Sword
Thrusting swords such as the rapier and eventually the smallsword were designed to impale their targets quickly and inflict deep stab wounds.
Their long and straight yet light and well balanced design made them highly maneuverable and deadly in a duel but fairly ineffective when used in a slashing or chopping motion.
Built for slashing and chopping at multiple enemies, often from horseback, the sabre's long curved blade and slightly forward weight balance gave it a deadly character all its own on the battlefield.
Robert Drews linked the Naue Type II Swords, which spread from Southern Europe into the Mediterranean, with the Bronze Age collapse.
[17] In the Indian subcontinent, earliest available Bronze age swords of copper were discovered in the Indus Valley civilization sites in the northwestern regions of South Asia.
Swords have been recovered in archaeological findings throughout the Ganges-Jamuna Doab region of Indian subcontinent, consisting of bronze but more commonly copper.
The use of a sword, an honourable weapon, was regarded in Europe since Roman times as a privilege reserved for the nobility and the upper classes.
Its properties were unique due to the special smelting and reworking of the steel creating networks of iron carbides described as a globular cementite in a matrix of pearlite.
During the Crusades of the 12th to 13th century, this cruciform type of arming sword remained essentially stable, with variations mainly concerning the shape of the pommel.
By 1400, this type of sword, at the time called langes Schwert (longsword) or spadone, was common, and a number of 15th- and 16th-century Fechtbücher offering instructions on their use survive.
[43] The gigantic blade length was perfectly designed for manipulating and pushing away enemy polearms, which were major weapons around this time, in both Germany and Eastern Europe.
[47] The sword in this time period was the most personal weapon, the most prestigious, and the most versatile for close combat, but it came to decline in military use as technology, such as the crossbow and firearms changed warfare.
[59] Japanese swordmaking reached the height of its development in the 15th and 16th centuries, when samurai increasingly found a need for a sword to use in closer quarters, leading to the creation of the modern katana.
[70] In Indonesia, the images of Indian style swords can be found in Hindu gods statues from ancient Java circa 8th to 10th century.
[72] When the Japanese took control of the country, several American special operations groups stationed in the Philippines were introduced to Filipino martial arts and swordsmanship, leading to this style reaching America despite the fact that natives were reluctant to allow outsiders in on their fighting secrets.
[73] The macuahuitl is a wooden broadsword and club that was utilized by various Mesoamerican civilizations, such as those of the Aztecs, Maya, Olmecs, Toltecs, and Mixtecs.
A single-edged type of sidearm used by the Hussites was popularized in 16th-century Germany under its Czech name dusack, also known as Säbel auf Teutsch gefasst ("sabre fitted in the German manner").
For example, during the Aceh War the Acehnese klewangs, a sword similar to the machete, proved very effective in close quarters combat with Dutch troops, leading the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army to adopt a heavy cutlass, also called klewang (very similar in appearance to the US Navy Model 1917 Cutlass) to counter it.
Mobile troops armed with carbines and klewangs succeeded in suppressing Aceh resistance where traditional infantry with rifle and bayonet had failed.
[89] At the outbreak of World War I infantry officers in all combatant armies then involved (French, German, British, Austro-Hungarian, Russian, Belgian and Serbian) still carried swords as part of their field equipment.
On mobilization in August 1914 all serving British Army officers were required to have their swords sharpened as the only peacetime use of the weapon had been for saluting on parade.
[90] The high visibility and limited practical use of the sword however led to it being abandoned within weeks, although most cavalry continued to carry sabres throughout the war.
While retained as a symbol of rank and status by at least senior officers of infantry, artillery and other branches, the sword was usually left with non-essential baggage when units reached the front line.
[91] It was not until the late 1920s and early 1930s that this historic weapon was finally discarded for all but ceremonial purposes by most remaining horse mounted regiments of Europe and the Americas.
Occasions to wear swords include any event in dress uniforms where the rank-and-file carry arms: parades, reviews, courts-martial, tattoos, and changes of command.
In the U.S. Marine Corps every officer must own a sword, which is prescribed for formal parades and other ceremonies where dress uniforms are worn and the rank-and-file are under arms.
[98] Contemporary replicas can range from cheap factory produced look-alikes to exact recreations of individual artifacts, including an approximation of the historical production methods.
The Japanese katana, wakizashi and tantō are carried by some infantry and officers in Japan and other parts of Asia and the kukri is the official melee weapon for Nepal.
By the 17th century, with the growing use of firearms and the accompanying decline in the use of armour, many rapiers and dueling swords had developed elaborate basket hilts, which protect the palm of the wielder and rendered the gauntlet obsolete.
European terminology does give generic names for single-edged and double-edged blades but refers to specific types with the term 'sword' covering them all.
