"If given the choice, you won't wear it" - One thing that hasn't changed in 144 years of military kit evolution.😄

“… make British military history fashionable again.” As a Yank, it never went out of fashion, for me!

As a Civil war reenactor here in the U.S. I love video like this. I really like hearing from other reenactors from different time periods able their hobby. If I live in England I would have joined their unit/club since I am fascinated by this time period for England. Keep up the good work and stay patriotic. GOD SAVE THE KING! 👍🇬🇧

A little known trivia is that it was a living history group of re-enactors who rediscovered how Roman soldiers built defensive ditch and spike palisades. There was just one old contemporary drawing showing a v-shaped ditch approx 1 yard wide and deep with the spoil forming a bank behind it, but with a small ledge on the earthwork side. There was also a written description of the double pointed wooden stake that each soldier carried.. but nothing existed that described how the two fit together. For many years the assumption was that the stakes were just driven vertically into the top of the earth bank behind the ditch but the re-enactors found that it was all rather easy to step over the ditch, placing one foot onto the ledge (monody could understand what the ledge was for) and to force a way through the vertical stakes. Instead they eventually hit upon the idea of tying two stakes together to make an X shape, stick the ends into the ledge and then tying a third stake on top, resting on the crux of the X, with one point facing the enemy and the other pressed into the earth bank.. to create an effect similar to a modern day tank obstacle. Three men could thus man some 6 feet of frontage and alongside their comrades would form two ranks, front rank with one man standing each side of where the central spike was and another directly behind where the third spike was driven into the earth bank.. The solution was so simple and effective (and solved the ledge question) that there was no better way that the Romans could have done anything different, so the art of this style of palisade was effectively rediscovered, by the the re-enactors, after being lost for some 2000 years

I've been obsessed with the Anglo-Zulu War since I was a kid. This is turning out to be one of my favorite channels.

As a 79th Cameron light company member I can tell you the uniform is not the problem but the age of most of us. The age of most of the real soldiers would have been under 30 the age of most reenactors is 40 ++ like we see in this splendid group of men. Young recruits are most of the time family members because it is a very expensive way of spending your free time. It is also made more and more complicated by those in power . They hate people walking around with old fire arms or even a bayonet. Maybe you can visit us at the end of august in Almeida.

As a former US Navy sailor who had to wear whites I can feel for these soldiers with the white belt. Their NCOs probably made them spend hours each day cleaning them.

24th Foot, is a great reenactment group, done stuff with them in events before.

I was surprised to hear that wearing the uniform when it was 42 degrees was merely 'warm'. I would have expected it to be bloody roasting! When he was talking about bayonets I couldn't stop thinking of Corporal Jones in Dad's Army. 'They don't like it up 'em!'

I enjoyed the exhibition very much. It was great meeting you and having a quick chat.Matt the big guy had a long chat with me and my mate. Very interesting and knowledgeable guy!!

Thanks folks, great to see all those uniforms and equipment. From that period, my favourite sidearm is the Webley No.5 Army Revolver. I once got to fire one and was impressed by how naturally it pointed exactly where I wanted to shoot,

Great reenactors of uniforms and weapons of 24th foot during Zulu War

Thank you for the video. We need to preserve our history and learn from it ,not forget about it.

Really loved this video, I do Canadian Northwest Rebellion reenactment which uses a lot of the same type of equipment. The British army always knows how to dress sharp!

Excellent presentation. As an Army veteran, I'm always drawn to military history, especially when it involves Anglo-Zulu or Anglo-Boer wars. My great, great grandfather ( on my father's side ), born 1803 in Ireland, served in the 45th Regiment of Foot, the Sherwood Foresters. Apparently, they had taken a beating in Afghanistan, 1841 or 42. The survivors were shipped down to the Cape of Good Hope. Arrived in 1843. Some were deployed in the Northern Cape, others including my great, great grandfather were sent to Natal, objective was to keep the peace between the Burgers ( Boers ) and the Zulus. Apparently he was a Major with the 45th. While in Natal he met his second wife, a Dutch Girl ( a Boer ), born in Utrecht, Holland. They settled in the lower Umzimkhulu River valley, and farmed, after he retired from the Army. One of his sons was killed during the Anglo-Zulu Battle at Isandlwana, 1879. Thank you for sharing those details, has special significance to me. My great grandfather, from Bethnal Green, London, a recent arrival in Natal, married one of the Major's daughters. They settled in the Himeville, Underberg area. One of their sons, my grandfather, a Corporal with the Border Mounted Rifles, fought against the Germans in South West Africa during WW1. My father, a Staff Sergeant with the Natal Mounted Rifles, fought and was wounded during the Battle of El Alamein in Egypt during WW2. My oldest brother, a Sergeant, tank commander, took part in the conflict in Angola about 40 years ago. I was in the process of transferring to a Commando Unit, as Signals Officer, Lt. when my wife and I decided it was time to emigrate. My mother and her family were from England. Her father fought in WW1 in France and WW2, stationed in Egypt. He died with the rank of Lt. Colonel with the King's Royal Rifles. His son, a Captain with the 7th Gurkhas, fought against the Japanese Army in Burma during WW2. My sister-in-law, married to my oldest brother, her father was a Spitfire pilot, took part in the Battle of Britain during WW2. My sister-in-law married to my third oldest brother, her father was taken POW during the battle of Tobruk, WW2. Shipped off to POW camp in Italy. My father-in-law, a Sergeant, was the navigator in a bomber crew, stationed at Cairo during WW2. It appears I'm connected to a few wars, conflicts which have taken place in various countries around the world, hence the interest in military history.

in my opinion, reenactors do a brilliant service to those interested in military history ! when it comes to details, there´s no better way debunking the myths than being hands on on trying out for real. that aside, they can give a representation of how certain events in history could have looked like and in the field of british military history, the Diehards are certainly premium. when it comes to minute detail in handling of small arms I may recommend Rob and his britishmuzzleloaders channel, who is also an aquaintance with the Diehards ! my only objection woulde be, there´s never enough of them. witnessing a fullblown company or battalion salvo would be quite something !

Brilliant. Fascinating to see the details of the uniforms and weapons up close. :)

This was a very interesting video, thanks. I really enjoyed. Fair play to the men from the re-enactment society. 👍🇬🇧

I would love to see a series in the format of Band of brothers from the moment Lord Chelmsford decides to invade to the moment the king of the Zulus is introduced to Queen Victoria.

I applaud these men in helping keeping history alive. A big thank you to them, and a big thank you to you for sharing. Excellent work. :)

Well consider me your newest subscriber. I've always found the Victorian era very fascinating I've been wargaming the second angle Afghan war for a few years now as well as I wear a British pith helmet and khaki jacket in my day-to-day life. so I'll definitely be sticking around to hear more of the history

Brilliant thanks for sharing 👍 gives a real idea of the kit the guys carried. Cheers to Tim and the guys for keeping all this history alive for us.

I hope my brothers and sisters at arms will accept the sincere respects and regards from the officer and men of Company C, 4th United States Infantry Regiment, Washington [State] Civil War Association. Our company garrisoned the Puget Sound in decade prior to the Civil War and went on to fight in the Eastern Theater. Our intention is to present the common soldier and give students a 'boot's eye view' of history, replacing those marble images with human beings. Military historian is often seen as a quirky 'collector hobby' in the US, little different than restoring classic cars. But it's always seemed to me that historian is a respected profession in the Commonwealth and I was **deeply** impressed with some of the remembrance efforts surrounding the Great War. Respectfully Submitted, -/s/ CR Hicks Jr. - First Lieutenant - Co. C, 4th Infantry Reg't - Ft. Steilacoom, Wash. Terr'y

And the Zulu loadout was an animal hide shield and a short spear.

Another great Video! ❤ Thank you. Would be interesting to see a similar video with the Zulu 'campaign kit' being discussed in this manner. Thanks Again.

my husband’s heritage is Zulu and he still has relatives living in Eswatini. His family has a martini henry which my husband is the holder of and he enjoys studying the Anglo-Zulu war.

I've been interested about the Zulu War since watching the film. Good work all around.

Loved this video, nice and relaxed yet very informative ...................... Please tell me I am not the only one during this video who was playing out scenes from the film Zulu in their head.

Wow! From Sharpe I get all the info about the Army in India/Peninsula in the Napoleonic era; there's loads of info about the army in the Great War and WWII; but this was the first time I watched a vid about kit in Victorian times! Thanks again!

Makes you wonder why modern soldiers can’t go anywhere without atleast 20kg of kit

I own both a martini Henry(mk4)and a snider(mk2* that has had the wood cut back for hunting). Here in Canada both martini’s and sniders are fairly common. The snider seen service here for a very long time in one form or another full length rifles and carbine were used by the north west mounted police into the 1920’s they were also used by prisons for a long time with buckshot. In the late 1890’s into the early 1900’s rifles were cut down into “cadet” carbines for the cadets(kids under military age). They were sold as surplus sometime in the early 1900’s and lots of people bought them and used to to put food on the table.

Excellent Episode 👍 Best wishes on your journey to fill time Content Provider!

Brilliant. Great to see a kit video! 👍

Re enactment actors are damn good people. Thank you for your commitment to education of the past.

Thank you Chris, excellent.

My great great grandfather fought in the Zulu wars He served in a special detachment of mime artists He never spoke about about what he did there

I've been a reenactor in the US since 1995. For me it's very much experimental archeology.

"The redcoats are like the wood-pigeon. They cannot fly through the lianas" - A Māori chief advising his warriors on bush fighting.

I was a civil war reenactor for years and my hand goes out to people who had to wear wool uniforms

I like this as the kit in museum never seem that interesting but this is . Thank you

Excellent way to demonstrate, show and tell about the soldier. More of that kind. His uniform, weapons, equipment, use, advantages and disadvantages should for my taste be much more elaborately and detailed described. For me, re-enactors are an opportunity to experience the soldier up close as a living mannequin. What I have a hard time digesting is that it is all too often an overweight, grey-bearded man of 50+ who dominate the numbers, when it was supposed to be boys at 16 - 30 years old that was the reality; but I imagine that they absolutely have a bloody good time when they are "on duty" and peace be with that. Great show. Well done Chris. By the way, what about the New Zealand wars?👍Jan

Thanks. Always enjoy the presentation

I absolutely love the living history groups!

Keep up the great work. Stay proud

well done Chris.

I always liked Fripp's painting, saw the original in the National Army Museum a long time ago and here in Melbourne I have a good-sized print framed and up on the front room wall.

Another very interesting video Chris, as someone else commented, it would have been good to know a bit more about their footwear, an extremely important bit of kit. Fridays sound great to do posts, good to know there is a regular slot in the week for them. 👍 Keep up the excellent work.😊

Brilliant.

Tremendous demonstration and presentation here. Hats off to all involved. (I've just subscribed as well)

I wish I could have gone to see the Clash Of Empires. Great coverage Chris, well done.

Great work gentlemen. 👏

Love your content mate.....looking forward to the Sepoy mutiny stuff.✌

Another brilliant video Chris

Very interesting 👍

Great content.

very informative! Im right now painting some miniature soldiers from the zulu war, so this video was vert good. Greetings from Sweden

Great stuff!!!!!

They certainly were snappy dressers to be sure!

That white band was the perfect aiming point for us in the Revolutionary war😂 Those rifles are bad ass. What a punch it packs!

Very nice 👍

Another great video

Love red coats brave lads 😎

I love what you're doing with the channel. Queen Victoria's Little wars will never go out of style, but I understand what you're up against. Cheers!

GREAT KIT Z!!!!

it would be cool to have one of these on the Zulu had for kit and clothing

during the US Civil War, the North's Union Army cavalry did get issued Spencer repeating rifles, which by reports was very effective. After the war, the US Army standardized on a single shot breach loader. Am wondering if the British ever issued repeating carbines to cavalry units?

Very interesting, thank you fo this video. Greetings from the world war 1 german cavalry (a hussar obviously), an impression still in the making. Great so see some previous periods of other countrys.

Very nice

I have 5 MH’s (my wife: “where did that come from?? Me: “what? I’ve always had it!”), and a 3 band snider. I do my own reloading. Both are excellent and fun to shoot…but, I do prefer my MH’s. Also interesting to see the officers wearing a more “regular soldier” type of uniform. They also did this in the 18th century during the French and Indian wars.

Super cool, though I had a horrible vision of a bugler boy fighting for his life with that little sword.

I wont a lunger🙃 Great video.

Just wondering, but isn't the RIC revolver carried by Tim Rose a later pattern that was produced in the early 1880s?

Really interesting I enjoy these videos history should be kept alive without it we wouldn't have a future

I’d love to see this for every era of British Army kit. I could personally cover down on The Jacobite Rebellion of 1745 and the American Revolution 1775-1783.

Hi Chris, a great video and reminder of the Symposium at the Clash of Empires last week. One question that I should have asked Tim last week and only thought about it on the train home was regarding his comments about musketry training in the 1880s, ie the shift from volley fire to individual firing (I assume as a result of the 1st Anglo-Boer War). Given the increased emphasis on individual firing and I assume skirmishing, then why then did we perform so poorly in the early battles of the 2nd ABW?

It seems odd that soldiers were still carrying wood canteens sealed with bees wax in 1850s. Was there no tin available? Glass or wood is archaic maybe? I wonder if it were an idea created by somebody who didnt spend any time in the field?

Nice.....Too brief in my opinion. A longer version covering all of the various weapons and equipment of the guys at various Battles within the Zulu Wars would be nice. Similar to when some channels do a "mannequin of the month" type run down of clothing, equipment and weapon.

I have explored the Isandlwana area on numerous occasions, and one thing is obvious, the ground is very hard & rocky , impossible to have dug any form of defensive ditch or barrier, so the Officer in charge of the camp , can't really be blamed for not taking extra measures for defending the camp , yes mistakes were made , but not digging defensive positions is unrealistic considering the terrain .

"The MH carbine didn't find its way to SA until the 2nd invasion". How can this be true with the countless MH''s on display from Isandlwana?

Only 60 bullets for battle feels suicidal, specially for confronting Zulu warriors

Reminds me I need to get another foreign service helmet.

modern kit takes away movement for protection. but the best way is to not get shot in the first place.

Good dream anywhere...Cheers.

I have a Canadian Snider carbine and 1878 Martini Henry. The Snider is not very accurate but could because of the ammo I really like the Martini Henry I also have some American trapdoors and think the martini Henry’s are better rifles I have a Remington rolling block New York militia rifle in 50-70 I think the rolling block is the best single shot system

Interesting. Thx. I see no sergeant stripes. Were they introduced later? Where are the rank signia on these uniforms?

What was the blue regimnt

Where did they keep their phones?

For it’s time british were far ahead in tech n arms

👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

How did their faces and ears not get cooked off by the sun? Even in Europe summer sun can be a potential hazard. I never understood this about many of the historical military hats.

You should have put on the redcoat and kit; you'd look smashing.

Chris, I have a new board game out called “Horns of the Buffalo” 12 scenarios of the Anglo-Zulu War

Here is a question, the weapons that you showed, have they been neutered? On the other video you showed a martini Henry that was defiled to keep it safe for whatever they think it's safe for. I love the history and those that reenact are usually a plethora of info just like these kind gentleman here. Cheerio from The U S.

Wow, all day wearing wool in 107F temps. I thought Operation Desert Storm was bad.

Any history is better than no history.

I did read most of the comments below and noticed not one Guard said a thing. Trust me when I say these uniforms were living Hel. I wore the real thing more times than they have and I don’t know how the soldiers could even live. Never mind the Bear Skin annoying your vision the uniform what very thick wool and I have no idea how I didn’t get heat stress. There is a reason why Guards fall down

I noticed everything seems to be geared for a right-handed soldier/officer, what happens if you happen to be left handed? After all you don't want to go into battle if you're struggling to get your pistol/weapon out in a time of need.

I’ve fired several Martini rifles.

Gin-gin I love you

Are any of these lads former service members? If not, do any of them intend to enlist?