Horizon blue
Horizon blue | ||
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Horizon blue is a
This name for a shade of blue which refers to the indefinable colour which separates the sky from the earth, had been previously used in the world of
Historical account
First uses
The expression "horizon blue", certified to have been used in feminine fashion in 1884, was used afterward for hundreds of colour denominations in fashion, without making itself noticed.
The expression "horizon colour" is found in diverse descriptions in and after 1895. In 1899, the Journal des débats pointed out that the motor boats destined for the administrators of the Cayenne convict prison were "painted in horizon colour, to conceal them more easily".
The Répertoire de Couleurs published in 1905 by the Society of chrysanthemists, showed four tones of Horizon Blue, "colour which recalls the blue of the sky at the horizon", synonym of "Imitation Cobalt Blue".
The horizon blue uniform
The colour of the uniform of the French infantry became known as "horizon blue" in three steps:
- The first orders at the end of 1914 designated a new uniform cloth as "light blue".[2][3][4]
- On 16 January 1915, an article of L'Illustration designated the colour of the uniform of the soldiers as "horizon colour". On the 26th, Le Matin likened this colour to horizon blue.[2] In February, the newspaper Le Temps compared the old and new uniforms: "The dark cloth of the old overcoats is seen side by side with the light azure of the new "horizon colour" uniform. In the Spring of 1915, the expression was popularized. Becoming insensibly horizon blue, it was in general usage in September. It would never become an official term.
- The expression became so popular that it was found in official descriptions of the army. The employment of "horizon blue cloth" instead of "light blue" can be explained notably by the fact that this expression possessed a national character and seemed "to echo the famous blue line of the Vosges." However, regulations continued to name the uniform cloth as "light blue cloth" until 1921 and even beyond.
Prewar trials
In 1914, the French army was equipped with overcoats of a medium blue colour called "blued steel grey", and madder red trousers and kepis. This was a historic combination dating back to 1828. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the Boer War attracted the attention of the general staffs of the great powers on the need to reform military clothing. A study made in 1892 determined that it was more difficult to shoot at a grey-blue target than at a red and blue one. Between 1903 and 1914, the French army tried a number of new uniforms of subdued colours: in 1902 the grey-blue uniform called "Boërs", in 1906 the beige-blue one, in 1911 the reseda uniform.
All these attempts at reforms failed as a result of the opposition of public opinion. French command finally chose blue-grey in November 1912 by decision in principle of Alexandre Millerand. On 26 May 1914 the High Council of War voted for the adoption of a cloth called "tricolour" obtained by a mixing of blue, white and red wool fibres. The law of 18 July 1914 prescribed the replacement of uniforms with ones where all items of which would be completely manufactured from a new cloth of this colour.
Why the colour blue? It had already been adopted on the principle, according to a decision made by the Minister after the meeting of 26 May 1914 of the High Council of War. Blue had been judged to be the only colour which could be usefully chosen, considering that all other shades, and among them the neutral tints, had been put into service in foreign armies.
- —Chief of Logistics Defait (1921)
August 1914
On 2 August 1914, the day of general mobilization, the
Horizon blue cloth in 1914–1918
The first deliveries of uniforms of this colour reached the troops at the end of September 1914.[6] It took about a year before the whole French army is equipped with it. This period is called the clothing crisis.
The cloth was composed of white wool (35%) and of wool tinted blue-indigo (15% dark blue wool, 50% light blue wool). This horizon blue was not totally appreciated by the poilu, as the colour did not stand up well to light and inclement weather:
Our well-brushed overcoats have their flaps lowered, and as they are usually raised, two squares where the cloth is more blue can be seen standing out on these flowing flaps.
- —Barbusse, Le Feu.
After the Great War
Horizon blue rapidly became the symbol of the poilu of World War I. After the conflict, it symbolized the ex-military men and intransigent nationalism of the horizon blue Chamber composed, in 1919, of conservatives eager to "make Germany pay."
French metropolitan troops adopted khaki cloth, called "American khaki", by vote of the High Council of War on 6 November 1921.[7] The council having in the meantime decided to expend the enormous existing stocks of horizon blue cloth, clothing remained variegated during the interwar period. Certain rear-echelon troops were still equipped with uniforms of horizon blue cloth during the Battle of France.
In the twenty-first century, the expression "horizon blue" is found, in fashion and literature, with its descriptive character, from before the Great War, to designate outfits of blue-grey cloth, or eye colour.
See also
References
General and cited references
- Descols, Louis (2014). La Genèse du drap Bleu Horizon (in French). Éguzon-Chantôme: Point d'Aencrage. ISBN 978-2-911853-16-6.
- Descols, Louis (September 2015). "Août 1914, La Naissance du Drap Bleu Horizon". Militaria Magazine (in French) (362). Paris: Histoire & Collections.
- Jouineau, André (2009a) [2008]. Officiers et soldats de l'armée française Tome 1 : 1914 [Officers and Soldiers of the French Army Volume I: 1914]. Officers and Soldiers #11. Translated by McKay, Alan. Paris: Histoire & Collections. ISBN 978-2-35250-104-6.
- Jouineau, André (2009b) [2009]. Officiers et soldats de l'armée française Tome 2 : 1915-1918 [Officers and Soldiers of the French Army Volume II: 1915-18]. Officers and Soldiers #12. Translated by McKay, Alan. Paris: Histoire & Collections. ISBN 978-2-35250-105-3.
- Mirouze, Laurent, ed. (2007). The French Army in the First World War Volume I - to battle 1914. Vienna: Verlag Militaria. ISBN 978-2-9515171-0-3.
- Mirouze, Laurent, ed. (2008). The French Army in the First World War Volume II - 1914 to 1918 Uniforms - Equipment - Armament. Vienna: Verlag Militaria. ISBN 978-3-90-252620-5.
- Vauvillier, François (1980). 1940 l'infanterie, corps de troupe - uniformes - équipements : insignes (in French). Paris: Argout. OCLC 6920279.
- Vauvillier, François (1983), Les uniformes de l'armée française de 1914 à 1945 (in French), Paris: self-published, planche n° 2
Citations
- ^ Bleu horizon – N°1992 Collection 1825 Théodore, 2019 Peintures1825
- ^ a b Jouineau 2009b, p. 4.
- ^ Vauvillier (1983) states that ' On 25 November 1914 the Minister of War, Alexandre Millerand, decides on the exclusive use of the term "light blue cloth".'
- ^ "Notice descriptive des nouveaux uniformes. (Décision ministérielle du 9 décembre 1914 mise à jour avec le modificatif du 28 janvier 1915)" (in French). Paris: Ministère de la Guerre. 1915. Retrieved 2021-07-30 – via Bibliothèque Nationale de France.
- ^ Descols 2014.
- ^ Descols 2015, p. 20.
- ^ Vauvillier 1980, p. 15.