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A polearm or pole weapon is a close combat weapon in which the main fighting part of the weapon is fitted to the end of a long shaft, typically of wood, extending the user's effective range and striking power. Polearms are predominantly melee weapons, with a subclass of spear-like designs fit for thrusting and/or throwing.
In profile, the head of a partisan may look similar to other types of polearm, such as the halberd, pike, ranseur, spontoon, ox tongue, or spetum. The arrival of practical firearms and bayonet led to the obsolescence of the partisan and of other polearms. Despite this, partisans continued in use for many years as a ceremonial weapon. Ceremonial ...
A bill is a class of agricultural implement used for trimming tree limbs, which was often repurposed for use as an infantry polearm. In English, the term 'Italian bill' is applied to the similar roncone or roncola, but the Italian version tended to have a long thrusting spike in addition to the cutting blade.
Spear-armed hoplite from Greco-Persian Wars. A spear is a polearm consisting of a shaft, usually of wood, with a pointed head.The head may be simply the sharpened end of the shaft itself, as is the case with fire hardened spears, or it may be made of a more durable material fastened to the shaft, such as bone, flint, obsidian, copper, bronze, iron, or steel.
The naginata (なぎなた, 薙刀) is a polearm and one of several varieties of traditionally made Japanese blades (). [1] [2] Naginata were originally used by the samurai class of feudal Japan, as well as by ashigaru (foot soldiers) and sōhei (warrior monks). [3]
This is one of the few examples of less-lethal polearms. [citation needed] The design assumes that the captured person wears armor to protect him against the metal prongs, which could easily hurt the neck of a person without armor. The man catcher was also used to trap and contain violent prisoners. [2]
A war scythe or military scythe is a form of polearm with a curving single-edged blade with the cutting edge on the concave side of the blade. Its blade bears a superficial resemblance to that of an agricultural scythe from which it is likely to have evolved, but the war scythe is otherwise unrelated to agricultural tools and is a purpose-built ...
In the 1599 treatise "Paradoxes of Defence" by English gentleman George Silver, the glaive is described as being used in a manner similar to other polearms like the quarterstaff, half pike, bill, halberd, voulge, and partisan. Silver considered this class of polearms superior to all other hand-to-hand combat weapons.