Is there any historical evidence for armies *choosing* to use a non-sword/spear melee weapon?
By "choosing" I mean they had access to some form of spear/pike/sword/what have you but instead deliberately used something else?
Alternatives that come to mind are things like flails, scythes, hammers, axes, etc?
I believe some sort of one handed mace was relatively common for the specific group of knights who wore full plate and fought other knights in full plate, but even then I think that was a secondary weapon you might use after trying lance/sword?
And, of course, if anyone did equip units this way, why?