Natural Camo

Camouflage was not in wide use in early western civilization based warfare. 18th and 19th century armies tended to use bright colors and bold, impressive designs. These were intended to daunt the enemy, attract recruits, foster unit cohesion, or allow easier identification of units in the fog of war common to the battlefield before the invention of smokeless gun powder.

Jäger riflemen in the 18th century were the first to adopt colors in relatively drab shades of green or grey. Major armies retained their bright colors until convinced otherwise.

In 1857, the British in India were forced by casualties to dye their white hot-weather uniforms to neutral tones, initially a muddy tan called khaki (from the Urdu word for 'dust'). This was only a temporary measure.

It was not until after the Second Boer War in South Africa that, in 1902, the "home service" (i.e. non-tropical) field uniforms of the entire British army were standardised using a darker shade of khaki serge.