A Brief History of Helmets —— Look at the "First Class Helmets, Second Class Helmets and Third Class Helmets" in history

Recently, the China Millennium Monument in Beijing is particularly lively, and the theme exhibition "Painting the Mediterranean: Civilization and Fantasy of an Ancient City" is in full swing. 134 pieces (groups) of exquisite cultural relics show the unique civilization formed by the collision and blending of many nationalities in the era of "Great Greece". In the exhibition, a bronze helmet from the 4th century BC caught Xiao Xin's attention. You know, whether ancient or modern, helmets are a magic weapon to save lives. Helmets, as military equipment, have a history of thousands of years. ▲ In those years of bronze helmets in the 4th century BC, pots and pans were used to protect the head. A long time ago, primitive people hunted for a living, and it was inevitable to fight tigers, lions and bears in the jungle. It's common to get your arms and legs bitten off. I am most afraid of being slapped by wild animals and going straight to the top of the skull ... In addition to external troubles and internal worries, conflicts between tribes are becoming more and more frequent, and some people like to bump their heads when fighting. In order to reduce injuries, primitive people learned to "wear a helmet"-grab a turtle shell, coconut shell and other things and buckle them on their foreheads, and the effect is really good. Obviously, people at that time didn't know the meaning of "the tortoise covers the head". ▲ A coconut shell helmet in a game with the arrival of the era of cold weapons, daggers, spears, bows and arrows, lattice machines, etc. It has gradually revealed its great power on the battlefield, and then it is like that to use coconut shells as helmets. Thus, thousands of years ago in the Bronze Age, the earliest metal helmet came out. The earliest existing helmet in Europe is the ancient Greek helmet in 700-800 BC. China was first unearthed in Yinxu, Anyang more than 3000 years ago. Earlier helmets were unearthed in Iran (ancient Persia) and Iraq (ancient Babylon). Next, Xiao Xin will be divided into "China" and "Europe" to sort out the development of helmets. A brief history of the helmet-China's helmet was called "Dou", "Zhong" and "Zhou" in ancient times. Xin Qiji wrote in his words: "I was young and never stopped fighting in the southeast." It refers to a thousand troops with pockets. The earliest helmet in China, unearthed in Yinxu, Anyang, was made of bronze and beautifully decorated. ▲ Bronze helmet unearthed from Yin Ruins in Anyang During Shang Dynasty, a large number of bronze helmets were found in the tomb of Houjiazhuang 1004 in Anyang, Henan Province, which is the earliest known helmet in China. Some of these helmets are decorated with animal faces, some are simply cast with two big eyes, and some have only round sunflower patterns. There is a hollow copper tube at the top to accommodate tassels. During the Western Zhou Dynasty, the helmet manufacturing process was simplified, which was convenient for mass production. In the Spring and Autumn Period, bronze helmets were more suitable for head shape and more conducive to actual combat. Skin stomach and iron stomach began to appear during the Warring States period. ▲ Leather armor unearthed from Zeng Houyi's tomb During the Warring States Period, leather armor unearthed from Zeng Houyi's tomb in Suizhou, Hubei Province was a typical representative of leather armor during the Warring States Period. It consists of 18 patent leather with spine on top and neck protector on the bottom. Connected by silk thread, the helmet is beautifully shaped and has a high level of technology. ▲ Yanxiadu Zhou Tie during the Warring States Period 1965 In the tomb pit of Duwu balcony in Xia Yan, the iron week of the Warring States Period was discovered for the first time by Chinese archaeologists. This rafter is now in the Hebei Museum. It is made of a disc on the top of the head and 88 rectangular iron clips. Hundreds of years later, this kind of armor has stubbornly existed in China's army. In 22 1 year BC, Qin destroyed six countries. Because the Terracotta Warriors and Horses in the Mausoleum of the First Qin Dynasty did not pass through the tomb, some scholars once put forward the view that there is no tomb in Qin Jun. This argument came to an end when the stone tombs in the pit of Qin Mausoleum in 1998, like the iron tombs in the capital of Xia Yan, were all composed of overlapping stone pieces. ▲ The stone tomb of Qin Shihuang Mausoleum, Qin Tomb, 1998, is composed of stone pieces in the burial pit of Qin Mausoleum, which breaks the view that there is no stone in Qin Jun. The stone rafters are now in the Qin Shihuang Mausoleum Museum. There are 74 rafters, made of blue-gray karst limestone, with fine texture and uniform color. After grinding and drilling, it is connected with bronze wire, and the process is exquisite and complicated. By the Han Dynasty, the armored technology had developed significantly. In addition to armor, a new helmet with a brim appeared. It is the embryonic form of the popular helmet style in the Southern and Northern Dynasties. Later, Japan also evolved a helmet style based on this helmet, which was named "Chongjiao Fuzhou" and had far-reaching influence. ▲ Structural map of shovel unearthed from the Eastern Han Tomb in Yushu County, Jilin Province ▲ "shovel in the ancient grave era of Japan ▲ ▲ M26 helmet in the Spanish Civil War was a link between the preceding and the following, and a new type of pocket shovel developed according to the" shovel "in the Eastern Han Dynasty became popular. This helmet has a ridge at the top, horns at the front and back, and a "neck" composed of leather and armor at the left, right and back, which can perfectly protect the most fragile back of the human head and neck. ▲ The shape of Sui helmet changed on the basis of the Northern and Southern Dynasties. Influenced by the northern Turks, there appeared a "animal helmet" imitating the animal head; Influenced by Buddhism, there appeared a "bun helmet" imitating the bodhisattva bun. Brilliant Tang Dynasty, eternal glory. During this period, helmets developed explosively. There are many kinds of headdresses, such as folding headdresses, sister-in-law headdresses and Suzaku headdresses, with exquisite craftsmanship. ▲ Nara Museum has a collection of five generations of helmets (flip helmets) like the King of Heaven in the Tang Dynasty, which inherited the Tang system, but further simplified it. After the folded Dunxiang helmet and Suzaku helmet merged, it finally evolved into the image of the popular Phoenix-winged helmet in the Song and Ming Dynasties. Song Kui is exquisite and unobtrusive, and details are king. The work that best embodies the helmet system in the Song Dynasty is the "Free Week Map" by Li, a famous painter in the Northern Song Dynasty. ▲ Li's "Zhou" in the Northern Song Dynasty This picture is now in the National Palace Museum in Taipei. It depicts the scene of Guo Ziyi, a famous man in the Tang Dynasty, riding alone to meet Uighur Khan. Although the theme of the painting is the Tang Dynasty, the style of armor is completely inherited from the Song Dynasty. Guards in Guo Ziyi always wear four kinds of "pocket hats", such as phoenix-winged helmet, hat helmet, lotus-edged helmet and nameless helmet. After the "shame of Jingkang", a kind of hat shaped like Fanyang felt hat appeared in the Southern Song Dynasty, and the brim of the hat was buckled into water lily leaves. The Yuan Dynasty was deeply influenced by the cultures of West Asia and Central Asia. In addition to following the style of the Central Plains, the helmet also created a "bowl". The bowl has skin, iron and eyebrows. The top decoration is a tassel gun nicknamed "lightning rod" by later generations. There are many kinds of helmets in Ming Dynasty, some inherited from Yuan Dynasty and some imitated from Song Dynasty. There are many "Ming Iron Helmets" and Bowl Helmets in the army, and a few generals in the Royal Guards who are responsible for etiquette duties and imperial generals will also wear improved Phoenix Wing Helmets. ▲ The helmet of Judy, the Yongle Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, carved with dragons in Jin Lan is now in the Guanfu Museum. Gold craft refers to decorating the helmet with gold foil by hammering. The golden dragon is magnificent, and Jin Lan's Zasanskrit is quite mysterious, and the whole is ingenious. In the Qing dynasty, everyone wore bowl rafters. After the Qing army entered the customs, the tassel gun became higher and higher, the decoration became more and more gorgeous, and the grafting hollowing and shredding process was amazing. A Brief History of Helmets-European Helmets Because the development system of western helmets is very complicated, Xiao Xin only briefly introduces several representative helmets here for everyone to enjoy. Roman Empire Helmets The Roman Empire once dominated Europe for nearly a thousand years, and the changes in its weapons and equipment had a great impact on the whole of Europe. Roman helmets generally developed in the order of Collins helmet (5th century BC) → Montefortino helmet (BC 1 century) → Kourou helmet (BC 1 century) → Gaul helmet, Italian helmet (65438-2nd century+0th century AD) → Ridge helmet (4th-5th century AD). ▲ From left to right, the nose guard of the late Mongolian helmet, Kulu helmet and Gaul G helmet is an independent Y-shaped metal structure. Interestingly, this kind of nose protector can be seen in medieval Anglo-Saxon helmets and famous Viking helmets. Vikings extended the eye protection device combined with nose protector on the Y-shaped structure. ▲ Viking Eye Helmets with Roman Ridges ▲ Anglo-Saxon Helmets in the 8th century ▲ European Modern Helmets 19 14, World War I broke out. On the first day of the war, a certain unit of the French army was heavily shelled by the Germans, filled with smoke and shrapnel flying everywhere, and the French army suffered heavy casualties. A French sergeant was on duty in the kitchen at that time. In a panic, he grabbed a marching pot and put it on his head. As a result, the pot saved his life. French general Adrian was inspired and decided to put a "small pot" made of steel on everyone's head. In this way, the first modern military helmet "Adrian helmet" was born. 19 15 years, this kind of helmet was popularized in the French army, which greatly reduced casualties. ▲ Adrian helmet countries have followed suit and developed their own helmets. Among them, the British MK 1 helmet is shallow and looks like a dish; Germany's M 16 helmet is shaped like a rice bowl, with a large protective area and long "helmet skirts" on both sides and back. The helmet used by the United States in World War I was British. In World War II, it was equipped with a bowl-shaped M 1 helmet, which was called "steel can" by soldiers and was used until the 1980s. It is said that in World War II alone, the American M/KLOC-0 helmet saved the lives of at least 70,000 American soldiers. ▲ In the literary works of American soldiers wearing M 1 helmets, the battlefield famous soldiers are all dressed in plain clothes without armor, for the beauty of artistic conception. In the real battlefield, if you don't wear a helmet, you will deliberately "send your head." Here, Xiao Xin would like to remind everyone that riding motorcycles and electric cars and working safely on the construction site should also wear safety helmets according to regulations. Cherish life, please put on your helmet. You are also welcome to go to the exhibition site of "Painted Mediterranean: Civilization and Fantasy of an Ancient City" with Xiao Xin, to see and listen to helmets together.