Board Thread:Lore Discussion/@comment-28142695-20160712153804/@comment-27755354-20160713140110

I agree with Draevan,

You can also see this in the Roman army (Which the Imperial Legion is of course based off of). At the height of their reign their legionaries wore steel plated armor, a steel helmet and chainmail, while also carrying a one handed sword, a spear and a bodyshield. However, if you look at the Roman infantry near the end of their reign, most of the steel armor has been replaced with leather and cloth, and overall their infantry was in poor condition. Because the Empire during Skyrim's events is severely weakened and destabilized, just like the Roman army at the end of their reign, I'd assume they aren't able to afford weapons and armor such as the Imperial Watch wore during Oblivion.