Pole arm

Pole arms were invented to increase the effectiveness of infantry against cavalry and they can be devastating in disciplined formations of well-trained soldiers. Over the centuries, pole arms developed from the basic forms to more sophisticated and specialized ones as the art of war progressed. Naming, describing and classifying the myriad types of pole arms is not standardized, and indeed seems to vary greatly even among authoritative sources. This article presents a system of classification and nomenclature that readers should find reasonable and easy to use.

What is a pole arm? It is an infantry weapon designed to strike an enemy before they can strike you. A pole arm is simply a weapon on the end of a stick. To be considered here, the haft or shaft length of the weapon must be a minimum of 5 feet (1.5 meters) long.

Spears
Spears are primarily thrusting weapons and, in warfare, are not intended to be thrown because it leaves you without a weapon in the middle of a battle. Spears are the oldest pole arm.

Spear
A dagger mounted on a pole. Definitely a thrusting weapon but can be given a cutting function if the blade is made wider (called an ox tongue blade). Increasing the length of the blade increases the cutting ability. A spear with a shaft of 15 feet (4.5 meters) or more is called a pike.

Lance
Lances are long spears carried by mounted soldiers, which would seem to exclude it from this category, but there have been many battles where the men-at-arms dismounted and used these weapons with great success against forces who did not have even longer pole arms to keep them at bay. Norman lances were about 12 feet (3.6 meters) long but later in the Middle Ages they grew to an average length of about 14 feet (4.2 meters) giving a knight a reach beyond the horse's head of about 10 feet (3 meters). As with spears and pikes, different heads were used in accordance with the opposing force's armor.

Pike
For the purposes of this classification system, a pike is a spear with a shaft length of 15 feet (4.5 meters) or longer. It was designed to do thrusting damage at relatively long range and keep opponents from closing the distance. Pikes were always used in large numbers because a few can be circumvented by a brave warrior in armor but almost nothing can get through a line that bristles like a porcupine. There are many types of blades found on pikes but the most common was probably the awl pike, a strictly piercing weapon. Pikes were often fashioned with protective metal on the last foot or two (30 to 60cm) to prevent the enemy from hacking off the blade and making the pike useless.