The Brewster Body Shield and Early Bulletproof Fabric Tests
Poet involved
What happened
During World War I, the United States military developed the Brewster Body Shield, the first effective body armor designed for modern industrial infantry combat. Engineered by Guy Otis Brewster, the suit consisted of a heavy chrome-nickel steel breastplate and a solid, angular pointed helmet that could deflect high-velocity Springfield rifle rounds and machine-gun shrapnel. Though highly effective at absorbing impacts, the 40-pound suit proved far too cumbersome for active trench warfare.
Literary impact
The alien, industrial look of the Brewster shield mirrored the mechanization of human life during the Great War. This dark atmosphere heavily influenced American modernist poets like Ezra Pound and T.S. Eliot, who used imagery of mechanical, metal-encased bodies to critique the spiritual decay of Western civilization.
Source: Wikipedia
