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Armour - Alternative meanings: vehicle armour, Armor (novel)
Armour (also spelled armor in American English), is protective plates or clothing meant to shield a human from intentionally inflicted harm. Armour has been in use for all recorded history, beginning with hides, leather, bone, progressing to bronze, steel, ballistic cloth, ceramics, and depleted uranium. Armour has been primarily a way to protect oneself from harm in combat and military engagements. Armour was also commonly used to protect war animals, such as war horses and war elephants, from intentionally inflicted harm. Armour also means any heavily armoured military force, such as heavy infantry or heavy cavalry (as opposed to light infantry or cavalry). On the modern battlefield, armour means tanks. In a more specific sense, it means the armoured branch in the organization of a national army. History All through history, the development of weapons and armour has literally been an arms race, leading to different types of armour in different civilizations. In European history, common armour types were the lorica segmentata, the chainmail hauberk, the gambeson and later the full steel plate armour used by late medieval knights. In feudal Japan, laquered odoshi armour, a form of lamellar, was popular. Other countries are usually not seen wearing the heavy or intricate armour of the above examples. Typically, the reasons for this are simple- the climates are either too hot or the terrain makes wearing such armour impractical. Plate armour See plate armour. All different parts of the human body have been fitted with specialized armour pieces, and an extensive nomenclature has grown up around this. The head and face is covered by a helmet (with the face protection sometimes being a visor), hand and fingers by gauntlets, the neck by a gorget, the chest by a breastplate, the lower legs by greaves, and so on. Often different armour pieces will cover overlapping parts of the body, as different materials and developments in armour made for shifting fashions. Armour parts may be manufactured using a wide variety of materials and forms. During the Middle Ages, cloth, soft leather, boiled leather, chainmail, and steel plates were often used. A half-suit or half suit, unlike the full suit, or body suit, only covers the upper part of the body, ie. the torso, the arms and the head. Traditonally, plate armour was not mass manufactured as it had to be made for a particular person. As such, it was very rare for a person of lower social rank to possess such a suit. Full plate armour made the wearer virtually impervious to sword blows- making the wearer an extremely valuable asset on the battlefield. Sword attacks, inculding those from the famous katanas, could not penetrate the relatively thick sections of plate steel that made up the majority of the armour. Unfortunately, inventions such as the longbow, crossbow, glaive, and even musket nullified the usefullness of plate armour. Contrary to common misconceptions, a well-made suit of plate armour did not hinder the wearer's movements much, and usually did not exceed the weight of 60 pounds. Additionally, unlike the much heavier chainmail, plate mail supports its own weight well- the weight does not fall solely on the shoulders and neck of the wearer. Instances of knights running or even somersaulting despite wearing full plate armour are examples of this. Modern personal armour Today, bullet proof vests made of ballistic cloth (e.g Kevlar or Dyneema) and ceramic or metal plates are common among police forces, security staff and in some branches of the military. For infantry applications, lighter protection (historically known as a flak jacket) is often used to protect soldiers from grenade fragments and indirect effects of bombardment, but usually not small arms fire. This is because assault rifles usually fire harder, higher-energy bullets than pistols, and the increased protection needed to stop these would be too cumbersome and heavy to use in combat. See also External links
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