About the Time Periods & Regions Explored Here

This website contains information about arms and armors
from the following time periods and regions:

Antiquity Era:

Europe

The 8th century B.C.E. marked the ending of the Bronze Age and the beginning of the Iron Age. Therefore, many armors found in that period were mostly made of bronze with some made of iron. It was only around the 5th century B.C.E. that iron became more prominent than bronze. This change is suggested by some historians to be due to the shortage of tin necessary to make bronze (Snodgrass A. , 1976). Iron allowed for the production of better armor, and around the 4th century B.C.E. gave rise to the mail armor. The mail armor was then used to protect those parts unprotected by the rest of the armor; but for those that could not afford the rest of the armor, it was their only protection. Ancient military forces were more like a militia then a military due to the fact that one had to buy their own armor. It was only until around the 1st century B.C.E. that the Romans began a system of buying the armors for their soldier. The money was, however, deducted from the individual pay of the soldier. The affordability of the armor dictated the type of warrior units that existed, and all these units had different purpose on the battlefield due to their armors.

West Asia

The period of 8th to 1st century BC was also a transitional from bronze to iron for the West-Asia region. Unlike their European counterparts however, their transition to iron was fairly complete by the 4th century BC; where high quality steel were being produce in India by this time (Juleff). This period was also a period of great turmoil, and marked the end of many ancient civilizations due to warfare with one another. The Assyrian Empire met their end by the hands of the Medes and Babylonian Empire, the Babylonian and Medes Empire by the Achaemenid or Persian Empire, and the Persian Empire by Alexander the Great of Greece.

Medieval Era:

Europe

The beginnig of the Medieval Age in Europse was filled with internal warfare as the empires of the old world fell to "barbarian" invasions. Soon, however, countries were formed from the ashes of these struggles and trade allowed the region to flourish. Feudalism became the primary form of government, introducing royal courts, lords and knights. During this time, the Christian Church has grown in power as well and was able to call upon the region to wage holy war in distant lands as part of the Crusades. Warfware within Europse was therefore limited in the later part of the period, as knights and other forces were shipped overseas to fight in the name of their faith.

East Asia

The medieval age was a time of turmoil for East Asia as well. In Japan, warring Samurai families fought continuously for dominance before the Tokugawa peace of the seventeenth century while, in the main land, Mongolia's Khans were on a long streak of conquest from China to Russia. In terms of materials, steel and other metals were now used extensively for both armors and weapons. Lighter armor was still preferred by most in the region prior to the introduction of guns. With guns, came the heavier, more European style armors.