Why did guards carry halberds?

See: The Martial Ethic in Early Modern Germany: Civic Duty and the Right of Arms by B. Ann Tlusty

#halberd #polearm #hema #history #shorts

[xavierburval]

Love how the primary argument is just “you have the biggest stick, so no one wants to fight you”

[khajiitimanus]

In summary:
Big distinguishable stick, good crowd control, also handy for emergency demolition.

[christophernelson]

Dude, it makes so much sense to want them to carry an axe. I had never thought about them using it to help fight fires.

[jeff]

I think another big factor is that guard duty involves a lot of standing around. If you're doing that for hours a day it's nice to have a staff you can use to help support you.

[SovietReunionYT]

The most impactful demonstration I've seen of how useful these are for guards is one of the assassin failure cinematics in Medieval II Total War. The guards corner the assassin, and one of them just pokes him in the stomach from a safe distance, he cant do anything about it with his dagger. And that's just the universal situation in settlements - you cant carry a long weapon or a shield without immediately drawing attention from the guards, and you cant defend yourself against a halberd with any weapon you can carry concealed.

[spregged]

Here we see Clark Kent demonstrating skills with a Halberd

[blindoutlaw]

You can also corral a person you were trying to capture and not kill. Very effective for a guard trying to arrest someone

[silverwings]

Thanks for explaining that, Clark Kent.

[davidstreicher]

"In a Civic Capacity, you have the Biggest Stick" is such an iconic line I'm going to use it in regular conversation from now on.

[Djrealfake]

You know I had always wondered why firemen use so many medieval weapons and now I know, the halberd is an indispensable tool in so many different roles during a house fire, from poking the ceiling to find hotspots to ripping a door right off the hinges.

[jacobturner]

Clark Kent got some eccentric hobbies these days!

[geordiebailey]

I never realised how narrow the blade appears when facing it. It's way subtler and more deceptive than I thought such a big weapon could be.

[basbomb]

Seeing Clark Kent with a halberd is a life goal I never knew I had

[hellkitelord]

I know what all my guards in my DND campaign are going to have.

Thanks for the video. It's good to know this info regardless of reason why.

[nerdreaderisreading]

I never knew Atticus Finch was this skilled at armed combat

[weakhunter]

I've really been more interested in questions like these as of late. A ton of people like to ask how people killed with these weapons, and I find a lot less that ask how they lived with them. Can't be at war all the time

[fattcoke]

"you have the biggest stick" Well now I already know the main reason why they had these bad boys

[RedJadeArt]

I feel like people sometimes forget looking at history just how fucking FLAMMABLE everything was

[temp]

''You have the biggest stick, if it comes to violence you have a massive advantage''
True.

[goatsandroses]

The "fire axe" comment is complete genius. I would have never thought of that, but it really makes a LOT of sense. The halberd really is a multi-tool. You could use it for everything from crowd control, to pulling down tree branches, to lifting something- like hanging a banner.