A lot of people will recognize the military helmet known as the "stahlhelm"(Steel helmet), those that don't know too much of its history will gasp in horror and say "oh yeah, that's the Nazi helmet". Well they are wrong, it's not a "Nazi helmet", in fact, the Stahlhelm predates the The Nazi regime.This helmet originated in Germany and it became popular when it was first used by the German army during WWI. Here are multiple countries that would adopt the stahlhelm and other Prussian/German traditions.
1.) China
Germany did export it's stahlhelm to various countries including China. The Chinese used the M1935 model until the end of WWII. Not only did the Chinese use Stahlhelms, they also used a lot of German military equipment and uniforms.
2.) Spain
The Spanish under Francisco Franco had friendly relations with the third reich; during the Spanish civil war, Communists and nationalists would battle each other with the Nationalists crushing the communists, the nationalists used Stahlhelms
3.) Finland
During the Winter war, the Finnish army utilized Stahlhelms and uniforms that resembled the German army uniforms.
4.) Argentina
During WWII Argentina had good relations with Germany but it didn't participate in WWII. The Argentine army was very fond of the Wehrmacht uniforms. So Argentina ended up adopting German uniforms and equipment to the point were the Argentine army resembled the Wehrmacht especially with the Stahlhelms. For a little while after WWII the Argentine army continued to maintain German military traditions, eventually the Argertine army started to replace their stahlhelms with American M1 pot helmets and other American equipment.
5.) West Germany
After WWII, Germany was divided into two different countries for a few decades; West and East Germany. East Germany completely got rid of their Stahlhelms but maintained their German style uniforms. They combined German and Russian military traditions. West Germany got rid of their traditional German uniforms and adopted Americanized uniforms and helmets but there was one law enforcement branch of West Germany that kept some of their German traditions. They were called the "Bundesgrenzschutz"(Federal Border guard). They kept some of their German military traditions such as their Stahlhelms, German uniforms and some of their equipment.
6.) Bolivia
After WWII, the Bolivian army started to use the stahlhelm, it's still in use today in Bolivia.
7.) Chile
If Germany were a Latin American country, it would be called Chile. Chile has had German/Prussian military traditions for many years. Not only that but there is quite a few people of German ancestry that live in Chile. It's military parades resemble a traditional German military parade due to their obvious German inspired uniforms. Not only do they use German uniforms and German helmets like the Stahlhelm and Pickelhaube, they also use traditional German military marches. Yes, Chile still has German military traditions.
8.) USA
Before you say "No we don't!", I was born in the US and I live in the US, so I know how our military looks. Our army doesn't exactly use a stahlhelm but the helmets used by the US army does resemble the stahlhelm. They called the "Personal armor for ground troops" (PASGT helmet) and the "Modular integrated communications helmet"(MICH). The PASGT resembles the Stahlhelm more than the MICH helmet. The PASGT helmet is nicknamed "Fritz helmet". An interesting thing is that a lot of the military technology used today by many countries is based on German military technology confiscated by allied nations after WWII.
And I'm sure some of you have seen bikers wearing "a very familiar helmet" that resembles the stahlhelm.
As you can see, it's not a "Nazi helmet" it's a just a popular helmet design that is favored by many people. I hope you enjoyed reading this take.
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