Known famously in
British folklore as the "
Red Coats", the hardened soldiers were the backbone of the
British Army in the 18th and the 19th centuries. There is no universally accepted explanation as to why the British wore red. The classical British Regulars were most famous for their actions at the
Battle of Culloden (1746), the
Seven Years' War (1756–1763), the
American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), the
Peninsular War (1808–1815), the
War of 1812 (1812–1815) and the
Waterloo campaign (1815). During the
Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815), the British Regulars were a well-disciplined group of foot soldiers with years of combat experience, including in the Americas, the
Irish Rebellion of 1798 and the War of 1812. Most of the British Regulars were between the ages of 18 and 29, and over 60% were to tall. At the time, the British government did not allow
enlisted men to be older than 45. Although typically under English command, many of the enlisted Regulars were either
Scottish or
Irish. A small number of Regulars were from
Prussia and other states of the
German Confederation. From those multiple origins also came the two different schools of thought: the American and the German. The American school focused on open-formation
light infantry tactics, which were well suited for areas of rough terrain, and dense forested areas, which were best suited against enemies that had no
cavalry or
artillery. It also favoured infantry ranks of two deep and the use of light infantry with rifles. The German school focused on disciplined close-drill order, which was well suited for the vast
European Plain. That approach was preferred in large battlefields if the enemy had large numbers of cavalry and artillery. It favoured infantry ranks of three deep and the use of
smoothbore muskets. In April 1775, during
Paul Revere's midnight ride, Revere's warning, according to eyewitness accounts of the ride and Revere's own descriptions, was "The Regulars are coming out!", in reference to the British Regulars. After 1855, starting in
India and gradually extending to other colonial outposts, the scarlet uniforms were often replaced with
khaki on campaign for the tactical reason of
camouflage. However, it was not until 1902, with the introduction of a universal khaki service dress, that scarlet was officially abandoned as the campaign dress for European operations. ==Sources==