Epaulette is a type of ornamental shoulder piece or decoration used as insignia of rank by armed forces and other organizations. Flexible metal epaulettes are referred to as shoulder scales.
Don Cossacks or Donians, are Cossacks who settled along the middle and lower Don. Historically, they lived within the former Don Cossack Host, which was either an independent or an autonomous democratic republic in present-day Southern Russia and parts of the Donbas region of Ukraine, from the end of the 16th century until 1918. As of 1992, by presidential decree of the Russian Federation, Cossacks can be enrolled on a special register. A number of Cossack communities have been reconstituted to further Cossack cultural traditions, including those of the Don Cossack Host. Don Cossacks have had a rich military tradition - they played an important part in the historical development of the Russian Empire and participated in most of its major wars.
A military uniform is a standardised dress worn by members of the armed forces and paramilitaries of various nations.
Baikal Cossacks were Cossacks of the Transbaikal Cossack Host ; a Cossack host formed in 1851 in the areas beyond Lake Baikal.
The Orenburg Cossack Host was a part of the Cossack population in pre-revolutionary Russia, located in the Orenburg province.
Astrakhan Cossack Host was a Cossack host of Imperial Russia drawn from the Cossacks of the Lower Volga region, who had been patrolling the banks of the Volga River from the time of Russia's annexation of Astrakhan Khanate in 1556.
The Amur Cossack Host was a Cossack host created in the Amur region and Primorye in the 1850s on the basis of the Cossacks relocated from the Transbaikal region and freed miners of Nerchinsk region.
Semirechyenskoe Cossack Host was a Cossack host in Imperial Russia, located in the Semirechyenskaya Oblast with the center in Verny.
Ussuri Cossack Host was a Cossack Host in Imperial Russia, located in Primorye south of Khabarovsk along the Ussuri River, the Sungari River, and around the Khanka Lake.
Kuban Cossacks, or Kubanians, are Cossacks who live in the Kuban region of Russia. Most of the Kuban Cossacks are descendants of different major groups of Cossacks who were re-settled to the western Northern Caucasus in the late 18th century. The western part of the region was settled by the Black Sea Cossack Host who were originally the Zaporozhian Cossacks of Ukraine, from 1792. The eastern and southeastern part of the host was previously administered by the Khopyour and Kuban regiments of the Caucasus Line Cossack Host and Don Cossacks, who were re-settled from the Don from 1777.
The Ural Cossack Host was a cossack host formed from the Ural Cossacks – those Eurasian cossacks settled by the Ural River. Their alternative name, Yaik Cossacks, comes from the old name of the river.
Imperial Japanese Army uniforms tended to reflect the uniforms of those countries who were the principal advisors to the Imperial Japanese Army at the time.
Full dress uniform, also known as a ceremonial dress uniform or parade dress uniform, is the most formal type of uniforms used by military, police, fire and other public uniformed services for official parades, ceremonies, and receptions, including private ones such as marriages and funerals. Full dress uniforms typically include full-size orders and medals insignia. Styles tend to originate from 19th century uniforms, although the 20th century saw the adoption of mess dress-styled full-dress uniforms. Designs may depend on regiment or service branch. In Western dress codes, full dress uniform is a permitted supplementary alternative equivalent to the civilian white tie for evening wear or morning dress for day wear – sometimes collectively called full dress – although military uniforms are the same for day and evening wear. As such, full dress uniform is the most formal uniform, followed by the mess dress uniform.
The uniforms of La Grande Armée, the army of Napoleon I, are described in this article.
The uniforms of the British Army currently exist in twelve categories ranging from ceremonial uniforms to combat dress. Uniforms in the British Army are specific to the regiment to which a soldier belongs. Full dress presents the most differentiation between units, and there are fewer regimental distinctions between ceremonial dress, service dress, barrack dress and combat dress, though a level of regimental distinction runs throughout.
The Imperial Russian Army or Russian Imperial Army was the armed land force of the Russian Empire, active from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was organized into a standing army and a state militia. The standing army consisted of regular troops and two forces that served on separate regulations: the Cossack troops and the Muslim troops.
Gymnastyorka was a Russian military smock comprising a pullover-style garment with a standing collar having double button closure. Additionally, one or two upper chest pockets, with or without flaps, may have been worn. It had provision for shoulder boards and sometimes reinforced elbows and cuffs. The Tsarist version had the standing collar while the M35 version had a stand-and-fall collar which was replaced with the standing collar in the M43 version. The Soviet Military M35 version usually had hidden buttons. A double breasted version (kitel) for officers of all ranks existed during the Tsarist period.
The modern Greek Army has a history of almost 200 years, during which it has undergone dramatic changes and been involved in some of the major conflicts on the European continent. The modern Greek military throughout its history was closely following international developments in equipment and uniforms. With the notable exception of the elite Evzones units, which based their uniforms on the indigenous traditional garments of the 18th century, the rest of the Army, as most militaries worldwide, was always quick to adopt the military fashion current among the armies of the influential Great Powers. This influence can be roughly divided in three periods: French-style uniforms, which dominated throughout the 19th century, the British styles introduced around World War I and used during World War II and until the late 1960s, and the "NATO" or US-style predominating from ca. 1968 onward. Various individual items or details can of course be traced to other influences, and there were also transitional uniforms combining previous designs.
The Empress's Dragoons of the Imperial Guard was a heavy cavalry unit formed by Napoleon I through the decree of April 15, 1806. The "dragoon" regiments of the line had distinguished themselves in the German campaign of 1805, and therefore Napoleon decided to reorganize the cavalry of the Guard and create within it a regiment of dragoon guards. This regiment was colloquially known as the Dragons de l'Impératrice, in honor of Empress Joséphine. Following the Bourbon Restoration, they were renamed as the Royal Dragoon Corps of France but were disbanded shortly afterwards. The Empress' Dragoons were reformed during the Second Empire (1852-1870).
In its nascent years, the Red Army's uniforms and insignia were defined by two main factors: the revolutionary symbology developed in 1917 and the abysmal logistical realities of a country in crisis. This typically meant soldiers marching to the front in shabby World War hand-me-downs, if they were lucky, and rustic peasant shoes made of bark, if they were lucky. At this time insignia was also primitive, scant strips of red cloth at best. As the Soviet state consolidated however, these would become more developed; uniforms became more distinctive and insignia more specific in their meanings, evoking symbols of labour or a Russian cultural identity. Yet these unique and potent visual elements often wouldn't last: once the revolutionary period had ended, many would be abandoned or even reversed entirely under the Stalinist regime.
