The Uniform of the British Army
Digging up History
•
30m
The British Army is one of the world’s most experienced fighting forces. From Blenheim to Waterloo, from Balaclava to the Somme, it has played its part in the history’s most bloody conflicts. But as these troops executed Herculean tasks in the worlds harshest terrains, what were they wearing? How did epaulettes, sashes, pantaloons and wellington boots end up clothing British troops on the battlefield? From primitive to protective, from efficient to downright extravagant, over the years, military clothing has both enabled and inhibited objectives, and the uniform we see today is the result of 400 years of spectacular trial and error. Alice Loxton is joined by Sophie Anderton, as they answer these questions through the secrets of the National Army Museum collection.
Up Next in Digging up History
-
The Cutting Edge: Testing the Stone Age
History Hit visits Kent State University, Ohio to film a fascinating ‘cutting-edge’ experiment that takes us to the beginnings of the Stone Age, over 2.6 million years ago.
Kent State is home to one of the world’s leading experimental archaeology laboratories, scientifically exploring the distan...
-
Shipwreck! Northumberland and the Gre...
History Hit's Dan Snow has been given exclusive access to the incredibly well-preserved remains of the 18th-century warship Northumberland.
Complete with cannons, muskets and coils of rope, it's a discovery that's rewriting our understanding of the evolution of the Royal Navy.
The special fil...
-
Into the Valley of the Kings
Dan Snow ventures into Egypt's Valley of the Kings to explore its rediscovery.
