We have one account of them used in Crimea by Russian artillerymen. When charged by cavalry, the men would hide underneath the cannon's trail and cut with their swords at the horses' legs.
Solid Rollin terrifying for the horses : "Manbro, why are we charging the boomboom-spitter, it smells of metal, and fear, and no-no-powder, and fear, and oil, and fear and blood, and... OHMYMARE THERE'S METAL CLAWS THAT HACK AT MY LEGS, GETMEOUT ! GET ME OUT, I NEIGH !"
@@astonerdarkly222 Actually, on second thought I'd like to think they have some edge to them because they're presumably war-horses - so they'd be a little more like "What awfulness is this pointy metal spider! I wish I had thumbs with which to gouge out every one of its eyeballs! I wish only to live long enough for my hoove to acquaint itself with your insides! Now, manfriend - stick it with your long-pointy! Then dismount and finish it off with your curvy-skinny! And stick its innards inside my feedbag so that I may gain some of its courage and strength for our upcoming sally!"
You guys personifying the horse's thoughts as they charged the no no metal boomy things only to get their little tooties lopped-off breaks my fucking heart 😭
Somewhere in the rat's nest that is my memory I recall artillery swords which actually had a useful feature - a powder measure for the guns. As to weapons being designed for things they weren't designed for, consider the Israeli Galil rifle. When it was being tested there was a lot of unexplained magazine well distortions. The designers and engineers couldn't understand it until they spent some time in the field and discovered soldiers were using them to open beer bottles. They designed for something it wasn't designed for and added a bottle opener.
I will neither confirm nor deny that I used the three-prong flash hider on the first iteration of the M-16 rifle to break the bands on cases of C-rations. Yes, I'm old.
I believe these blades were used primarily as 'fascine knives' - i.e. used to cut wood to reinforce trenches, ramparts, and emplacements. Their use as a side arm was secondary to this important function and hence its use by artillery troops.
Matt, the leaf blade is also a reference to celtic swords. The 19th century and the rise of romanticism is also the point in time where French schools started to associate Vercingetorix as being one of the "founding fathers" of the French people (disregarding the fact that they literally call themselves after a germanic people who invaded roman Gaul: the Franks).
They were issued to confederate artillery in our civil war. Hard time finding any accounts of them being used in combat though... but yeah, I used to cut firewood with one as a kid.
Jack Glastra I believe they were first issued to the US Artillery during the campaigns against the Seminoles. The idea was they would be used to chop underbrush and foliage to clear room for artillery in the thick Florida Everglades
In the United States the concept of making equipment that the infantryman won't break is referred to as making it grunt (Marine) proof the joke is you can leave a platoon of marines with three steel ball bearings and when you come back one will be broken, one will be missing, and one will be pregnant; and they'll be damn proud of them.
E. Seager mentions using the "Roman Sword" as a weapon on page 167 of 1852 US Military treatise 'Exercise in Small Arms and Field Artillery arranged for the Naval Service'. Seager's content was published again in Berriman's 1864 'The Militiaman's Manual and Sword Play without a Master'.
There is a ton of these in the Edinburgh Castle armory. They remind me a bit of the Greek Xiphos or the Welsh trench sword of WW1 or the later OSS Smatchet of WW2 all 3 of which were designed for VERY close combat, either pressed together shoulder to shoulder in the clash of phalanx or the houses, trenches and tunnels of the world wars.
I just recently acquired one of these, in about the same condition as this -- though it still has the leather washer at the hilt, and the leather scabbard is in very good shape. I've read they were regarded as being rather impractical as weapons, though they were useful as machete-like chopping blades. It's just another illustration of how context matters. The blade was modeled after the gladius, and while not an exact copy, it got the general proportions right, and if you could put one in the hands of a Roman infantryman, he could probably have used it (though it might have been a bit heavy). But while the gladius was an extremely effective weapon, this sword copied from it, was regarded as an impractical weapon. What made a truly superb weapon in one context, fails badly in another. The difference was the shield. The gladius was really only one component of a two-part weapon system, which included the scutum (the large, semi-cylindrical shield which covered the body from neck to calf). In conjunction with that shield, and with Roman infantry tactics, and tight formations, a sword of this general proportions (though perhaps lighter and better balanced), was a world-beating offensive weapon. Used by 19the century artillerymen, not in close formation, with no shield... Well, not so much. If this is what you had, you were at a severe disadvantage -- especially in reach -- against any other foe of the 19th century using a bayonet or saber.
Louis Barthas, in his period book "Poilu" recounts his experience in WW1, when asked to "guard" prisoners, being issued an old brass hilted sword in case any of the prisoners tried to "escape". I've always wondered what kind of sword that likely was, these or the old briquet sabers. Either way, it is first hand account of the old Napoleonic era side arms being dusted off and re-issued to troops for specific tasks during the first world war; not surprising considering the extreme demand that any and all types of weapons and materials were under. Whiled various armed forces may surplus off old or obsolete weapons, they seldom if ever clear out ALL of any given type of weapon: they may get rid of 90% of them, but you can be sure there are always still a few of them sitting in moth balls in some warehouse or another.
I wonder how the 1767 Infantry Briquet sword compares. It seems like the Briquet gets forgotten at times. Definitely used by French Grenadiers of the time. Certainly focused on cutting with it's 22" blade and 27" overall length. No idea what it weighs. But it's a good option over the Glaive if you want to mostly cut or do gross motor movement
Very informative video. I own one of these - although I've only just discovered its origins. The sword came out of my grandfather's house when he died in 1981. He fought in France during the 1st World War, so your reference to British soldiers bringing these back from France as souvenirs was particularly interesting.
Looks like a perfect up close murder tool for those un-educated in the finer arts of swordsmanship. A stretched trench knife (edit: as Matt says himself). Just stick it in em. Kinda heavy for a side weapon tho. Make a cool wall hanger
Adam Smythe It would do very well in CQC against enemies with firearms. In such a scenario you want a short blade that incapacitates with a single hit.
I've only ever seen these referred to as Fascine knives, and mainly used for general cutting rather than combat. Also, while the french ones were double edged, the Swedish ones were more like large machetes, for some reason.
Danish infantry carried them in 1864. (2nd sleswig war against Prussia and Austria) (as Sidearm Model 1854) The regulations very clearly say that they are issued as a tool. To cut wood for Fascines for field fortifications, cut openings in hedges and similar. (pretty useful when the area the army expected to fight in, had think hedges, comparable to the Bocage that most properly know from normany) And it go on saying that there must NOTbe any sort of training for using them in hand to hand combat, since that would undermine the soldiers trust in the bayonet. That said, There is least one documented time where they where used for combat inside buildings. (and a few of other cases where danish troops fought hand-to-hand against Prussians inside farmbuildings, where they might have been used) But they where issued as a tool.
My mom has inherited that exact kind of sword from an ancestor that fought in the 1864 war for Slesvig-Holsten. When I first saw it, I was a bit surprised that such short swords were apparently still used in 1864. But cool to see it talked about here!
In the French military (specifically the Foreign Legion) the standard term for a machete is a coupe-coupe which translates as cut-cut or chop-chop. As already mentioned below, coupe-chou would be pronounced koop-shoe.
Very nice French gladius. Looks like Talabout Paris productions. The gladius in my collection was produced by Chatellereau in 1833. The 1831 model was used by the French army until 1866.
We also had them in Romania and they were used by gunners and support troops during the 1877 Russo-Turkish war, A.K.A. "The Romanian War of Independence". In our service they were known as "tesac" and were, indeed, also used by police sergeants until the turn of the century. From all the written accounts, they were very useful for preparing positions for artillery by cutting fascines and clearing brush, but they were never actually used in combat, even on the (successful) second assault on the Grivitza redoubt which was carried completely with cold steel because they realised that stopping to reload single shot rifles in front of entrenched troops with Winchester repeaters was tantamount to suicide (which is why the first attack had failed, as did several Russian attacks previously). Also, if you look at the versions of this type of sidearm used by the Austro-Hungarians (especially the M1853), you can definitely see this is meant as a tool first and a weapon second - they have more in common with a meat cleaver than a sword... Besides, the word for it in German is "Faschinenmesser", literally, "fascine knife". EDIT: I just realised that in France, this particular model of sidearm was originally meant for the Infantry, hence why it's official designation is "Glaive des troupes a pied, modele 1831" ("Infantryman's sword, model 1831"). The artillery model is 1816, and it's the one the US army adopted for their use.
British troops had similar weapons in the early 1800s..... Baker and Brunswick rifle bayonets are the same design with a slotted hilt to fit the barrel bar. The Baker variants went through a couple of different blade shapes - one shorter, one longer and less leaf like. Ive got a set on my bayonet rack to fit the rifles. Howard L Blackmore's classic reference book on British Victorian firearms has pretty good coverage on the British variants.
considering all the times you've mentioned that a sword spends most its life in the scabbard and are rarely and abruptly used... this may be one of the most useful swords ever, obviously good for digging, cutting, prying and all the stuff the infantry spent most of their time doing.
However, I have to question it's use by the Infantry. Artillery and Engineers I can understand, this would be a VERY useful tool in their hands, but the Infantry? They already have enough to carry as it is, they already carry a bayonet, which can often be used without the firearm (both musket and rifle), and at the very worst their rifle, WITHOUT bayonet and unloaded, can be used as a club. Your typical Infantryman, put in a typical situation where he has lost his primary weapon, he's not going to be thinking about some side weapon, he's going to be trying to get his hands on another musket or rifle, even (in the context of the World Wars) one of the enemies weapons, for at least a short period of time.
I recently got a Cobra Steel Kindjal and, after looking into it and its Russian background, learned that it's a pretty common design among various cultures, which I guess makes sense as how many ways could you make a sturdy sword of decent length in the early days of metal working without them looking relatively similar? Plus, if the spear was your main weapon, a thrust based short sword seem like a logical evolution of sidearm. Sounds like this one was purposely copying the gladius, however, and extra heavy while my modern recreation kindjal is very light & fast yet thrusts incredibly well. Kind of makes me want to add a shashka to my collection to pair with it. That and I like sabres, lol
Here in Mexico there is a museum, in Puebla where a lot of french weapons and other stuff from the war against them are in exhibition, there are a lot of swords including one similar to this one, wich is weird because the war was some time after Napoleonic era I don't know how long they were used.
The foreign legion term for any machete (backin my day)was coupe-coupe, (koop-koop) meaning cut-cut or chop-chop. the term coupe chou or coupe choux is also used for straight rasors.
I have heard that the douk douk folding knives were used to cut of ears and noses. The grip of them was also often hammerd down to make a fixedblade out of it them. Hearing this my guess is that this small knives were used as weapons. The french D`Estaing knives might are also interesting to look at.
It would seem to me that the Artillery and Engineers (the greatest users of these kinds of swords in the United States at least) wanted a tool that they could issue out so that it could be used for general cutting purposes (especially brush and wood). And at the same time they felt that sending their people out without any kind of weapon at all was not a smart idea, and so decided to kill two birds with one stone (or maybe more accurately solve two separate problems with one item), and design and issue that sword. It was mostly meant to chop things, but could also be used as a weapon if need be.
Please do a video on Briquet's at some time. I have a consul era AN IX with a somewhat long, fullered and clip pointed blade atypical of most Briquets.
Great video! I've wondered when you might cover one of these swords. They show up regularly in auctions. I would love it if you made a video on the kindjal, or a similar short sword from the Caucasus.
I picked one up in Australia, 25 years ago. So they got around a bit. It's never even had an edge put on it. Never did ask the guy a got it off how it got here.
Thank you for covering short sword tactics vs. long sword. Now for a bolt on D guard for my machete. The original handles are broken I can make a slot in the guard for the blade use the lanyard hole to bolt it on and move the lanyard hole to the guard, or just add a pommel!
This weapon seems like it'd be a weapon all about aggression when used against pretty much anyone with a weapon longer. Smack the enemy's weapon as hard as possible out of the way with a warding cut, then close quickly. Of course, that's likely to get you skewered, but it seems like the best possible move. Also, this thing would've been awesome in later era trench warfare.
Honestly, it looks more like a Xiphos than anything else, though considering the obsession with Rome and the lack of knowledge of how their equipment and fighting styles were like (as far as I can tell, anyways) it's not surprising. Thomas Page, for instance referenced the Sword and Target as being "Roman" in reference to the Scottish use of the Broadsword ("and with the Addition of the Roman Target, they excel in the Roman Method of Fighting; having invented a great many Throws, Cuts, and Guards, unknown to the Roman Gladiators"), so, yeah, there's that.
I've got one, had it since 1987, I wish I had a scabbard to it. I believe they were made in the image of Celtic bronze sword and that's why I like them.
Just for information these French Gladius ( 1831 model) were also used by firemen , rural policemen , countryside wardens, as a military campgroud axe , for cutting hay for horses .....
Have you done any video on the swedish "Karoliner" Sweden got attack 1700 and the army of "Karoliner" usually had 1/3 of the infantry still using pikes. The rest were equipped with a musket and a sword at the outbreak of the war. The whole doctrin of tactic was basically to create panic so pikes were used for attack in most cases and the muskets were fired at very close range before the charge.
I think swords were developed separately by several civilizations. Most of them didn't make wooden swords for combat (but there are exceptions) but started developing swords from knives as soon as they learned working bronze. The copper they used before the invention of bronze was mostly used for axe heads which in term were developed from stone maces (clubs) and hand axes.
JerehmiaBoaz- It`s not really rocket scinece to get a knife, look at it and think "boy, i`d like it to be bigger" And there is a place for a weapon between deployment of spear and knife- first is main weapon, and last is last resort thing, or when we are on the ground, rolling, and trying to get the guy first- this is where knife/ dagger shines But what if it is too close for spear, and still too far for knife? Axe, mace? Well it is all fine and dnady, but they require shield, to be 100% effective, and they are fairly slow to rcover. I don`t know the word for it in english, but in my country, and basically all slavic countries at the time, as well as in Scandinavia, thatweapon was used- swords were reserved only for wealthiest and best warriors and soldiers, but rest could use "kord". Kord, or Bauernwehr in german, was short sword- like weapon, but without pommel or much hand protection. It was basically "combat machete". Big seax would be considered kord. Messer could be dragged into this as well. Or Uruk- Hai sword from "Lord of the rings" :) Common foot soldier would go with short axe, as a side arm, but kords("kord"- singular."kordy"- plural) were also really popular, probably because they were taking place of gladius, kopis and other short sword, that were pretty wieldy, and allowed for fighting in dense formation, and allowed for stabbing as well as cutting And they were always present since that time(about IXth century) in one form or the other throughout history all the way to 19th century. Fun fact- in Poland Kord evolved into Kordelas(Cutlass) and in to "Kordzik". "Kord" is like a "big, adult, kord" while "Kordzik" means like a "small kord", sort of like difference between John and Johnny. Kordzik is a large dirk- like dagger www.google.pl/search?q=kordzik&rlz=1C1MSIM_enPL656PL657&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiDuY7YotjbAhWQJlAKHbPCAU4Q_AUICigB&biw=1920&bih=978 that served in armies all the way to WWII, as a side arm. In other words, nothing really changed :)
Heretyk_13 My points are 1) it's more obvious to develop swords out of knives than out of clubs, clubs usually evolve into maces and axes, and 2) you need to develop the right material as a civilization before you can start manufacturing swords, so historically swords are a much later development than spears, knives, axes, shields and bows & arrows. Swords only really took off in the bronze age while most other hand weapons are stone age inventions.
JerehmiaBoaz- and did i disagree? I just added that short sword- ish weapons were present pretty much all the time, since their development, as they were needed in specyfic context :) and i added "fun facts" And i do know that knife, spear and club are three oldest weapons in the world. They are three basic hunting weapons/ tools. Axe is sort of bastard child of club and knife(if you want consider sharpened bone or stone, that was used for meat cutting- a knife), so my guess is that it was "invented" bit later. Sword is basically first "modern" weapon. It is a weapon and nothing more. You could argue that machete is a weapon and tool, but it is not a sword. Sword is a weapon. You don`t cut trees with it, or fish with it. It was invented specyfically for soldiers, not adaptated tool for hunting or field craft- like a spear out of a sharpened stick, or a mace out of a club
Your videos and analysis are consistently excellent, obviously, but in a case like this it would have been nice to include the actual weight & size measurements of the item since you were talking about their relative merits.
Leaf plades must be excellent choppers. I would made that a partial double edge; a full length bottom edge and about a 4" edge on top, otherwise a single edge and see if I could not take advantage of the blade's thickness as a club or defensive surface
There was also the Zouave Bayonet which looks very similar, perhaps not as thick, but a bit longer. Kult of Athena sells one, made for the the 1853 Three Band Enfield Long Rifle. They also sell an equally long Springfield Two-Bend Bayonet, which has a curving blade with almost dao - scimitar look. www.kultofathena.com/product.asp?item=AH3552&name=Zouave+Bayonet www.civilwarvirtualmuseum.org/1861-1862/missouri-enters-the-war/camp-jackson-musket.php kultofathena.com/product.asp?item=AH3558
The American Confederate Army had them as well. As i understand it was often used like a machete to clear brush. Though it was found kind of useless against calvary who had longer swords and revolvers for quick second shots.
Primarily more of a tool/machete for clearing artillery emplacements. Last ditch as a weapon, as was an entrenching shovel in the 20th Century (WW1 thru Vietnam) . I have 2 very unusual Spanish Artillery Swords from the 1880's that have heavy Yatagan blades and wooden scale handles.
I never knew the coupe choux designated a weapon originally. My grandpa still used the word to talk about his straight razor, which is probably still the most common usage of the word.
One shouldn't underestimate how important that mass is to it being able to oppose larger weapons either. It's already short, if one makes it lighter i suspect that an opponents blow might just blow through it. I have found this to be true while training with Persian/Eastern European short swords. Historically they used the flats of them to block blows & thus had to have enough mass to do so.
French equivalent to a Cutlass? that's what I thought before you mentioned that, good for confined tight spaces such as on a ship? so for French sailors perhaps? not as versatile as British Cutlass weapons or as light to master? am I right?
Theyre something very similar in the Trenchfighting bit of the imperial war museaum. I dont think its a 1 off, i seem to remember they were produced in a batch, more celtic leafshaped than the cabbage cutter but still a gladius type sword that there a probably accounts off it use about somewhere.
THE CUT AND THRUST During WW II there was something designed by Mr.Fairbairn (or was it Mr.Sykes?) who had designed the well known commando knife. It was called something like a "smachet" and it looked something like a short leaf blade machete. I have no idea how common they were.
I remember reading about a French soldier disemboweling someone in a drunken brawl with a "short sword" at some kind of tent pub during the Crimean War. I always figured it was one of these.
I always wanted to know more about the coupe-chou! But I was never able to find any god informations about them. So thank you for this video, it helps !
I believe this sword appears in the movie “immortals” for a short scene. If you google swords from that movie there are two different swords that appear and this looks like one of them
Yeah these were tools as well as side arms, they have to be that thick to be used in the field for utility purpose, they are workhorses, also the roman gladius historically was a lot thicker than people assume. I see many modern gladius reproductions that are way to paper thin. If you do a quick search and study, you will find gladius commonly being as thick as 10 mm at the cross section. The gladius was also a Utility Workhorse and not through hardened like modern steels, the Romans had a less sophisticated method of adding carbon to iron, their steel was nowhere near the level of spring tempered thin blades as we see used in the 14-16th century. If you bent a roman gladius it wouldn't return to true, it would stay bent like a bronze sword, they had to be thicker than swords like sabres and long-swords etc.
As far as I understand they came in three grades, cheap iron, 'roman steel' (essentially case hardened iron) or pattern welded. It sounds like you're describing the cheap iron. I guess there's no way to know exactly how many were made of each type, but it was my impression that most Roman examples were at least somewhat hardened. That said I don't doubt they tended to be relatively thick, wasn't one of their rationales for the shorter sword to make it more robust? Particularly when dealing with cruder iron making the blade thicker is the easiest way to make it sturdier. They were said to favor the thrust when possible and you don't want a bendy blade when you thrust. But making it short already helps with that too.
Yeah you can work harden, and hammer carbon into iron in small amounts each heat, but there are many different types of "Hardness" for example a rapier or arming sword, is through hardened, and is a very pure steel which is quenched then properly tempered to a spring temper. This is a very different form of hardness compared to work hardened low carbon steels. Even if 2 steel types are pattern welded, it will not make the steel any stronger unless correct heat treatment is applied after forging. No matter what you do to steel, fold it, pattern weld etc it wont effect it at all if left un heat treated. The Romans nowhere near perfected correct heat treatment process for spring steel. If you study Iron age swords and Bronze age swords, before high carbon tempered steel came around, you will always find shorter blades, or thicker blades to compensate for the lack of spring temper that returns a blade to true. if you knock out a high carbon pure steel bar that is pattern welded and then folded 1000 times, into a long thin sword, it will bend like a coat hanger, and be a useless piece of shit still. all of that folding and pattern welding does absolutely nothing on its own, it's only the quench and tempering that actually do anything to the steel on a molecular level, study martensite atomic formations of steel from heat treatments. Gladius were short thick sturdy blades, I haven't seen a reproduction that is as thick near the hilt as the originals, and bear in mind the originals are heavily rusted and pitted, and they have lost a lot of their girth and are still as thick as 10 mm.
It wasn't spring temper, definitely. But there's considerable ground between spring temper and soft iron. Where did you see 10mm thick originals? Also as I understand it pattern welding does help homogenize the blade, eliminate occlusions, etc. that would have otherwise weakened the blade, and so it was a functional technique then. Today of course it's just a way to make pretty patterns, but that's because we're working with modern steel, right?
Yeah they basically had differential hardened blades, that were hot worked gradually then cold worked which creates something called friction welding, when you do it from high temps. And here is a forum thread about roman swords, specifically thickness. You can work out how thick roman swords were by calculating corrosion and rust, also measuring the thickness of intact hilts/guards, and get exact measurements of the tang hole. www.romanarmytalk.com/rat/archive/index.php/thread-16367.html Roman blades were nothing like medieval swords, way closer to bronze swords in geometry, 99% of modern reproductions and even well respected people in the HEMA community still believe roman swords were as thin as a machete or an arming sword. 10mm isn't even a large example, there were way thicker ones.
Seems like a good backup self defense weapon. Sturdy enough that you can defend against canes, batons, staffs, and Sword sticks , longer than a dagger but short enough that it is not cumbersome anywhere. Also, it is a somewhat effective weapon even if poorly maintained.
I talked to a Vietnam vet once who told me that the American version of this sword was probably the deadliest sword used in that war. Not because it was used much if at all in combat, but because it was a great machete, and allowed cannons to get to where they needed to be quickly. I should point out that he was primary talking about how useful his machete was in a jungle, and was prone to exaggeration.
Does anyone know of this sword being used as a police weapon ? Going back to Matt's video on police hangers, i think in that context this would be a great police sword...
It would be interesting to see a side-by-side comparison to a briquet of the same period. I would have thought the briquet would be a more useful sword, but perhaps a less useful tool.
I've heard these glow blue when orcs or englishmen are nearby
TlsGrz Orcs/Englishmen=same thing
Was going to say "What's the difference" but the Laughing Khan beat me to it.
Yeah, fortunately the range at which one can Smell a Frenchman was far greater than the blades' sensitivity to crumpet munchers.
@@isaac_k98 you're thinking of the Scots.
whats the difference.....oooh
jk
We have one account of them used in Crimea by Russian artillerymen. When charged by cavalry, the men would hide underneath the cannon's trail and cut with their swords at the horses' legs.
That must’ve been a terrifying exercise. Thanks for the information.
Solid Rollin terrifying for the horses :
"Manbro, why are we charging the boomboom-spitter, it smells of metal, and fear, and no-no-powder, and fear, and oil, and fear and blood, and... OHMYMARE THERE'S METAL CLAWS THAT HACK AT MY LEGS, GETMEOUT ! GET ME OUT, I NEIGH !"
@@astonerdarkly222 You make me feel for the horse-bois naive and oblivious to the no-no metal death which behoove'd them.
@@astonerdarkly222 Actually, on second thought I'd like to think they have some edge to them because they're presumably war-horses - so they'd be a little more like "What awfulness is this pointy metal spider! I wish I had thumbs with which to gouge out every one of its eyeballs! I wish only to live long enough for my hoove to acquaint itself with your insides! Now, manfriend - stick it with your long-pointy! Then dismount and finish it off with your curvy-skinny! And stick its innards inside my feedbag so that I may gain some of its courage and strength for our upcoming sally!"
You guys personifying the horse's thoughts as they charged the no no metal boomy things only to get their little tooties lopped-off breaks my fucking heart 😭
Somewhere in the rat's nest that is my memory I recall artillery swords which actually had a useful feature - a powder measure for the guns.
As to weapons being designed for things they weren't designed for, consider the Israeli Galil rifle. When it was being tested there was a lot of unexplained magazine well distortions. The designers and engineers couldn't understand it until they spent some time in the field and discovered soldiers were using them to open beer bottles. They designed for something it wasn't designed for and added a bottle opener.
The stiletto long daggers were artillery officer's weapons which featured measuring rulers built into the blades.
I will neither confirm nor deny that I used the three-prong flash hider on the first iteration of the M-16 rifle to break the bands on cases of C-rations. Yes, I'm old.
I believe these blades were used primarily as 'fascine knives' - i.e. used to cut wood to reinforce trenches, ramparts, and emplacements. Their use as a side arm was secondary to this important function and hence its use by artillery troops.
Because axes where unknown to the ancient french men.
Matt, the leaf blade is also a reference to celtic swords. The 19th century and the rise of romanticism is also the point in time where French schools started to associate Vercingetorix as being one of the "founding fathers" of the French people (disregarding the fact that they literally call themselves after a germanic people who invaded roman Gaul: the Franks).
They were issued to confederate artillery in our civil war. Hard time finding any accounts of them being used in combat though... but yeah, I used to cut firewood with one as a kid.
Jack Glastra I've seen one of the Confederate ones at an antique store
Jack Glastra
I have seen a Confederate model on display in a museum.
Yeah I've seen them in civil war weapon collections in Virginia before, but I've never heard of one actually being used for anything.
Jack Glastra I believe they were first issued to the US Artillery during the campaigns against the Seminoles. The idea was they would be used to chop underbrush and foliage to clear room for artillery in the thick Florida Everglades
I thought they were used on both sides. And like mention before pretty much used as machetes.
In the United States the concept of making equipment that the infantryman won't break is referred to as making it grunt (Marine) proof the joke is you can leave a platoon of marines with three steel ball bearings and when you come back one will be broken, one will be missing, and one will be pregnant; and they'll be damn proud of them.
Half of which will be rusty and he'll have lost 4 of them.
Leroy Jenkins and he'll be so damn proud of those pieces that you better not tell him that it's broken or you'll have a fight on your hands.
The real solution is to have the marine pay for his equipment! I'm pretty sure he would't break his rifle if he hd to buy it himself.
The way I heard it was you leave him with a rubber hammer and a steel ball and when you come back he will have broken both of them.
Love from France 🗡️
E. Seager mentions using the "Roman Sword" as a weapon on page 167 of 1852 US Military treatise 'Exercise in Small Arms and Field Artillery arranged for the Naval Service'. Seager's content was published again in Berriman's 1864 'The Militiaman's Manual and Sword Play without a Master'.
There is a ton of these in the Edinburgh Castle armory. They remind me a bit of the Greek Xiphos or the Welsh trench sword of WW1 or the later OSS Smatchet of WW2 all 3 of which were designed for VERY close combat, either pressed together shoulder to shoulder in the clash of phalanx or the houses, trenches and tunnels of the world wars.
Not a fencer practicioner but just suscribed !! Very educational yet entertaining Chanel!! Watching the most of your video library! . Keep em coming .
I just recently acquired one of these, in about the same condition as this -- though it still has the leather washer at the hilt, and the leather scabbard is in very good shape. I've read they were regarded as being rather impractical as weapons, though they were useful as machete-like chopping blades. It's just another illustration of how context matters. The blade was modeled after the gladius, and while not an exact copy, it got the general proportions right, and if you could put one in the hands of a Roman infantryman, he could probably have used it (though it might have been a bit heavy). But while the gladius was an extremely effective weapon, this sword copied from it, was regarded as an impractical weapon. What made a truly superb weapon in one context, fails badly in another.
The difference was the shield. The gladius was really only one component of a two-part weapon system, which included the scutum (the large, semi-cylindrical shield which covered the body from neck to calf). In conjunction with that shield, and with Roman infantry tactics, and tight formations, a sword of this general proportions (though perhaps lighter and better balanced), was a world-beating offensive weapon. Used by 19the century artillerymen, not in close formation, with no shield... Well, not so much. If this is what you had, you were at a severe disadvantage -- especially in reach -- against any other foe of the 19th century using a bayonet or saber.
French guy here, not a specialist, but I have always seen the coupe choux described more as a tool than a weapon in french military litterature.
almathor
On the other hand I have read and heard of numerous accounts of people using an entrenching tool as a weapon.
Mark Kelly Exactly! Sharpen spades/shovel where commonly used in ww1 and ww2.
If you're caught with your pants down, you'll grab whatever tool is close at hand to defend yourself. Shovel, hammer, machete.....
if you're going to chop cabbages and firewood, you might as well look cool doing it.
Bo my sword is called cabbage bane.
Rony Theronin lol badass
To someone like me (untrained) that actually looks like a very handy little weapon. I think you could make quite a mess with that.
Sure, but you can make quite a mess with a brick. In fact a brick would be messier in some ways.
A brick is a wall's pommel, so you can indeed end them rightly with one of those.
It's shipped as a machete, which is a garden TOOL, instead of a gladius, which is a WEAPON to avoid certain import/esport laws and tariffs
I have a Gladius Mainz Machete it’s quite solid. I train Filipino Kali vai JKD I have been practicing my Filipino techniques with the Gladius.
Awww... No cabbage was actually chopped in this video... :(
Total clickbait. Unsubscribed
He isn't some sapthirsty cutstem
Louis Barthas, in his period book "Poilu" recounts his experience in WW1, when asked to "guard" prisoners, being issued an old brass hilted sword in case any of the prisoners tried to "escape". I've always wondered what kind of sword that likely was, these or the old briquet sabers.
Either way, it is first hand account of the old Napoleonic era side arms being dusted off and re-issued to troops for specific tasks during the first world war; not surprising considering the extreme demand that any and all types of weapons and materials were under. Whiled various armed forces may surplus off old or obsolete weapons, they seldom if ever clear out ALL of any given type of weapon: they may get rid of 90% of them, but you can be sure there are always still a few of them sitting in moth balls in some warehouse or another.
I wonder how the 1767 Infantry Briquet sword compares.
It seems like the Briquet gets forgotten at times.
Definitely used by French Grenadiers of the time. Certainly focused on cutting with it's 22" blade and 27" overall length. No idea what it weighs.
But it's a good option over the Glaive if you want to mostly cut or do gross motor movement
You have to admit, it's particularly pleasing to the eye.
Very informative video. I own one of these - although I've only just discovered its origins. The sword came out of my grandfather's house when he died in 1981. He fought in France during the 1st World War, so your reference to British soldiers bringing these back from France as souvenirs was particularly interesting.
Matt Easton: Frenchs's favourite Brit'.
Nope, it's Lindybeige, but don't tell him!
I wouldn't bet a single penny on that. :)
Hubert C I get that reference
Looks like a perfect up close murder tool for those un-educated in the finer arts of swordsmanship. A stretched trench knife (edit: as Matt says himself). Just stick it in em. Kinda heavy for a side weapon tho. Make a cool wall hanger
Adam Smythe It would do very well in CQC against enemies with firearms. In such a scenario you want a short blade that incapacitates with a single hit.
I've only ever seen these referred to as Fascine knives, and mainly used for general cutting rather than combat. Also, while the french ones were double edged, the Swedish ones were more like large machetes, for some reason.
Danish infantry carried them in 1864. (2nd sleswig war against Prussia and Austria)
(as Sidearm Model 1854)
The regulations very clearly say that they are issued as a tool. To cut wood for Fascines for field fortifications, cut openings in hedges and similar. (pretty useful when the area the army expected to fight in, had think hedges, comparable to the Bocage that most properly know from normany)
And it go on saying that there must NOTbe any sort of training for using them in hand to hand combat, since that would undermine the soldiers trust in the bayonet.
That said, There is least one documented time where they where used for combat inside buildings.
(and a few of other cases where danish troops fought hand-to-hand against Prussians inside farmbuildings, where they might have been used)
But they where issued as a tool.
Speaking French not in a mocking way? Turn in your British card immediately!
Sacre bleu!
What he was saying about napoleononic era rome influence
Greco roman wrestling comes from France
Makes sense. Totally gay sport. ;-)
Gfhjk Fghj tell that to a fellow named the natural
The Imperium art current was spread by Napoleon,it was very stylish,a blend of " modern" and ancient
Gfhjk Fghj hahaha
Probably the most masculine sport that has ever existed.
My mom has inherited that exact kind of sword from an ancestor that fought in the 1864 war for Slesvig-Holsten.
When I first saw it, I was a bit surprised that such short swords were apparently still used in 1864.
But cool to see it talked about here!
I'd definitely enjoy more talk about french weapons throughout the centuries. Personally I've found it hard to find such information not in french
Artillery sidearms are some of my favorite types of swords, along with cutlasses, Sabres and messers.
In the French military (specifically the Foreign Legion) the standard term for a machete is a coupe-coupe which translates as cut-cut or chop-chop.
As already mentioned below, coupe-chou would be pronounced koop-shoe.
Very nice French gladius. Looks like Talabout Paris productions. The gladius in my collection was produced by Chatellereau in 1833. The 1831 model was used by the French army until 1866.
We also had them in Romania and they were used by gunners and support troops during the 1877 Russo-Turkish war, A.K.A. "The Romanian War of Independence". In our service they were known as "tesac" and were, indeed, also used by police sergeants until the turn of the century.
From all the written accounts, they were very useful for preparing positions for artillery by cutting fascines and clearing brush, but they were never actually used in combat, even on the (successful) second assault on the Grivitza redoubt which was carried completely with cold steel because they realised that stopping to reload single shot rifles in front of entrenched troops with Winchester repeaters was tantamount to suicide (which is why the first attack had failed, as did several Russian attacks previously).
Also, if you look at the versions of this type of sidearm used by the Austro-Hungarians (especially the M1853), you can definitely see this is meant as a tool first and a weapon second - they have more in common with a meat cleaver than a sword... Besides, the word for it in German is "Faschinenmesser", literally, "fascine knife".
EDIT: I just realised that in France, this particular model of sidearm was originally meant for the Infantry, hence why it's official designation is "Glaive des troupes a pied, modele 1831" ("Infantryman's sword, model 1831"). The artillery model is 1816, and it's the one the US army adopted for their use.
British troops had similar weapons in the early 1800s.....
Baker and Brunswick rifle bayonets are the same design with a slotted hilt to fit the barrel bar. The Baker variants went through a couple of different blade shapes - one shorter, one longer and less leaf like. Ive got a set on my bayonet rack to fit the rifles. Howard L Blackmore's classic reference book on British Victorian firearms has pretty good coverage on the British variants.
considering all the times you've mentioned that a sword spends most its life in the scabbard and are rarely and abruptly used... this may be one of the most useful swords ever, obviously good for digging, cutting, prying and all the stuff the infantry spent most of their time doing.
However, I have to question it's use by the Infantry. Artillery and Engineers I can understand, this would be a VERY useful tool in their hands, but the Infantry? They already have enough to carry as it is, they already carry a bayonet, which can often be used without the firearm (both musket and rifle), and at the very worst their rifle, WITHOUT bayonet and unloaded, can be used as a club. Your typical Infantryman, put in a typical situation where he has lost his primary weapon, he's not going to be thinking about some side weapon, he's going to be trying to get his hands on another musket or rifle, even (in the context of the World Wars) one of the enemies weapons, for at least a short period of time.
@@davidbriggs264 In the 1830s they carried far less stuff than later on and many bayonets weren't of as good a design as others.
I'm french-speaking and I love you french accent imitation, it's hilarious :D
Finally a video referencing this weapon. I've had so many debates on this weapon.
I recently got a Cobra Steel Kindjal and, after looking into it and its Russian background, learned that it's a pretty common design among various cultures, which I guess makes sense as how many ways could you make a sturdy sword of decent length in the early days of metal working without them looking relatively similar? Plus, if the spear was your main weapon, a thrust based short sword seem like a logical evolution of sidearm.
Sounds like this one was purposely copying the gladius, however, and extra heavy while my modern recreation kindjal is very light & fast yet thrusts incredibly well. Kind of makes me want to add a shashka to my collection to pair with it. That and I like sabres, lol
Bought Cobra steels Lakonia xyphos and it's a real smatchet.
Here in Mexico there is a museum, in Puebla where a lot of french weapons and other stuff from the war against them are in exhibition, there are a lot of swords including one similar to this one, wich is weird because the war was some time after Napoleonic era I don't know how long they were used.
I'm french and was very glad you did this video on a weapon i had no idea existed. Thanks a lot!
The foreign legion term for any machete (backin my day)was coupe-coupe, (koop-koop) meaning cut-cut or chop-chop. the term coupe chou or coupe choux is also used for straight rasors.
Yes, check the French expedition to Mexico, Southeast Asia and Franco Prussian War.
My parents had a pair of indentically brass hilted English short swords.Wide bladed,sharpened on one side only Land Train Pattern I believe.
Good video! I have one and I use it for cutting weeds, I've sharpened it and it's going through branches over 3cm without any problems, very beefy.
I have heard that the douk douk folding knives were used to cut of ears and noses. The grip of them was also often hammerd down to make a fixedblade out of it them. Hearing this my guess is that this small knives were used as weapons.
The french D`Estaing knives might are also interesting to look at.
It would seem to me that the Artillery and Engineers (the greatest users of these kinds of swords in the United States at least) wanted a tool that they could issue out so that it could be used for general cutting purposes (especially brush and wood). And at the same time they felt that sending their people out without any kind of weapon at all was not a smart idea, and so decided to kill two birds with one stone (or maybe more accurately solve two separate problems with one item), and design and issue that sword. It was mostly meant to chop things, but could also be used as a weapon if need be.
Please do a video on Briquet's at some time. I have a consul era AN IX with a somewhat long, fullered and clip pointed blade atypical of most Briquets.
It looks a lot like the artillery sword the us used in the civil war as well
Switzerland also used many of these, also one with a saw blade on one side, original multi-tool. :-)
Great video! I've wondered when you might cover one of these swords. They show up regularly in auctions. I would love it if you made a video on the kindjal, or a similar short sword from the Caucasus.
I picked one up in Australia, 25 years ago. So they got around a bit. It's never even had an edge put on it. Never did ask the guy a got it off how it got here.
Thank you for covering short sword tactics vs. long sword. Now for a bolt on D guard for my machete. The original handles are broken I can make a slot in the guard for the blade use the lanyard hole to bolt it on and move the lanyard hole to the guard, or just add a pommel!
Beautiful little sword!
This weapon seems like it'd be a weapon all about aggression when used against pretty much anyone with a weapon longer. Smack the enemy's weapon as hard as possible out of the way with a warding cut, then close quickly.
Of course, that's likely to get you skewered, but it seems like the best possible move.
Also, this thing would've been awesome in later era trench warfare.
Honestly, it looks more like a Xiphos than anything else, though considering the obsession with Rome and the lack of knowledge of how their equipment and fighting styles were like (as far as I can tell, anyways) it's not surprising. Thomas Page, for instance referenced the Sword and Target as being "Roman" in reference to the Scottish use of the Broadsword ("and with the Addition of the Roman Target, they excel in the Roman Method of Fighting; having invented a great many Throws, Cuts, and Guards, unknown to the Roman Gladiators"), so, yeah, there's that.
French dude here, finding it really cool to see you talk about some antiques from here o/
I've got one, had it since 1987, I wish I had a scabbard to it.
I believe they were made in the image of Celtic bronze sword and that's why I like them.
I believe their primary use was as a fascine knife - to build rivetments and the such for artillery/canon.
I imperial Japanese artillery swords were patterned after the French "cabbage choppers " as well.
Interestingly finnish army briefly issued these as sidearms for tank crews
Just for information these French Gladius ( 1831 model) were also used by firemen ,
rural policemen , countryside wardens, as a military campgroud axe , for cutting
hay for horses .....
Loads of tgese in the great hall at Edinburgh Castle, I didn't realise this is what they were. Thanks for the video!
*these (bugger!)
Have you done any video on the swedish "Karoliner" Sweden got attack 1700 and the army of "Karoliner" usually had 1/3 of the infantry still using pikes. The rest were equipped with a musket and a sword at the outbreak of the war. The whole doctrin of tactic was basically to create panic so pikes were used for attack in most cases and the muskets were fired at very close range before the charge.
A sword shaped club.
Kind of Ironic because in "The Book of the Sword" Richard Burton surmised that swords developed from paddle shaped clubs.
I think swords were developed separately by several civilizations. Most of them didn't make wooden swords for combat (but there are exceptions) but started developing swords from knives as soon as they learned working bronze. The copper they used before the invention of bronze was mostly used for axe heads which in term were developed from stone maces (clubs) and hand axes.
JerehmiaBoaz- It`s not really rocket scinece to get a knife, look at it and think "boy, i`d like it to be bigger"
And there is a place for a weapon between deployment of spear and knife- first is main weapon, and last is last resort thing, or when we are on the ground, rolling, and trying to get the guy first- this is where knife/ dagger shines
But what if it is too close for spear, and still too far for knife? Axe, mace? Well it is all fine and dnady, but they require shield, to be 100% effective, and they are fairly slow to rcover. I don`t know the word for it in english, but in my country, and basically all slavic countries at the time, as well as in Scandinavia, thatweapon was used- swords were reserved only for wealthiest and best warriors and soldiers, but rest could use "kord". Kord, or Bauernwehr in german, was short sword- like weapon, but without pommel or much hand protection. It was basically "combat machete". Big seax would be considered kord. Messer could be dragged into this as well. Or Uruk- Hai sword from "Lord of the rings" :)
Common foot soldier would go with short axe, as a side arm, but kords("kord"- singular."kordy"- plural) were also really popular, probably because they were taking place of gladius, kopis and other short sword, that were pretty wieldy, and allowed for fighting in dense formation, and allowed for stabbing as well as cutting
And they were always present since that time(about IXth century) in one form or the other throughout history all the way to 19th century. Fun fact- in Poland Kord evolved into Kordelas(Cutlass) and in to "Kordzik". "Kord" is like a "big, adult, kord" while "Kordzik" means like a "small kord", sort of like difference between John and Johnny. Kordzik is a large dirk- like dagger
www.google.pl/search?q=kordzik&rlz=1C1MSIM_enPL656PL657&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiDuY7YotjbAhWQJlAKHbPCAU4Q_AUICigB&biw=1920&bih=978
that served in armies all the way to WWII, as a side arm. In other words, nothing really changed :)
Heretyk_13 My points are 1) it's more obvious to develop swords out of knives than out of clubs, clubs usually evolve into maces and axes, and 2) you need to develop the right material as a civilization before you can start manufacturing swords, so historically swords are a much later development than spears, knives, axes, shields and bows & arrows. Swords only really took off in the bronze age while most other hand weapons are stone age inventions.
JerehmiaBoaz- and did i disagree? I just added that short sword- ish weapons were present pretty much all the time, since their development, as they were needed in specyfic context :) and i added "fun facts"
And i do know that knife, spear and club are three oldest weapons in the world. They are three basic hunting weapons/ tools. Axe is sort of bastard child of club and knife(if you want consider sharpened bone or stone, that was used for meat cutting- a knife), so my guess is that it was "invented" bit later.
Sword is basically first "modern" weapon. It is a weapon and nothing more. You could argue that machete is a weapon and tool, but it is not a sword. Sword is a weapon. You don`t cut trees with it, or fish with it. It was invented specyfically for soldiers, not adaptated tool for hunting or field craft- like a spear out of a sharpened stick, or a mace out of a club
Your videos and analysis are consistently excellent, obviously, but in a case like this it would have been nice to include the actual weight & size measurements of the item since you were talking about their relative merits.
It's meaty and chunky, I like it
My great grandfather apparently used to cut his firewood with this, so that part checks out.
John Brown used something similar.
The French rule the land,
The English rule the sea,
But Germany holds dominion,
Of the realm of dreams.
And sauerkraut.
Jeder Schuss ein Russ
jeder Stoss ein Franzos
jeder Tritt ein Brit
I might have seen some of those in history books about the french intervention in Mexico
Leaf plades must be excellent choppers. I would made that a partial double edge; a full length bottom edge and about a 4" edge on top, otherwise a single edge and see if I could not take advantage of the blade's thickness as a club or defensive surface
Excellen obervations, great sense of era and weaponry. Educative and full of insight. /Thanks for that!
There was also the Zouave Bayonet which looks very similar, perhaps not as thick, but a bit longer. Kult of Athena sells one, made for the the 1853 Three Band Enfield Long Rifle. They also sell an equally long Springfield Two-Bend Bayonet, which has a curving blade with almost dao - scimitar look.
www.kultofathena.com/product.asp?item=AH3552&name=Zouave+Bayonet
www.civilwarvirtualmuseum.org/1861-1862/missouri-enters-the-war/camp-jackson-musket.php
kultofathena.com/product.asp?item=AH3558
Matt, the most realistic fight I see this used in is a brawl in or oustide a tavern.
those were only issued to artillery units ,.. they were intended to disembowel cavalry horses that were over running their cannon positions
One advantage to the double edge is you could have one edge for fighting one for utility
So this is the 19th-century French equivalent of Russian magazine lips being strong enough to weather being misused as bottle openers.
Uh, I saw Crixus use one on Spartacus.......
i think this is my top favourite sword!!
Civic Militias in Italy (Papal state) in 1848-49 were equipped with those short swords
The American Confederate Army had them as well. As i understand it was often used like a machete to clear brush. Though it was found kind of useless against calvary who had longer swords and revolvers for quick second shots.
Primarily more of a tool/machete for clearing artillery emplacements. Last ditch as a weapon, as was an entrenching shovel in the 20th Century (WW1 thru Vietnam) .
I have 2 very unusual Spanish Artillery Swords from the 1880's that have heavy Yatagan blades and wooden scale handles.
I never knew the coupe choux designated a weapon originally. My grandpa still used the word to talk about his straight razor, which is probably still the most common usage of the word.
I've seen these in American Civil War museums as well.
It reminds me of how I viewed the baker rifle sword bayonet as a hand weapon
One shouldn't underestimate how important that mass is to it being able to oppose larger weapons either. It's already short, if one makes it lighter i suspect that an opponents blow might just blow through it. I have found this to be true while training with Persian/Eastern European short swords. Historically they used the flats of them to block blows & thus had to have enough mass to do so.
French equivalent to a Cutlass? that's what I thought before you mentioned that, good for confined tight spaces such as on a ship? so for French sailors perhaps? not as versatile as British Cutlass weapons or as light to master? am I right?
Any chance of a follow on video on the French Briquet?
Theyre something very similar in the Trenchfighting bit of the imperial war museaum. I dont think its a 1 off, i seem to remember they were produced in a batch, more celtic leafshaped than the cabbage cutter but still a gladius type sword that there a probably accounts off it use about somewhere.
THE CUT AND THRUST
During WW II there was something designed by Mr.Fairbairn (or was it Mr.Sykes?) who had designed the well known commando knife. It was called something like a "smachet" and it looked something like a short leaf blade machete. I have no idea how common they were.
I remember reading about a French soldier disemboweling someone in a drunken brawl with a "short sword" at some kind of tent pub during the Crimean War. I always figured it was one of these.
I always wanted to know more about the coupe-chou! But I was never able to find any god informations about them. So thank you for this video, it helps !
I believe this sword appears in the movie “immortals” for a short scene. If you google swords from that movie there are two different swords that appear and this looks like one of them
Yeah these were tools as well as side arms, they have to be that thick to be used in the field for utility purpose, they are workhorses, also the roman gladius historically was a lot thicker than people assume. I see many modern gladius reproductions that are way to paper thin. If you do a quick search and study, you will find gladius commonly being as thick as 10 mm at the cross section. The gladius was also a Utility Workhorse and not through hardened like modern steels, the Romans had a less sophisticated method of adding carbon to iron, their steel was nowhere near the level of spring tempered thin blades as we see used in the 14-16th century. If you bent a roman gladius it wouldn't return to true, it would stay bent like a bronze sword, they had to be thicker than swords like sabres and long-swords etc.
As far as I understand they came in three grades, cheap iron, 'roman steel' (essentially case hardened iron) or pattern welded. It sounds like you're describing the cheap iron. I guess there's no way to know exactly how many were made of each type, but it was my impression that most Roman examples were at least somewhat hardened. That said I don't doubt they tended to be relatively thick, wasn't one of their rationales for the shorter sword to make it more robust? Particularly when dealing with cruder iron making the blade thicker is the easiest way to make it sturdier. They were said to favor the thrust when possible and you don't want a bendy blade when you thrust. But making it short already helps with that too.
Yeah you can work harden, and hammer carbon into iron in small amounts each heat, but there are many different types of "Hardness" for example a rapier or arming sword, is through hardened, and is a very pure steel which is quenched then properly tempered to a spring temper. This is a very different form of hardness compared to work hardened low carbon steels. Even if 2 steel types are pattern welded, it will not make the steel any stronger unless correct heat treatment is applied after forging. No matter what you do to steel, fold it, pattern weld etc it wont effect it at all if left un heat treated. The Romans nowhere near perfected correct heat treatment process for spring steel.
If you study Iron age swords and Bronze age swords, before high carbon tempered steel came around, you will always find shorter blades, or thicker blades to compensate for the lack of spring temper that returns a blade to true. if you knock out a high carbon pure steel bar that is pattern welded and then folded 1000 times, into a long thin sword, it will bend like a coat hanger, and be a useless piece of shit still. all of that folding and pattern welding does absolutely nothing on its own, it's only the quench and tempering that actually do anything to the steel on a molecular level, study martensite atomic formations of steel from heat treatments.
Gladius were short thick sturdy blades, I haven't seen a reproduction that is as thick near the hilt as the originals, and bear in mind the originals are heavily rusted and pitted, and they have lost a lot of their girth and are still as thick as 10 mm.
It wasn't spring temper, definitely. But there's considerable ground between spring temper and soft iron. Where did you see 10mm thick originals? Also as I understand it pattern welding does help homogenize the blade, eliminate occlusions, etc. that would have otherwise weakened the blade, and so it was a functional technique then. Today of course it's just a way to make pretty patterns, but that's because we're working with modern steel, right?
Yeah they basically had differential hardened blades, that were hot worked gradually then cold worked which creates something called friction welding, when you do it from high temps. And here is a forum thread about roman swords, specifically thickness. You can work out how thick roman swords were by calculating corrosion and rust, also measuring the thickness of intact hilts/guards, and get exact measurements of the tang hole.
www.romanarmytalk.com/rat/archive/index.php/thread-16367.html
Roman blades were nothing like medieval swords, way closer to bronze swords in geometry, 99% of modern reproductions and even well respected people in the HEMA community still believe roman swords were as thin as a machete or an arming sword.
10mm isn't even a large example, there were way thicker ones.
Seems like a good backup self defense weapon. Sturdy enough that you can defend against canes, batons, staffs, and Sword sticks , longer than a dagger but short enough that it is not cumbersome anywhere. Also, it is a somewhat effective weapon even if poorly maintained.
I talked to a Vietnam vet once who told me that the American version of this sword was probably the deadliest sword used in that war. Not because it was used much if at all in combat, but because it was a great machete, and allowed cannons to get to where they needed to be quickly. I should point out that he was primary talking about how useful his machete was in a jungle, and was prone to exaggeration.
"coupe-chou" is pronounced like "coop choo"
Hepad but with shorter oo
It's pronounced kʊp ʃʊ.
« coop shoo »
Hence "cuttoe".
@Zane Blaire no, the p in coupe is pronounced in this case.
That thing is badass. I could imagine carrying that on my belt in a post-apocalypse world where bullets where just starting to become scarce.
I have two for exactly that purpose. No scabbards for them though unfortunately so the second I draw them I'd cut my belt in two.
Clear away brush to set up cannon, and shell them at distance. That's the way to use it.
Does anyone know of this sword being used as a police weapon ? Going back to Matt's video on police hangers, i think in that context this would be a great police sword...
Cleibe Alves Teixeira Junior I think I saw a photo of NYC police carrying these in the 1850s ir 1860e
I would very much like to purchase one of these as and when you get another in stock!
Most of them were isued to Paris firefighter in late 19 century .
Glaive de sapeur pompier is a comon antic
It would be interesting to see a side-by-side comparison to a briquet of the same period. I would have thought the briquet would be a more useful sword, but perhaps a less useful tool.