Units stationed in the Vosges region, specifically Army Detachment Gaede, noted a significant increase in head injuries due to shell fragments and stones. In response, the detachment's artillery workshop developed a helmet featuring a steel plate (6 mm thick) attached to a cloth and leather skullcap. This design offered protection for the forehead, eyes, and nose.

Dr. Friedrich Schwerd of the Technical Institute of Hanover conducted a study on head wounds sustained during trench warfare. Following this, he submitted a recommendation for steel helmets and was subsequently ordered to Berlin to design and produce a suitable helmet, drawing inspiration from the 15th-century sallet.

The first Stahlhelm helmets were tested at the Kummersdorf Proving Ground and field-tested by the 1st Assault Battalion in November 1915. An order for thirty thousand examples was placed, but general issue was not approved until New Year of 1916, hence it is most usually referred to as the "Model 1916".

The German Army began replacing the traditional boiled leather Pickelhaube helmets with the Stahlhelm in 1916. Its distinctive shape quickly became a recognizable symbol, prominently featured in propaganda by both sides during World War I.

The Stahlhelm was first distributed to troops at Verdun in February 1916, leading to a significant decrease in serious head injuries. The stormtroopers of Sturm-Bataillon Nr. 5 (Rohr), under the command of Captain Willy Rohr, were the first German troops to use this helmet.

From November 1916 until the end of the war, Austria-Hungary purchased approximately 416,000 German helmets. Licensed production of the Stahlhelm began in May 1917, with around a million helmets of all variants issued by the end of the war.

The formation of stormtrooper battalions in the Ottoman Empire prompted the need for steel helmets. German helmets were ordered, but Ottoman officers requested the removal of the visor, ear, and neck protectors to improve soldiers' hearing. Germany delivered 5,400 visorless M1918 helmets.

Austria-Hungary began its own licensed production of the Stahlhelm in May 1917. Around a million Stahlhelm of all variants were issued until the end of the war.

The M1918 model introduced a new two-piece chin strap attached directly to the helmet liner. Certain examples featured cutouts in the rim along the sides, intended for use by all units to improve hearing and reduce echo, and were dubbed cavalry or telephone talker helmets.

German Army Order II, No 91 366, signed by General Erich Ludendorff on 7 July 1918, outlined official standards for helmet camouflage. The order stipulated that helmets should be painted in several colours, separated by a finger-wide black line. The colours should be relevant to the season, such as using green, brown and ochre in summer.

The Army High Command ordered testing of a new prototype helmet made from a composite plastic material called "Vulkanfiber" in 1932 to replace older models. Following favorable field tests in early 1933, the Model 1933 Vulkanfiber helmet was put into limited production and issued to Reichswehr units. It was later removed from service after the introduction of the M1935 helmet.

Following favorable field tests in early 1933, the Model 1933 Vulkanfiber helmet was put into limited production and issued to Reichswehr units. It was later removed from service following the introduction of the M1935 helmet.

Tests began on an improved Stahlhelm in 1934, with the company "Eisenhüttenwerke Thale" carrying out prototype design and testing, with Dr Friedrich Schwerd once again taking a hand.

Versions of the M1935 Stahlhelm were sent to Republic of China from 1935 to 1936 and the M1935 was the main helmet of the Chinese Nationalist Army (especially the "central" divisions) during World War II.

The Army's Supreme Command officially accepted the new M1935 helmet on June 25, 1935, with the intention of replacing all other helmets in service.

In 1938, the Germans developed a variant of the Stahlhelm with a wider, flared peak and ventilation holes originally intended for civil defense and Luftschutz personnel. Known as the gladiator pattern, the privately purchased Luftschutz helmet was originally made from three pieces of steel and typically painted black or dark blue.

The M1935 design was slightly modified in 1940 to simplify its construction, the manufacturing process now incorporating more automated stamping methods. The principal change was to stamp the ventilator hole mounts directly onto the shell, rather than utilizing separate fittings. In other respects, the M1940 helmet was identical to the M1935.

The M1942 design was a result of wartime demands, by order of Hitler, to ‘maintain intimidation but reduce cost’. The rolled edge on the shell was eliminated, creating an unfinished edge along the rim. This edge slightly flared out, along the base of the skirt, reducing the protection the helmet gave.

A new variant, designed in 1942 by the Institute for Defence Technical Materials Science in Berlin, was the so called M44. It was stamped out of one piece of metal, but with sloped sides. It was similar in appearance to the British 1944 Type Mk III helmet.

When the Bundesgrenzschutz (BGS) (Federal Border Guards of Germany) was formed, it was supplied with old salvaged and refurbished M35, M40 or M42 helmets.

Starting in 1953, a further update of the interior was introduced with the type called I53, developed by the company Schuberth Werke Braunschweig.

The West German M-56 Stahlhelm was a direct copy of the U.S. M1 helmet. It was properly called "zweiteiliger Stahlhelm" (two-piece steel helmet). In 1958 the helmet was made as a one-piece helmet and renamed Stahlhelm M1A1.

The WWII era Stahlhelm continued to be used by police and border guards in West Germany until the 1990s, when they were replaced by modern kevlar helmets.

The M1A1 Stahlhelm remained in service until 1992 when the Bundeswehr replaced it with a PASGT-derived kevlar helmet called the Gefechtshelm ("Combat helmet").