00:00Why did late medieval weapon makers place a beak and a spearhead on a warhammer to break
00:05steel armor?
00:07When knights began wearing mail armor made of interlocking iron rings, and later transitioned
00:12to solid steel plate armor, standard hammer strikes were no longer effective against them.
00:17To break through this metal armor, weapon makers mounted the hammerhead onto a long
00:23wooden shaft, adding a spearhead at the top and a sharp beak on the side.
00:27Instead of striking with a hammer face, fighters relied on the sharp beak as their primary
00:33striking tool.
00:35They designed it this way because the pointed tip of the beak concentrates the full impact
00:40force to easily pierce hard iron armor.
