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Explanation: While the pike, a spear that could be 20 feet long, was the primary weapon of Renaissance Europe, a smaller number of specialists were retained by the famous mercenary groupings of the Landsknechts. Already a flamboyant bunch, those with two-handed swords (‘zweihander’) were given double-pay and expected to get into the thick of things disrupting enemy pike formations and causing havoc to earn that fat paycheck!
Modern day equivalent https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_Weasel ?
Not inaccurate as a comparison! The zweihanders really were diving straight into the teeth of a very deadly foe, intentionally and repeatedly, to disrupt them for other forces to take advantage of. I don’t know that the poor bastards on SEAD and DEAD get double-pay, though I imagine they’d be happier if they did!
My comparison would probably have been the tunnel rats in the Vietnam war, good on you for finding something even more modern
Doppelsöldner is what they are called for they fight alone. The big stick is as dangerous to allies as to foes so you are very likely to not survive.
Doppelsöldner means “double soldier”, which I always thought was a reference to them getting paid more.
“Sold” is a soldiers pay (and, consequently, a soldier is someone who is payd “Sold”). So yes, it refers to the double pay. Be aware, that Söldner would translate to mercenacry, not soldier!
More like “double mercenary”, as Söldner specifically refers to a professional soldier-for-hire
weak pike formation at home:
Which works great until you run into someone with a Maniple
which works great until your cavalry gets defeated and you get charged from the sides by the enemy cavalry (although to be fair that is a nightmare for any army)
The wiggly blade makes me think flamberge. No idea if Zweihanders can have that feature though.
Most flamberges are zweihanders - like the one depicted. Sword terminology is a funny thing.
Gotcha. Thanks for the tip :) what makes a sword a Zweihanders? Just bring 2 handed? I had thought it was more specifically referring to a type of sword from a particular place.
Zweihander is mostly a video game term for the type of weapon. Historically, in Germany, beidhänder was more likely to be used. Other places had other terms for essentially the same type of weapon. Montante in Spain, or Spadone in Italy. But they’re all essentially the same. Massive swords that require two hands to use and become so large techniques become quite different from longswords. We often see references in texts that describe them as used for crowd control or breaking through spear formations.
Specifically, it refers to a type of large European two-handed sword that developed out of the longsword.
Fuck it we ball.
Reminds me that I still have to paint a bunch of Greatswords for Warhammer though.
Cavalry charge intensifies
