Quote:
Originally Posted by peter12
Plate was an innovation of the longbow era and was virtually impenetrable by any other form of weapon, including the halberd, until the widespread use of gunpowder on the battlefield.
It was, though, extremely heavy, and weapons like the halberd were useful in knocking the knight off balance or down where he could be knifed or bludgeoned by opposing foot. At Agincourt, the English, greatly outnumbered by the French armoured knights, were able to fight the battle in a muddy field where the sheer impact of arrows from the longbows, which had a pull of over 200 lbs, were able to smack the knights around pretty good in the mud where the unarmoured archers could literally dance circles around them. A knight, in full armoured plate, weight probably an additional 80 lbs. If you could knock one down, he'd be like a turtle flipped over on its shell.
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From my understanding the alberd was designed to deal with mounted infantry and mounted knights. You either killed the horse or used the long blade to dismount the rider or the knight. Your right once a knight in battle armour was on the ground, killing him was no more difficult then shucking a lobster.
The longbows was always considered to be one of the great innovations of the middle ages war set, there wasn't a lot that could stop those bad boys.
The old saying, in the battle between armour and weapons, weapons usually wins.
The T34 tank was almost invulnerable to German tank fire in WW2, and that hearalded in the use of shaped charge anti tank weapons.