Original version

Although several armies began wearing uniforms of solid neutral colors in the 19th century as a result of the changing nature of war, only World War I made the use of large-scale camouflage necessary. Air reconnaissance made it necessary to hide facilities and equipment and, due to the new weapon systems (long-range rifles, machine guns), it was essential to “hide” soldiers as well. The French learned quickly and began to employ theater artists and stage designers to develop techniques to hide everything from vehicles to buildings. As a result, painting work and the first use of camouflaged nets appeared. Several scientists and artists are considered key figures in the history of camouflage and should also be mentioned, such as British zoologists Hugh Cott and Sir Edward Poulton, who researched camouflage in nature; the American painter Abbott Thayer who introduced concepts of counter shading and disruptive coloring; and Roland Penrose, a British painter who was very influential in World War II. The interwar period introduced the production of camouflage prints on fabric, first the Italian “M1929 Telo Mimetico” and then the German “Buntfarbenmuster 31”, also known as “Splittertarn”. But only during World War II, the industrial printing of camouflage fabric and the manufacture of large-scale uniforms became a standard. At first, only for elite troops, such as paratroopers, and then for the rest of the military branches. This period also laid the foundations for many camouflage patterns used by the most diverse armies today. Families of camouflage patterns:

Brushstroke	Choco Chip	DPM	Digital	Duke Hunter	Flecktarn	Leaf	Puzzle	Rain	Splitter	Tigerstripe

Brushstroke - one of the "grandfathers" of camouflage. First used by Great Britain, it quickly influenced other countries such as Belgium and France (the Lizard pattern, even used by Brazilian Army and Brazilian Marines) to make their own versions of this pattern in the 1950s and 1960s. You will still find it in use in countries like Pakistan or Zimbabwe; Chocolate Chip - officially called the "six-color desert", became widely known because of the 1990 Gulf War, as well as the more subtle "three-color desert" version. It has become so popular that it is still used by several countries in the Middle East in different variations; DPM - the British “Disruptive Pattern Material”. Like M81 Woodland, it has become one of the most widely used camouflage patterns, in a variety of prints and color schemes; Digital Patterns - digital is not necessarily pixelated camouflage, a big mistake, because in fact digital patterns are those based on computers and algorithms. There were already pixelated patterns long before Canada started using them in its uniforms in the late 90s. The US Marine Corps followed suit and created MARPAT in 2001. But while CADPAT or MARPAT can be designed digitally, same goes for Vegetato, Multicam etc; Duck Hunter - one of the least known patterns in Europe, has its origins in the American M1942 camouflage from World War II. Used mainly in the Pacific theater of operations, its descendants can be found in Asia, but also in South America. The Australian "Auscam" is also considered a "relative"; Flecktarn - the result of Bundeswehr Truppenversuch 76, is not only a registered trademark of Germany, but also led to several similar projects in Belgium, China, Denmark and Poland; Leaf - in 1948, the American Army Research Laboratory created the so-called ERDL standard, which is not only synonymous with the Vietnam War, but also influenced several other standards. A 60% enlarged version became M81 Woodland and other countries use it in one way or another; Puzzle - these are quite unique, especially considering that several arose independently in the 20th century. Starting with Belgium, but also with the Philippines and the former Yugoslavia; Rain - the “rain” design element was initially inherent in German WWII standards, imitating grass. Later, the Warsaw Pact countries used vertical lines in solid colors, creating visual noise and being very effective against night vision devices; Splitter - even though the Splittertarn standard is closely associated with World War II, it is still widely in use. Although Switzerland used it until 1955, it was also the initial camouflage of the German Bundeswehr and Bundesgrenzschutz. The Swedish M90 is the most modern variant today; and Tigerstripe - a “cousin” of Brushstroke, was inspired by the French Lizard design, quickly becoming something of its own, and can be found in various jungle environments.