@@robertortiz-wilson1588 a good mask will also protect you from something, but here’s the key term GOOD, like a 3M surgical mask, not a shitty mask from the gas station around the corner
@@CHMichael as a matter of fact we know when star wars happens. In a legends story han stranded on earth, got killed by indigene people and his skull was found 150 years later by Indiana Jones, making the shape about 200 years old atm.
@@rabadonsdeathcap7418 vaders helmet Was in fact inspired by samurai helmets, his original Design was even more menacing then what we actually got. Search up vader concept Art Ralph MCquarrie
Actually they change the design of the then new American helmet after the invasion of Grenada because the President got a lot of flak (Ho) because they looked like Storm Troopers. The brim was modified. Pete.
@@bigblockjalopy it gives protection. It can safe you from shrapnel and depris. Not from bullets but atleast you will not get killed from a medium size rock wich falls on your head.
@@bigblockjalopy What the fuck are you on about? Deaths by falling debris from artillery bombardment literally went down after the adoption of helmets among armies of all nations in WW1, they objectively work. You can see the reports if you even bothered to find them rather than bemoan that they won't stop a direct rifle shot or whatever unrealistic expectation you have of them.
@@bigblockjalopy Maybe a bullet could go straight through a stahlhelm, but it did protect whoever was wearing it from shrapnel. Do you really think a country would supply its' military with non-functional helmets just for morale? Where'd you get that conclusion from?
@@spiritmoon5998 Where? I served and wore one of these. Shrapnels will go thru that thing like Butter. Theoretically there is a little bit protection but It is just thin sheet metal. Are you saying that everything of a military uniform is functional? Absurd
To keep my reply short the Germans had quite a few things similar to the allies and a lot of their wunderwaffe either appeared to late, was rushed, only had a few prototypes made, a combination of the first three, or never existed beyond blueprints. The Germans did design weapons and drew concepts that we still use in modern warfare. Most of their ideas were ahead of their time not a lot of their tech was.
@not a bunch of kids in a trench the tanks sucked? The tiger 1 was a beast man, and their planes were good. Their guns were all great apart from the kar98 Edit: I swear to god stop telling me how bad the tiger 1 was I got the fucking message the first time someone replied read all the other people replying to me saying the same shit as you first
Its also worth pointing out that the little lip in the front directs water away from your line of sight, on less you tilt your head forward, this means you can aim your rifle without water dripping in front of your eyes:)
It actually wasn't seen as cowardly to use a helmet during ww1. The reason they weren't used during the opening years was due to the idea that they were a waste of time, they were heavy and didn't offer much protection due to poor steel. This idea was later blown out of the water once the reality of modern warfare set in.
idk why anyone woud say what he said.. if they knew basic history. But this is how fake facts can spread. NO ww1 soldier would laugh at a helmet.. they saw too many leaking skulls to joke around about cowardice..
Also the German helmet was designed that way so you could lay on your stomach and look ahead without your helmet being pushed down over your eyes by the back of your neck.
The Stahlhelm was also kind of an evolution of the German Sallet helm, a late medieval helm. They just got rid of the gorget, visor, and shortened the tail. And even then, we're bringing back visors and gorgets in the form of ballistic eye protection/NVGs and lower faceplates respectively.
It’s interesting to see helmet designs of the First World War. It really does seem like, for Germany and Britain at least, they went back to their medieval roots. The Stahlhelm looks similar to a Sallet while the Brodie helmet takes notes from the Kettle helmet.
I've read a bit about how the ww1 helmets came to be and yeah.. It was Pretty much putting medieval designs back into production, with many investigators going to museums to research the best designs
That's not just it. They used armour too, sheets of iron plate about body sized. I've seen pictures of what looks like a walking tank. Then theres the trench raids which resorted to home made versions of weapons that wouldn't be out of place at Agincourt.
@Darkfarfetch They follow the same principals. Apparently not that well because the new US standard helmet won’t even stop armor penetrating nine mill. That’s probably why they changed it so quickly.
@@xenoplayspl6239 yeah the roman helmet might be even better regarding the few examples we have Apperances might matter more thou, the m1 American helmets look like giant olives
@@jamesgoldring1052 The Roman helmet was also similar to designs from the gauls. Its a basic helmet design that any normal functioning human being would be able to figure out why its the best
A common misconception but the pickelhaube was primarily made of boiled leather (the exception being the cuirassier's or heavy calvary version, which was made entirely out of metal, and was often used in portraits of high-ranking leaders.) making it practically useless in the trenches, other than getting you shot. In 1916 the pickelhaube was discontinued in favor of the all metal Stahlhelm, which would be cut down and simplified until you would get the WW2 version. In effect, the WW2 Stahlhelm is the same helmet used in WW1, just simplified, just like the Kar98k came from the Gewehr 98, Kar being a shortened version of karabiner or carbine, and k being Kurz or short.
Moreover the German style was Prussian and came from hundreds of years of tradition. Meaning the overall look was the same as WW1 and before. Hugo only made the uniforms, what’s more, they were only SS uniforms, which where the black and or white uniforms which were the only kind of new widespread element in German military design.
It wasn’t viewed “cowardly”. They started wearing helmets shortly after the start of ww1 because it became necessary. In earlier wars it simply wasn’t necessary, it has NOTHING to do with cowardness.
@@Overxpossed then any helmet looks similar to those for you right? Because they are very different from a samurai helmet. It is a direct development of the medieval Sallet even using the same suspention on the inside. The samurai helmet has side cheek pieces and a mask (mask can be used or removed) The shape of the bulk part of the helmet is different the shape at the back of the head is different. But hey sure samurai helmet looks similar it is a helmet afterall
Reminds me of the story about when helmets were first deployed to the front lines, and head injury sky rocketed. At first they thought the helmets were causing it. Then they realized. That those injury would have been deaths if not for the helmets
This is pretty much my dad for all my life: "You see how the Americans copied our helmet!? They act all super brain and all they do is copy" *mild rage*
I never heard of that before. Germanic military did have there own helmets. Prussia had the iconic picklehauble at that time each German state had there own unique uniform and helmet even after German unification till 1910
I can't find anything on google supporting this fact either (that helmet wearing was considered cowardly). Would be interested if anyone does and can let me know where he gets this from.
Then you had the German Helmet that had the two lugs on the front to hold a massive armor plate meant for heavy gunners. They also wore that almost medieval armor that only covered the front. I'm pretty sure that was WW1 but I could be mistaken. Gun Jesus made a great video on it.
The lugs were meant for air circulating and were filled in the cold. Sharpshooters wore the forehead plate and got their own helmet later. I have never seen a "heavy gunner" with a plate when it was first introduced. The plates were meant to stop bullets to a much less lethal level while the Lobster armor was purely for shrapnel
The other peculiarity of the stahlhelm is that it was designed in such a way that it could be manufactured from a single sheet of steel, by passing through a single industrial press. That made production extremely fast and cheap, as a single factory line could be used to transform pieces of steel into helmets.
Yeah the Germans knew what they were doing with combat tools. The bolt in the k98 has been revolutionary as well. Nearly all modern bolt actions carry the same bolt. Mg42 was damn impressive too with its high rate of fire and quick barrel changes
That design also allows for the use of communications devices without taking off the helmet. The new Bose headsets for vehicles work great with this helmet.
Fun fact: (or myth?) In WWI, soon after the British started issuing helmets to the frontline troops they stopped and banned them, as the saw the number of registered headwounds skyrocket. Eventually they realised that the wounds were registered as headwounds because the soldiers actually survived, whereas those dead from shrapnel hit to the head were merely registered as "dead" without recording the cause of death. With this knowledge they started using helmets again. It's so nice with a 'bright' staff at HQ, especially for those fortunate enough to get hit in the head after having been issued tge protective helmet.
This also happened with planes. The USAAF would armor the parts of combat aircraft that usually came back damaged, and leave the parts that came back intact. This did not work. Eventually someone recognized the issue and the USAAF began placing armor on the least hit parts of their planes. This increased survival rates. This phenomenon is called survivorship bias.
It's funny because it's not. If the paperclip had been invented in Germany it would have 11 different moving parts... and none of them would work properly
A lot of Austrian and German soldiers also adopted wearing the helmet backwards as a way to combat glint and sun flares when they were in combat. Can’t be partially blinded for a second when every second counts, yknow. Pretty cool uncommon fact I think
Fun fact: Some "older" german fire fighter helmets, that are still used in many regions, are also looking like the german ww 1 & 2 steel helmets. But they are made out of a hard plastic like material and they have a bright neon-yellow colour, so that they can beseen even in bad light conditions.
Not only did we use the German helmet designs but they also were the first nation to have ejector seats in their jets which we also copied among other things.
I believe there was controversy over that during the Grenada conflict when people became more aware of the helmet. In response, many wore a lot of netting to disguise the shape of the helmet.
@@cctproductions6976 People only associated that shape with Germany then and were having a bad reaction to seeing Americans wearing a “nazi helmet.” Especially troublesome for soldiers first receiving the helmet who were stationed in Germany. Some interesting stories online.
@@TheLastArbiter Yet the most widely available military handgun cartridge is a German one... This is just selective prejudice, sadly. Maybe we should just pick the best ideas from each country and leave out the bad ones.
My dad was involved in the tropical phase testing in Panama of the “Fritz” helmet. Believe it or not, one of the biggest complaints about the “Fritz” was you couldn’t cook in it since it is made out of Kevlar! Thank goodness for MRE’s! I think…
@Yuri DeKhed yes he does, just after when he was talking about the corcern of shrapnel casualties. He wrote it wrong though, it's not ''Pickelhelm'' it's ''Pickelhaube'' and that is the german helmet with a spike on top of it.
@Yuri DeKhed I meant the guy who wrote the comment that you first responded to, he wrote ''Pickelhelm'' and it's ''Pickelhaube''. How about you use your common sense? Maybe go get your head checked.
Another note, for the First World War the British Brodie was very effective. The helmet provided the wearer with extra protection from shrapnel, ESPECIALLY when most deaths in WWI was caused by artillery
@@isbee56 Yeah, Brodies were a great design, that's why all modern helmets look alike! Wait! But some say Brodies were the inspiration for successful modern soup plate designs.
@@wanderschlosser1857 omg its almost as if modern armies aren't fighting trench warfare in the early 20th century so they need to and can produce more complex shapes that the British couldn't at that time.
@@isbee56 The shape of the German helmet was designed in the same time when fighting under the same conditions. And I assume, available technology for producing them was also pretty much the same in Britain and Germany. Still the basic design of the German helmet proved beimg better even though not perfect either.
There was an interesting experiment recently testing head and neck damage from all the major helmet designs. Interestingly for direct overhead blasts the French Adrian helmet did even better than the modern helmet. But obviously niche situation, but always good to see these things for future tweaks to designs.
Also one thing you failed to mention with the German stahlhelm is that it channels the sound waves from the direction you’re looking into your ears better so you can hear everything better coming from the direction that you’re looking.
They actually had several iterations of the picklehelm throughout the war. First it was the beautiful gold one's for officers but that made them targets for snipers so they made officers more indistinguishable from enlisted. They then had what was basically the stalhelm with a spike then by 1916 they got rid of the spike all together because the spike still gave a target and it would get snagged.
Well actually the fyodorov avtomat can be seen as the first assault rifle, but because of its use as a machine gun in the Russian army and because it's was only built in low numbers
@@WaukWarrior360 indeed. Uniforms are retarded as well as the people who wear them. Nowadays it's not so funny at all, most of them retards are in the government.
Helmets have always been a compromise between protection and practical usability. Hearing, Field of view and also breathing ( with the historical helmets providing face protection)
Funfact. The Germans invented this great design. After ww2 they were not allowed to wear it and got forced by the US to buy the worse US helmet, while the Americans copyed the german helmet design in Kevlar. Now the german kevlar helmet copys the US helmet. -isn´t that ironic?
@@hanzchii9245 prehistoric fish when they swam behind a rock to stop being eaten by something was so iconic that people are still putting things between themselves and things that can hurt them.
They eventually removed the front visor because soldiers lying in prone often struggled with the helmet obscuring their field of view as the vest pushed the helmet forward over their eyes. German soldiers also struggled with this and so often wore their helmets backwards.
in short, it is the most effective shape in covering your head while also not affecting your vision, breathing, hearing and other neccesary functions too much. most other helmet designs at the time often had to make a few sacrifices either way, by either providing less protection, a larger target, or worse field of view, however it also should be mentioned that most nations did experiment with the schwerd pattern of helmets in the interwar years, however usually deciding against it, often for reasons as simple as friend foe recognition, and also the cost of creating these sort of helmets, with many local designs simply beeing cheaper to make. it also should be noted that both the SSH 40 and M1 provided marginally better bullet protection, however in case of the test done on the SSH 40 compared to the Stahlhelm35 (M40), there are arguments to be had of definite bias in favor of the SSH 40 and even then only providing slightly better protection at unreasonable ranges against russian made firearms. in case of the M1, again, its protection against handgun rounds did stand out at the time, however it did make sacrifices in the larger target it creates and the reduced protection against falling debris and overall slightly worse profile.
The stahlhelm is actually designed off of the sallet just as the brodie is designed based off the kettle helmet they were both based on designs that already worked the French Adrian helmet however is a very Victorian looking design but is more relatable to the brodie in function and the m1 steel pot helm seems to be a totally modern design
@@WaukWarrior360 no the Salett or Schaller is not based on a roman or gaul helmet it's from the first half of the 15th century and is based/ took some idea on the kettle helmet and the bacinet.
A close friend of mine, Arthur Pursell (1890-1985), who was veteran of WW1, told me the greatest danger during the war, was not hearing incoming shells. He said the British designed Brodie helmet, used by American troops, allowed you to hear that distinctive whistle in time to jump to cover, and pull it over your face. He tried on several captured, German helmets, and stated, he didn’t know how they heard incoming shells, with that helmet. Yes, it covers more of your head, but it also covered your ears enough to attenuate the more important sound of incoming shells.
I’m sorry, but German military attire from WWII are work of arts. Bro, even their belt buckles were guns. So that if they were held hostage and told to take off their uniforms, they had 3 triggers on the side of their belt buckle that would shoot small bullets. It’s insane.
The helmet with the spike on top is called The "Pickle Haube" then in august 1915 The "M1916 stalhelm" was made but did not see combat on the battlefiled intel 1916 but was simplifed, And the Stalhelm was invented in 1916 but in 1917 it was simplifed and tirnt into the "M1917 stalhelm"
The Stahhelm was actually quite technologically difficult to make. At the time other countries didn't manage to make a helmet with that thick metal in that shape. The British made the saucer like helmets because that was easier to shape with the technology that existed then. But the time WW2 came, they could actually make better helmets but the Stahlhelm had become so iconic in Germany that they kept it kind of for imagery purposes.
Those holes in the Stahlhelm were there so you could attach extra armor to the helmet… however some soldiers would turn the armor upside down and use it as a face mask.
It was never considered cowardice to wear a helmet. Steel helmets were invented and issued during wwi to protect the head from shrapnel. Soldiers didn't wear then before that point because they didn't exist yet
I mean for the most part when a successful design sticks around then you would probably take elements to be added to you design while improving it with modern materials
In WWI the British analyzed wound statistics and found that very few wounded had head injuries therefore the conclusion could have been that steel helmets were not necessary. After their introduction, it was seen that the number of head injuries actually increased simply because without the steel helmet, casualties died instantly or very quickly. The Western Front Association channel have an excellent video on this.
