Melee Weapons Of The Past
Today, weapons that fire hot lead across thousands of yards, destroy cities in a single blast of insane fury, or disable a man without harming him at all are the bread of butter of conflicts the world over. But even though they no longer have a place on the battlefield, there is something noble about the melee weapons that once ruled the battlefield.
It is the weapon of duelists, the sword, that has maintained the greatest popularity in the public eye. Every fantasy hero, every cartoon warrior, has a sword. Using a sword against gun-wielding opponents is particularly popular.
Be it gracefully curved katana from Japan, or brutally efficient zweihander’s from Germany, their is no denying that the sword is the single most dominant melee weapon in popular culture. Even in movies filled with firearms, it is never a surprise to see a suitably epic sword duel between the hero and the villain.
But let’s not ignore the other weapons of ages past. For example, the spear. Despite the somewhat weaker popularity of it in pop culture, it is a fact that a spear is almost universally considered superior to the sword; there is a saying that a swordsman most possess three times the skill of a man wielding a polearm to best him.
It is of course no surprise then that spears have served as the main weapons for armies since the dawn of human history. Almost every army has used spears as their main weapon of war, and for good reason: They are simple to produce, and have a brutal, simple efficiency that is almost impossible to match.
The last of the popular melee weapon types is bludgeoning and bashing weapons. Maces, morningstars, flails, even some bladed weapons such as axes fall into this territory. While these weapons have their own flaws, their simple efficiency means they cannot be ignored.
One key use of bludgeons is as a tool to defeat heavily armored foes. An enemy that a sword can barely scratch can be destroyed completely by a mace or warhammer. There were even several time periods where, because of how common heavy armor was, maces and flails overshadowed swords as knights preferred sidearms.
I feel that I should give shields a mention here too. Though they aren’t technically weapons, and they are completely unpopular with the public, shields are a valuable tool for any melee fighter, and often the man with the best skill with his shield was the last one standing.
A well constructed shield can deflect almost any attack, and in the hands of a skilled fighter can even be used offensively to great effect. It may be popular in movies to wield two swords, but I’ll take a shield over a second weapon any day.
I hope you’ve learned a little about melee weapons. While they are hardly practical in a world where gunpowder and more rule an ever more technological battlefield, we can’t forget the weapons that defined the world for centuries.
If you still want to read more about ancient arms, be sure to check out my article about Roman Swords and other arms of the legionnaires. Get a totally unique version of this article from our article submission service
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