Why were the camouflage uniforms (green, brown, yellow) adopted so late? When it seems that it would be pretty obvious that a soldier would die less often in the field if he’s harder to spot? Even in WW1 French were still wearing bright blue and red uniforms?
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Everyone is talking about early gunpowder but I would like to go further back.
The battles were not the sword one-on-one duels you see on TV. With melee weapons, mostly spears since they were commonly used, your survival in battle depended on your unit keeping formation. It was a spiky mass of spears pushing against another mass of spears – whoever broke first usually lost.
Spotting the enemy is not a problem if it’s hundreds or thousands of people lined up in neat squares. The individual squares had to be large enough to protect the combatants flank and rear but also small enough to allow communication.
Early gunpowder weapons were basically spears. They allowed engagement at a slightly longer range but their primary role was still the same – mass them and try to punch enough holes in the enemy for them to break formation. Adding firearms to your spear formations allowed you to take a stab or two at the enemy when they were 10 metres away rather than 1.5 metres away and then switch to a spear/bayonet once they closed the gap.
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