Why the british use red uniform?

Answer 1

Answer

The �Red Coats� (The Thin Red Line)

On 19 February 1645, the English parliament passed the New Model Army Ordinance. The infantry regiments wore coats of Venetian red with white facings. The original intention was to use blue uniforms, but red was cheaper. The dye used for much of the history of the Red Coat, was cochineal dye. Very few items of clothing invoke images of fear, alarm, heroism, distane, and yes loathing. Look to the long list of battles that English soldiers have worn Red in to realise why. It is useful to appreciate for example that to see a Regiment of Red Coats forming in front of an enemy of England only meant one thing. Death or Glory. For the enemy it mean�t a ferocious fight. This itself caused dread amongst any enemy. Plassay in 1757,Albuhera, the Storming of Badajoz, the Corps of Marines at Trafalgar,Waterloo in 1815, The Taku Forts, and Balaclava to name a few.

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Also in the days when armies fought fixed battles involving armaments using gunpowder, battlefields were choked with a haze of obscuring gunpowder smoke. The Bright unifomes of the protagonists enabled commanders to see and identify their troop positions during the battle.

Answer 2

The British forces wore the red uniforms for three reasons:

1. Red is a bright colour and is very formidable and angry to look at especially if there is a line of soldiers facing an enemy. This can make the enemy nervous and therefore easier to kill or disperse. This was seen countless times especially in the use of controlling the order in some overseas colonies and crushing revolts.
2. When the British redcoats were first commissioned sometime in the late 1600's, the red dye was the cheapest and most available. Since the British had a huge Empire covering most of the known lands on Earth and therefore the biggest united army the world has ever seen, they needed a LOT of dye, so they went for the cheapest and most available - red.
3. Another reason is so that the British could appear to never back down when injured on the battlefield. The red colour hid any signs of bloody wounds on the soldiers bodies, this can play around with the minds of the enemy and loosen their morale.

The British continued to use the red uniform right up until the end of the Boer War, where guerilla warfare was used and it became apparent that redcoats were obvious targets. So instead the British started to use the khaki, which is the colour the Indian army used before Britain controlled India, in some but not all places. By the First World War, most of the British Commonwealth forces wore Khaki uniforms. The redcoats today are still used for ceremonial reasons and by the Queens/Kings Guard Regiment (the soldiers who protect the British Monarch), but never in active warfare.

Answer 3

Almost everything in the British Army has a tradition to it. I'm not sure where the red coat originated from but it displayed boldness on the battlefield and looked frightening to the enemy. It was also good at hiding blood so as not to scar the soldiers when their comrade was shot.

Answer 4

So you couldn't see the blood when wounded