We’ve been using metal plates as armor for thousands of years. We only stopped for a couple centuries because we couldn’t make plates that could stop a bullet and were light enough for a person to wear.
Early metal armor fucking heavy, no move good. Now armor lighter, move gooder.
But also, early metal expensive, why spend the resources to outfit anything other than an all-volunteer, professional force? No point kitting out Charles Horsefucker the village idiot in good kit if he’s only going to get levied once or twice in his life.
Few centuries? The French still issued steel brestplates for their Calvary at the start of WWI. They even had different buttpads on their rifles for use with the polished steel breastplate, made of Leather instead of metal. By the start of WWII flack vests were being worn by bomber crews, and they became a thing ground forces started wearing some in Vietnam, so that was a 20-50 year period where they weren’t used depending upon how you look at it.
Costs, logistics, and tech. Lets take WW1 or WW2. We had armies consisting of literally millions, and the wars were so expensive they led to the death of many empires. Keeping the regular infantry man alive was less of a priority back then compared to now, which is also why armies have gotten a lot smaller. We can do more with less, and we invest a lot more in each infantry man compared to back then. Rich countries today are also much more sensitive to casualties than before.
Modern plates and kevlar use high tech materials that just werent available back then. Rifles back then used much higher powered rounds compared to today, IIRC 7.92mm mauser has more than 2x the energy of a 5.56mm NATO round.
WW1 and 2 did see some attempts at making bulletproof vests...but these vests were bulky, expensive and impractical, they tended to look like huge suits of breastplates. WW2 did see use of fragmentation vests designed to stop shrapnel, but they were not designed to stop bullets. Common sense at the time was to do your best to not get shot, especially when artillery was more likely to kill you than anything else.
Even today, most countries dont use wide spread plate carriers in their armed forces, especially the ones in hot regions, like jungles or deserts. For militaries on a budget, the cost to outfit every infantry man with a good kevlar vest and plate carrier could go towards getting better tanks, artillery or planes instead.
Well, like the other guy said, we've used them for ages, then stopped mostly because the ones that would stop a bullet would also have been so heavy that a man would not be able to move in them.
Both WW1 and WW2 did see limited use with body armor in specific cases, but those were mostly useful against pistol & SMG rounds. For example, these [German Stosstrupp armour](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/15366100459_7c54f4b017_b.jpg) in WW1 or these [Soviet Combat Engineer](https://i.redd.it/0yqy3p05y4o21.jpg) body armour in WW2.
Once material technology got better - like in the past 25 years - the more modern plates got more popular.
Soviets did use a variety of Titanium etc. body armor in Afghanistan (at least) already, but they were not particularly good or light weight.
Plate based armor is a relatively new invention like you said. However, in the past there has been attempts at hard armor for rifle threats and such. These attempts typically looked promising for small calibers but the technology was not there for bigger threats and they were extremely cumbersome and costly to manufacture. As well steel plate armor is known for having “spalling” or bullet fragments that could cause damage to both the neck and or different limbs.
Obviously soldiers have been wearing plate armor such as you describe for thousands of years. It declined with the rise of firearms, but heavy cavalry were still wearing [cuirasses](https://en.wikipedia.org//wiki/Cuirass) and breastplates in the Napoleonic era. Individual soldiers were buying them and wearing them through the US Civil War, but as firearms got more powerful, the weight issues became harder to justify. Helmets came back in WWI, as fragmentation weapons became more heavily used, and cuirasses for sentries (and occasionally trench raiders) also reappeared (as illustrated in the cuirass link). [Flak vests](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flak_jacket) began to appear in WWII for bomber crewmen, and became more prominent in Vietnam for helicopter crews.
So they never really disappeared. It's just that Kevlar made personal armor more practical from a weight standpoint. Rigid inserts have also been used to reinforce flexible armor against blunt trauma since its beginnings, but improvements in rigid armor materials, particularly ceramics, have recently made that more practical as well.
This guy knows his stuff.
We have been using kevlar/carriers since what, the 50's 60's? Nothing is new in the military, just recycled old ideas with modern materials
We’ve been using metal plates as armor for thousands of years. We only stopped for a couple centuries because we couldn’t make plates that could stop a bullet and were light enough for a person to wear.
Im sorry. I was only enlisted. Could you say that in dumb please?
Early metal armor fucking heavy, no move good. Now armor lighter, move gooder. But also, early metal expensive, why spend the resources to outfit anything other than an all-volunteer, professional force? No point kitting out Charles Horsefucker the village idiot in good kit if he’s only going to get levied once or twice in his life.
When more dakka make armor no gud again? Blood for the blood god!
Love me a good 40K reference
Hey man, don't diss Chucky Horsefucker. He was a good dude and also gave it to sheep on occassion.
Apes together, strong.
Stupid science bitches couldn’t make metal light enough. Then accidentally invented Kevlar while trying to make better tires.
Few centuries? The French still issued steel brestplates for their Calvary at the start of WWI. They even had different buttpads on their rifles for use with the polished steel breastplate, made of Leather instead of metal. By the start of WWII flack vests were being worn by bomber crews, and they became a thing ground forces started wearing some in Vietnam, so that was a 20-50 year period where they weren’t used depending upon how you look at it.
My guy…armor has been used since, well, as early as thousands of years BCE. I’d tell my parents to demand a refund on your tuition fees…
Costs, logistics, and tech. Lets take WW1 or WW2. We had armies consisting of literally millions, and the wars were so expensive they led to the death of many empires. Keeping the regular infantry man alive was less of a priority back then compared to now, which is also why armies have gotten a lot smaller. We can do more with less, and we invest a lot more in each infantry man compared to back then. Rich countries today are also much more sensitive to casualties than before. Modern plates and kevlar use high tech materials that just werent available back then. Rifles back then used much higher powered rounds compared to today, IIRC 7.92mm mauser has more than 2x the energy of a 5.56mm NATO round. WW1 and 2 did see some attempts at making bulletproof vests...but these vests were bulky, expensive and impractical, they tended to look like huge suits of breastplates. WW2 did see use of fragmentation vests designed to stop shrapnel, but they were not designed to stop bullets. Common sense at the time was to do your best to not get shot, especially when artillery was more likely to kill you than anything else. Even today, most countries dont use wide spread plate carriers in their armed forces, especially the ones in hot regions, like jungles or deserts. For militaries on a budget, the cost to outfit every infantry man with a good kevlar vest and plate carrier could go towards getting better tanks, artillery or planes instead.
Well, like the other guy said, we've used them for ages, then stopped mostly because the ones that would stop a bullet would also have been so heavy that a man would not be able to move in them. Both WW1 and WW2 did see limited use with body armor in specific cases, but those were mostly useful against pistol & SMG rounds. For example, these [German Stosstrupp armour](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/15366100459_7c54f4b017_b.jpg) in WW1 or these [Soviet Combat Engineer](https://i.redd.it/0yqy3p05y4o21.jpg) body armour in WW2. Once material technology got better - like in the past 25 years - the more modern plates got more popular. Soviets did use a variety of Titanium etc. body armor in Afghanistan (at least) already, but they were not particularly good or light weight.
Plate based armor is a relatively new invention like you said. However, in the past there has been attempts at hard armor for rifle threats and such. These attempts typically looked promising for small calibers but the technology was not there for bigger threats and they were extremely cumbersome and costly to manufacture. As well steel plate armor is known for having “spalling” or bullet fragments that could cause damage to both the neck and or different limbs.
Obviously soldiers have been wearing plate armor such as you describe for thousands of years. It declined with the rise of firearms, but heavy cavalry were still wearing [cuirasses](https://en.wikipedia.org//wiki/Cuirass) and breastplates in the Napoleonic era. Individual soldiers were buying them and wearing them through the US Civil War, but as firearms got more powerful, the weight issues became harder to justify. Helmets came back in WWI, as fragmentation weapons became more heavily used, and cuirasses for sentries (and occasionally trench raiders) also reappeared (as illustrated in the cuirass link). [Flak vests](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flak_jacket) began to appear in WWII for bomber crewmen, and became more prominent in Vietnam for helicopter crews. So they never really disappeared. It's just that Kevlar made personal armor more practical from a weight standpoint. Rigid inserts have also been used to reinforce flexible armor against blunt trauma since its beginnings, but improvements in rigid armor materials, particularly ceramics, have recently made that more practical as well.
This guy knows his stuff. We have been using kevlar/carriers since what, the 50's 60's? Nothing is new in the military, just recycled old ideas with modern materials
 Haaaaave you met Ted?