SA0213 FRENCH SHAKO HELMET

FRENCH SHAKO HELMET
Black felt/leather French shako, with high quality brass chin scale. And the liner
used inside it is of very high quality linen cloth .a very nice looking pom-pom ball
is used to give him a look that equals him with an original piece. Used in 1812.
The word shako originated from the Hungarian name csákó, which was a part of
the uniform of the Hungarian hussar of the 18th century. Other spellings include
chako, czako, schako and tschako.From 1800 on the shako became a common
military headdress, worn by the majority of regiments in the armies of Europe and
the Americas. Replacing in most instances the light bicorne, the shako was initially
considered an improvement. Made of heavy felt and leather, it retained its shape
and provided some protection for the soldier’s skull, while its visor shaded his
eyes. The shako retained this pre-eminence until the mid-19th century, when
spiked helmets began to appear in the army of Russia, which influenced armies of
the various German States, and the more practical kepi replaced it for all but
parade wear in the French Army. The Imperial Russian Army substituted a spiked
helmet for the shako in 1844-45 but returned to the latter headdress in 1855,
before adopting a form of kepi in 1864. Following the Franco-Prussian War of
1870, military fashions changed and cloth or leather helmets based on the German
headdress began to supersede the shako in many armies