Body Armor During Ww1 Essay

610 Words3 Pages

Body Armor During WWI World War One was one of the biggest wars in history. So many young men lost their lives throughout the war. Some say that the more frequent use of body armor throughout the war would have saved hundreds of thousands of men. Though useful and heavy body armor was not widely used, there are multiple instances of troops on both sides using heavy body armor. Helmets were a very important part of a soldier’s uniform. Helmets created during World War One were created to protect the most important organ in the body, from stray or glancing blows from bullets and from falling debris. It took a whole year after the war had started for the British army to standardly issue steel helmets. The British and US helmets were shaped like deep saucers. Even though the British helmet did somewhat protect the soldiers from danger, the design was far from perfect. During the beginning of World War One, the Germans were using the standard issue Pickelhaube helmet. The Pickelhaube is one of the most notable and famous of the helmets used in World War One because of the spike that was protruding out of the top of the helmet. These were the types of helmets that Remarque had written about in the book “All Quiet on the Western Front.” This leather helmet …show more content…

The Stahlhelm also made an appearance near the end of “All Quiet on the Western Front” because the Germans hadn’t introduced the helmet until later in the war. The new and improved steel helmet is regarded by many historians (for example, Chris Kempshall) as being the superior helmet throughout the whole World War. This is because it offered more protection for the soldier’s lower head region and even the shoulders. This helmet became so synonymous with the German army that even the allied nations didn’t want to create a similar design because they believed it would lead to confusion in the

Open Document