Armour Armour or armor ( see spelling differences ) is protective covering used to prevent damage from being inflicted to an object , individual or a vehicle through use of direct contact weapon s or projectile s , usually during combat , or from damage caused by a potentially dangerous environment or action ( e . g . , cycling , construction sites , etc . ) . Personal armour is used to protect soldiers , and war animal s such as war horse s ( the application for the latter called barding ) . Vehicle armour is used on warship s and armoured fighting vehicle s . Etymology . The word " armour " was introduced into use in the Middle Ages as a borrowing from the French . It is dated from 1297 , as a " mail , defensive covering worn in combat " from Old French " armoire " , itself derived from the Latin " armatura " " arms and / or equipment " with the root " arma " " arms or gear " . Personal . Armour has been used throughout recorded history . It has been made from a variety of materials ; from rudimentary leather protection , personal armour evolved to Mail and full plated suits of armour . For much of military history the manufacture of metal armour in Europe 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 influenced commercial development of metallurgy and engineering . Armour was the single most influential factor in the development of firearm s that revolutionised warfare . History . Significant factors in the development of armour include the economic and technological necessities of armour 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 , since it would be prohibitively expensive . At times the development of armour has run parallel to 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 knight s , 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 . Cuirasses and helmets were manufactured in Japan as early as the 4th century . " 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 . These early Japanese lamellar armours took the form of a sleeveless jacket and a helmet . 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 ) . 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 , and / 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 BCE . Its invention is credited to the Celts , the Romans were thought to have adopted their design . 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 . 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 . 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 . 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 . Probably the most recognised style of armour in the World became the plate armour associated with the knight s 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 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 . 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 arquebuseers 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 . 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 , musket s 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 . Samurai armour had one last short lived use in 1877 during the Satsuma Rebellion 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 . At the start of World War I , thousands of the French Cuirassier s rode out to engage the German Cavalry who likewise used helmets and armour . 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 meant to protect only against sabre s and light lance s . The cavalry had to beware of high velocity rifle s and machine gun s like the foot soldiers , who at least had a trench to protect them . Present . Today , ballistic vest s , also known as flak jacket s , 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 ( E - S . A . P . I ) 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 , though accounts in Iraq and Afghanistan tell of soldiers shot as many as seven times in the chest without penetration . Dragon Skin body armour is another ballistic vest which is currently in testing with mixed results . Despite advances in the protection offered by ballistic armour against projectiles , as the name implies , modern ballistic body armour is much less impervious to stabbing weapons unless they are augmented with anti - knife / anti - stab armour ( usually a form of mail ) . Other types . The first ships protected by iron armour were Kobukson s built in the early 15th century . 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 . It was also naval engineers that constructed the first tanks during World War I , giving rise to armoured fighting vehicle s . Aerial armour has been used to protect pilots and aircraft systems since the Second 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 vehicle s serve the historic role of both the battle cavalry , light cavalry and dragoon s , and belong to the armoured branch . History . Ships . The first ships protected by iron armour were Kobukson s built in the early 15th century . The first ironclad battleship , with iron armour over a wooden hull , " La Gloire " , was launched by the French Navy in 1859 ; she prompted the British Royal Navy to build a counter . The following year they launched " 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 . Ironclads were designed for several roles , including as high seas battleship s , coastal defence ships , and long - range cruiser s . 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 ) , 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 cruiser s . Trains . Armoured train s saw use during the 19th 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 ) . During the Second Boer War on 15 November 1899 , Winston Churchill , then a war - correspondent , was travelling on board an armoured train when it was ambushed by " Boer commandos " . Churchill and many of the train ' s garrison were captured , though many others escaped , including wounded placed on the train ' s engine . Armoured fighting vehicles . Towards the end of World War I , armies on both sides were experimenting with plate armour as protection against shrapnel and ricocheting projectiles . The first proposal for a tank was by the Austrian " Oberleutenant " Günther Burstyn who , in 1911 , proposed a design for " motor artillery " ( " Motorengeschütz " ) with a turret , but his design never progressed beyond a German patent in 1912 . Armoured cars were put into use by the British on the Western Front . Initially an innovation to aid the recovery of downed pilots , they were sidelined when the front became static . They continued to be used in the more open Middle East battlefields . Tank or " landship " development , originally conducted by the British Navy under the auspices of the Landships Committee was sponsored by the First Lord of the Admiralty , Winston Churchill and proceeded through a number of prototypes culminating in the Mark I tank prototype , named " Mother " . The first tank to engage in battle was designated " D1 " , a British Mark I , during the Battle of Flers - Courcelette ( part of the Somme Offensive ) on 15 September 1916 . In contrast to World War II , Germany fielded very few tanks during WWI , with only 15 of the A7V type being produced in Germany during the war . Most German tanks were captured British ones . The first tank versus tank action took place on 24 April 1918 at Second Battle of Villers - Bretonneux , when three British Mark IV s met an advance of three German A7V s , supported by infantry . Tanks were knocked out on both sides , but the German attack failed and they retreated . Mechanical problems , poor mobility and piecemeal tactical deployment limited the military significance of the tank in World War I and the tank did not fulfil its promise of rendering trench warfare obsolete . Nonetheless , it was clear to military thinkers on both sides that tanks would play a significant role in future conflicts . 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 fuel tanks and engine . Present . 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 charge s . As a result of this , the main battle tank ( MBT ) conceived in the Cold War era can survive multiple RPG strikes with minimal effect on the crew or the operation of the vehicle . The light tank s 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 ) is a relatively recent development , stemming from trials and experiences during the Second World War . The APC 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 - track s 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 armoured personnel carrier 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 , bomb s and torpedo s . 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 prevent penetration by anti - ship missile s , they depend more on destroying an incoming missile before it hits , or causing it to miss its target . 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 was later to become the A - 10 dedicated anti - armour and ground - attack aircraft of the Cold War .