Impact Weapons

Category Overview

Overview

Impact weapons — also called blunt weapons or percussion weapons — injure through concentrated kinetic energy rather than cutting or piercing. They are among the oldest weapons (the club predates the knife in human use) and remained militarily significant as long as armored opponents existed. A sword might slide off plate armor; a war hammer's spike or a mace's flanges transmit force through it.

Why Impact Weapons Survived Alongside Edged Weapons

The relationship between armor and weapons drove impact weapon development:

• Against unarmored opponents — Edged weapons are generally more efficient
• Against chainmail — Chainmail stops cuts but transmits blunt trauma; maces and hammers defeat chainmail effectively
• Against plate armor — Plate deflects cuts; the war hammer's spike penetrates; the mace's flanges concentrate force on the armor plates themselves, denting them inward and injuring the wearer

This is why the mace and war hammer rose in prominence during the 12th–15th centuries alongside the development of increasingly complete plate armor.

Major Subcategories

• Maces & Clubs — Weighted heads on hafts; from the simple wooden club to the iron-flanged mace. See: Maces & Clubs.
• War Hammers — Hammer head with armor-piercing spike (beak); specifically designed to defeat plate armor. See: War Hammers.
• Flails — Weighted head on a chain or rope; swings around shields; complex and dangerous to the user. See: Flails.

Decline

Impact weapons declined as:

1. Plate armor fell out of use in the 16th–17th centuries (firearms making it obsolete)
2. Firearms became the primary casualty-inflicting weapon
3. Only the cavalry saber and bayonet remained as melee weapons in modern armies

This article is a stub. Contributions covering specific impact weapons and their use are welcome.