War Clothes: Military Uniforms of the First World War
26.5.2015
Center for Urban History, Lviv
Oleksandr Losiev talked about the evolution of views on the purpose and appearance of military uniforms, which took place during the First World War. It was a large-scale industrial conflict, which put forward new requirements for equipment and military forms. The practicality and not symbolism of military clothes began to play a major role and often had an impact on the course and success of military operations. Now uniforms bore not much additional information about the history and traditions of a military unit, but provided a disguise, and so influenced the relative invulnerability of a soldier on the battlefield.
Using illustrations, the lecturer demonstrated the process of simplification and unification of military uniforms dictated by the rapid development of military equipment and harsh conditions of mass war. Above all, military clothing had to be easy to use and cheap to produce (millions of identical uniforms were made), and had to protect the soldier (the French Adrian helmet had a special comb to protect against debris and shrapnel).
Oleksandr Losiev
is an assistant of the Professor Yaroslav Dashkevych Eastern Studies Department at the Philological Faculty of the Ivan Franko National University of Lviv. Since 2012 he has worked as a lector on an hourly basis at the Department of Modern and Contemporary History at the Humanities Faculty of the Ukrainian Catholic University. Research interests: History of the First World War, the development of armies of countries participating in the First World War, particularly Austria-Hungary, Germany, and Russia, as well as national relations in the Austro-Hungarian army
Lecture is a part of the series of events in support of the exhibition "The Great War 1914 - ... Individual and Global Experience".
Credits
Сover Image: French soldiers stand in a relaxed group wearing medals / National Library of Scotland