“A helmet is a form of protective gear worn to protect the head. More specifically, a helmet complements the skull in protecting the human brain. Ceremonial or symbolic helmets without protective function are sometimes worn. Soldiers wear combat helmets, often made from Kevlar or other lightweight synthetic fibers.”
As stated alllll sorts of material, with leather, cloth and wood being the ‘first generation’ of headcovers, to the eventual evolution to including bronze, iron and eventually steel as industry and invention moved up. In other words, as we got better materials, we got better armor.
-Big Country
******
A good article, and even better if you're on a budget and looking to buy a helmet.
First there's a history of helmets, then buying options a little further down in the article.
Big Country is like the gift that keeps on giving.
ReplyDeleteExcellent article on nugget protection. It’s one of those accessories that isn’t often considered when gearin’ up. I noticed he potentially steered the reader from the el cheapo chicom choice but I’m in favor of if that’s all you can afford, then something is always better than nothing.
ReplyDeleteViejo Cabrone
If I could only take one piece of armor into a fight, it would be a helmet.
Deletehere is another brain bucket on the market https://www.ade.pt/product/novasteel-helmet-high-cut/
ReplyDeletefound that once and lost it when the old computer died. many thanks for this.
DeleteI think I would rather take my chances with this steel one and the facial shield.
never used the 'fritz helmet" so I don't know anything about it. the old steel pot
yeah, we used to dump them all the time as they did shit to protect your head.
boonie hats where the rule back in the day. dave in pa.
It does seem obvious that a helmet is the first piece of armor you need in combat. Your head is sticking up above everything else, so it's likely to get hit the most. And helmets seem to historically have been invented fairly early in the bronze age, before or at the same time as every other piece of metal protective gear. (Shields made of wood and leather were earlier, but these were stone age technology.) Helmet designs swung back and forth between the poles of a simple upside down metal pot to an elaborate assemblage that also protected the neck and shoulders, but they remained in use from prehistory to the 30 Years War, 1618-1648.
ReplyDeleteBut then they largely went out of use, at least for infantry. Paintings of battles in the Second Northern War, 1655–60, show both infantry and cavalry fighting in broad-brimmed hats. Tricorne hats (broad brimmed hats with the floppy brims rolled up on both sides) were the most common headgear in the American Revolutionary War through at least Waterloo. Civil War troops fought in little cloth caps and big slouch hats. Muskets had replaced most other weapons, and could punch through any helmet of reasonable weight, so the men might as well be comfortable and save money with a cloth hat.
This continued to the first years of WWI - even the German spiked helmet was leather and cloth with a decorative metal spike, and no nation on either side had even thought about a metal helmet. Their issue headwear looked good and protected against small hailstones, but not much else. Then the first casualty lists came back, and they were mostly head injuries from shell fragments. The troops could dig holes and trenches for cover, but that was no protection when the enemy artillery accurately cut their fuses so the shells burst overhead. And suddenly there was a big rush to re-invent the steel helmet and get them to the troops.
The French revived a Napoleonic design of several steel plates riveted together. If it was thick enough, it would have been pretty good protection, except it took years for the factories to make millions of them and equip all the troops. The Germans carefully engineered a helmet that was a good fit to the head; I think it was the best design of WWI or WWII, but just designing it took half of WWI, and it took several stampings to form it and better steel to stand deep-drawing. The British quickly came up with something that wasn't ideal but could be mass-produced in sufficient quantity pretty quickly. This was a simple shallow-drawn shape that provided no side protection, but fully protected the head and neck from above and the wide brim also covered most of the shoulders and upper back. And their troops received this protection while the French were waiting on the factory and the Germans on the engineers . (Then they got stupid and didn't significantly improve the design for nearly 30 years.)
The Americans went into WWI unprepared and wore British helmets because only the Brits could make extras. They continued using these into the 1930's because we weren't going to fight any more wars big enough to be going up against massed and skillfully used artillery. And then they took their time designing a mostly head-shaped helmet, which was a good compromise between German perfection and American engineering for mass production.
Since then, it's been a changing balance between weight and comfort as new materials are invented. And we're still struggling with the same compromises between armor coverage, visibility, hearing, and the ability to move in tight quarters that Greek bronze-smiths were struggling with in 2500 BC.
-markm