From TheBestLinks.com
A pike is a pole weapon once used extensively by infantry principally as a counter-measure against cavalry assaults.
Pikes were extremely long weapons, and could exceed six metres in length.
The steel tip was fairly long compared to the shaft, making the weapon most unwieldy in close combat.
This meant that pikemen were often equipped with a sword for close encounters.
In operation on the battlefield, pikes were often used in large square "hedgehog" formations. For example, the Scots used highly disciplined units of pikemen called schiltrons to defeat English knights and heavy cavalry at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314.
Large pike formations, sometimes defending attached musketeers, were in use during the 17th century, but were eventually rendered obsolete by the bayonet and the demise of the cavalry charge in the face of more effective firearms such as the flintlock musket.
The landsknechts were pikemen of renown during the 15th to the 17th centuries, mercenaries of the European Renaissance. They were most skillful in their handling of the long pike.
Pikes today are used to carry the colours of an infantry regiment.
nl:Piek (wapen)
pl:Pika
Related links
Top visited
0 of
0 links
[no links posted yet]
>> place link >>
Discussion
Last posted
0 of
0 messages
[no messages posted yet]
>> post message >>
Watch
You can
add this article to your own "watchlist" and receive e-mail notification about all changes in this page.
