War hammer refers to one of the oldest types of knives, which was used mainly for close range combat. For the first time they began to make it back in the Neolithic era. The hammer is a dual-use weapon used both in blacksmithing and in military affairs. In the second case, he is able to inflict terrible deforming and breaking punches on the enemy.
General information
As mentioned earlier, the hammer appeared in the Neolithic. Initially, he had a stone top. Quite often, he served as a butt in a ceremonial stone or battle ax. Over time, these blunt weapons improved, and in the Middle Ages they already used ordinary blacksmithing iron hammers, mounted on a long handle. They were somewhat reminiscent of a mace, which struck not only deafening, but deforming armor strikes.
The most famous representative of this weapon is Mjöllnir, the mythical hammer of the god of the storm and Thunder. It has become a truly religious symbol, a heraldic emblem and an amulet for all Scandinavians. However, until the XI century. such weapons were used mainly by Germans.
Spread
The most widespread use of a war hammer has been among riders since the 13th century. Its rapid spread was facilitated by the emergence of reliable knightly armor and armor. Against them, swords, maces, axes and any other weapons used in those days for close combat could no longer cope. All of them were ineffective. That is why more and more new variants of the same war hammer began to appear. Its varieties include any polearm with a knob, which on the one hand looks like a hammer, and on the other it can take the form of a straight or slightly curved blade, beak, faceted spike, etc.
The name “hammer” itself implies the presence of at least one of the above elements of the warhead. The weapon retains this name even when the hammer itself is not there. The most common was the hammer, which had an upward pointed point and in addition to it short spikes, which were often located directly on the shock part of the butt or to the side of it. Beaks could pierce the plate on the armor or break the chain mail. The hammer was used to stun the enemy or deform his armor.
Lucernhammer
This is a kind of edged weapon that appeared in Switzerland around the end of the 15th century. It was in service with the infantry of many European countries until the end of the XVII century. This medieval weapon was a shackled shaft up to 2 m long, at one end of which there was a warhead in the form of a pointed peak, and at its base was a hammer. Usually it was made bilateral. The shock gear part of the hammer was used to stun the enemy, and the hook part resembled a sharp beak. Given its purpose, we can say that it belonged to the pole-mounted weapons of shock-crushing action.
It is believed that the reason for the emergence of the Lucerne hammer was the hostilities that took place between the Swiss infantry and German cavalry. The fact is that the riders had rather high-quality armor, against which the traditional halberds were powerless, since they were not able to penetrate the rider's iron shell. It was then that a need arose for a new weapon, which could relatively easily penetrate enemy armor. As for the spades, it helped the infantry to effectively repel the cavalry attacks of the enemy. The Lucerne hammer turned out to be so good that over time he managed to completely displace the halberds.
Short weapons
Similar hammers, in which the handle did not exceed 80 cm in length, appeared in Europe in the 10th century. They were used exclusively in hand-to-hand combat and they often armed riders. But everywhere such weapons began to be used in cavalry only after 5 centuries. Short shafts of both eastern and European hammers were very often made of iron and equipped with a special handle for gripping with one or two hands.
The war hammer on the opposite side of the beak could have a fairly diverse impact surface, for example, spiky, conical, smooth, pyramidal, topped with a monogram or some kind of figure. The last two were used to imprint on the armor or body of the enemy.
Longwood Hammers
In the XIV century. these weapons gained the most popularity. It had a long handle up to 2 m and in appearance resembled a halberd. The only difference was that the warhead of the hammers was not solid forged, but assembled from several separate elements. In addition, they almost always had a lance or spear at the end. It is worth noting the fact that this medieval weapon did not always have a beak on the back of the hammer. Instead, an ax was sometimes attached, which could be both small and quite impressive in size. Such an unusual weapon was called Polax.
The striking part of the hammer in long-wood weapons was diverse: smooth, with small teeth, have one or more short or long spikes, and even defiant inscriptions. There were also such variants of weapons where the warhead consisted only of hammers, trident beaks or blades, and from above ended with a constant peak. Weapons with a long shaft were used mainly by foot soldiers to fight against enemy cavalry. Sometimes they were used and the knights when dismounted.
Combined Weapons
Its first samples appeared in the XVI century. and were distinguished by great diversity, but all of them were united by a common feature - in them certain elements inherent in war hammers were necessarily present. The simplest of them were with handles, inside which a sword was placed. Such blades often had some additions in the form of heel holders - special stands for firearms or crossbows.
Weapons like firewalls were much more complex. In addition to the hammer with hatchets and slags, they were also equipped with long blades up to one and a half meters in length. They could extend either automatically or shoot from the top of the handle. There were also crickets, which were a combination of hammers with pistols or rifles.
Eastern counterparts
Klevets with short shafts were used not only in European armies, but also in the East. For example, in India, a similar war hammer was called a fakir staff or driven, in Afghanistan and Pakistan - lohar, in Persia - tabar. This weapon was very similar to the European one, because it had the same division of a hammer into four spikes. Like Lucernhammer.
I must say that the Klebs stayed in the East much longer than in Europe, as they were in great demand, both among the military and the civilian population. They were especially popular in the Indo-Persian region and even had the same name - “black beak”. Did in India and combined weapons. There were also analogues in China and Japan.
Butt
After the loss of the military use of the Klebs, Poland began to issue special laws prohibiting the civilian population from wearing them even in the form of canes and staves. Instead, another version of the hammer appeared - a butt or a pickaxe. It could easily be recognized by the iron, silver or brass knobs and by the beaks strongly bent towards the shaft, often wrapped in a ring. There were also such instances in which only a sharp tip was bent or they had a bend of an unusual shape. In addition, the opposite end of the handle up to 1 m long was also chained in the butt. Mostly it was worn by the Polish gentry.
As you know, the butt was originally intended for self-defense, but over time it became clear that this weapon was worse than the slander. If earlier, during a fight with an enemy, a saber could cut a face, a head or a hand, and the spilled blood at least somehow calmed the heated soldiers. Now, when a person struck with a butt, blood was not visible. Therefore, the attacker could not immediately come to his senses and, time after time, hit harder and harder, inflicting fatal injuries on his victim. I must say that the Polish gentry who wore this weapon did not spare their subjects too much, and often punished them with beatings, and sometimes they killed them.
Delivery of positions
Over time, the hammer (the weapon of the Middle Ages) lost its former popularity, and they began to use it only as an attribute of various military ranks. So it was in Italy, Germany and other European countries. Their example was followed by robber and Cossack chieftains. Quite often, screw-on dagger blades were placed in the arms of this weapon.