Feldgrau is the name of the color of the German army uniform from the late nineteenth century to 1945. It is also a term which is metaphorically used to refer to the armies of this country (the Kaiserheer and the army component of the Reichswehr and Wehrmacht). The word means "field gray," and by the First World War the color meant was a light gray-green. These were the first standardized uniforms in the world that suited an age in which firearms used smokeless powder. Formerly the Germans used just about the same blue (Prussian blue) that the French did, as in the Franco-Prussian War (1870-71). The Reichswehr (literally National Defence or National Militia) formed the military organization of Germany from 1918 until 1935, when the government rebranded it as the Wehrmacht (Defence Power). ... Wehrmacht was the name of the armed forces of Germany from 1935 to 1945. ... Smokeless powder is the name given to any number of gunpowder-like propellants used in firearms which produce neglegible smoke when fired, unlike the older black powder which it replaced. ... Prussian blue is a blue pigment used in paints and formerly in blueprints. ... The Franco-Prussian War (July 19, 1870 – May 10, 1871) was fought between France and Prussia (backed by the North German Confederation) allied with the south German states of Baden, Bavaria and Württemberg. ...