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Any nation that has any pretense to a civilization has developed or adopted armor for their warriors. With time armor has gone through evolution on its own to adapt to new weapons or fighting techniques. Armor has also crisscrossed many borders as during wars or conquests many armor features were borrowed by either side. The first armor was very simple as it was made of ordinary leather. The next step was to improve the leather coverings by attaching harder materials to it such as metal scales or metal rings. At first those improvements were attached on the outside of leather or other material and later they were put in between leather or material layers. The outcome was so called brigandine which was used in Europe between 10th and 16th century.

Early armor was also made with weaved clothing that was enforced with rods or plates made of hard wood or bone that were fastened together with cord or sinew. When metals appeared, wood and bone were replaced with metals. The first metal plates were small in size as the techniques for making larger plates were either non-existent or simply too difficult or expensive to make. This type of armor was very heavy as a lot of smaller pieces were necessary to use to achieve full coverage. The Greeks and Romans used such armor and the metal of choice was bronze. Chainmail was the next step and the plate armor soon followed.

History of Arms and Armor | Arms and Armor Glossary

