I know Calvery used sabers well into the gun age. Anyone know how effective they were in actual combat?
Did infantry actually use anything besides musket/rifle & bayonet once the gun age was in full swing?
What I want to know is was there an actual benefit to sword, spear, etc over guns for a while? I'm thinking that the slow loading of matchlocks for instance would allow sword to be more effective in some situations. Also some of the comments in Book of Five Rings seem clear that he felt that way. But I don't know enough about the period weapons to know if that feeling was based on reality or on cultural ideas of "good weapons".
Did infantry actually use anything besides musket/rifle & bayonet once the gun age was in full swing?
What I want to know is was there an actual benefit to sword, spear, etc over guns for a while? I'm thinking that the slow loading of matchlocks for instance would allow sword to be more effective in some situations. Also some of the comments in Book of Five Rings seem clear that he felt that way. But I don't know enough about the period weapons to know if that feeling was based on reality or on cultural ideas of "good weapons".