Pickelhaube

Otto von Bismarck with pickelhaube

German soldiers at the Battle of the Marne (1914) with pickelhaubes

The pickelhaube was a helmet used by the German army from the 19th century until the First World War (1914-1918). It was a helmet made of hardened leather, which had a characteristic metal spike on its top, which is believed to be merely decorative. The pickelhaube was designed in 1842 by King Frederick William IV of Prussia and its use slowly spread to other German states. In the First World War it was replaced by a steel helmet called Stahlhelm (German: "steel helmet"), which was used until the Second World War, since the pickelhaube, being made of hardened leather, did not offer protection to the head of a soldier against artillery shrapnel, for example.