Why was the iron armor replaced by the cotton armor?

There are roughly three reasons for this problem: first, the weight of iron armor is too heavy, which is not conducive to marching and fighting; Second, at that time, people's ability to mine iron ore was weak, and it was impossible to guarantee that all soldiers could use iron armor; Third, with the progress of science and technology, iron armor has gradually been eliminated by history.

Ouyang Xiu, a writer in the Song Dynasty, once described the hardships of the frontier soldiers wearing armor in a poem: "You must pity the iron armor to the bone, and more than 400,000 border soldiers." According to records, the iron armor used by the strong generals of the Song Dynasty was divided into more than 1,000 pieces, and the total weight reached more than 40 catties.

And at the same time as being bulky, there is no warmth in the slightest, and in winter, the soldiers put on iron armor as if they had entered an ice cellar.

Wearing such a big guy, in addition to strong defensive ability, the rest is simply a drag oil bottle for the team. Moreover, when iron armor is used for a long time, the human body will be very tired, and the cold and tired situation is very unfavorable for marching and fighting.

Moreover, in ancient times, people's ability to mine iron ore was very weak, and not everyone had the opportunity to wear iron armor. For example, in "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", when Yan Yan surrendered, Liu Bei gave him his iron armor, which bought people's hearts in an instant. On the one hand, it is because it is something that Liu Bei personally sent, and on the other hand, it also proves the preciousness of the iron armor.

With the progress of science and technology, gunpowder, artillery and other hot ** have been used on the battlefield, at that time it is not only difficult for iron armor to defend against this kind of attack range larger**, but also often because of the hard armor, and cause secondary damage to the human body.

According to the record of the Ming Dynasty's "Wubei Zhi": "The rain is wet, and the iron armor is easy to give birth to gold and rot, and it will not be used." The Japanese thieves rate the use of fire weapons and armor, and the armor has vines and horns, all of which can be used.

But lead can penetrate and weigh hard. Those who choose the advantage of this day have the characteristics of the infantry to have armor, and the use of cloth is not equal. If the paper is thin, the arrow can also enter, regardless of lead.

Now it needs to be one inch thicker and denser, which can be as long as the knee. According to this account, iron armor is very prone to rust and festering in areas with heavy moisture. According to the rattan armor used by the Japanese invaders, the Ming Dynasty army began to use paper armor or cotton armor.

Judging from the relevant records, the defensive ability of cotton armor is not much worse than that of iron armor, and cotton armor can be manufactured on a large scale, and it can also keep warm, and the weight is much lighter than before. The most important thing is that in the face of artillery and other attacks with a large range, a soft layer on top of the cotton armor can offset part of the impact and reduce the magnitude of people's damage.

In fact, it is not that iron armor has to be replaced by cotton armor, but with the progress of science and technology, whether there is cotton armor or not, tools like iron armor, which seriously affect marching and combat, are destined to be eliminated.

Iron armor was replaced by cotton armor for two main reasons.

1. The economic cost of iron armor is too high. In the past, the level of productivity was too low, the mining capacity was too poor, and basically only shallow or even open-pit mines could be mined, and the metallurgical capacity was too poor. In the context of the lack of modern smelting technology, it can only be done little by little by using the soil method, so that the production of iron can not go up, and the output is low cost.

Large-scale equipment of ironclad is difficult to meet the needs of the army in terms of quantity and cost, and to put it bluntly, it is not worthy, so if there are cheaper options, something else will definitely be chosen.

2. The rise of firearms has greatly changed the means of warfare and the military system. Traditional iron armor is difficult to effectively counteract the impact caused by the high-velocity bullets of firearms, and it is extremely expensive and heavy and cold. It just so happens that the appearance of cotton armor can effectively resist the damage of low-level firearms, although it is far from being able to compete with iron armor in terms of resisting cold weapons, but after all, it is also armor, isn't it?

It's also somewhat defensive. The most important thing is that the economic account is very worthwhile, such a cheap thing can theoretically be applied on a large scale, and cotton armor has a stronger ability to withstand the cold than iron armor, much lighter, and can be worn as regular clothes many times.

So the iron armor was replaced by the cotton armor, not because the iron armor was not good, but because the shortcomings of the iron armor itself were too great. In my opinion, it can be replaced mainly because it is expensive; If the money is not bad, the iron armor is outside, and the thin cotton armor inside is the ultimate armor that can withstand the cold.