Quote Originally Posted by Mabn View Post
Why were bayonets so short? If I was on a battlefield and faced the possibility that either I would have to charge an enemy unit with a bayonet or an enemy unit would charge me with bayonets, I'd feel a lot less motivated to try to run away of I knew my pointy bit was a couple feet longer than their pointy bits. Was sticking something like a rapier blade (maybe with a bit of a cross-guard half a foot from the tip so no one ran up it) to the end of a musket just not possible? Would the added weight or length make the musket inoperable?
These questions have already been answered, but I remember reading that the French in the mid-19th century, had a carbine with a "lance-bayonet" for some mounted troops. I think it was a small number of guards of the Emperor, but I can't dig up the source at the moment. Although this appears to be an example of one (link to an auction house):
https://www.cowanauctions.com/lot/mo...bayonet-170896

Certainly it wasn't very common.

During WW1, American soldiers complained that their standard rifle was shorter than the Germans' rifles they faced, and that put them at a disadvantage in bayonet combat. The response was to provide them with advanced bayonet training.

The other thing concerning bayonets, is the claim that the rifle is less accurate with the bayonet attached. Some rifles designed in the 19th century were supposed to have the bayonet attached at all times (only removed when stored or transported). Examples include the M1862 Dreyse Needle Rifle, but also the M1891 Mosin-Nagant. In the case of the Mosin-Nagant, the sights were "zeroed" with the bayonet on. Removing the bayonet would mess up the sights. So the rifle was less "accurate" with the bayonet removed! My belief is that a bayonet doesn't make the rifle less (or more) accurate, but that it does affect "how" it shoots, and therefore affects how the sights should be adjusted. [Of course, adjusting sights in combat is not practical, so it comes down to tactical doctrine as to whether or not the rifle should be zeroed with the bayonet attached or removed]