Armour is body protection worn in battle. The invention of gunpowder led, by degrees, to the virtual abandonment of armour until the Great War, when the helmet reappeared as a defence against shrapnel. Modern armour, used by the army, police, security guards, and people at risk from assassination, uses nylon and fibreglass and is often worn beneath clothing.
Some kind of defensive covering was probably of almost as early invention as weapons of offence. The principal pieces of defensive armour used by the ancients were shields, helmets, cuirasses, and greaves. In the earliest ages of Greece the shield is described as of immense size, but in the time of the Peloponnesian war about 420 BC, it was much smaller. The Romans had two sorts of shields; the scutum, a large rectangular highly convex shield, carried by the legionaries ; and the parma, a small round or oval flat shield, carried by the light-armed troops and the cavalry. In the declining days of Rome the shields became larger and more varied in form. The helmet was a characteristic piece of armour among the Assyrians, Greeks, Etruscans, and Romans. Like all other body armour it was usually made of bronze. The helmet of the historical age of Greece was distinguished by its lofty crest. The Roman helmet in the time of the early emperors fitted close to the head, and had a neck-guard and hinged cheek-pieces fastened under the chin, and a small bar across the face for a visor. Both Greeks and Romans wore cuirasses, at one time of bronze, but latterly of flexible materials. Greaves for the legs were worn by both, but among the Romans usually on one leg. The ancient Germans had large shields of plaited osier covered with leather, afterwards their shields were small, bound with iron, and studded with bosses. The Anglo-Saxons had round or oval shields of wood, covered with leather, and having a boss in the centre; and they had also corselets, or coats of mail, strengthened with iron rings. The Normans were well protected by mail; their shields were somewhat triangular in shape, their helmets conical. In Europe generally metal armour was used from the tenth to the eighteenth century, and at first consisted of a tunic made of iron rings firmly sewn flat upon strong cloth or leather. The rings were afterwards interlinked one with another so as to form a garment of themselves,
called chain- mail.
Great variety is found in the pattern of the armour, and in some cases small pieces of metal were used instead of rings, forming what is called scale-armour. A suit of armour consisting of larger pieces of metal, called plate-armour, was now introduced, and the whole body came to be encased in a heavy metal covering. The various forms of ring or scale armour were gradually superseded by the plate-armour, which continued to be worn until long after the introduction of firearms and field-artillery. A complete suit of armour was an elaborate and costly equipment, consisting of a number of different pieces, each with its distinctive name. In 19th century European armies the metal cuirass was still to some extent in use, the cuirassiers being heavy cavalry; and it is was said that this piece of armour provided a useful defence against the rifle bullets of the time. During all the time that the use of heavy armour prevailed, the horsemen, who alone were fully armed, formed the principal strength of armies; and infantry were generally regarded as of hardly any account. England was, however, an exception, as the English archers were almost at all times, before the invention of gunpowder, an important and sometimes the chief force in the army. Research Armour More pictures of Armour
Abbreviations
Warfare
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