category of boots designed for soldiers
Military boots range from dressy styles worn exclusively in garrison or on parade, to rugged outdoor boots for hiking and climbing, to work boots with safety toes for particular military occupations, to highly specialized boots such as thermal over-boots for use in the arctic. Military boots are often used also by police.
Military boots have often been a catalyst for improvements in shoe production and design, from the use of the Blake-McKay Machine for Union boots in the American Civil War to the development of the Munson Last, the adoption of chrome-tanned leather for resilient uppers during the First World War, and the adoption of the Brannock Device for mass fitting.