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The halberd was made in Central Europe; I'm not really sure where in particular, but it was made in the 13th-14th century.
It was an evolution of a couple weapons, such as the axe and spear, with some halberds having a hooked spike/beak.
The basic kind of idea was "What if we made a weapon that could poke, stab, and pull?"
Eventually the Swiss ended up using them a lot and ended up making the weapon famous. After struggling against heavy cavalry for centuries, they used the weapon along with other pikes, long spears, and eventually guns.
I'll put it into perspective: imagine being an infantryman, your average sword isn't really going to do much against armor.
Spears can help keep people at a distance but are basically useless when someone's close.
An axe is great for large force, but there's hardly any reach.
When you combine all three, you have a tool that can solve a variety of problems.
Infantry fall to the axe's power.
Cavalry fall to the spear reach
Armor falls to the spike/beak.
Shields and weapons can be hooked or manipulated.
Eventually, once guns took over and melee combat stopped being as widespread, halberds were used by guards, officers, palace troops, and ceremonial guards.
It quickly rose to a weapon that represented authority, a tradition that survived for centuries.
Do you guys have any other cool facts about the halberd?