Well.... here lies the main problem, Greece being a backwater country in a backwater piece of peninsula, in Europe, means not much info about uniforms, guns etc. However i found some stuff, that i'd like to share.
Now, during the King Otto era (up to 1860), the Greek army had uniforms that resembled more or less Bavarian uniforms. The main infantry uniform was a light blue jacket, with white pants and boots, while keeping a british style shako, while their officers were distinguished, wearing dark blue similar uniforms. Dragoons and other cavalry formations, had green jacket and pants.
Now by getting rid of Otto and by late 60s, the uniform of the Greek army changed towards a more "French" version, mainly because Greece and the Greek army was the testfield of French generals, gun manufacturers, officials, etc etc etc. The shako was exchanged with the French kepi and the uniform changed to the French one, with relatively baggy pants, jacket and surcoat, albeit without the pants being red. The color of the uniform was also alot darker than the French one.
A cadet around 1860, right after abdication of Otto and the beginning of French influence in the Greek army. Notice how he still has the shako.
Yet another cadet, in around late 1860s. From what i can tell, the uniform is very dark blue, almost at black point.
Early 1870 uniform, fully "Frenchified", of a cadet officer.
Cadets and artillery crew training in artillery firing, circa 1870.
Gazzetted officers now, the cadets, or some cadets of the past photos. Thats somewhere from 1880 to 1890.
Now those are mainly, well solemnly officer pictures but consider the infantry to have absolutely the same uniform and kepi, although with a coat and less.... shiny, meaning, more baggy, less official, etc.
So now we move a bit further. During the 1900s much of the army's uniforms changed from dark blue to British khaki, and even ended up resembling Brit uniforms. However in the very early years of the 20th century, especially during the Macedonian struggle, the soldiers, still wore the dark blue.
Captain Pavlos Melas, leader of the Greek Partisans in Macedonia, during the struggle, as seen he is wearing the classic Euzonic uniform (uniform of the King's/Presidental Guard whichever system) with a macedonian coat as military jacket. Ever since the liberation of Macedonia, the men who served in the King's or Presidental Guard that lived in Macedonia, had this distinct uniform (actually the uniform of the Euzonoi was different depending from which part of Greece you were, so if a Royal/Presidental Guard is included, it will need a whole bunch of different skins.... sucks i know).
Back in the 19th century, around early 1870, those officers begin their drills.
Yet another cadet picture, around 1890 though, showing them drilling and parading. The weapon in the pictures is the Gras M1874, which was adopted during the late 70s by the Greek army.
In reality, the Greek army was relatively slow to adopt weapons. During the late 60s, they were converting old muzzle loaders into breech loading, quite similar to the Tabatiere, until they adopted the Chassepot, and then the Gras rifle which remained in service until the early 20th Century when it was replaced with the Austro-Hungarian Mannlicher rifle and a lot of British En-field.
As far as cannon goes, i have no idea. I suppose the majority were muzzle loaders, until General Danglis copied the 75mm Schneider and made his own pattent during the 1890s. However the cannon was not used broadly until the Balkan wars, as the military budget of Greece was lower than ever.
The Greek dragoons, and other cavalry units, had actually a Greek copy of a French fall-block rifle, called "Mylonas", after the designer/thief, using black powder. However, the shipments of Gras rifles during the late 70s meant that the rifle was short lived. However it was used locally, for the police force or by civilians. In reality, the weapon that made the biggest impression during the 19th century was the Gras rifle, as it gave his name to entire regiments, similar to how the British has regiments called "Rifles" (like the none-other 95th Rifles), the Greek army had his regiments called "Grades" meaning rifles in military slang. The Gras was available in rifle and carbine version, for the Greek Infantry and the Dragoons.
Greek Army during Victorian Era
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by GonzoCreed
