Quote Originally Posted by rrgg View Post
I think I may have had a thought about "cut vs thrust" and why many people seem to have continued to prefer short cutlasses, axes, or using muskets as clubs over a long thrusting sword. Perhaps which is better depends a lot on exactly how a particular soldier responds during a high-pressure, life or death situation. For instance, the rapier might be a much better weapon if the soldier using it is able to remain perfectly calm, but when a surge of adrenaline hits perhaps it get's easier to swing harder and faster with an axe, but much harder to keep the hands steady and put the point of a long rapier on target with any sort of precision.
That's a possibility, but there is the small matter of the continued dominance of the spear - a primarily thrusting weapon, with several varieties completely unsuited to cutting. Clearly stabbing somebody when in a high pressure life or death situation is something a lot of people are capable of.