Some form of pattern welding was used all over Europe, since Roman times at least.
Being more "effective" is pretty hard to tell - what's certain is that with more available iron/steel pattern welding ceased to be used.
It's all relative, rapiers can be certainly 'armour piercing' to some extent, way more able to stab trough a mail than a falchion, for example.2. Whose fault is it that people think rapiers are armour piercing? Or that they're military weapons, for that matter? Is there an older genesis for this belief, or do I just, you know, blame Fire Emblem?
As far as "military" goes, I believe that the confusion here comes from the fact that "rapier" can/could be broad term, and saying what's no longer a "rapier" and what still is, could be quite hard.
Something like that tends to be called 'rapier' quite a lot in literature or whatever, while constructionally and funtcionally it definitely isn't actual civilian rapier at all.
It's in fact long, cut&thrust sword with ricasso and elaborate guard with loop guard and all.