Battle ax
| Battle ax | |
|---|---|
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| Information | |
| Weapon type: | Axe |
| Use: | military weapon |
| Creation time: | approx. 11500 BC Chr. |
| Working time: | til today |
| Region of origin / author: |
Europe , Egypt |
| Distribution: | Worldwide |
| Overall length: | approx. from 40 cm |
| Handle: | Wood, bone, metal, ivory , |
| Particularities: | Represented in almost all countries. Most diverse forms |
| Lists on the subject | |
The term ax or hatchet is once a collective term for all or two Hands practicable, used in battle axes and cleavers .
Manifestations
The battle ax was available as a rider's weapon or a foot soldier's weapon . Depending on culture it has different lengths, blade width , blade shape (crescent-shaped, wedge-shaped, double and single blade, different long beards) and stem lengths . There were battle axes made of stone , obsidian (South America), bronze , iron and steel .
Battle axes are generally lighter than tool axes of comparable size, so that they do not tire the wearer so quickly during combat. Battle axes range in weight between 0.5 kg and 3 kg, and in length between 30 cm and 1.5 m. Some of them have recesses in the ax blades to save weight.
The best-known battle ax outside of Europe is the tomahawk , which is available with a stone or iron blade . The Tabar Zin is known in India . This was a battle ax made entirely of steel. It usually had a crescent-shaped blade .
history
Prehistory and early history
In archeology, axes , regardless of size and weight, are delimited from hatchets by the presence of a shaft hole. Since even the hand axes (English: hand ax ) functionally belong to the cutting weapon, the "basic type ax / mace" of humanity can be described as the oldest weapon. Core axes and disc axes of the Mesolithic age were made of flint like hand axes , but already had the basic shape of the ax, consisting of the edge and neck. The adze of the oldest peasant culture in Central Europe ( ribbon ceramics ), known as shoe last wedges , were not only used as tools but also weapons. In the Talheim massacre (Baden-Württemberg) as well as the Schletz massacre (Lower Austria) and the Kilianstädten massacre (Hesse), skull fractures can be traced back to the victims being beaten to death with shoe last wedges.
Axes with a shaft hole did not appear in northern , central and eastern Europe until the early Neolithic , initially as imports from south-eastern Europe. Battle axes also played a major role in all archaeological cultures of the subsequent late Neolithic (e.g. funnel beaker culture , Salzmünder culture ). In the end of the Neolithic of Central Europe, they were standard grave goods in men's graves and therefore formative for the culture of corded ceramics , which was therefore also known as the "battle ax culture".
With the Celts , the Teutons and other peoples of antiquity , battle axes were mainly used by warriors who could not afford a sword , but were also often status symbols of leaders.
middle Ages
The Franks of the early Middle Ages used the Franziska , a large throwing ax. In the High Middle Ages , some foot soldiers used (with both hands) oversized, enormously effective battle axes. These became even more monstrous over time, were given a tip and had developed into the halberd and many related forms ( glaive , Berdysch ) in the late Middle Ages . The cavalry, however, used much smaller battle axes. In Eastern Europe the battle ax was used until well into modern times .
When the blacksmiths were able to produce better and better swords in the Middle Ages with the spread of Damascus steel and the significant improvement in mono steels , the era of battle axes initially seemed to be over. They fell out of fashion with the knights , not least because of the high price of a good sword: it was more exclusive, reserved for the wealthy nobility , while an ax resembled a profane peasant's tool . With the advancement of armor up to plate armor , however, the popularity of comparatively simple cutting and balancing weapons such as battle hammer , morning star , flail and the battle ax grew , since even a massive tank could not provide effective protection against these massive weapons.
Battle axes and related forms of weapons from the high and late Middle Ages as well as the early modern period increasingly have additional uses than the ax blade, such as points and hammers. Since these were even more effective than the ax blade against armor (slipping, deeper impact with lower weight), ax blades were increasingly reduced in favor of these forms of application. Towards the end of the 16th century, battle axes gradually disappeared as military tactics began to revolve around the use of gunpowder.
Use in combat
In contrast to a sword, a battle ax has the center of gravity in the area of the ax head. As a result, the blows of an ax are more powerful than sword blows. An ax can cut with its sharp blade, but it also causes massive damage through the kinetic energy resulting from the mass of the ax head . While the most cutting actions possible were carried out with a sword (see knight sword, section cutting and cutting technique ), an ax was used to chop and cut.
An ax is not suitable for "fencing" because the direction can hardly be corrected during the strike, and also hardly for parrying . An ax fighter must either dodge or use a shield according to the blows of the opponent . Two-handed axes like the murder ax were at least a little better for fencing. They were used in a style similar to stick fighting (see also half sword fighting ). These techniques have also been described in fencing books .
The greatest difficulty with the use of battle axes is the same as with all other heavy cutting weapons: The high weight, which is largely responsible for the damage, leads to the fighter becoming tired more quickly. The advantages of a battle ax compared to a sword are greater robustness, lower costs and greater penetration through armor .
See also
Individual evidence
- ^ Gerhard Seifert, technical terms of edged weapons: German abc of the European bare weapons; (Cut, thrust, hit and hand weapons) , Verlag Seifert, 1981.
- ↑ J. Wahl, H.-G. König: Anthropological-traumatological examination of the human skeletal remains from the band ceramic mass grave near Talheim, Heilbronn district. In: Find reports from Baden-Württemberg, Volume 12, Konrad Theiss Verlag, Stuttgart 1987, pp. 65–193.
Web links
literature
- Gustav Friedrich Klemm: Handbook of Germanic antiquity . Dresden: Walthersche Hofbuchhdlg. 1836. (available under [1] )