Armor

The wearing of armor goes back through recorded history. Armor means a "protective covering" and initially was made of hides and bone. As technology progressed armor was made with bronze then steel to today with Kevlar and Dyneema.

Armor started out being made from hides and fur. Most likely these hides were boiled which hardened them. The longer they were boiled the thicker and tougher the hides became. Leather armor quickly evolved into a type of armor called 'Lamellar'. This type of armor is when protective materials are sewn to a base material. This forms armor that is made of layers.

There have been three types of armor historically: 'Lamellar', 'Plate' and 'Mail'. Medieval armor started out as 'Lamellar' armor which evolved into Mail armor. Mail is made of large heavy rings sewn edge-to-edge onto a shirt made of leather. This is known as Ring Lamellar. When the rings are linked together then they form a much better armor than when just sewn to a shirt. This type of armor is known as Chainmail.

Weapons became more sophisticated over time. Undoubtedly as a result of the better armor that was available. In response armor became thicker and evolved into Plate armor. Plate armor started in the early 1300's and extended into the late 1500's. Plate armor started out as just a few pieces for protection to full body armor. Plate armor was better than Chainmail because it fit better and the weight was distributed better. This was the time of the knights. The armor went from the Roman Lorica Segmentata to the Articulated Plate armor that was made of dozes of articulated metal plates. This is the armor that gave rise to the term "Knight of Shining Armor".

When pistols and muskets were first developed they had a low velocity compared to firearms of today. The full suits of armor were able to stop the bullets when they were not fired at close range. So a knight would ride up to an adversary and fire at point blank range. The maneuver was called a caracole and the shot would be right into the face of the opposing knight. Over a 400-year period the evolution of armor and firearms were pushed by each other to become better.

In modern times armor has evolved into bullet proof vests made of ballistic cloth, e.g.: Kevlar, Dyneema, Twaron etc) and ceramic or metal plates. The US Army uses Interceptor body armor, which uses Enhanced Small Arms Protective Inserts in the chest, sides and back. Each plate is rated to stop three bullets from a 7.62x51 NATO AP round at a range of 10m.

Armor has had a long history and is still evolving. The full suits of armor may be on the way back in the form of powered suits made of armor. Clearly armor is here to stay and one can only guess what form it will take in the future.