The First Uniforms- the earliest records dating back to 4000 B.C. indicate that the city of Felica was guarded by men who wore the “skins of a leopard over the white robe of Tufu.” These guardsmen made up the original army of the Tufan Dynasty. The leopard is highly regarded as a symbol of military might in Southern Delasia for that reason.
The Marauders of Elise who were reported by the historian Nades to wear “cloth of scarlet,” vanquished Tufu’s kingdom in 3704 B.C. General history maintains that die from the Elisium plant was used to die woolen robes.
Red garments are mentioned for the rest of Pre-Christian times as the basic garb of a soldier. The introduction of armor circa 500 B.C. changed the nature of uniforms, but ornamental red capes and died plumes graced the armor of the Comanian Empire. Statues and armor found preserved demonstrated the importance that the military classes were exerting on culture.
Armored Knights- The Christian era brought about many class changes in Dannunifius and Delasia. As an order of priests and clergy developed, military orders designed to protect them did arise as well. St. Hanson Bishop of Sacia organized the Papal Corps and dressed them in armor set off by capes of different colors to denote rank. Purple denoted an infantryman or regular soldier, Green denoted an officer or leader and Red denoted overall command or field marshal’s status.
The Church waged war against the Pagans and Vicapagans in Delasia and Northern Stenfine. It was in this time period that National armies began to arise based on the Church model. Before, warlords and nobles raised their forces when and where needed. These new standing armies were organized primary as a defensive measure. As early nation states began to engage each other in battle, situations arose where individuals would have to be rewarded for heroism. Land grants were common, but Lords and Kings found this too costly. Stipends and improved pay were developed based on a set of ranks and orders.
The Dannunifians instituted a series of Knightly Orders. The Diamonte Superiorus, the Salvatio Cratium and the Templaris Fidelis. These Knights were accompanied by the Church Knights, which had been organized, into religious orders. Eventually the Church relegated these orders into priestly ones and eliminated their soldierly duties. These duties were then given to the Dannunifian Orders represented by a crest that was worn on the armor and on their family heraldry. Bishops, today, ordain Cardinal Deacons in a ceremony that more resembles a Knighting than an ordination. This is based on the fact that that order is descended from the Church Knights.
Kings too created orders and decorations that they bestowed upon their most loyal knights. Foot infantry continued to be secondary to the knights until the Battle of Cosgrove in 505 A.D. At that battle, a soldier named Carters Terrill distinguished himself in battle by saving a squad of Knights and Cardinal Deacons from a Pagan advance. Dannunifian Royal authorities sought to reward him, but no rewards existed for common foot infantry. Terrill was awarded a promotion to Sergeant and given the Order of Terrill, the oldest non-church related order still given in the world today.
The concept of the officer corps and the noncommissioned officer were born from that event. Officers wore gold plated armor, sergeants wore two-tone armor and regular soldiers wore long tunics, if they could afford it, silver armor. The invention of the firearm ended the use of armor and changed the nature of warfare.
The first Modern Uniforms- The fist modern uniforms were used during the Deutscheslavanian wars against Dannunifius in the 1300’s. Field Marshals and Knights began to use the weapons of firearms on the battlefield along with swordsman, cavalry, pike men and artillery. Chaos often resulted in which the commanders could not coordinate their men due to not being able to tell who was who.
Deutscheslavania instituted a color scheme of various colored tunics to determine function on the battlefield. Blue was for infantrymen, red for religious, yellow for artillery, green for swordsmen, purple for cavalry and black for pike men. Rank structure was aligned with pay classes and therefore developed. The lowest rank was the private soldiers who were organized into bodies of men led by corporals. Sergeants oversaw the activity of the company, which was made up of three bodies while a lieutenant conducted the military objective of the company. Privates wore a plain uniform, corporals a hash mark on the sleeve and sergeants two. Lieutenants wore collar devices called Strasse and epaulets, which showed their rank. Captains, set off by ordinate epaulets, were created to control the movements of companies.
A major was a senior captain who wore a gold sash to denote his position. Knights were redesigned as colonels and wore an armor chest plate. The general was a colonel that had preformed a great military victory and wore stars on his epaulets. The Field Marshals were colonels that had obtained the favor of the King through military advice and were addressed as Herr Kernal. Field Marshals were allowed to design a uniform of their choice based on the wardrobe of the royal court.
Other nations copied the Deutscheslavanian model and varied it to meet their needs. By the 1500’s most nations had comparable rank structures. Uniforms soon lost their multicolored splendor in favor of a national color set off by a functional one. Noncommissioned officers adopted chevrons and officers developed a series of epaulets, hat plumes or sleeve stripes.
National Pride and the Golden Age of Uniforms- The 1600’s saw the beginning of a golden age of uniforms. The uniforms became more and more ornate. Helmets and pom-poms adorned elaborate uniforms with high plumes and decorated embroidery. Jamesterdavania’s war for independence in 1610 saw a rise in nationalism through out the world. The Jamsterdavanians were careful to place their soldiers in new and decorated uniforms creating several dozen non-royal orders for officers and soldiers. This was done to promote high moral and professionalism.
Dannunifian observers contrasted the soldiers and reported superior comments about the well dressed and disciplined Jamsterdavanian troops. Deutscheslavania ended the war by replacing its uniform, but the Jamsterdavanian victory was at hand.
The style of ornate military uniforms continued until the Jamsterdavanian Civil War when costs prevented the outfitting of soldiers with unnecessary materials. The richly decorated uniforms of the 1850’s were replaced with blue functional uniforms removed of decorated epaulets. A new system of rank pins replaced the cumbersome standards; and so began a trend to make military uniforms more simple and functional. The trend spread around the world.
Khaki, Blue the Grey- Jamsterdavania used a blue tunic from the 1860-1902. This uniform proved unpopular since it was seen as too simple, hot and unattractive. The 1902 Battle Tunic, designed by Albert R. Prescott, was a new trend in uniforms. While it was loosely based on an ornate gray uniform worn by the Dannunifians in the 1800’s, its was constructed out of khaki cotton twill. It had various pockets with made it ideal for storing shells in battle. It was plain, yet it was decorated with conservative ribbons and a theater patch. The rank pins from the previous uniform were retained.
Deutscheslavania developed a similar closed collar tunic, although it was not as high as the 1902 Jamsterdavanian one. Its collar was black with rank indicated by Strasse. Early versions of this suit were made with a double-breasted opening in a green gray color, but most were in a gray with a single opening. Enlisted soldiers and officers favored riding pants.
Style in the world had also changed. People were dressing in clothing that was more businesslike. The sports coat became popular in the 1920’s and Warren Carter, commissioned by General Francis Dukeshire, designed a hybrid between the 1902 Tunic and the sports coat popular in those days. The 1929 FRAF tunic was soon copied by various nations of the world. Carter had brought down the collar and opened it for use with a shirt and a tie. He created an epaulet system that reflected the systems of the past. No brass epaulet pins indicated that the soldier was a private soldier, one epaulet pin denoted a noncommissioned officer, and officers wore two pins and a general three. An epaulet with four pins was reserved for the President General. The other services had adopted this type of uniform by 1954.