Pike, Halberd, and Bayonet

The polearms used by pikemen constituted the first stage of a military revolution that would force a change in the tactics of warfare. The pike, a two-handed polearm with a long spear-like tip, originated in the fourteenth century and was carried by infantry soldiers as defense against charging cavalry. The halberd, too, proved a fearsome and pragmatic weapon used in the armies of medieval and post-medieval Europe. When supplemented by pikemen, halberdiers became a formidable force.Pikemen would dominate the battlefield until the late 1500s when new technology led to the implementation of muskets and later bayonets. Early bayonets were long sword-like weapons which, like the pike, were originally used to ward off cavalry charges. Part of the bayonet's utility rested with the fact that firearms were cumbersome to reload. If the initial firing failed to dispatch the enemy, a bayonet charge might prove necessary. Although the bayonet charge seldom, if ever, decided the victory, the