The Military Spear
Spears were one of the most common personal weapons used in the Stone Age, and they remained in use as important military and hunting implements until the advent of firearms. They may be seen as the ancestor of such military weapons as the lance, the pilum, the halberd, the naginata, the glaive, the bill, and the pike. One of the earliest weapons fashioned by human beings and their ancestors, the spear is still used for hunting and fishing, and its influences still may be seen in current military gear such as the rifle-mounted bayonet.
Spears may be used as both a projectile and melee weapons. Spears used primarily for thrusting may be used with either one or two hands and tend to have heavier and sturdier designs than those intended exclusively for throwing. Those designed for throwing, often referred to as javelins, tend to be lighter and have a more streamlined head, and they may be thrown either by hand or with the assistance of a spear thrower such as the atlatl or woomera. From the atlatl dart, the arrow for use with bows eventually developed.
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Famous quotes containing the words military and/or spear:
“Were in greater danger today than we were the day after Pearl Harbor. Our military is absolutely incapable of defending this country.”
—Ronald Reagan (b. 1911)
“Lift not thy spear against the Muses bower:
The great Emathian conqueror bid spare
The house of Pindarus, when temple and tower
Went to the ground; and the repeated air
Of sad Electras poet had the power
To save the Athenian walls from ruin bare.”
—John Milton (16081674)