The first camouflage for military soldiers dating back to World War I looked like the style of cubist art, with an abstract design of bold shapes and colors. Known as dazzle painting, it was created by British marine artist Norman Wilkinson around 1918 to be used for protecting ships against attacks. Rather than attempting to blend into the scenery, the abstract pattern of the dazzle painted ships made it difficult for enemies to determine the ships’ shape, size, and distance. The British army first used the dazzle painting, and after it was found to be successful, the US implemented the technique for ships and eventually uniforms.
More about camouflage:
- France is thought to have been the first country to experiment with the idea of camouflage in 1915, when they opted to give up their easily recognizable bright white and red uniforms.
- Dazzle camouflage is thought to be responsible for reducing attacks on American ships to less than 1% during World War I.
- The modern camouflage uniform introduced in the late 1990s by Canada consists of pixels in an attempt to distract the enemy’s eye and make it unable to accurately detect the location.