Halberd

Halberd (halbard, halbert; originally from German Helmbarte, a beard or axe with a helm, i.e. handle) an old thrusting and cutting weapon consisting of a 30 cm long thrusting blade, at the lower end of which on one side there is a sharp axe (beard) and opposite this a straight or downwardly curved iron tip for pulling enemy riders off their horses and for reaching into the joints of a suit of armour. This iron tip is attached to a 2 to 2.5 m long shaft, studded with many nails to protect it against cutting weapons.
Soldiers armed with the halberd were called halberdiers. In Germany the halberd was already mentioned in 1313; In the Hussite Wars it was the main weapon of the infantry, but from the 15th century onwards it was replaced by the pike and later by the bayonet, while officers and NCOs preferred it to the pike because of its lightness. It was the favourite weapon of the Swiss in the 14th and 15th centuries, in the 16th century it was often the main weapon of the leaders of the infantry, especially the Landsknechts, and later it served as the symbol of rank of the Unteroffiziere. Among the latter the halberd survived here and there as a spontoon until the beginning of the 19th century, but disappeared from the line by the end of the 18th century. As a weapon of the non-commissioned officers it was called a spontoon or half-pike. Later it was only used by the prince‘s bodyguards.
Source: Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon, 6. Auflage 1905–1909