A polearm or pole weapon is a close combat weapon in which the main fighting part of the weapon is fitted to the end of a long shaft, typically of wood, extending the user's effective range and striking power. Polearms are predominantly melee weapons, with a subclass of spear-like designs fit for thrusting and/or throwing. Because many polearms were adapted from agricultural implements or other fairly abundant tools, and contained relatively little metal, they were cheap to make and readily available. When belligerents in warfare had a poorer class who could not pay for dedicated military weapons, they would often appropriate tools as cheap weapons. The cost of training was comparatively low, since these conscripted farmers had spent most of their lives using these "weapons" in the fields. This made polearms the favoured weapon of peasant levies and peasant rebellions the world over.
The history of Slovakia dates back to the findings of ancient human artifacts. This article shows the history of the country from prehistory to the present day.
A tomahawk is a type of single-handed axe used by the many Indigenous peoples and nations of North America. It traditionally resembles a hatchet with a straight shaft. In pre-colonial times the head was made of stone, bone, or antler, and European settlers later introduced heads of iron and steel. The term came into the English language in the 17th century as an adaptation of the Powhatan word.
Emeric Thököly de Késmárk was a Hungarian nobleman, leader of anti-Habsburg uprisings like his father, Count István Thököly, before him. Emeric was Prince of Upper Hungary, an Ottoman vassal state, from 1682 to 1685, and briefly Prince of Transylvania during the year 1690. Having formed an alliance with the Turks, Thököly assisted the Ottoman Empire at the Battle of Vienna in 1683 and led the Turkish cavalry at the battle of Zenta. Refusing to surrender to Habsburg Emperor Leopold I, Thököly lost his principality of Upper Hungary and finally retired to Galata, near Constantinople, with large estates granted him by Mustafa II.
An ice axe is a multi-purpose hiking and climbing tool used by mountaineers in both the ascent and descent of routes that involve snow, ice, or frozen conditions. Its use depends on the terrain: in its simplest role it is used like a walking stick, with the mountaineer holding the head in the center of their uphill hand. On steep terrain it is swung by its handle and embedded in snow or ice for security and an aid to traction. It can also be buried pick down, the rope tied around the shaft to form a secure anchor on which to bring up a second climber, or buried vertically to form a stomp belay. The adze is used to cut footholds, as well as scoop out compacted snow to bury the axe as a belay anchor.
Juraj Jánošík was a Slovak highwayman. Jánošík has been the main character of many Slovak novels, poems, and films. According to the legend, he robbed nobles and gave the loot to the poor, a deed often attributed to the famous Robin Hood. The legend is known in neighboring Poland and the Czech Republic. The actual robber had little to do with the modern legend, whose content partly reflects the ubiquitous folk myths of a hero taking from the rich and giving to the poor. However, the legend was also shaped in important ways by the activists and writers in the 19th century when Jánošík became the key highwayman character in stories that spread in the north counties of the Kingdom of Hungary and among the local Gorals inhabitants of the Podhale region north of the Tatras. The image of Jánošík as a symbol of resistance to oppression was reinforced when poems about him became part of the Slovak and Czech middle and high school literature curriculum, and then again with the numerous films that propagated his modern legend in the 20th century. During the anti-Nazi Slovak National Uprising, one of the partisan groups bore his name.
A battle axe is an axe specifically designed for combat. Battle axes were specialized versions of utility axes. Many were suitable for use in one hand, while others were larger and were deployed two-handed.
The history of Hungarybefore the Hungarian conquest spans the time period before the Hungarian conquest in the 9th century of the territories that would become the Principality of Hungary and the Kingdom of Hungary.
A swordstick or cane-sword is a cane containing a hidden blade or sword. The term is typically used to describe Europe weapons from around the 18th century. But similar devices have been used throughout history, notably the Roman dolon, the Japanese shikomizue and the Indian gupti.
Katarínka are the ruins of a Franciscan monastery and church dating back to the early 17th century, located deep in the forests of the Little Carpathians in western Slovakia, 20 km north of Trnava over Dubovský creek, close to the villages of Dechtice, Naháč and Dobrá Voda. The church was dedicated to Saint Catherine of Alexandria, and that is where the nickname of the place Katarínka comes from.
Kuruc, also spelled kurutz, refers to a group of armed anti-Habsburg insurgents in the Kingdom of Hungary between 1671 and 1711.
Upper Hungary is the usual English translation of Felvidék, the Hungarian term for the area that was historically the northern part of the Kingdom of Hungary, now mostly present-day Slovakia. The region has also been called Felső-Magyarország.
Kežmarok is a town in the Spiš region of eastern Slovakia, on the Poprad River. Prior to World War I, it was in Szepes county in the Kingdom of Hungary.
Hősök tere, lit. Heroes' Square, is one of the major squares in Budapest, Hungary, noted for its iconic Millennium Monument with statues featuring the Seven chieftains of the Magyars and other important Hungarian national leaders, as well as the Memorial Stone of Heroes, often erroneously referred as the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The square lies at the outbound end of Andrássy Avenue next to City Park (Városliget). It hosts the Museum of Fine Arts and the Palace of Art (Műcsarnok). The square has played an important part in contemporary Hungarian history and has been a host to many political events, such as the reburial of Imre Nagy in 1989. Most sculptures were made by sculptor György Zala from Lendava, with one made by György Vastagh.
The Principality of Nitra, also known as the Duchy of Nitra, was a West Slavic polity encompassing a group of settlements that developed in the 9th century around Nitra, in present-day Slovakia. Its history remains uncertain because of a lack of contemporary sources. The territory's status is subject to scholarly debate: some modern historians describe it as an independent polity that was annexed either around 833 or 870 by the Principality of Moravia, while others say that it was under the influence of the neighbouring West Slavs from Moravia from its inception.
Jánošík is a Slovak black-and-white silent film from 1921. It relates the popular legend of the highwayman Juraj Jánošík. It shows the filmmakers' experience with early American movies in camera work, in the use of parallel narratives, and in sequences inspired by Westerns. Jánošík placed Slovak filmmaking as the 10th national cinema in the world to produce a full-length feature movie.
The makila is a traditional Basque walking stick, and is notable as both a practical tool and a cultural symbol of authority and strength.
The Executive Court of Prešov, also known as Caraffa's slaughter, was an extraordinary cruel political court founded by the Neapolitan count and imperial general Antonio Caraffa in 1687 in Prešov (Eperjes), Kingdom of Hungary to punish followers of Imre Thököly, leader of anti-Habsburg rebellion. Result of the court was execution of more than 24 Hungarians, Germans and Slovaks. While some of those executed had taken part in rebellion, many of them were innocent and had been falsely accused.
Hungarian art stems from the period of the conquest of the Carpathian basin by the people of Árpád in the 9th century. Prince Árpád also organized earlier people settled in the area.
An axe is an implement that has been used for millennia to shape, split, and cut wood, to harvest timber, as a weapon, and as a ceremonial or heraldic symbol. The axe has many forms and specialised uses but generally consists of an axe head with a handle, also called a haft or a helve.
