Pike (weapon)

A pike is a long thrusting spear formerly used in European warfare from the Late Middle Ages and most of the early modern period, and wielded by foot soldiers deployed in pike square formation, until it was largely replaced by bayonet-equipped muskets. The pike was particularly well known as the primary weapon of Spanish tercios, Swiss mercenaries, German Landsknecht units and French sans-culottes. A similar weapon, the sarissa, had been used in antiquity by Alexander the Great's Macedonian phalanx infantry. Pikes were also used in hunting large animals that charged or lunged at the hunter, such as bear and boar. When braced against the ground and angled upward toward the charge, the pike could impale the animal and stop its forward momentum.