Hypothetically, if the Iron Age came sooner and the Bronze Age was dramatically shorter (or didn't happen at all), would swords be more prominent on the battlefield? Or were polearms just inevitable?
(long) swords were only popular when armor was rare due to rarity of the most produced metal, once the metal production increased and armor plate/mails became widespread people used shorter swords as side arm. That happened at least twice, during the late Bronze age and medieval times.
>>64634219Swords were prominent. Massed longspears just works very well.
>>64634219Spears were always inevitable due to their reach. Swords, however, were very popular as personal defense weapons.
Copper and bronze swords were popular and knives were always common. Iron just made them even more common. The metal cost between a sword and spear is not a dealbreaker. Swords were everywhere.
>>64634219It's actually kinda funny but Iron was well known in the Bronze age. It was considered inferior because it rusted and Wrought Iron is softer than Bronze. There was totally people running around with iron swords in the Bronze Age, they were just routinely mocked for having a cheaply made weapon.
