Battle axes' history

The Battle Axe had been a very significant weapon since the Stone Age. People already used axes to fight millions of years ago. There is a great chance that the first, to make axes for only wars and battles were the Vikings in Europe. These weapons were designed for inflicting bodily harm and physical damage, not to chop wood. In the middle ages mostly foot soldiers used battle axes, since the plate armors were very thick and it was hard to cause damage with light swords. Knights often used handled axes in mounted combats and fought with axes from the back of their horses.

Battle axes were made as both single and double handed weapons, and were really efficient in close contact battles, but also could be hurled. Skilled fighters were able to bring great damage to the opponent by throwing the axes.

During the Middle Ages, most battle axes had wide heads, and the hafts fit really well with the heads of the axes, in contrast with the Vikings’ axes, wich were mostly just lashed. The blades of these axes used in the Middles Ages were usually crescent-shaped and were as long as 25cm from the lower to the upper points of the blades. One hit or blow with these battle axes could deliver a great power and damage, and so could apply relevant injury to the enemy.

The big groups of Pole Weapons were the battle axes and war hammers. These weapons were mainly used as secondary arms by poorer people.