"Camouflage is a game we like to play, but our secrets are revealed by... what we want to conceal"
Russell Lynes, author and editor
Although hunters and some elite military units had long made use of camouflage, most armies, until the end of the nineteenth century, wore brightly colored, distinctive uniforms to distinguish friend from foe on the battlefield among gunpowder smoke and to attract new recruits.
The British Army was the first to eschew bright uniforms in favor of those that would help to conceal their men. Heavy casualties during the Indian Revolt of 1857 forced them to dye their scarlet tunics a dull brown color, or "khaki." White summer uniforms were dyed using the simple and quintessentially British expedient of dipping them in tea. Khaki uniforms became standard in India in the 1880s and in the rest of the army during the Second Boer War in 1902.
At the beginning of World War I, the French Army wore blue shirts and red pants. This striking ensemble was meant to "dominate the morale" of the enemy as they advanced across the battlefield. The German machine guns were unimpressed. The French Section de Camouflage, established in 1915, was the first to use disruptive patterns to break up the outline of the human body and thus help soldiers to blend in with their environment. Artists were drafted in to hand- paint tents and coverings for artillery, as well as individual uniforms for elite troops. Today, most armies use patterns on their camouflage uniforms or equipment to set themselves apart from other armies.
A computer-generated version of camouflage was invented by the Canadian Army in the 1990s. It is said to be 40 percent more effective than traditional patterns at a distance of 656 feet (200 m).
