I have learned recently that most bayoneted charges resulted in not a ad hoc spear fight, but the defending side usually just running away. If this is so, then how did armies before gunpowder ever get the nerve to get up close and hack at each other?

by XipingVonHozzendorf

Or, is one of my original premises wrong?

DanKensington

Nope, you're pretty much on the money for the bit on the bayonets. What does help there is that soldiers with muskets at least have an alternative to the bayonet (indeed, we have multiple instances of military authors bemoaning soldiers' tendency to stand off and shoot it out instead of getting in there); without that alternative, the dimensions and mechanics of combat are a bit different.

I commend to your attention the following previous posts on said dimensions and mechanics:

As always, if anyone else would like to write an answer of their own, please don't let this post stop you!