Confederate Army uniforms in XX century.

In a timeline in which CSA survive to civil war,how would have been the Confederate Army uniforms in XX century?
Grey (a very modern color) would have remained,or would be replaced to others color (khaki? grey-green?).
Ranks on the collar (like in original CSA Army,and in Austro-hungaric Army) ,on the sleeves (like in French and in Italian Regio Esercito) or on the shoulder (like in Us Army and in British Army)?
Kepì or flat service cap?
Open collars and ties,stand up collars, or german model collars?
 
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It depends on butterflies. I'd say either the path of following British uniform if alliance is strong. Or, perhaps following Gray which is reasonable, though I think it'd get green by the post WW2-ish era.
 
Someone did a set of designs for this sort of thing in the letters page of the last issue of the Captain Confederacy comic book.

A lot does depend on butterflies but I think the Confederate Army would switch to khaki in the late 19th century as the CSA will be operating mostly in Texas and similar areas.

By the mid 20th century there'll probably be a switch to olive drab for combat uniforms, with grey making a comeback as an open collared service dress, and by 2009 combat uniforms will be more or less the same as those worn by armies in OTL, the only difference being the camouflage pattern.
 
Impossible to determine, as so much depends on how the Confederacy evolves. However, I very much dout that the semi-Nazi-esque Confederacy of the Turtledoves is reality.
 
I tend towards pessimism in the well being of the Confederate States. They were almost certainly not going to get the large borders that they sought out to gain in most TLs and would probably emerge as a nation bound by cotton and slavery.

Is the Confederacy heading down the path of Turtledovian pro-Nazism? Probably not; more likely it is probably heading into a downward spiral of economic failure, massive internal unrest, a northern neighbor that will succeed at least partially at grabbing its territory back, and forced to pay for a large standing army while facing a dwindling profits from cotton planations, while constitutionally bound to the same.

I think the Confederate States would quickly recognize the importance of their armed forces and dedicate themselves to snazzy outfits, perhaps as an analog of France or the UK, for the important purpose of rallying behind the troops. The CSA will have no choice but the maintain a large standing army to deal with threats foreign and domestic, so they'll probably be more ostentatious than the UK and France as well.
 
Someone did a set of designs for this sort of thing in the letters page of the last issue of the Captain Confederacy comic book.

A lot does depend on butterflies but I think the Confederate Army would switch to khaki in the late 19th century as the CSA will be operating mostly in Texas and similar areas.

By the mid 20th century there'll probably be a switch to olive drab for combat uniforms, with grey making a comeback as an open collared service dress, and by 2009 combat uniforms will be more or less the same as those worn by armies in OTL, the only difference being the camouflage pattern.
Hmmm..
US Army switch to khaki-olive because at the end of XIX century coloured uniforms (like darkblue/light blue) was impratical.
But grey solid uniform of CSA was,for the color, the first modern uniform.
In first half of XX century was three family of color uniform:
Khaki-olive drab (GB,USA,Russia,in 30s France)
Feldgrau-greygreen (Germany,Italy)
Grey (Austria-Hungary,Portugal,Chile)
Today grey is the color of dress Army uniform for many countries:
France,Germany,Chile,Portugal,Austria ("Guardia di Finanza",a financial police force,in Italy).
So is probable that CSA maintaned the grey.
I imagine CSA uniform less or more so:
http://deserti.altervista.org/immagini/desertiimm/pinochet.jpg
http://www.dixhuit.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/general000.jpg
http://www.varmatin.com/edito/photo/510/20080711/photo-133874.jpg
http://img136.imageshack.us/img136/6608/txoodocs41ba0e3063ps6.jpg
http://www.difesa.it/Uniformi+e+Tra...MArtiglieriaGenio/UffSM-uniform-ordinaria.htm
http://www.afcea.org/signal/chapternews/cnimages/web/CN-Portugal1-Aug06.jpg
 

Redbeard

Banned
Most OTL nations had a lot of tradition invested in uniform style and colour, but they all eventually ended up with drab colours suited for field life. A warexperience, like the British in the Boer War, usually advanced changes, and in nations not involved in war, like Denmark, light grey field uniforms with black greatcoats were retained into the 1940s. A Khaki uniform had been introduced in 1923, but the stocks of old uniforms had to be used before the men could be issued with the new uniforms. The officers were expected to purchase their own uniforms, so they often came in khaki, and the men in grey and black :eek:

A surviving CSA most certainly would have a lot of feelings for their "grey" identity, and I could imagine a grey uniform modfied well into 20th century. Basically you just need to minimise the bright colourpatches identifying service branch to narrow stripes, grey trousers and perhaps introduce a slightly darker/brownish grey tone. I guess it would not be that bad in relatively dry and warm climate like in the "CSA corner" of North America.

The WWII uniform of Germany is an example of a 20th century uniform retaining a lot of old traditions. Initially is so combined a relatively bright dark green tunic with dark grey trousers and with 19th century collar patches (looking like a Roman II numeral) on standing 19th century style collar and coloured stripes on shoulder patches indicating service branch. In the post war Bundeswehr any piece of equipment came in "Feldgrau" (fieldgrey) - a dark grey-brownish colour suited well for a "muddy" NW European climate - IMHO much better than the olive-green I was issed with in the RDA. Here just to point out, that there are alternatives to khaki and olive drab.

Anyway tradition could be kept in other connections than uniform colour. The service branch colours of the CSA - blue for infantry, red for artillery, yellow for cavalry etc. probably would be important, but less prominent on field uniforms, and the pockets flaps pointed in Austrian fashion could be another tradition bearer - no matter what uniform colour.

Regards

Steffen Redbeard
 
What you're all forgetting is that khaki was actually a pretty common color among Confederate troops even in OTL throughout the whole Civil War. They probably would ended up somewhat like Turtledove's idea, if not for the same reasons however. They'd probably make their very dark khaki color the standard at least for field uniforms, as the patches are less obvious and visible that way, not to mention the fact that khaki camouflages better.
 
Yes, he called them Butternut but they were really Khaki. The confeds also wore brodie helmets and ran around with "Tredegars" or in this case Enfields.
 
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