Bayonet

A representation of a bayonet charge in 1862.

In recent centuries the term bayonet was applied to stabbing or edged weapons, intended to be mounted to the end of a firearm, like a musket or rifle.

Bayonets are an evolution of the spear, a point on a long stick to extend its reach.

Modern bayonets are knives, with a knife's handle, and can be used as knives, when not mounted on a rifle. However, early bayonets lacked this feature. The very first bayonets plugged into the weapon's muzzle. This did not impede the user's ability to fire their weapons, as it was only used after they fired their last shot, and the enemy had approached to the hand-to-hand close quarters range.

Weapons's scholar Matt Easton challenges the notion that bayonets were invented in Bayonne, France. He found that the historical record showed that the term "bayonet" was in use in the sixteenth century, but only to describe a kind of knife. He says that Chinese documents describe a weapon that attached to the end of a firearm, that were in use, in China, in 1606.

After the plug-bayonet another kind of bayonet, the socket-bayonet was developed. Socket bayonets were designed so the weapon could still be loaded and fired, with the bayonet mounted. Socket-bayonets were slid over the end of the muzzle, and were twisted and locked, so they would not come loose, during battle.

Bayonet tactics evolved from the Pike and Shot formations of the 17th century. As firearms improved, combining musketeers with pikemen became feasible and allowed for quicker, more flexible formations.

Easton says that massed bayonet charges, where a whole group of soldiers fire their weapons, and then charge their enemies, with bayonets affixed to their rifles, continued to be employed well into the 20th and 21st centuries. British commandos charged Argentinian soldiers during the Falkland's War, and unofficial accounts exist of soldiers making bayonet charges during the latest War in Afghanistan.

The term bayonet-clip is used to describe the affixing one tool, to another tool, quickly, with a locking mechanism similar to a rifle and a bayonet. The term is applied to optics and electronics.

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  A rifle bayonet -- note the rings that slide over the rifle's muzzle
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  The scale shows the blade on this socket bayonet is over a foot long
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  A close-up of the socket of a socket-bayonet
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  Weapons with a plug bayonet affixed could not be re-loaded or fired, until it was removed.
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  A collection of bayonets of various types, both socket-bayonets and knife-bayonets
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  Some rifle-bayonets were very long