Pike (weapon)
A pike is a very long thrusting spear formerly used in European warfare from the Late Middle Ages and most of the Early Modern Period, and were wielded by foot soldiers deployed in pike square formation, until it was largely replaced by bayonet-equipped muskets. The pike was particularly well-known as the primary weapon of Swiss mercenary and German Landsknecht units. A similar weapon, the sarissa, had been used in antiquity by Alexander the Great's Macedonian phalanx infantry. Design The pike was a long weapon, varying considerably in size, from long. Generally, a spear becomes a pike when it is too long to be wielded with one hand in combat. It was approximately in weight, with the 16th century military writer Sir John Smythe recommending lighter rather than heavier pikes. It had a wooden shaft with an iron or steel spearhead affixed. The shaft near the head was often reinforced with metal strips called "cheeks" or langets. When the troops of opposing armies both c ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Arms Race
An arms race occurs when two or more groups compete in military superiority. It consists of a competition between two or more states to have superior armed forces; a competition concerning production of weapons, the growth of a military, and the aim of superior military technology, the term is also used to describe any long-term escalating competitive situation where each competitor or competitive group focuses on out-doing others. Unlike a sporting race, which constitutes a specific event with winning interpretable as the outcome of a singular project, arms races constitute spiralling systems of on-going and potentially open-ended behavior. The existing scholarly literature is divided as to whether arms races correlate with war. International-relations scholars explain arms races in terms of the security dilemma, rationalist spiral models, states with revisionist aims, and deterrence models. Examples Pre-First World War naval arms race From 1897 to 1914, a nav ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Philip II Of Macedon
Philip II of Macedon ( grc-gre, Φίλιππος ; 382 – 21 October 336 BC) was the king ('' basileus'') of the ancient kingdom of Macedonia from 359 BC until his death in 336 BC. He was a member of the Argead dynasty, founders of the ancient kingdom, and the father of Alexander the Great. The rise of Macedon—its conquest and political consolidation of most of Classical Greece during his reign—was achieved by his reformation of the army (the establishment of the Macedonian phalanx that proved critical in securing victories on the battlefield), his extensive use of siege engines, and his utilization of effective diplomacy and marriage alliances. After defeating the Greek city-states of Athens and Thebes at the Battle of Chaeronea in 338 BC, Philip II led the effort to establish a federation of Greek states known as the League of Corinth, with him as the elected hegemon and commander-in-chief of Greece for a planned invasion of the Achaemenid Empire of Persia. Ho ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Battle Of Flodden
The Battle of Flodden, Flodden Field, or occasionally Branxton, (Brainston Moor) was a battle fought on 9 September 1513 during the War of the League of Cambrai between the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland, resulting in an English victory. The battle was fought near Branxton, Northumberland, Branxton in the county of Northumberland in northern England, between an invading Scots army under King James IV of Scotland, James IV and an English army commanded by the Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk, Earl of Surrey. In terms of troop numbers, it was the largest battle fought between the two kingdoms."The Seventy Greatest Battles of All Time". Published by Thames & Hudson Ltd. 2005. Edited by Jeremy Black. Pages 95 to 97.. After besieging and capturing several English border castles, James encamped his invading army on a commanding hilltop position at Flodden and awaited the English force which had been sent against him, declining a challenge to fight in an open field. Su ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Melee Weapon
A melee weapon, hand weapon or close combat weapon is any handheld weapon used in hand-to-hand combat, i.e. for use within the direct physical reach of the weapon itself, essentially functioning as an additional (and more impactful) extension of the user's limbs. By contrast, a ranged weapon is any other weapon capable of engaging targets at a distance beyond immediate physical contact. Etymology The term ''melee'' originates in the 1640s from the French word ', which refers to disorganized hand-to-hand combat, a close-quarters battle, a brawl, or a confused fight; especially involving many combatants. The 1812 tabletop war game ''Kriegsspiel'' referred to the hand-combat stage of the game as a ''melee''. Later war games would follow this pattern. From there, gamers would eventually begin to call the weapons used in that stage ''melee weapons''. Categories Melee weapons can be broadly divided into three categories : * Pointed weapons, which cover spears, pikes, lances, and mi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Pike Square Img 3653
Pike, Pikes or The Pike may refer to: Fish * Blue pike or blue walleye, an extinct color morph of the yellow walleye ''Sander vitreus'' * Ctenoluciidae, the "pike characins", some species of which are commonly known as pikes * '' Esox'', genus of pikes ** Northern pike, common northern hemisphere pike * Mackerel pike or Pacific saury, a fish popular in east Asian cuisine * Walleyed pike or walleye, ''Sander vitreus'', not actually a pike, but regionally referred to as such Places Russia * Shchukino District (Russian for "Pike" District), an area in North-Western Administrative Okrug, part of the federal city of Moscow. Canada * Pike Island (Nunavut) * Pike River (Quebec) Great Britain * Clougha Pike, a hill in Lancashire, England * Cold Pike, a fell in the Lake District, England * Dollywaggon Pike, a fell in the Lake District, England * Esk Pike, a fell in the Lake District, England * Hartshead Pike, a hill in Lancashire, England * The Langdale Pikes, a range of hills in ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Pike Square Img 3645
Pike, Pikes or The Pike may refer to: Fish * Blue pike or blue walleye, an extinct color morph of the yellow walleye ''Sander vitreus'' * Ctenoluciidae, the "pike characins", some species of which are commonly known as pikes * '' Esox'', genus of pikes ** Northern pike, common northern hemisphere pike * Mackerel pike or Pacific saury, a fish popular in east Asian cuisine * Walleyed pike or walleye, ''Sander vitreus'', not actually a pike, but regionally referred to as such Places Russia * Shchukino District (Russian for "Pike" District), an area in North-Western Administrative Okrug, part of the federal city of Moscow. Canada * Pike Island (Nunavut) * Pike River (Quebec) Great Britain * Clougha Pike, a hill in Lancashire, England * Cold Pike, a fell in the Lake District, England * Dollywaggon Pike, a fell in the Lake District, England * Esk Pike, a fell in the Lake District, England * Hartshead Pike, a hill in Lancashire, England * The Langdale Pikes, a range of hills in the ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Melee
A melee ( or , French: mêlée ) or pell-mell is disorganized hand-to-hand combat in battles fought at abnormally close range with little central control once it starts. In military aviation, a melee has been defined as " air battle in which several aircraft, both friend and foe, are confusingly intermingled". History of the term In the 1579 translation of Plutarch's '' Lives of the noble Grecians and Romanes'', Sir Thomas North uses the term '' to refer to a disorganized retreat. The phrase was later used in its current spelling in Shakespeare's ''Richard III'', 1594: The phrase comes from the French expression ''pêle-mêle'', a rhyme based on the old French ''mesler'', meaning to mix or mingle. The French term ''melee'' was first used in English in c. 1640 (also derived from the old French ''mesler'', but the Old French stem survives in '' medley'' and ''meddle''). Lord Nelson described his tactics for the Battle of Trafalgar as inducing a "pell mell battle" focused o ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Sword
A sword is an edged, bladed weapon intended for manual cutting or thrusting. Its blade, longer than a knife or dagger, is attached to a hilt and can be straight or curved. A thrusting sword tends to have a straighter blade with a pointed tip. A slashing sword is more likely to be curved and to have a sharpened cutting edge on one or both sides of the blade. Many swords are designed for both thrusting and slashing. The precise definition of a sword varies by historical epoch and geographic region. Historically, the sword developed in the Bronze Age, evolving from the dagger; the earliest specimens date to about 1600 BC. The later Iron Age sword remained fairly short and without a crossguard. The spatha, as it developed in the Late Roman army, became the predecessor of the European sword of the Middle Ages, at first adopted as the Migration Period sword, and only in the High Middle Ages, developed into the classical arming sword with crossguard. The word '' sword'' continue ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Dagger
A dagger is a fighting knife with a very sharp point and usually two sharp edges, typically designed or capable of being used as a thrusting or stabbing weapon.State v. Martin, 633 S.W.2d 80 (Mo. 1982): This is the dictionary or popular-use definition of a dagger, which has been used to describe everything from an ice pick to a folding knife with pointed blade as a 'dagger'. The Missouri Supreme Court used the popular definition of 'dagger' found in Webster's New Universal Dictionary ("a short weapon with a sharp point used for stabbing") to rule that an ordinary pointed knife with four-to-five inch blade constitutes a 'dagger' under the Missouri criminal code.California Penal Code 12020(a)(24):"dagger" means a ''knife or other instrument'' with or without a handguard that is ''capable of ready use as a stabbing weapon'' that may inflict great bodily injury or death. The State of California and other jurisdictions have seized upon the popular-use definition of a dagger to clas ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Voulge
A voulge (occasionally called a pole cleaver; also spelled vouge) is a type of polearm that existed alongside the similar glaive in medieval Europe. Superficially, a voulge might strongly resemble a glaive, but there are some notable differences in construction. First, the attachment of the voulge blade to the shaft was usually done by binding the lower two-thirds of the blade to the side of the pole; the glaive would often have a socket built into the blade itself and was mounted on top of the pole. In addition, while both had curved blades, that of the voulge was broad and meant for hacking, while that of the glaive was narrow and meant more for cutting. A voulge thus looks something like a squashed bardiche, or just a meat cleaver A cleaver is a large knife that varies in its shape but usually resembles a rectangular-bladed hatchet. It is largely used as a kitchen or butcher knife and is mostly intended for splitting up large pieces of soft bones and slashing through ... ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |