Posted on 08/23/2012 9:52:00 PM PDT by PJ-Comix
To borrow a famous line, the problem with most people trying to understanding the true nature of historical sword combat is not that they're ignorant — it's just that they know so much that isn't so.
It's amazing, really, how a subject that so permeates our modern pop culture, and is so ubiquitous, is one which virtually no one any longer has any real world experience in, nor pursues for its original function. As a result, most all our conceptions of sword-fighting get it wrong. The reality of it is not what you think it is.
(Excerpt) Read more at io9.com ...
Heck, *I* will give one, and I'm no blase master (which he clearly believes he is):
The typical sword fight in the real world lasts less than 3 seconds. If it lasts longer than that, you're both probably going to bleed out. The way to win is to close, cut first, and cut brutally. Anything else is likely to end in a "you both die" tie...
blase = blade. Apparently I’m no typing master, either...
Yep.
Sharp swords got damaged and lost their edge quickly.
Butterknife sharp they were.
In fact..here it is:
Studied E-Tool (entrenching tool) extensively during my military career with some side study on claymores....not the sword kind.
Swords .....not so much. Machetes, bolos, parangs, etc... Carried and used em in jungle environments to battle “wait a minute vines” but never swords.
Elephant grass feared me !
That’s my BTTT comment PJ”...:o)
Stay safe.
Do you know the term Decimation?
I use a machete as one tool to help with gardening. Hard to keep it sharp, constantly sharpening it, so you are probably right. I suppose swordsmen plunged their blade into flesh with the sharp point to cause the most harm. I have an antique Japanese sword but have never used it against a living creature, so this is of interest to me (in case the Obummer zombies run wild soon).
Sharp blades are also useless against armour.
Swords were used to batter opponents into submission, until they were too weak to fight, then they were either run through or hacked until they died from a loss of blood.
And my mom told me that Dungeons and Dragons was an unproductive hobby. :)
Bone breakers.
Now, if you can get dollar weed to mind....
;o)
Bayonet training at Parris Island with pugil sticks was as close as I got to close combat fighting. Those bouts were usually 3-5 seconds and despite the padding could inflict some pain. One guy was actually knocked out cold.
That training convinced me that medieval weapons were a good thing to have when and if the fighying gets up close and personal.
In a similar vein, I note "that Rock and Roll Crap" my grandmother always bitched about has held its value a whole lot longer than the "forties music" she thought of so highly!
True that.
In one - on - one combat with swords, the winner is the one with superior training and motivation.
The "Kill Bill" films part I and II to see how it works.
May I humbly suggest a related, and quite fun documentary? Reclaiming the Blade (both a website and documentary, which I think is on youtube, and Netflix, iirc.)
I once saw a fascinating documentary shot at the Royal Armory at Leeds. They came across some Medieval(?) manuals of swordsmanship for the Claymore, and re-enactors at the Armory worked out a full-speed display of sword combat based on what was in them. The Claymore was an amazingly agile instrument in the hands of a trained man- it wasn’t the swing-it-like-a-baseball-bat meat cleaver that it’s shown to be in the movies.
I’ve been looking for that documentary online for years (granted, I haven’t looked in a while) but I’d love to watch it again.
Sharp blades are also useless against armour.
Swords were used to batter opponents into submission, until they were too weak to fight, then they were either run through or hacked until they died from a loss of blood.
I’ve read elsewhere that the War-Hammer and the Mace were the preferred tools of knights vs. knights. Also on the Connections videos Burke shows that the preferred place to strike a man in battle was in the lesser armored legs. That was confirmed by examination of several burial mounds in France and England.
DITTO, I kept reading looking for where he was gonna show me his chops and nada.
I would like to see him in a match with a veteran martial artist trained in the use of the katana. I am willing to bet he wouldn't fare well.
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