A helmet is a protective safety helmet made of metal, leather or other material. The helmet tightly wraps the head and covers the ears. Helmets were used as part of armor from antiquity to the Middle Ages. The combat helmet is one of the oldest forms of personal protection for people who in the past participated in some kind of combat and had to protect their head and therefore their brain from injuries that could incapacitate them. They are known to have been used since the time of the ancient Thracians, in the Akkadian Empire and the Sumerians, by the Mycenaean civilization, in Assyria, as well as in Rome. They were used almost continuously throughout the Middle Ages until the 17th century. The materials used for them change depending on the weapons used (swords, sabers, arrows and others) that they are supposed to protect against and include leather, brass, bronze and iron. With the advent and development of firearms, the importance of the combat helmet decreased, but before the start of the First World War, the need for the use of steel helmets appeared. This was proven later during the fighting during the war, which was mostly trench warfare, and which showed the need to protect the soldiers from shrapnel, as well as rocks and dirt during shelling.