this post was submitted on 05 Jun 2026
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The red uniforms originated from the Tudor period in British history. The royal bodyguards wore the colors of the House of Tudor (red and gold) specifically because it made them easy to identify. During the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, the English parliamentarian military adopted the colors for their uniforms, and it ended up being the standard for British military dress for the next (nearly) 300 years.
"Sticking out" wasn't as much of a problem back then, because guerilla tactics were less common. That was in part because long-range warfare didn't really exist until much later: even if you had a gun, you'd typically get one shot out and then need to run in with your bayonet versus spending multiple minutes reloading. In a huge melee skirmish between two armies, being able to quickly and easily identify friend or foe was much more important than blending into the environment.