page_title: Pole weapon
section_title: List of pole weapons
hierarchical_section_title: Pole weapon / List of pole weapons
caption_attribution_description: English: Night of museums 2014. in Medjimurje County Museum in Čakovec (Croatia) - medieval weapons collectionHrvatski: Noć muzeja 2014. u Muzeju Međimurja Čakovec (Hrvatska) - zbirka starog hladnog oružja
context_page_description: A pole weapon or pole arm is a close combat weapon in which the main fighting part of the weapon is fitted to the end of a long shaft, typically of wood, thereby extending the user's effective range and striking power. Because many pole weapons were adapted from agricultural implements or other tools in fairly large amount of abundance, and contain relatively little metal, they were cheap to make and readily available. When warfare breaks out and the belligerents have a poorer class who cannot pay for dedicated weapons made for war, military leaders often resort to the appropriation of tools as cheap weapons. The cost of training was minimal, since these conscripted farmers had spent most of their lives in the familiar use of these "weapons" in the fields. This made polearms the favored weapon of peasant levies and peasant rebellions the world over.
  Pole arms can be divided into three broad categories: those designed for extended reach and thrusting tactics used in pike square or phalanx combat; those designed to increase leverage to maximize centrifugal force against cavalry; and those designed for throwing tactics used in skirmish line combat.
caption: A selection of pole weapons in the Međimurje County Museum, Croatia.
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