1870/71 IN COLOUR: UNIFORMS AND EQUIPMENT, PERSONAL EXPERIENCES OF GERMAN SOLDIERS IN THE FRANCO-PRUSSIAN WAR

Book Type: C,O

edited by Markus Stein, English text, 31 coloured photos, 120 pages, English edition out of print

The editor, Markus Stein, had numerous reports, notes and "anecdotes" on the appearance of the German troops in 1870/71 at his disposal; descriptions by soldiers who themselves marched for days or sat soaked in the saddle. In this book, the classic outline following the individual German states and their branches of arms is to be abandoned. Instead, after a brief introduction on the general development of uniforms, special items of clothing such as trousers, shoes or headgear are discussed. This volume also provides an insight into the soldiers' experiences with their small arms that is well worth reading.

This "anarchy" in the otherwise thoroughly regulated appearance of the troops is a delightful research topic to which this book is dedicated. The colourful descriptions are complemented by 31 bw-photographs - coloured afterwards by Luc Heinrich - that breathe new life into the soldiers of the war of 1870/71. The selected photographs create the broadest possible overview of the troops involved. It is one thing that the German armies of 1870/71 wanted to go to war against France as united as possible, disciplined and dressed according to regulations. But what it actually looked like for the ordinary soldier in the field is quite another. The appearance of the soldier in everyday military life continues to preoccupy historians and uniform experts alike. The soldier often had to improvise. The adversity of the weather meant that uncomfortable uniforms and clothing had to be discarded and left behind. Often supplies failed to arrive and sometimes it was more practical to put on the enemy's uniform in freezing weather rather than freeze to death; even at the risk of confusion.