armour

Paintings of armour and weapons from an ancient Greek bowl.

A 19th-century illustration of armour of the 12th, 13th, and 14th centuries. Body armour, head-pieces, and shields had to keep pace with weapon development, as demonstrated by the change from chain mail to plate armour.

Knights jousting before a king, queen, and nobles. The picture is from the French Roman de Petit Jean de Saintre, dating from 1470. Jean de Saintre was a French chevalier, or knight. In order to carry not only a lance-bearing knight in full armour, but also its own body armour, the war-horse was an extremely heavy animal similar to the shire horse of today.

Knight's armour, San Gimignano, Italy. Medieval armour developed from mail armour to plate armour, so that by the early 15th century the wearer was completely encased in plate that was highly articulated by rivets and straps to allow greater body movement.

Body protection worn in battle. Body armour is depicted in Greek and Roman art. Chain mail was developed in the Middle Ages but the craft of the armourer in Europe reached its height in design in the 15th century, when knights were completely encased in plate armour that still allowed freedom of movement. Medieval Japanese armour was articulated, made of iron, gilded metal, leather, and silk. Contemporary bulletproof vests and riot gear are forms of armour. The term is used in a modern context to refer to a mechanized armoured vehicle, such as a tank.

The development of armour for tanks and ships since World War II has become increasingly focused on finding lighter, layered composites that offer better protection than basic steel plate. An example of this would be the British Army using ‘Chobham’ composite armour to reinforce the basic protection of Challenger II and Warrior IFV. Another form of localized protection is ‘reactive’ armour, consisting of ‘shoeboxes’ made of armour containing small, quick-acting explosive charges, which are attached at the most vulnerable points of a tank. These packs explode in order to break up the force of entry of an enemy warhead. This type is used by, for example, Israel, but the incorporation of explosive material on the outside of a tank has potential drawbacks for supporting infantry. The Trophy Active Protection System is seen as a safer and more effective replacement to reactive armour and is currently in service on the Merkava Mark IV in the Israeli Defence Force.

The invention of gunpowder led, by degrees, to the virtual abandonment of armour until World War I, when the helmet reappeared as a defence against shrapnel. Suits of armour in the Tower of London were studied by US designers of astronaut wear. Modern armour, used by the army, police, security guards, and people at risk from assassination, uses nylon and fibreglass and is often worn beneath their clothing.

Early armour: Greek and Roman Defensive armour first appeared probably in the form of a shield, made of wood, and carried in the left hand, leaving the right hand free for striking. With the advent of bronze and, shortly after, iron, the means of protection were greatly increased; the Greeks had cuirasses of bronze shaped to the body. The shield of Homeric times was generally large and circular, reaching from the shoulder to the thigh. The Etruscan and Roman armour was derived from Greek forms, but in Imperial times iron was increasingly used and the legions were furnished with standard equipment. The Roman shield was often rectangular, commonly of wood, and markedly convex so that it fitted to the body, and with the insignia of the legion shown upon it in metal. The body armour of a legionary soldier generally consisted of hoops of iron or leather round the body, joined over the shoulders by wide protective braces. The Roman sword was short and two-edged though there was a larger variety known as the spartha.

Mail armour: Middle Ages After the fall of Rome the barbarians of the Dark Ages wore little body armour, and plate armour fell into disuse for some 800 years. The later Romans had used mail, which they had possibly derived from sources outside Europe, and this was increasingly worn by both the Franks and the Vikings. By mail, commonly known as chain mail, is meant a textile formed of interlocking rings. The great advantage of mail lay in its flexibility and its strength. From the time of the Norman Conquest of England conical helmets with nasals were worn which gave some protection to the face, together with mail shirts and sometimes mail leggings. The Norman shield was long and kite-shaped for use on horseback; the English had both round and kite-shaped ones of the Norman pattern. Footmen had spears and horsemen a spear known as a ‘lance’.

The feudal system produced a special military caste of heavily armed horsemen. The shield was shortened, a great helmet enclosing the entire head was introduced, and the mail protection of the body was covered with a linen surcoat. Helmet, shield, and surcoat, and also the trappings of the horse, were brilliantly decorated by the newly devised art of heraldry, which indicated the wearer's identity. The disadvantage of mail was that it did not guard against a crushing blow from a mace or battle-axe and increased protection was sought by wearing a heavily padded gambeson beneath it. This quilted garment was also worn as a defence itself by those who could not afford mail.

Plate armour: late Middle Ages During the 13th century plate armour reappeared in the form of pieces to protect the elbow and knee joints, and was soon extended to cover the arms and legs. During the course of the 14th century plate armour was rapidly developed until, early in the 15th century, the man-at-arms was completely encased in plate, so articulated by means of rivets and straps that it allowed movement of body and limbs. In the course of the Middle Ages the art of the armourer made great strides forward both in the tempering of metal and its decoration. The helmet was equipped with a moveable visor, and in place of the mail mittens were articulated gauntlets of plates, the forms of the plates being so fashioned as to give the maximum glancing surface to any blow. With the advent of plate armour the shield was less necessary in battle, though its heraldic functions survived and it was still used in the tiltyard, and by infantry in war.

In the course of the 15th century the workshops of southern Germany, such as Augsburg and Nuremberg, produced armour of great elegance, known today as ‘Gothic’ from the details reminiscent of the style of architecture bearing that name, with pointed cusps, finials, and rippled surfaces. In northern Italy, Milan had become the great armour-making centre of worldwide renown. The armour which was produced there in the 15th century was more rounded and simpler in form than the German style, but of superlative quality.

16th–17th centuries In the course of the 16th century organized armies with specialized corps were put in the field across Europe. The infantry had never been heavily armed, and one finds the use of professional mercenaries, such as the landsknechts, equipped with spears, halberds, and swords, and wearing partial armour. The sheer numbers of infantrymen had always militated against elaborate armour simply on the grounds of expenditure; equally potent reasons were the needs for speed and mobility. The customary defensive armour for the infantry (from about 1250 to 1600) was the brigandine, which was widely used not only in Western Europe but also as far afield as Persia and India. This was a lightly armoured waistcoat or shortcoat, with the armour worn over and usually tied into a leather jacket. This provided protection without impairing mobility, and was in fact the origin of the modern ‘flak jacket’. The old heavy cavalry was still used, but more to deliver the final blow than to manoeuvre. For this purpose light cavalry wearing half-armour was employed.

Late in the 16th century armourers were still making fine armour, magnificently embossed and damascened with gold and silver, and also armour specially designed for the tournament. However, full armour, except for the cuirass and helmet, was rarely worn after 1650, though commanders might use it when sitting for portraits.

Until modern times, defensive armour was last worn in Europe about the middle of the 17th century. In the Thirty Years' War the cuirassiers, or heavy cavalry, played an important part, but they were quickly abandoned in the Civil War in England. Bodies of disciplined pikemen carrying long pikes and wearing defensive armour of helmet, breast- and backplate, and tassets on the thighs, and horsemen wearing a helmet of iron, a cuirass, at least one gauntlet, and a coat of stout buff leather, were employed by both sides. After the Civil War armour was virtually abandoned in favour of cloth uniforms, with only individual pieces of armour such as the gorget and the cuirass being retained as symbols of rank and distinction.

20th century Nearly 300 years later armour made its appearance again in the form of the steel helmet introduced 1915 during trench warfare on the Western Front, and some months later in the armoured vehicle known as the tank. In World War II body armour was supplied to US airmen in the form of ‘flak jackets’. Made in two sections, the jacket covered back and front from neck to waist, and it was made of fabric, with squares of 20-gauge manganese steel sewn in so that they overlapped on all sides, giving complete coverage of chest and neck. The vest would resist a .45 bullet at 9 metres.