Quote Originally Posted by Karoht View Post
Another consideration regarding a Sword.

In the confines of a castle (during a siege) you can't really swing a mace or axe very well. A polearm will help you hold a position such as the top of the stairs or the end of a hallway, but really isn't great for advancing in such confines. The (one handed) sword on the other hand, can still thrust, can still cut, can still be used in pretty narrow confines to excellent degree. One can still use a sword very effectively in a space the width of one human body. The axe and mace I can't say the same about, and the polearm becomes cumbersome in such confines.

Just something to think about, though I'm sure someone could elaborate further on the matter. This was just what I was told regarding old school siege tactics and I do not have a source on it.
I'm not so certain, it really depends upon how the fortifications are laid out. The stairs in many castles were designed so that right handed people wielding swords could defend them, but the attackers' swings/thrusts would be blocked.

It is the case during sieges that pikemen were typically converted to sword and buckler for storming purposes, but I think that halberds were also distributed. (Although I can think of at least one period woodcut that shows a collection of pikes sticking out of a trench). Probably the nature of the combat meant that formed troops with pikes would be too slow to react, or simply could not be deployed in the space. If the space is truly confining, then it may even be difficult to swing swords. Trench warfare in WW1 typically involved clubs, entrenching tools, and knives being used in hand-to-hand combat in the trenches, rather than bayonets (or swords, which some officers still carried early in the war).