Bayonet
Bayoneta
- Date
- c. 1647 (de cubo, 1687) · confidence medium
- Place
- Bayonne, France
- Credited to
- Anonymous (Bayonne); the socket bayonet attributed to Vauban (1687)
- Field
- Conflict
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
A knife fixed to the muzzle of the musket, first by a plug and later by a socket that allowed the weapon to be fired with the blade fixed. It turned every musketeer into a pikeman and unified the infantry.
The Bayonne origin is an undocumented etymological tradition; the date 1647 comes from Puységur. The socket bayonet is attributed in parallel to Vauban and to Hugh Mackay.
What it led to
- The disappearance of pikemen and mixed-weapon infantry
- 18th-century linear tactics and the bayonet charge
- The standardisation of regulation weaponry
Built on
Made possible
- Standard musket with socket bayonet
- Light infantry