I mean look at League. Why do soldiers (master Yeesus) try running in close when the enemy would just kite them with their pro as heck ashe/Varus mains?
(Actual question: Why bother sword fighting when you can one shot an enemy? Also doesn't it mean that ranged soldiers are always superior and we should give all our farm to the Vayne mains)
I mean people had shields that completely negated bows and arrows. They also couldn't fight at all in close range and it took more than one shot to kill someone(unless it was a headshot, but that sounds very difficult to land on a bow in a hectic fight where people are running towards you).
Historically speaking,
Bows and arrows did a lot but most people didn't know how to use them short of pull this back and point up. They were peasants conscripted into the army. Same for a lot of the sword people. But fighting with a sword was seen as honorable while bows were seen as cowardly and in that age being cowardly could make you a laughing stock for life so when given a choice they went with sword.
Plus, current media depicts swords as being cooler. Look at Game or Thrones and how many use ranged weapons in there.
With swords, you're able to hold them on your body or create advantages during duels. With bow and arrow.. you're pretty damn susceptible to being rushed. You've the range advantage but other than that you're a sitting duck. In old times, there was no time to be sitting there and wasting time nocking an arrow, aiming, etc.
Well if you mean IRL?
Bows take longer to make, were more prone to breakage/equipment damage, and you have to have ammo at all times. Plus ittakes a really long time to train good archers compared to handing a basic soldier a sharp object and pointing him in the right direction to stab things.
Then we get to the part where lords didnt wanna train a bunch of possibly disgruntled serfs how to basically assasinate people from afar.
And lastly a good cavalry charge would see all those archers dead or dispersed whereas a swordsman can still fight back.
All in all every weapon had a purpose. Depending on culture and region you could have seen more range warfar but it was generally easier to hand poor people sharp objects and get them to shank eachother in the name of whatever they were fighting about at the time.
the invention of the bullet killed the swordsman, not arrows.
Watch the "Last Samurai"
[slayer-jinx-wink]
