ARME DE LA LIBERTÉ - PIQUE RÉVOLUTIONNAIRE Wrought... Lot 308

ARME DE LA LIBERTÉ - PIQUE RÉVOLUTIONNAIRE Wrought iron, circular socket, sage leaf iron with central ridge on one side, reverse inscribed "A. N." for "Armée Nationale". Height. 54.5 cm; Width. 6 cm; Depth. 4 cm. This hast weapon, which had not been used by French infantrymen since an ordinance of 1703, re-emerged during the French Revolution, first in the civilian sphere in 1789, then in the army in 1792 under the impetus of Lazare Carnot's speech of July 25, known as the "Three Hundred Thousand Pikes". Against this backdrop of great military difficulties, pikes were easy to produce and master. But its adoption also reflected an ideological bias: the pike was a symbol of sans-culotterie, of the "journées" and therefore of the Revolution itself.