Small sword

The small sword was the immediate predecessor of the French duelling sword (from which the épée developed) and its method of use—as typified in the works of such authors as Sieur de Liancour, Domenico Angelo, Monsieur J. Olivier and Monsieur L'Abbat—developed into the techniques of the French classical school of fencing.

[dubious – discuss] Militarily, small swords continued to be used as a standard sidearm for infantry officers.

In some branches with strong traditions, this practice continues to the modern day, albeit for ceremonial and formal dress only.

The 1913 U.S. Army Manual of Bayonet Drill[1] includes instructions for how to defend against an opponent with a smallsword.

For instance, Gaston Defferre and René Ribière used larger and heavier versions of the épée, which both had small sword-blades instead of the flexible épée-blades (which have been used in sport fencing through the present day) in their duel on April 21, 1967, in Neuilly, Paris.

A German version of the small sword called Trauerdegen ("mourning épée") is still in use by the Reitendiener [de] of the city of Hamburg in Germany.