A look at The Pole Arm

A pole with a point and/or cutting edge is a pole arm. Poles usually range in size from about an inch to an inch and a half in diametre and 3 to 10 feet or more in length. Polearms come in such a profuse variety that it is difficult to illustrate them all. But there are groups that share certain characteristics.

The first polearm is the sharpened stick. The pole was chared at one end then sharpened to a point. Soon a stone point was added with the help of sinew and pitch. This is the classic hunting weapon of the stone age prior to the advent of projectile weapons like the bow. It allowed the hunter to stand back from the quarry while giving point as opportunity arose.
Depending on the country of origin or the style of blade or period, pole arms are variously known as bills, glaives, halberds, lochaber, naginata, nagamaki, pikes, partisans, spears, tridents, etc.

The spear

Copper and later bronze was applied to the point as soon as it became available. Many of the spear point shapes were developed at this time and were carried over to the iron age.

The basic spear point is leaf shaped. The Irish conducted much of their warfare with spearmen and many legends regarding the bronze spear have survived to the present day. The battle of Moytura was fought with bronze spears on both sides and the lighter Tuatha De Danann spears proved victorious on the third day.

The Hittites who were a hill tribe in the middle east seem to have been among the first people to discover how to smelt iron and built a short lived empire based on this technology. Their weapons of war included a spear with a long leaf shaped blade.
The Sumerians developed tactics that allowed advancing spearmen in tight formation to present a wall of spears to the enemy and thus the "phalanx" was born.
The Greek Hoplite warrior carried a ten foot long spear with a 24" inch blade as well as the shield from which he got his name.
The Romans used the pilum. The shaft behind the head was deliberately thin sectioned to allow the shaft to collapse on impact rendering the weapon useless to the enemy should it fail to hit its target.
The Masai, whose ancestral home is the Serangeti, make magnificent spearheads of iron, some as long and slender as sword blades.

The Viking's main weapon was frequently a spear. Their wonderfull sword was often used for backup. The spear had a crossguard which was later copied on German hunting spears and used to ensure that penetration was not too deep into the animal so removal was consequently easier.
The Japanese yari features an unusual triangular crossectioned, fullered blade.

In the Bronze age, a polearm consisting of a axe blade set at right angles to the end of a pole rather like the Plains Indian war club, was very common. This implement is called a halberd though it is not a true halberd. The true halberd is still used today by the Pope's Swiss Guard. There is video footage in existance of the Guards in training with the halberd. Frequently one sees news footage on Vatican occasions or glimpses them on parade.The true Halberd is a thin spear blade with an axe and spike at the base. The axe shape can vary quite a bit from one example to the next depending on origin.

The Partisan was used on the battlefield during the 16th and 17th Centuries. Partisans vary quite a bit but share the common characteristics of a multitude of spike like base extensions to a large spear shaped blade. These were frequently carried on official occasions.

A great deal of speed can be developed with polearms. The user can control an area that is several meters in diameter. Skillfull practitioners can work close and at a distance without undue effort.