Napoleonic and French/Indian wars customs.

[Pyrrhus]

I forgot, I am also in the GW-PC forum.

[playmofire]

Hi all!

Sorry, the criticism was not bad-intentioned.

Pyrrhus.

Don't worry, I never thought it was. 

[Pyrrhus]

Hello, Richard... is there an special thread where you are discussing in the GW-PC forum? Because this last week the forum has been much quiet.

[Richard]

Hello again, Pyrrhus ...

Sorry, the criticism was not bad-intentioned.

Don't worry, I never thought it was. 

As Gordon said, "Don't worry!"

And, I would like to add ... "Your comments are very constructive!"

It is true that the Napoleonic armies were revolutionary and thus employed the tricolour flag, but even when I do not know much about French war costumes, I think the tricorne hats were not used in Napoleonic times, at least for the soldiers.

Aha! That all depends on when you think that the "Napoleonic Period" actually began. Was it when Napoleon rose to power 1n 1796? Or, was it when he went to Egypt to fight the Turks in 1799? Or, was it when he crowned himself "Emperor" in 1804?

Regardless, it was a gradual evolution from the tricorne, to the bicorne and finally to the shako.  And, no matter what the uniform regulations said ... in those days, changes was quite slow to be heard about and even slower to be adopted.

see attachments

That is why I think the tricorne customizations are better suited for the Seven years war and even the American revolutionary war, because of the Hessian mercenaries, were tricornes were also used.

I agree that perhaps Erik's Playmobil customs might actually be best suited to the time of the American Revlotionary War (but, that would make his French tricolour incorrect) ...

Depending upon the regiment, the Hessian mercenaries wore both the miter and the tricorne.

Hello, Richard... is there an special thread where you are discussing in the GW-PC forum? Because this last week the forum has been much quiet.

The GW-PC forum is not as active as the Playmofriends forum. And, no, there is "no special thread" ... So, maybe you would like to start a new topic at GW-PC to discuss this further? ...

All the best,
Richard

[Pyrrhus]

Ooops... you seem to know about Napoleonic customes, hehe...

I did never saw a picture of soldiers from Napoleonic wars with tricornes, that's why it seemed unsound to me. But you are right they can well have been used, after all, Napoleon begun fighting few years after the French Revolution, where these hats were clearly used.

And I want to ask something: I thought the bicornes were used by higher ranks, but... where they also used by the soldiers??

I also started a thread in GW-PC forum on flags, asking which of the Playmobil flags, from Medieval and later times, really belonged to a state or feud. I am also much ignorant on this, I expect somebody, overall German or French, can answer the questions on the Medieval flags.

All the best.
Pyrrus

[Pyrrhus]

What a foo!
Now I realize the 1795 "soldat de ligne" uses a tricorne or bicorne there!!

[Richard]

Hello, Pyrrhus ...

What a foo!
Now I realize the 1795 "soldat de ligne" uses a tricorne or bicorne there!!

Don't be so "hard" on yourself ...

It took me many, many years to even begin to know anything about anything ...

One thing that I have learned is that there is always someone who knows something that I don't know!

One such person is our dear friend Ian Croxall from Oregon, who has created his fantastic WarFlag website. I think that you'll enjoy visiting this site. (Click on "THE FLAGS")

All the best,
Richard

[Pyrrhus]

Ok., thank you for the lines, and you are right. Indeed I am not a great knower of 1700s and 1800s uniforms.

I was regretting I send a message before asking you if the bicornes were used by the soldiers, and saying that I never saw a Napoleon soldier using tricornes, when the pictures you attached showed a 1975 near-Napoleonic "soldat de ligne" with what do not seem to be anything but a bicorne or tricorne...

Wow, what a flag site (I am mostly interested in the Medieval flags, I think the Playmobil old German mercenaries may have the flag of a German city)!!. Merci mon ami!

PS: Did you see my last message on the GW-PC forum, on the flag of the red soldiers with shakos of the pirate line??

[Richard]

PS: Did you see my last message on the GW-PC forum, on the flag of the red soldiers with shakos of the pirate line??

Yes ... I am very curious to see how the members at GW-PC will answer your question ...

[Timotheos]

Tricornes and bicornes started out as regular, wide-brimmed hats with the flaps pinned up, is that correct?

I'm asking because I'm curious how "elaborate, non-utilitarian" clothing comes about.  From the 1300s onward seems to be an era of clothing becoming ever more complicated and ostentatious, until by the 1800s it even shifted to common troops in the field--

With now the fashion-balance shifting back to simpler, more functional clothing (including the growing obsolescence of the suit and tie).

I think I've traced trousers back to horse-riding people of northern climates.  So now that we've done away with average man's need to fight from horseback or endure prolonged exposure to winter elements, it seems rational that within a few centuries men will be wearing kilts and knee-length tunics again......
-Tim