Soldiers die from many weird causes- explosions, drowning, even getting shot by their own but no one expects to be killed by their own uniform. These three cases are brought here because they're not single events but affected whole armies because of a asshole politicians decisions. Additional case that came only in injury happened to the Prussians in 1756 when their uniforms were from a material so bad it made the uniform shrinking in the worst places making it hard to breathe.

The first case is about the French and English. English up to World War I had to wear a red uniform with white that made them stand out to sharpshooters. French army had red pants up until when in 1913 Adolphe Méssimy tried to change it... but the press wrote so much bad things about the idea that many French soldiers came to fight in World War I wearing not only red pants but also red hats. Suicidal much?

The second one comes not from tradition but idea of one man- Ion Emanoil Florescu. Romanian officers wore makeup(!) to show how healthy and handsome they are. Humble soldiers were not allowed to wear make up but Florescu insisted they look nice by wearing as much shiny elements as possible. Can you imagine how visible the Romanian army was in the sun? It was like a disco ball yelling "look at me! I'm here!"

The third way of killing soldiers is not accounting for the place you send them. When in 1941 Stalin and Hitler went from being best friends to fighting for spoils, Nazi Germany went to attack Russia and dragged Italians with them. The attack was starting in June so Germans thought it will start and end in summer, but little did they know summer in Russia is not like summer at all. Soldiers were welcomed with cold, rain and snow and to top it all Russians gave them no safe place to sleep. The baffling thing was that Italy the country of exquisite shoes gave Italian soldiers boots that had parts made with cardboard. Frostbites were vast and many soldiers could not walk cause of fucked up feet. The weather defeated Hitler's armies in the end and other armies also had troubles with Russian cold but to this day it's ironic that people with expensive shoes received footwear so shabby because of someones stupid decision. Remember politicians and generals make choices for with foot soldiers pay the price.