Everything about Polearm totally explained
A
pole weapon or
polearm is a close combat
weapon in which the main fighting part of the weapon is placed on the end of a long shaft, typically of
wood, thereby extending the user's effective range.
Spears,
glaives,
pollaxes,
halberds and
bardiches are all varieties of polearm. The idea of attaching a weapon onto a long shaft is an old one indeed, as the first spears date back to the
Stone Age. The purpose of using pole weapons is either to extend reach or to increase
angular momentum—and thus striking power—when the weapon is swung.
History
Pole weapons are relatively simple to make, and they were fairly easy for most people to use effectively as they were often derived from
hunting or agricultural
tools. For example, the
Chinese Monk's Spade, with its shovel-like end, served two purposes for the monks who used it: if they came upon a corpse on the road, they could properly bury it with
Buddhist rites; and the large implement could serve as a weapon for self-defence against bandits.
Massed men carrying pole weapons with pointed tips (spears, pikes, etc.) were recognized fairly early in the history of organized warfare as effective military units. On defense the men holding the polearms were hard to reach; on the attack, as in the
Greek phalanx, they were devastating to those units which couldn't get out of the way.
With the advent of armored fighters, especially
cavalry, pole weapons frequently combined the spearpoint (for thrusting) with an
axe or
hammerhead for a swinging strike which could pierce or break armor.
Modern use
Pole weapons have largely been superseded by
firearms. However, the
bayonet attachment for a modern
assault rifle, when attached, especially
sword bayonet or
knife bayonet, can still be regarded as a form of pole weapon. Today, pole weapons remain a common sight in practically every school of
martial arts that studies weapons.
Varieties of pole weapon
Fauchard
A
fauchard is a type of polearm which was used in medieval
Europe from the 11th through the 14th centuries. The design consisted of a curved blade put atop a 6–7-foot long pole. The blade bore a moderate to strong curve along its length, however unlike a
glaive the cutting edge was only on the
concave side. This made the fauchard blade resemble that of a
sickle or a
scythe. This wasn't a very efficient design for the purposes of war, and was eventually modified to have one or more
lance points attached to the back or top of the blade. This weapon is called a
fauchard-fork, but is very often erroneously referred to as a
guisarme or
bill-guisarme since it superficially appears to have a "hook".
Glaive
A
glaive is a polearm consisting of a single-edged
blade on the end of a
pole. It is similar to the
Japanese
naginata. However, instead of having a
tang like a sword or naginata, the blade is affixed in a socket-shaft configuration similar to an axe head. Typically, the blade was around 18 inches (55 cm) long, on the end of a pole 6 or 7 feet (180–210 cm) long. Occasionally glaive blades were created with a small hook on the reverse side to better catch riders. Such blades are called
glaive-guisarmes.
Guan dao
A
guan dao or
kwan dao is a type of
Chinese pole weapon that's currently used in some forms of
Chinese martial arts (
wushu). In Chinese it's properly called a
Yanyue dao (偃月刀) which translates as
reclining moon blade). Alternatively the guan dao is also known as "Chun Qiu Da Dao" or Spring Autumn Great Knife. It is an ornate version of a more plain Chinese weapon known as a
pudao (long-handled sabre) or horsecutter and consists of a heavy blade mounted atop a 5–6-foot long wooden or metal pole with a pointed metal counter weight used to balance the heavy blade and for striking on the opposite end. The blade is very deep and curved on its face; this resembles a China
sabre or the Japanese naginata and bisento, or the European glaive and voulge. Often the edge will taper to a point on the top for thrusting. The reverse has a spike used for hooking and dismounting victims. In addition there are sometimes irregular serrations that lead the back edge of the blade to the spike. Usually a red sash or tassel is attached at the joint of the pole and blade. Variations include having rings along the length of the straight back edge as found in the nine-ring guan dao, having the tip curl into a rounded spiral as in the elephant guan dao, or featuring a more ornate design as exemplified by the
dragon head guan dao.
Guisarme
A
guisarme (sometimes
gisarme or
bisarme) was a pole weapon used in Europe primarily between
1000–
1400. It was used primarily to dismount knights and horsemen. Like most polearms it was developed by
peasants by combining hand tools with long poles: in this case by putting a pruning hook onto a
spear shaft. While hooks are fine for dismounting horsemen from mounts, they lack the stopping power of a spear especially when dealing with static opponents. While early designs were simply a hook on the end of a long pole, later designs implemented a small reverse spike on the back of the blade. Eventually weapon makers incorporated the usefulness of the hook in a variety of different polearms and
guisarme became a catch-all for any weapon that included a hook on the blade.
Halberd
A
halberd (or
Swiss voulge) is a two-handed pole weapon that came to prominent use during the
14th and
15th centuries. Possibly the word
halberd comes from the
German words
Halm (staff), and
Barte (axe). The halberd consists of an axe blade topped with a spike mounted on a long shaft. It always has a hook or thorn on the back side of the axe blade for grappling mounted combatants. It is very similar in many ways to certain forms of
voulge.
Naginata
A
naginata (なぎなた or 薙刀) is a pole weapon that was traditionally used in
Japan by members of the
samurai class. It has become associated with
women and in modern Japan it's studied by women more than men; whereas in Europe and
Australia naginata is practiced predominantly (but not exclusively) by
men. A naginata consists of a wood shaft with a curved blade on the end; it's similar to the European glaive. Usually it also had a sword-like guard (
tsuba) between the blade and shaft. It varies from typical European construction of polearms in that, like most Japanese weapons, it was mounted with a tang and held in place with a pin or pins, rather than going over the shaft using a socket.
Nagamaki
A
nagamaki is a pole weapon that was traditionally used in
Japan by members of the
samurai class, typically against mounted opponents. It had a much longer blade and shorter grip than the naginata, and was developed later. Unlike most Japanese weapons, there were no specific rules about exact measurements and proportions for nagamaki. It varies from typical European construction of polearms in that, like most Japanese weapons, it was mounted with a tang and held in place with a pin or pins, rather than going over the shaft using a socket.
Voulge
A
voulge (occasionally called a
pole cleaver) is a type of polearm that existed alongside the similar
glaive in
medieval Europe. Superficially, a voulge might strongly resemble a glaive, but there are some notable differences in construction. First, the attachment of the voulge blade to the shaft was usually done by binding the lower two thirds of the blade to the side of the pole; the glaive would often have a socket built into the blade itself and was mounted on top of the pole. In addition, while both had curved blades, that of the voulge was broad and meant for hacking, while that of the glaive was narrow and meant more for cutting. Indeed, a voulge looks something like a squashed
bardiche head, or just a meat cleaver attached to a long pole.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Polearm'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://pole_weapon.totallyexplained.com">Pole weapon Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
