Featuring specially commissioned color artwork and drawing
upon a range of sources, this engaging study casts new light on the
origins, development, construction, and use of the bayonet in warfare
from the mid-17th century onwards.
Although muskets delivered devastating projectiles at comparatively long
ranges, their slow rate of fire left the soldier very vulnerable while
reloading, and early muskets were useless for close-quarter fighting.
Consequently, European infantry regiments of the 17th century were
composed of both musketeers and pikemen, who protected the musketeers
while loading but also formed the shock component for close-quarter
combat. The development of the flintlock musket produced a much less
cumbersome and faster-firing firearm. When a short knife was stuck into
its muzzle, every soldier could be armed with a missile weapon as well
as one that could be used for close combat. The only disadvantage was
that the musket could not be loaded or fired while the plug bayonet was
in place. The socket bayonet solved this problem and the musket/bayonet
combination became the universal infantry weapon from c.1700 to
c.1870.
The advent of shorter rifled firearms saw the attachment of short swords
to rifle barrels. Their longer blades still gave the infantryman the
reach that contemporaries believed he needed to fend off cavalry
attacks. The perfection of the small-bore magazine rifle in the 1890s
saw the bayonet lose its tactical importance, becoming smaller and more
knife-like, a trend that continued in the world wars. When assault
rifles predominated from the 1950s onwards, the bayonet became a weapon
of last resort. Its potential usefulness continued to be recognized, but
its blade was often combined with an item with some additional function,
most notably a wire-cutter.
Ultimately, for all its fearsome reputation as a visceral, close-quarter
fighting weapon, the bayonet's greatest impact was actually as a
psychological weapon. Featuring full-color artwork as well as archive
and close-up photographs, this is the absorbing story of the
complementary weapon to every soldier's firearm from the army of Louis
XIV to modern-day forces in all global theaters of conflict.