Why did British soldiers used to wear bright red uniforms?
To a modern generation, wearing a bright red coat into battle may seem a rather crazy thing to do. The red coat of the British infantry had first been introduced with the creation of the Parlimentarian New Model Army in 1644 and continued to be worn in Battle (except for some campaigns in India) until the mid 1880s. During the Horse and Musket era it was normal practice for enemy scouts to be sent out to count the numbers of the opposing force lined up in battle formation. However the bright red colour of the massed British soldiers tended to optically blur into a solid wall of colour-thus making it extremely difficult for the enemy scouts to accurately assess the strength of the British forces arrayed against them.
