to make this video possible
and to help those who gave the ultimate sacrifice when their country needed them.
Please check out our unit page for more Info about the poilu and to check out WW1 French re-enacting www.151ril.com/
00:00 - intro
00:11 - 1914
01:44 - 1915
03:15 - 1916
04:41 - 1917
06:01 - 1918 - Zábava
The grey blue uniform actually blends well in the Trench Warfare, especially when the environment is filled with smoke and dust with no vegetation left.
French uniform department:
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Then why did no other nation use a grey-blue uniform?🤔
@@Briselance Austria and China did during WW2.
Austria had very blue uniforms.
@@Briselance Austria-Hungary started off with one, officially called Hechtgrau or "pike grey", although some cavalry initially wore brightly coloured uniforms including red breeches. Hechtgrau was found to be unsuited to the Eastern Front and in 1915 a gradual change to field grey like German uniforms came in.
When you realize that the fact that each iteration being worn by a different model is also historically accurate...
All the best from Germany mes amis ! May we have everlasting peace bewtween our nations.
Merci à vous, mein freund.
Danke mon ami. 🤝🏻
@@Occitan-Descoteaux 🤗🌹🇩🇪👋
Based af all of you
I know people love bashing it but the 1914 uniform is my favorite uniform out of all belligerents in WWI. Yes, a complete detriment to modern warfare but you can’t argue how stylish it was.
Honestly best uniform of WW1. Horizon blue + Adrian helmet goes so hard.
Maybe it looks great but it looks greater for german machineguns who easly targeted them, I will never understand the french obsession with blue
Fr, but german uniform goes hard, too. Trenchcoat, all gray and badass helmet with "devil" horns.
I agree that the French uniform has something iconic and beautiful. But personally, I prefer the German ones; the iconic "field grey" (a mix of green and grey) in early war with red stripes, combining modern camouflage (that the French obviously hadn't) and remains of the older times.
Later of course, field grey tunic, stone grey breeches and the incredible "Stahlhelm", that unfortunately became infamous in WW2...
Yo so we can blend in-
With the sky...
Bleu la couleur des franc-maçon.
La France pays des franc-maçon
Awesome! Fascinating to see the changes to the uniform and equipment as the war dragged on. What a great tribute to the brave Poilus! May they never be forgotten.
Les uniformes, la qualité de l'image et la musique sont de qualités !
Carrément!
The horizon blue and the Adrian helmet were adopted so quickly in 1915 because, even if they didn't adopt khaki or grey uniforms as other countries, the French did a lot of work on new uniforms in the years before the war, and some months before the start many things were on the verge of being ready waiting for a political ''yes''. They also created a camouflage (wich is a French word) very early in the war to help in the concealment of artillery and machine guns positions and also for the basic soldier.
There were experiments before the war with "reseda green" uniforms for the French army but they came to nothing.
@@stevekaczynski3793 Before WWI France, that may be ironic for some, was one of the countries that put more thougth and work on camouflage and new uniforms. The Reseda was ready but political and other things came in his way. So in late 1914 they have a lot of experience and designs ready, the problem was that the industry was now not ready for certain desings because of the mobilization and the lack of certain dyes, the horizon blue was the best they could, and ''Moutarde'' (mustad color) for the colonial troops, but the uniform was more modern and the Adrian was the first mass produced modern helmet. In a few months the french soldiers get one of the biggest change in gear of the war.
As a European historian, I must tell you how proud I am of you and your team. This was professional and well planned. Excellent work. Thank you so very much for sharing your thoughts and music. ❤
Bravo, belle présentation de nos poilus !
Bravo ! Cette musique, poignante sans lourdeur, et l'immobilisme vivant de ces hommes surgis du passé donnent à cette revue de détail une beauté touchante, qui honore ces combattants largement oubliés aujourd'hui.
Amazing job guys! Very excited to see more!
Fantastic video. The quality is amazing.
Great insight to the uniform of the solider . Cheers
Masterfully put together, looking forward to future videos!
This video is absolutely incredible! Great work!
beautiful uniforms ever
Superbly done, merci.
Excellent work! Keep up the great work!
Beautiful uniforms and accessories! Here in the US, we tend to see only our own and the English....but the French (and the Russians, and others) were also in the War.
hello, not also on the ww1, the most : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I_casualties
smile...also...
"The French were also in the war "... Yes, 1400 000 dead french soldiers remember it .
@@oiseaudeminerve1478 I cant stand the "internet trolls" that states that the french are cowards...They where the ones who had to teach the Yanks when they entered the war.. Otherwise the US would have repeated 1914 all over again.
Also? You mean mainly?
Fantastic work and historically accurate!
Incredible!!!! Great work on this
Very cool video!
I know the focus is on the uniform/equipment, but I'd love to get a little closer look at the rifle & bayonet as well.
Very interesting. Great work. Thanks ! 👍
This is amazing!
Amazing job, enjoyed that
Solo ha faltado ver a los cuatro juntos! Buen trabajo. 👍
Images de qualité exceptionnelle. Ces Hommes aimaient leur pays , pas comme beaucoup de nos contemporains. Pensées et respect à eux
Awesome uniform and background!
If I can answer your question, why the French uniform was horizon blue, the staff wanted another uniform because seeing the red and blue uniform was too old and outdated. However, many were against the idea of changing this uniform because it was too symbolic (it is the color of France). Thus in 1914 it was finally decided to make a uniform where the blue of the top was mixed with the red of the bottom to make a color a little dark purplish red. However the red dye was exported from Germany and the rest you know...that's why the uniform is blue!!
Great work on all your uniforms! Much love from the Bavarian Leib Regiment across the way, can't wait to go over the top at you guys next month.
Beautiful job!
Thank you! Cheers!
Fantastic,so rare to see WW1 other than german and Brits so this is great
Subscribed within 60 seconds. Excellent quality and attention to detail.
The thumbnail alone placed you....I know that building behind you! I was there recently! Not sure why I'm so giddy over it but here we are.
Fantastic job. Best wishes from la Pologne!
151st is the group im planning on joining when i finally get a uniform! ill use this video as an guide :)
Great 👍🏻 work !
Excellent👍👍
Marvelous video! I am a WW2 re-enactor with over 30 years in the hobby. I have often wanted to re-enact The Great War. Sadly it isn't very popular here in the US due to our limited involvement in it. I love the early war uniforms of the French especially Zouave and Chasseurs. I know we ( USA ) adopted and bought many uniforms from France during the US Civil War and those have always been my favorite! BTW, my Grandfather and Great Uncle both fought in WW1 in France for the US. They loved the French people.
Best representation I've seen of the French uniform's evolution in WW1. I don't think I've seen a realistic representation of the 1915 mish-mash anywhere, but this one is accurate right down to the corduroy pants because there wasn't enough horizon blue production yet. 1916 with the cover on the helmet but not the following years as the covers were dropped as they increased the risk of infection in case of head wounds. The list goes on. Bon boulot les gars!!! 👍
Merci!
Love the Newville backdrop. Bon Chance.
Une sacrée évolution en très peu de temps.
l'uniforme de 1918 est d'une beauté, il reste mon préfère a ce jour . Magnifique travail !
Very well done indeed.
You really should do the cavalry, the Hussars, Dragoons and Cuirassiers where unbelievable at the beginning of the war
This is actually the WW1 French reenactment group, I am planning on falling in one day. I have even been brushing up on my high school, so I really get authentic. Also love the video as well.
Superbe. Bravo.
Where do you get your uniforms and other supplies from?? I’ve looked around and have found very little for French uniforms.
Beau travail
Great work! So much change in only four years. I'd love to do 1915, but the amount of changes made is dizzying
As a member of the 18th I recognized that farmhouse immediately hahah
Thanks man! Really appreciate it!!
Oh yea you guys deff have the most photogenic bunker at newville hands down!
Nice
I was just telling my wife about this particular bit of history a while back. Shared! =^[.]^=
One month since Winterline and I miss Newville already lol
La musique est de circonstances, que tout nos aïeux reposent en paix et puisse la bêtise qui nous a conduit à cette horreur ne jamais revenir.
Great video. In the 1914 uniform the hat reminds me of the hats from the Civil War.
During the american civil war, uniforms were inspired by the french uniform.
The french army uniforms barely changed between the 1870s and 1914, because there wasn't a lot of war the army got involved in during this time (most of the wars were colonizing and were fought by the Navy's infantry, except for the conquest of Madagascar), and also because the public opinion liked this uniform and when the Headquarters tried to modernise it in the late 1900s/early 1910s there was an immense backlash.
You can look for the 1903 "Boër" uniform, which was a dark shade of blue-grey inspired from the Boërs "uniforms" the british were fighting at that time, we don't know for sure why it was not adopted, and for the more famous 1911 grey-green "Réséda" uniform, which appeared first in a quite large scale during the 1911 military exercizes but caused a huge backalsh and was then scrapped.
@@didierpaya9069 and there ya go. Didn't know that, thanks.
@@didierpaya9069indeed, the French were seen as a military gold standard, until the Germans bested them and stole the title. Civil War Zouaves bear an uncanny resemblance to the Frenchman of 1914, down to the red pantaloons for some units.
french uniform from all eras is just immaculate in my opinion
Looking good gentleman
Very Well Done! I am Very Glad to See the Regiment that Mark Hilliard and myself started at Mt. St. Mary’s in northern Maryland in 1978 is going Stronger than Ever!!!!! On Les Aura!!! Vive La France!!!!!🇫🇷🇫🇷🇫🇷🇫🇷🇫🇷🇫🇷🇫🇷🇫🇷🇫🇷🇫🇷🇫🇷🇫🇷🇫🇷🇫🇷🇫🇷
Seen with our 21nd century eyes the grey blue colour appear odd - we're used to "dirt" colours in camo pattern. But seen from early 20th century I guess it made sense. Large formations of troops clad in bluegray uniforms would I guees blend more in than any other colour when observed from distance (+1 km) as the air itself is "bluish" and hence the colour of the French uniform was called Horizon Blue. Next, seen from a trench, enemy troops approaching would usually have the horizon as background and/or smoke. The more I think of it that odd bluegray appear a good idea, and anyway - it looks damned good! Could be my bid for the most handsome uniform of the 20th and 21st centuries.
Imagine being at the first battle of the Marne and you effectively have an American civil War load out.
I didn't realize the War had gone on for so long before they adopted that classic French helmet. Great job!
It was the first helmet to see wide adoption, early in 1916. The British Brodie helmet began to be introduced in the spring of the same year and the German Stahlhelm late in July 1916.
@@stevekaczynski3793 French helmets were issued in the summer of 1915.
Congratulations.
The French minister of war said, blue is the colour of France it's a pride to wear it........well it wasn't him who had to fight with on a brown battlefield
What a phenomenal looking group of men!
Well done. Greetings from the german cavalry. :)
Interestingly, the Imperial Japanese Army adopted the pattern 1937 French uniform as standard through WW2, but with their own helmet.
Even in 1914, overtrousers, typically horizon blue, were often worn over the madder red trousers to make the uniform less conspicuous. The horizon blue cap cover worn by the 1914 guy is the beginning of common sense.
my god, the 1914 uniform is really something else. the first world war was really the first modern war in so many ways... I don't think that even ceremonial uniforms are that colourful nowadays, not unless we're talking about the president's honour guard of cuirassiers.
Can it be said that the color of the combat uniform was dyed with a low saturation as the latter period progressed?
4:41 Is he a combat engineer/sapper/pioneer, or was the billhook a common issue item?
He would be a regular infantrymen, with an assault set up. With the billhook that would have been an issued item with 16 distributed within the company
Alors les uniformes sont très beaux. Mais la seule question que je me pose est, où avez-vous acheté ou trouvé les uniformes que vous portiez lors de votre vidéo?
The uniforms are all custom made by tailors within our re-enacting groups!
Dripped out kits
The blue is beautiful
anyone know the song?, the description only mentions the artist
Autumn mist - auri fardo
Very well done !
I see that the boy wearing the second uniform has brown corderoy trousers which do not seem to be reglementary. Was it that common for soldiers to wear civiliant clothes ? I know the could wear civilian pullovers or scarves, but trousers seem way more visible, would that be allowed by the officers ?
With the transition of red trousers to the horizon blue m1914 trousers there was a shortage of material and horizon blue material was focused on coats. So with that gap The french military decided to use corduroy work trousers sewn to the pattern of the m1914 trousers as a temporary measure due to their hardiness and low price. But like you mentioned, them being seen as a civilian item, french soldiers who were captured wearing them would be tried and shot as spies. So those trousers were put to a stop quickly and only seen in 1915 really.
@@horizonbluemedia Interesting! Thank you very much!
@@horizonbluemedia The Belgians also fought in full-colour uniforms in 1914, then in 1915 they went through a period where their troops, cut off from their depots in Belgium, were also wearing corduroy work trousers, sometimes wine-red in colour. Later on they adopted khaki uniforms as well as a version of the Adrian helmet. Probably they obtained their clothing from French factories.
To our eyes now, the unifoand equipment look very primitive, but I its day it was pretty much state of the art.
After a few months with the dark blue jacket and red pants, they were like Yeaa, no, we need to change this shit, fast!
The uniform it's beautiful although must recognized the fact that it lacks camouflage which means that a soldier out of a fortified position is easy target !!!
¡Gran trabajo! Felicitaciones.👏
Le Pantalon Rouge!
We should have not fight against each other.... In the Wars... we should have had a caffee and afterwards we should have going home.... 🇩🇪🌹
Oui mais malheureusement, les hommes qui gagnent de l'argent sur les guerres décides
We should have shared a yummy Currywurst 😊
Nice, but it really could use a voiceover explaining the various pieces of kit, the changes between uniforms and explanations for the changes.
That’s going to be future videos! Where we’ll be diving into the separate years of the war talking about kit and changes
👍💪
The Armée d'Orient had a kaki uniform, like the Armée d'Afrique, way before it became the standard in Metropolitan troops.
What's that blanket round his neck in 1917?
It is his “Toile de tente” or his shelter half worn in the assault order
They always had good boots back then
I would kill for a whole mle 15 kit and uniform
So much drip
« Avec les Allemands, nous nous sommes tellement battus que nos sangs ne font plus qu'un ». (Ferdinand Gilson - 1898-2006)
Man idk the bf1 french medic was ft in here
French uniform barely changed since 1820
Noticed the gas mask didn’t improve like the British
Also kept the same rifle
The Lebel 1886 was use during all WW1,but after 1915 more and more other weapons was use like the all first squad automatic rifle CSRG 1915 Chauchat , Berthier 1907/1915 muskets (3 and 5 magazine), and finaly 2 weapons delivered to a limited number of squads like the semi automatic rifles RSC 1917/1918 (all this weapons did use the 8mm Lebel cartiges), and the automatic rifle Ribeyrolles 1918 with experimental intermediate 8x35 cartige (yes far before the sturmgewehr...)
Does the 1917 soldier carry a coupe coupe?
If they happen to be a Senegalese Tiralleur, yes
@@RandomFurry07 but he's not in this case. As far as I know, it wasnt used by metropolitan regiments
It’s a French issued Billhook or “Serpe”, 12 were issued per company
@@horizonbluemedia thank you!
This war is going to get expensive, we need to cut costs. Lets get rid of the bright colors and go with cheaper dull colors
Clearly the French do not need camouflage.
Ils ne passeront pas
Theres a time on 1914 which French disastrously loses approx 4000 men in a single day because their colourful uniform combined with outdated tactic basically became an aiming point to the German Machinegunners.
About 27000 casualties in fact. But The unifom had little to do with that, 85% of the casualties where caused by artillery. The shells don't care about the color of your clothes ... the high death tolls come from attacking right into a zone designed by the german as a trap in german Lorraine, with pre-programmed artillery barrage and defensive position. A few day later, after the french withdrawal, the german army suffered the same way when they marched into the same kind of trap in the battle of the "trouée de Chames" in french Lorraine, hence a bloody stalemate on this part of the front. These battle have been largely forgotten due to the importance of the clash on the western part of the front (culminating in the battle of the Marne).
@@vonlienstein5783 excellente analyse.
@@didierpaya9069 Merci. je te renvoie vers la chaine youtube "Sur le champ" si tu veux plus de détail sur les combats de l'année 1914 à l'ouest
@@vonlienstein5783 Good one a part form that the germans were massacred by French 75mm when they used the attack in masse as others in that era, the uniform was of little help.
Goodbye blue tunic with brass buttons and red trousers… goodbye
Made of thick wool and extremely hot to wear in the summertime.
As was found by many armies at the time. The French were so partial to wearing the greatcoat, even in the summer, that there were rumours they had no tunics. In reality they did have one, called the "vareuse".
The Austro-Hungarian Army's wool uniform was also too warm in summer - a lighter-weight cotton version did exist.
@@stevekaczynski3793 They must've been limited by how they were dressed in terms of combat performance in the summer. It reminds me of the last royal wedding here in Sweden, where a soldier dressed in an old-style uniform passed out on camera.
do they actually wear coat during summer😂
Yes actually! The coat is actually a lighter wool than most other greatcoats, and the French soldier would wear it throughout the year, and it would also double as their blanket