Hey gang, Dave Baker.
Today we're going to talk about some of my favorite pole arms
featured on "Forged in Fire."
[music playing]
Historically, the pole arm is a standoff weapon.
It keeps your enemy the distance.
You fight off enemy cavalry and infantry, keeping
them out of sword's range.
Now this beauty is the German halberd.
German halberd was used starting in the 14th century
consisting of an ax head, a spear point, and a hooked back.
It can be used to chop an opponent,
pull someone off a horse, or push a ladder off a wall.
Whew.
It will kill.
Now the name of this weapon, halberd,
comes from the German words halm, meaning staff, and bart,
meaning axe.
Sounds brutal, Dave.
You can still see these halberds being
used at ceremonial events.
This is the glaive guisarme.
Now a glaive is basically a large sword blade on a pole.
This is a widely used weapon from the 13th and 14th century
in Europe.
Now the glaive gave the ability to thrust
as well as slash, just like a pole.
It can also be used to push an object away.
I'd say that's pretty good.
So glaives and weapons like them were often
used by second line troops.
Standing behind the front line or shield wall,
you could reach over and stab into your opponent's line.
This weapon is sharp.
Thank you.
This weapon is the qinglong ji.
Now the qinglong ji is almost a marrying
of a spear and a halberd.
With this wavy blade for thrusting and slashing,
the hook for either hooking or chopping into an opponent, that
gave a warrior, a certain amount of reach,
but it wasn't as long as a lot of pole arms.
The qinglong ji was a costly blade to make.
So it was often reserved for palace guards or the
upper echelon of the military.
The qinglong ji was a like, fast blade.
And on the battlefield, if you were facing a line of these,
you weren't moving forward.
This weapon is the bardiche.
The bardiche is a Russian weapon from the 16th, 17th century,
most famously used by a group called the Streltsy, which
were an elite musketeer group.
Their heavy muskets were laid across the axe's
blade to stabilize it.
Once the musket was fired, it could be dropped
and the bardiche picked up as troops charged.
Nice.
Right on, brother.
These are a light, well-designed weapons.
Remember, on the battlefield, you
need the carry this with one hand and a 16-pound musket
in the other.
That will really slow you down.
Oh, ha, ha.
It's a light, fast deadly weapon with a colorful history.
This wild looking weapon is the jumonji yari.
The yari was used by Japanese infantry in the 15th century
either to fight off other infantry units
or mounted samurai.
Geezus.
The jumonji yari or the trident yari
is different than the standard yari in that the standard yari
just has a point.
The jumonji with these arms actually made
it a better defensive weapon.
On the 15th century Japanese battlefield,
this weapon was both offense and defense.