Armour has been used throughout recorded history.

It has been made from a variety of materials,

beginning with the use of leathers or fabrics as protection [2] and evolving through mail and metal
plate into today's modern composites. For much of military history the manufacture of metal
personal armour 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 furthered commercial
development of metallurgy and engineering. Armour was the single most influential factor in the
development of firearms, which in turn revolutionised warfare.

History[edit]
The Dendra panoply, Mycenaean Greek armour, c. 1400 BC

Significant factors in the development of armour include the economic and technological
necessities of its 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 because it would be
prohibitively expensive. At times the development of armour has paralleled 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 knights, 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.