OK, how could more medieval-age weapons have been more widely used into the age of gunpowder? I mean, swords, daggers & similar edged weapons, tog with axes, pikes & other polearms, were around well into the Napoleonic era, but how could other more exotic hand weapons like maces, spears, warhammers, flails have been retained well into the same period on a universal basis ?
Medieval weapons remain in lartgescale use into gunpowder age
- Thread starter Melvin Loh
- Start date
David S Poepoe
Banned
I would think that such weapons would only be retained until the first clash of battle and then they will be melted down for gun barrels.
NapoleonXIV
Banned
Isn't the sharpened entrenching tool in All Quiet on the Western Front? I believe it was mentioned because it was technically a war crime.
A bayonet is just rifle turned into a pike. Standard British bayonet drill was adapted from Scot pikemen, I think. Still doesn't stop the idea that NOBODY was killed by bayonets, esp after ACW.
If the compound bow was invented earlier, like 1600's, I think bowmen would still have a prominent place in modern warfare today. Most of a bowmen's long training is actually just getting strong enough to hold a powerful bow steady long enough to aim it. A bow can also loose almost as fast as a bolt action rifle fires, certainly faster than most single shot firearms, and it's silent.
Almost same thing with the cavalry sword. Best one ever known was made in 1905, years after anyone knew or even wanted to know how to use it properly.
I've not seen it happening yet but I have to wonder if the increased use of modern armor, and a consequent return to emphasis on hand-to-hand might revive some medieval weapons. Kevlar is, somewhat like chain mail, not all that effective against a properly wielded stout club from what I've heard. Could we see the return of the mace and morning star?
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I can tell you my Grandfather saw it being used by his unit for this purpose in trench raids and so did his friends in different units to him. I have not heard of it being a war crime. But it would have been "damn common" and therefore frowned upon.
Flocculencio
Donor
Well a bayonet is basically the end product of the spear/pike style weapons adapted to firearms.
Maces, flails and warhammers, on the other hand were most useful against plate armour because of the concussive force. Once heavy armour falls out of use it's generally just easier to poke a guy with something pointy.
Then wasn't there a pioneer Sgt at Hougemont Farm laying into the Fro...enemy with his axe.?
Thande
Donor
I thought it was that French Lieutenant "Legros" who had an axe. Maybe everyone had axes, I don't know
MrP
Banned
You might be thinking of the German saw-tooth bayonet. It was a better weapon than a bayonet, since it opened a larger hole as it drew out of the victim's body, rather than the cleaner smaller puncture of a standard bayonet. So it was more likely to cause worse wounding, greater blood loss and death. However, the Allied common soldiers were a bit "disenchanted" with any prisoners they took who had one, so a lot of Germans sensibly filed the vicious things flat.
Sorry to be a pedant but 1908/12/14 (Respectivly: British soldier's and officer's varieties; crude american knock-off aka 'Patton' sabre).
Ah, yes, the deadly force of misunderstanding. The sawback bayonet is primarily a tool knife. You can cut wood and brush with it. It can also be used as a bayonet, of course, and will cause nasty woulnds, but no nastier than a round or triangular bayonet that serves no other purpose. IIRDC the Brits introduced something like it in the mid-19th century and withdrew it after people protested that kind of thing was uncivilised. They, too, were looking for a multipurpose tool. THe German squaddies were unlucky enough to get theirs in a real war
The Huns and other Central Asian nomads used composite bows, not compound. Composite refers to a bow made by gluing together various materials, such as wood, bone, and/or horn, to create a stronger bow. Compound bows are a modern invention and use pulleys, etc to make the pull strength of the bow relatively low but the arrow still flies as if you were pulling much harder (sort of like how you can use pulleys to lift huge weights that you would be incapable of otherwise).