The ask a Historical Question thread

[JUAN THE GREAT!]

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[The Mighty McLovin]

I've got two questions today.

1) On this picture it shows you two soldiers, both light infantry of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The soldier on the left is Dutch soldier issued with Austrian-style shako and the one on the right is a Belgian soldier, issued with a British-style shako. I'm wondering, however, why this is? Why don't they both have the same shako? I must say, I prefer the one on the left.

Images of the light infantrymen

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2) What would a typical hairstyle of a drummer boy, in a British light/line infantry regiment during the Napoleonic Wars? Also, to do with the British, what type of glasses/spectacles would a British soldier normally wear? (These are for re-enactments but I thought it would be better to ask on the historical discussion part of the forum).

[Duuring]

1. The left shako are for 'Northern Dutch' units, the right were for 'Southern Dutch' (Belgian) units. Why they decided use different shakos I never really found out. Some form of regimental or national pride, maybe. They abolished the difference with the introduction of new shakos in 1817.

The 35th and 36th batallions were Belgian light infantry, the 16th, 18th and 27th were Dutch.

2. Any type of regular short haircut without shaved sides would be good, really. Plenty of modern haircuts work. For spectacles, something like this

Spoiler

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Though keep in mind that spectacles obviously were pretty expensive and not really for low-class citizens (which soldiers, by definition, were). I know a few people who wear glasses in normal life but don't during re-enactment (either wearing lences or nothing at all) but obviously they have 'weak' glasses. Kudos to you for actually thinking about getting proper glasses, it's crazy and extremely annoying how many people just don't bother.

[The Mighty McLovin]

Thanks for the answer Duuring! I suppose that the Southern Dutch had British influence while the Northern Dutch had Austrian influence? This is probably wrong. Thanks for the information however.

And as for the haircuts/spectacles, thank you. In my regiment it is mandatory to have correct spectacles.

[Duuring]

I don't think it had anything to do with influence, really. We were already importing a lot of British stuff, maybe it had something to do with that. And yes, the Austrian shakos are much more stylish.

[OttoFIN]

How much training would a WW1 conscript need to be doing to become a really good soldier?

[Bluehawk]

Is this image accurate to the Russian line infantry during the 1790s?

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To add just one more thing about these uniforms. The reason why you might have seen these broadly associated with the 1790s is because they represent the uniforms of the Black Sea fleet's galley forces - marines, essentially. The reforms of 1796 didn't catch up to them until 1798. So for the most part they really were worn though the 1790s, but they're not 1:1 representative of the line infantry. The original article the illustration comes from is "Пехота гребных флотилий 1788-1798" (Infantry of the galley flotilla 1788-1798) by Oleg Leonov, and was originally published in Zeughaus Magazine in issue 8 from 1998.

[The Mighty McLovin]

The colour bearers protected the standards in battle, right?

[Duuring]

Well, no, they carried them. Colour guards (with various names) protected them,

[The Mighty McLovin]

Do you know the name for the colour guards in the British army?

[Duuring]

Not really, only the French and Dutch.

[Black Watch 1745]

Do you know the name for the colour guards in the British army?

  Well there are Colour Sergeants but I doubt there would be many of them. I assume that it would just be referred to as the Colour Guard.

[The Mighty McLovin]

Thanks! I read it somewhere but forgot the name.

[The Mighty McLovin]

Does anyone know which song that starts from 2:48 onwards?



EDIT: Nevermind, it's the Gallows Tree, an old Scottish folk song. Or MacPherson's Rant.

[Turin Turambar]

Which person in history did literally nothing wrong?