Explanation: For a brief period of time in the late 16th and 17th century AD, there was a curious ‘arms race’ in Eastern Europe. Normally, pikemen fend off cavalry by, in no small part, having a longer weapon than the cavalrymen have. Typically, a pike will be over 3 meters, while a cavalry lance rarely exceeds 2.5 meters. The feared cavalry of the Polish Winged Hussars, to counter pikemen, starting having longer lances made… which caused pikemen to respond with longer pikes… which caused the Winged Hussars to adopt longer lances… which caused… well, you get the picture.

One of the major innovations, or why no one tried this before, was that the Poles had invented a new kind of cavalry lance - the kopia, which was hollow along the shaft (greatly reducing weight). As it was considered that, for shock cavalry, a broken lance was a sign of a good charge, the reduced durability of the lance was an acceptable tradeoff for finally being able to show those damn pikemen what-for! The kopia was also more expensive than an ‘ordinary’ lance, but as the Winged Hussars were an elite unit, they could afford it - including the practice of keeping assistants in reserve during the battle with numerous spare kopia so the Winged Hussars could charge time and time again!

Eventually, this arms race was put to an end by the supremacy of firearms, which would replace pikes in infantry formations entirely.