Hand-to-hand combat

It may include lethal and non-lethal weapons and methods depending upon the restrictions imposed by civilian law, military rules of engagement, or ethical codes.

The pankration, which was practiced in Ancient Greece and Rome, is an example of a form which involved nearly all strikes and holds, with biting and gouging being the only exceptions (although allowed in Sparta).

He and his police team went on to field test these skills on the streets of Shanghai; Fairbairn himself used his combat system effectively in over 2,000 documented encounters, including over 600 lethal-force engagements.

It was also a system that, unlike traditional Eastern martial-arts that required years of intensive training, could be digested by recruits relatively quickly.

The method incorporated training in point shooting and gun combat techniques, as well as the effective use of more ad hoc weapons such as chairs or table legs.

During the Second World War, Fairbairn was brought back to Britain, and, after demonstrating the effectiveness of his techniques, was recruited to train the British commandos in his combat method.

A 2023 study using data from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars found that the majority of hand-to-hand combat involved grappling techniques instead of striking.

A 2014 study found that, amongst US soldiers deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan between 2004 and 2008, 19% reported the use of hand-to-hand techniques in at least one encounter, in a variety of circumstances and contexts (such as close combat, prisoner handling, crowd control and security checkpoints), supporting prior research that indicated that, despite advances in technology, hand-to-hand combat remained a persistent aspect of modern warfare.

[9] In the 2020 China–India skirmishes, hand-to-hand combat involving stones, batons, iron rods, and other makeshift weapons resulted in the deaths of over 50 soldiers on both sides over six hours of fighting.