Why did Napoleonic era armies favor colors like red and blue for their uniforms?

by RoadTheExile

Most people today go for either camo (which might have been too hard to make at the time) or earth tones like green or khaki. Why would people want easy to see colors like bright red?

dandan_noodles

Other commenters can remark on the practical aspects of the colorful uniforms that proliferated from the end of the 17th century, but I've gone into some of the cultural angles to this phenomenon here.