Spear

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Several million years ago among our primitive ancestors who still walked on all fours was a ape who figured something out about sticks. A long, solid pointy stick could penetrate the skin of an enemy, a predator or prey at a distance. This sort of thinking caught on and became common. Eventually these primates worked out how to make sticks pointy and eventually figured out that fire could make the points harder and better at poking through stuff, and eventually that a triangular pointy rock tied to one end was even better than that. Thus is the origin of one of the oldest and most extensively weapons in human history: the Spear.

Spears in Warfare after the agricultural revolution

First off, a general fact. Spears are designed to do one thing: poking the enemy to death. They do this very well, but they are pretty poor at other things. If they run at you, or you run at them (or better still, are on a horse running at them) that momentum makes the poking all the more effective. Two handed spears can be longer, up to 7 meters. One handed spears leave the other free to hold a shield for better protection.

In melee combat on foot spears have one big advantage as far as weapons go: reach. With a spear, you can attack your enemy from further away than you could if you had an axe or sword as your blade is at the end of at least a meter and a half of wood. However, if your enemy should get past the point of your spear and has a sword, mace or axe, you are at a big disadvantage and are generally screwed. The best way around this fact is to gather up a bunch of spearmen and stand shoulder to shoulder. These formations can be very resistant to cavalry charges. Another downside of spears is cumbersomeness. Spears are not good in confined spaces due to their length.

Another important fact about spears is that they are dirt cheap. A perfectly adequate steel tipped spear could be made by a village blacksmith or farrier in about three hours. A good sword would take longer to forge, more iron and fuel (especially since it will take more time to forge) and generally require a more skilled smith. If you want to raise a bunch of conscripts or militia and can't/don't want to pay a lot of money, a spear is your go-to weapon.