Armour

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For other uses, see Armour (disambiguation).
Torso-covering mail armour on a black mannequin
Western Xia mail armour
Armour (British English) or armor (American English; see spelling differences) is a
covering used to protect an object, individual, or vehicle from physical injury or
damage, especially direct contact weapons or projectiles during combat, or from a
potentially dangerous environment or activity (e.g. cycling, construction sites,
etc.). Personal armour is used to protect soldiers and war animals. Vehicle armour
is used on warships, armoured fighting vehicles, and some mostly ground attack
combat aircraft.

A second use of the term armour describes armoured forces, armoured weapons, and
their role in combat. After the development of armoured warfare, tanks and
mechanised infantry and their combat formations came to be referred to collectively
as "armour".

Contents
1 Etymology
2 Personal
2.1 History
2.1.1 Early
2.1.1.1 13th to 18th century Europe
2.1.2 Later
2.2 Present
3 Vehicle
3.1 History
3.1.1 Ships
3.1.2 Trains
3.1.3 Armoured fighting vehicles
3.1.4 Aircraft
3.2 Present
4 Animal armour
4.1 Horse armour
4.2 Elephant armour
5 See also
6 Notes
7 References
8 External links
Etymology
An oil painting depicts a partially-armoured man who is assisted by two boys, one
of whom is tying on some armour onto his arm while the other holds his helmet. A
group of soldiers are amassed in the background.
Portrait of a Gentleman in Armour with Two Pages by Paris Bordone
The word "armour" began to appear in the Middle Ages as a derivative of Old French.
It is dated from 1297 as a "mail, defensive covering worn in combat". The word
originates from the Old French armure, itself derived from the Latin armatura
meaning "arms and/or equipment", with the root armare meaning "arms or gear".[1]

Personal
Main article: Body armor
Armour has been used throughout recorded history. It has been made from a variety
of materials, beginning with the use of leathers or fabrics as protection[2] and
evolving through chain mail and metal plate into today's modern composites. For
much of military history the manufacture of metal personal armour has dominated the
technology and employment of armour.
Armour drove the development of many important technologies of the Ancient World,
including wood lamination, mining, metal refining, vehicle manufacture, leather
processing, and later decorative metal working. Its production was influential in
the industrial revolution, and furthered commercial development of metallurgy and
engineering. Armour was the single most influential factor in the development of
firearms, which in turn revolutionised warfare.

History
Bronze armour and a helmet with pieces of boar's tusk
The Dendra panoply, Mycenaean Greek armour, c. 1400 BC
Significant factors in the development of armour include the economic and
technological necessities of its production. For instance, plate armour first
appeared in Medieval Europe when water-powered trip hammers made the formation of
plates faster and cheaper. Also, modern militaries usually do not equip their
forces with the best armour available because it would be prohibitively expensive.
At times the development of armour has paralleled the development of increasingly
effective weaponry on the battlefield, with armourers seeking to create better
protection without sacrificing mobility.

Well-known armour types in European history include the lorica hamata, lorica
squamata, and the lorica segmentata of the Roman legions, the mail hauberk of the
early medieval age, and the full steel plate harness worn by later medieval and
renaissance knights, and breast and back plates worn by heavy cavalry in several
European countries until the first year of World War I (1914–15). The samurai
warriors of feudal Japan utilised many types of armour for hundreds of years up to
the 19th century.

Early
Statue depicting a man in colorful armour
Wooden statue of Guan Yu in mountain pattern armour, 16th c. Ming dynasty
Cuirasses and helmets were manufactured in Japan as early as the 4th century.[3]
Tankō, worn by foot soldiers and keikō, worn by horsemen were both pre-samurai
types of early Japanese armour constructed from iron plates connected together by
leather thongs. Japanese lamellar armour (keiko) passed through Korea and reached
Japan around the 5th century.[4] These early Japanese lamellar armours took the
form of a sleeveless jacket, leggings and a helmet.[5]

Armour did not always cover all of the body; sometimes no more than a helmet and
leg plates were worn. The rest of the body was generally protected by means of a
large shield. Examples of armies equipping their troops in this fashion were the
Aztecs (13th to 15th century CE).[6]

In East Asia many types of armour were commonly used at different times by various
cultures, including scale armour, lamellar armour, laminar armour, plated mail,
mail, plate armour, and brigandine. Around the dynastic Tang, Song, and early Ming
Period, cuirasses and plates (mingguangjia) were also used, with more elaborate
versions for officers in war. The Chinese, during that time used partial plates for
"important" body parts instead of covering their whole body since too much plate
armour hinders their martial arts movement. The other body parts were covered in
cloth, leather, lamellar, or Mountain pattern. In pre-Qin dynasty times, leather
armour was made out of various animals, with more exotic ones such as the
rhinoceros.

Mail, sometimes called "chainmail", made of interlocking iron rings is believed to

have first appeared some time after 300 BC. Its invention is credited to the Celts;
the Romans are thought to have adopted their design.[7]

Gradually, small additional plates or discs of iron were added to the mail to
protect vulnerable areas. Hardened leather and splinted construction were used for
arm and leg pieces. The coat of plates was developed, an armour made of large
plates sewn inside a textile or leather coat.

13th to 18th century Europe

Further information: Components of medieval armour and Armour in the 18th century
Early plate in Italy, and elsewhere in the 13th–15th century, were made of iron.
Iron armour could be carburised or case hardened to give a surface of harder steel.
[8] Plate armour became cheaper than mail by the 15th century as it required much
less labour and labour had become much more expensive after the Black Death, though
it did require larger furnaces to produce larger blooms. Mail continued to be used
to protect those joints which could not be adequately protected by plate, such as
the armpit, crook of the elbow and groin. Another advantage of plate was that a
lance rest could be fitted to the breast plate.[9]

The small skull cap evolved into a bigger true helmet, the bascinet, as it was
lengthened downward to protect the back of the neck and the sides of the head.
Additionally, several new forms of fully enclosed helmets were introduced in the
late 14th century.

Three statues of riders and horses in armour

Heavily armoured riders and their barded war horses, 16th century
Probably the most recognised style of armour in the world became the plate armour
associated with the knights of the European Late Middle Ages, but continuing to the
early 17th century Age of Enlightenment in all European countries.

By about 1400 the full harness of plate armour had been developed in armouries of
Lombardy.[10] Heavy cavalry dominated the battlefield for centuries in part because
of their armour.

In the early 15th century, advances in weaponry allowed infantry to defeat armoured
knights on the battlefield. The quality of the metal used in armour deteriorated as
armies became bigger and armour was made thicker, necessitating breeding of larger
cavalry horses. If during the 14–15th centuries armour seldom weighed more than 15
kg, then by the late 16th century it weighed 25 kg.[11] The increasing weight and
thickness of late 16th century armour therefore gave substantial resistance.

In the early years of low velocity firearms, full suits of armour, or breast plates
actually stopped bullets fired from a modest distance. Crossbow bolts, if still
used, would seldom penetrate good plate, nor would any bullet unless fired from
close range. In effect, rather than making plate armour obsolete, the use of
firearms stimulated the development of plate armour into its later stages. For most
of that period, it allowed horsemen to fight while being the targets of defending
arquebusiers without being easily killed. Full suits of armour were actually worn
by generals and princely commanders right up to the second decade of the 18th
century. It was the only way they could be mounted and survey the overall
battlefield with safety from distant musket fire.

The horse was afforded protection from lances and infantry weapons by steel plate
barding. This gave the horse protection and enhanced the visual impression of a
mounted knight. Late in the era, elaborate barding was used in parade armour.

Later
Metal armour for torso and arms
Elements of a Light-Cavalry Armor, c. 1510
Gradually, starting in the mid-16th century, one plate element after another was
discarded to save weight for foot soldiers.

Back and breast plates continued to be used throughout the entire period of the
18th century and through Napoleonic times, in many European (heavy) cavalry units,
until the early 20th century. From their introduction, muskets could pierce plate
armour, so cavalry had to be far more mindful of the fire. In Japan armour
continued to be used until the end of the samurai era, with the last major fighting
in which armour was used happening in 1868.[12] Samurai armour had one last short
lived use in 1877 during the Satsuma Rebellion.[13]

Though the age of the knight was over, armour continued to be used in many
capacities. Soldiers in the American Civil War bought iron and steel vests from
peddlers (both sides had considered but rejected body armour for standard issue).
The effectiveness of the vests varied widely—some successfully deflected bullets
and saved lives, but others were poorly made and resulted in tragedy for the
soldiers. In any case the vests were abandoned by many soldiers due to their weight
on long marches as well as the stigma they got for being cowards from their fellow
troops.[14]

At the start of World War I, thousands of the French Cuirassiers rode out to engage
the German Cavalry. By that period, the shiny armour plate was covered in dark
paint and a canvas wrap covered their elaborate Napoleonic style helmets. Their
armour was only meant for protection against edged weapons such as bayonets,
sabres, and lances. Cavalry had to be wary of repeating rifles, machine guns, and
artillery, unlike the foot soldiers, who at least had a trench to give them some
protection.

Present
Today, ballistic vests, also known as flak jackets, made of ballistic cloth (e.g.
kevlar, dyneema, twaron, spectra etc.) and ceramic or metal plates are common among
police forces, security staff, corrections officers and some branches of the
military.

The US Army has adopted Interceptor body armour, which uses Enhanced Small Arms
Protective Inserts (ESAPIs) in the chest, sides, and back of the armour. Each plate
is rated to stop a range of ammunition including 3 hits from a 7.62×51 NATO AP
round at a range of 10 m (33 ft).[15] Dragon Skin is another ballistic vest which
is currently in testing with mixed results. As of 2019, it has been deemed too
heavy, expensive, and unreliable, in comparison to more traditional plates, and it
is outdated in protection compared to modern US IOTV armour, and even in testing
was deemed a downgrade from the IBA.

The British Armed Forces also have their own armour, known as Osprey. It is rated
to the same general equivalent standard as the US counterpart, the Improved Outer
Tactical Vest, and now the Soldier Plate Carrier System and Modular Tactical Vest.

The Russian Armed Forces also have armour, known as the 6B43, all the way to 6B45,
depending on variant. Their armour runs on the GOST system, which, due to regional
conditions, has resulted in a technically higher protective level overall.

Rusted metal helmet

Medieval German helmet.

Statue of horse and rider in armour

Early Modern horse armour on display at Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Full set of plate metal armour

Plate armour
Uniformed police officer wearing body armour
Riot police with body protection against physical impact. It does not provide very
much protection against firearms, however.

Vehicle
Main article: Vehicle armour
The first modern production technology for armour plating was used by navies in the
construction of the ironclad warship, reaching its pinnacle of development with the
battleship. The first tanks were produced during World War I. Aerial armour has
been used to protect pilots and aircraft systems since the First World War.

In modern ground forces' usage, the meaning of armour has expanded to include the
role of troops in combat. After the evolution of armoured warfare, mechanised
infantry were mounted in armoured fighting vehicles and replaced light infantry in
many situations. In modern armoured warfare, armoured units equipped with tanks and
infantry fighting vehicles serve the historic role of heavy cavalry, light cavalry,
and dragoons, and belong to the armoured branch of warfare.

History
Ships
Further information: Warship and Naval armour
A ship with an iron hull
HMS Warrior during her third commission between 1867 and 1871
The first ironclad battleship, with iron armour over a wooden hull, Gloire, was
launched by the French Navy in 1859[16] prompting the British Royal Navy to build a
counter. The following year they launched HMS Warrior, which was twice the size and
had iron armour over an iron hull. After the first battle between two ironclads
took place in 1862 during the American Civil War, it became clear that the ironclad
had replaced the unarmoured line-of-battle ship as the most powerful warship
afloat.[17]

Ironclads were designed for several roles, including as high seas battleships,
coastal defence ships, and long-range cruisers. The rapid evolution of warship
design in the late 19th century transformed the ironclad from a wooden-hulled
vessel which carried sails to supplement its steam engines into the steel-built,
turreted battleships and cruisers familiar in the 20th century. This change was
pushed forward by the development of heavier naval guns (the ironclads of the 1880s
carried some of the heaviest guns ever mounted at sea),[citation needed] more
sophisticated steam engines, and advances in metallurgy which made steel
shipbuilding possible.

The rapid pace of change in the ironclad period meant that many ships were obsolete
as soon as they were complete, and that naval tactics were in a state of flux. Many
ironclads were built to make use of the ram or the torpedo, which a number of naval
designers considered the crucial weapons of naval combat. There is no clear end to
the ironclad period, but towards the end of the 1890s the term ironclad dropped out
of use. New ships were increasingly constructed to a standard pattern and
designated battleships or armoured cruisers.

Trains
A train with metal plates affixed to the exterior
An armoured train from 1915
Armoured trains saw use during the 19th century and early 20th century in the
American Civil War (1861–1865), the Franco-Prussian War (1870–1871), the First and
Second Boer Wars (1880–81 and 1899–1902), the Polish–Soviet War (1919–1921), the
First (1914–1918) and Second World Wars (1939–1945) and the First Indochina War
(1946–1954). The most intensive use of armoured trains was during the Russian Civil
War (1918–1920).
Armoured fighting vehicles
Main articles: Vehicle armour and Armoured fighting vehicle
Ancient siege engines were usually protected by wooden armour, often covered with
wet hides or thin metal to prevent being easily burned.

Medieval war wagons were horse-drawn wagons that were similarly armoured. These
contained guns or crossbowmen that could fire through gun-slits.

The first modern armoured fighting vehicles were armoured cars, developed circa
1900. These started as ordinary wheeled motor-cars protected by iron shields,
typically mounting a machine gun.[18]

During the First World War, the stalemate of trench warfare during on the Western
Front spurred the development of the tank. It was envisioned as an armoured machine
that could advance under fire from enemy rifles and machine guns, and respond with
its own heavy guns. It utilized caterpillar tracks to cross ground broken up by
shellfire and trenches.

Aircraft
With the development of effective anti-aircraft artillery in the period before the
Second World War, military pilots, once the "knights of the air" during the First
World War, became far more vulnerable to ground fire. As a response armour plating
was added to aircraft to protect aircrew and vulnerable areas such as engines and
fuel tanks. Self-sealing fuel tanks functioned like armour in that they added
protection but also increased weight and cost.

Present
A tank
The US Military's M1 Abrams MBT uses composite, reactive, and cage armour
Metal plate with five dents
Swebor-brand high-strength low alloy steel plate, showing both sides, after plastic
deformation from defeating projectiles in ballistics testing. Note: When exposed to
fire, steel first expands and then loses its strength, exceeding critical
temperature at 538 °C (1,000 °F) per ASTM E119 unless treated with fireproofing.
Tank armour has progressed from the Second World War armour forms, now
incorporating not only harder composites, but also reactive armour designed to
defeat shaped charges. As a result of this, the main battle tank (MBT) conceived in
the Cold War era can survive multiple rocket-propelled grenade strikes with minimal
effect on the crew or the operation of the vehicle. The light tanks that were the
last descendants of the light cavalry during the Second World War have almost
completely disappeared from the world's militaries due to increased lethality of
the weapons available to the vehicle-mounted infantry.

The armoured personnel carrier (APC) was devised during the First World War. It
allows the safe and rapid movement of infantry in a combat zone, minimising
casualties and maximising mobility. APCs are fundamentally different from the
previously used armoured half-tracks in that they offer a higher level of
protection from artillery burst fragments, and greater mobility in more terrain
types. The basic APC design was substantially expanded to an infantry fighting
vehicle (IFV) when properties of an APC and a light tank were combined in one
vehicle.

Naval armour has fundamentally changed from the Second World War doctrine of
thicker plating to defend against shells, bombs and torpedoes. Passive defence
naval armour is limited to kevlar or steel (either single layer or as spaced
armour) protecting particularly vital areas from the effects of nearby impacts.
Since ships cannot carry enough armour to completely protect against anti-ship
missiles, they depend more on defensive weapons destroying incoming missiles, or
causing them to miss by confusing their guidance systems with electronic warfare.
Although the role of the ground attack aircraft significantly diminished after the
Korean War, it re-emerged during the Vietnam War, and in the recognition of this,
the US Air Force authorised the design and production of what became the A-10
dedicated anti-armour and ground-attack aircraft that first saw action in the Gulf
War.

High-voltage transformer fire barriers are often required to defeat ballistics from
small arms as well as projectiles from transformer bushings and lightning
arresters, which form part of large electrical transformers, per NFPA 850. Such
fire barriers may be designed to inherently function as armour, or may be passive
fire protection materials augmented by armour, where care must be taken to ensure
that the armour's reaction to fire does not cause issues with regards to the fire
barrier being armoured to defeat explosions and projectiles in addition to fire,
especially since both functions must be provided simultaneously, meaning they must
be fire-tested together to provide realistic evidence of fitness for purpose.

Combat drones use little to no vehicular armour as they are not manned vessels,
this results in them being lightweight and small in size.

Animal armour
Horse armour
Main article: Barding
Statue of horse and rider in armour
A 16th-century knight with a horse in full barding
Body armour for war horses has been used since at least 2000 BC. Cloth, leather,
and metal protection covered cavalry horses in ancient civilisations, including
ancient Egypt, Assyria, Persia, and Rome. Some formed heavy cavalry units of
armoured horses and riders used to attack infantry and mounted archers.[19] Armour
for horses is called barding (also spelled bard or barb) especially when used by
European knights.

During the late Middle Ages as armour protection for knights became more effective,
their mounts became targets. This vulnerability was exploited by the Scots at the
Battle of Bannockburn in the 14th century, when horses were killed by the infantry,
and for the English at the Battle of Crécy in the same century where longbowmen
shot horses and the then dismounted French knights were killed by heavy infantry.
Barding developed as a response to such events.

Examples of armour for horses could be found as far back as classical antiquity.
Cataphracts, with scale armour for both rider and horse, are believed by many
historians to have influenced the later European knights, via contact with the
Byzantine Empire.[20]

Surviving period examples of barding are rare; however, complete sets are on
display at the Philadelphia Museum of Art,[21] the Wallace Collection in London,
the Royal Armouries in Leeds, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Horse
armour could be made in whole or in part of cuir bouilli (hardened leather), but
surviving examples of this are especially rare.[22]

Elephant armour
War elephant display in a museum
Model of an armoured elephant at the Royal Armouries Museum
War elephants were first used in ancient times without armour,[23] but armour was
introduced because elephants injured by enemy weapons would often flee the
battlefield. Elephant armour was often made from hardened leather, which was fitted
onto an individual elephant while moist, then dryed to create a hardened shell.[24]
Alternatively, metal armour pieces were sometimes sewn into heavy cloth.[25] Later
lamellar armour (small overlapping metal plates) was introduced.[26] Full plate
armour was not typically used due to its expense and the danger of the animal
overheating.[27]

See also
Battledress
Bomb suit
High-voltage transformer fire barriers
Linothorax
Powered exoskeleton
Rolled homogeneous armour
Notes
"Definition of armour in English". Oxford Dictionaries. Archived from the original
on 29 July 2012. Retrieved 12 April 2016.
"armour | History, Types, Definition, & Facts | Britannica". www.britannica.com.
Farris 1998, p. 75
Robinson 2002, p. 10
Robinson 2002, pp. 169–170
Fagan 2004,[page needed]
Gabriel 2007, p. 79
Williams 2003, pp. 740–41.
Williams 2003, p. 55
Williams 2003, p. 53.
Williams 2003, p. 916
Robinson 1951,[page needed]
Robinson 2002, p. 208
Stewart, pp. 74–75
ArmorUP
Sondhaus, pp. 73–74
Sondhaus, p. 86.
Macksey, Kenneth (1980). The Guinness Book of Tank Facts and Feats. Guinness
Superlatives Limited, ISBN 0-85112-204-3.
Pyhrr, Stuart W.; LaRocca, Donald J.; Breiding, Dirk H. (2005). The Armored Horse
in Europe, 1480–1620. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art. p. 8. ISBN
9781588391506.
Nell, Grant S. (1995) The Savaran: The Original Knights. University of Oklahoma
Press.
Horse Armor of Duke Ulrich of Württemberg at the Philadelphia Museum of Art
Phyrr et al., 57–59
Kistler 2007, p. 9.
Kistler 2007, p. 13.
Kistler 2007, p. 22.
Kistler 2007, p. 211.
Kistler 2007, p. 21.
References
"Ballistic Protection Levels." BulletproofME.com Body Armor. ArmorUP L.P., n.d. 19
October 2014
DiNardo, R.L. (January 1986). "The First Modern Tank: Gunther Burstyn and His
Motorgeschutz". The Journal of Military History. 50 (1): 12–15.
doi:10.2307/1988528. ISSN 0026-3931. JSTOR 1988528. OCLC 477932108.
Fagan, Brian (2004). The Seventy Great Inventions of the Ancient World. London:
Thames & Hudson. ISBN 978-0-500-05130-6.
Farris, William (1998). Sacred Texts and Buried Treasures. Honolulu: University of
Hawai'i Press. ISBN 978-0-8248-2030-5.
Gabriel, Richard (2007). The Ancient World. Westport: Greenwood Press. ISBN 978-0-
313-33348-4.
Kistler, John M. (2007). War Elephants. Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska
Press. ISBN 978-0-8032-6004-7.
Regan, Geoffrey (1993). The Guinness Book of More Military Blunders. Enfield:
Guinness. ISBN 978-0-85112-728-6.
Reid, Peter (2007). Medieval Warfare. New York: Carrol & Graf Publishers. ISBN 978-
0-7867-1859-7.
Robinson, Basil William (1951). Arms and Armour of Old Japan. London: H.M.
Stationery Office. ISBN 978-0-11-290074-0.
Robinson, Henry (2002). Oriental Armour. New York: Dover Publications. ISBN 978-0-
486-41818-6.
Sondhaus, Lawrence (2001). Naval Warfare 1815–1914. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-
415-21478-0.
Stewart, Gail B. (2000). The Civil War: Weapons of War. San Diego: Lucent
Publishers. ISBN 978-1-56006-626-2.
Williams, Alan (2003). The Knight and the Blast Furnace: A History of the
Metallurgy of Armour in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Period. History of
Warfare. Vol. 12. Leiden: Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-12498-1.
Willmott, H.P. (2003). First World War. New York: DK Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7894-
9627-0.
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