Nick Stern | 20 Jun 2015 11:51 a.m. PST |
I have been painting up my 54mm Napoleonics and, since there is a somewhat limited supply of options for figures, as compared to 25/28's and 15's, I am always on the lookout for possible paint conversions. I found that one can paint the Italeri British Light Dragoons as Chasseurs a Cheval without any conversion at all and this got me thinking about why the British cavalry, post 1812, chose to Frenchify their uniforms while they were in a desperate war with the French. I realize that military fashion is largely a matter of general fashion. But it also represents identity on the battlefield as well as national identity. So why did the British choose the bell topped shako and the roman helmet for their cavalry, not only after the Napoleonic Wars (when they became even *more* French) but during. |
Mick the Metalsmith | 20 Jun 2015 11:56 a.m. PST |
The new shakos cost less? Paris always dictates fashion even when at war? |
dBerczerk | 20 Jun 2015 12:12 p.m. PST |
Italeri 54mm British Light Dragoons -- lovely figures! Can't wait to see what you are able to accomplish when painted as Chasseurs a Cheval. Please post photos. |
Glengarry5 | 20 Jun 2015 3:50 p.m. PST |
You're not the only one, at the time the Duke of Wellington wasn't happy with the Light Dragoons "Frenchified" uniforms, but fashion dictates! |
Edwulf | 20 Jun 2015 7:29 p.m. PST |
Think the uniform designers just thought they looked smart. I quite like the 1812 dragoon jacket. Just wished they'd kept the tarleton. |
Major Bloodnok | 21 Jun 2015 3:09 a.m. PST |
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Garde de Paris | 21 Jun 2015 7:37 a.m. PST |
For the Dragoon Guards and Dragoons, changing from the easily-lost Bi-corn to the helmet was a real improvement. No fur band; black leather(?) instead of Brass; hard to mistake as French. GdeP |
Gunfreak | 21 Jun 2015 11:39 a.m. PST |
It all went down hill from there, first frenchified uniforms then just a short 150 years later bitish empire fall. Coincidence? I think not! |
Marcel1809 | 21 Jun 2015 1:36 p.m. PST |
GDP, and yet they were often mistaken for the ennemy, its all about the silouette at a distance. That's why Wellington was rather opposed to this, but het did like the new "later called Belgian" shako, as it was so distinctly different from the French, with the plume on the side. |
DHautpol | 22 Jun 2015 10:30 a.m. PST |
When the British wore stovepipe shakos in the Peninsula, their Portuguese allies wore a shako very like the 'Belgic' shako. Later when the British acquired their 'Belgic' shakos the Portuguese took to wearing stovepipes. I've always wondered if this give distinctive silhouettes so the Duke could still tell British from allies. |
DeRuyter | 22 Jun 2015 11:22 a.m. PST |
When the British wore stovepipe shakos in the Peninsula, their Portuguese allies wore a shako very like the 'Belgic' shako. Later when the British acquired their 'Belgic' shakos the Portuguese took to wearing stovepipes. Just as an aside I was told by a re-enactor (52nd light) at Waterloo last week that the British never did call them "shakos" they were called "caps" instead. |