Dueling = Less Offended People? - Let's Look at History! 

You dare tell me that duelling is dangerous and shouldn't be brought back? I challenge you to a duel, sir!

I image a lot of Canadians would have accidentally accepted duels by picking up a gauntlet that someone dropped, out of politeness.

Skall's inbox after this video be like: "Dearest Mr. Skallagrim, I find your historical and logical dissertation on the matter offending to the point that only a direct confrontation can restore my honour. We shall therefore fight to the death 1v1 on Hellish Quart".

Girls: isn’t it weird how we live longer than boys? Boys: ok hear me out. so we make these hot air balloons...

If dueling was a thing today, retail workers like myself would never get old.

“I’m offended by the fact that you are a better duelist, we need to equalize the playing field”

'We need a new hospital...' 'No!' (takes shot to spine) 'How about now?'

"We shall meet at dawn to satisfy this debt of honor" "Make it so, and the weapons ?" "Halberds" "Halberds at dawn it is, good day to you sir !"

Modern dueling is in court. And your champion are your expensive lawyers.

I always heard it more as "people would be more polite". But I think it's more "people would find pettier things to be offended by".

that mr Price was a classic bully who wanted to humiliate the officer and it backfired hilariously

Strictly speaking... Being willing to stab somebody in the face over an insult sounds pretty offended to me.

"Maybe now people would duelling over who has the better waifu" Now that's absolutely ridiculous. It would be a blood feud.

The best duel I have ever read about occurred in Lyons, MI in the early 1840s. A local settler's joking antics insulted the honor of a "gentleman" in the town. The gentleman made the mistake of challenging the settler to a duel meaning the settler had the right to choose weapons. He requested potatoes saying something to the effect of "...we shall throw potatoes at each other until your honor is satisfied." Disappointingly, the duel was ultimately called off. I found this incidentally while using the Pioneer Society of the State of Michigan document collection for unrelated historical research.

If dueling comes back, I’ll need to lose weight. I’m too big a target.

So, since duelling was actually outlawed most of the time, doesn't that mean we wouldn't even need to change the law to "bring it back" ?

Idiots: "People weren't as offended back in the day..." Historical folks: "You oppose my policy about this hospital? You were taking a look at this woman who was accompanying me? FIGHT ME TO THE DEATH!"

"I fired, but I missed, I fired again, but I missed. I had a popsickle and passed out in the snow. When I woke up, I fired. I hit something, but it wasn't what I was going for, so I guess I missed."

Skallagrim, dressed today like a character in a Pirate novel

True gentlemen, duels in children cards games. Just like ancient egyptian and motorcyclist

We should bring duels back, not to kill but just for fun. I mean, just think about it, a bar with a 12 steps corridor, one shot paintball guns, mask and a heavy coat. It hurts a bit but nothing serious. As a bar game would be epic.

"Don't be a jackass, just apologize and move on" That was basically law and people were still peer pressured or outright chose to shoot eachother. I dunno if it's that much different nowadays.

Can we talk about this flawless french-spoken bit ? I'm french and was honestly surprised, that's quite impressing of you.

I believe the phrase is, "Play stupid games, win stupid prizes."

I actually blame dueling pistols for the decline in dueling

does anyone remember the episode of blackadder where he had to duel the duke of wellington and the duke turns up with artillery?

Long story short: Edgelords are terrible in all eras.

Him: "your mom fat" Me: "Get the hot air balloons, we settle this at sunrise."

“How do you miss a hot air balloon?” She said as her and her significant other plummeted to the ground.

About the rules thing, 11th Doctor (Doctor Who) has an awesome quote Madame Kovarian: "The anger of a good man is not a problem. Good men have too many rules." Doctor: "Good men don't need rules. Today is not the day to find out why I have so many." Matt Smith really nailed the delivery in that scene.

I wish people were more worried about being honorable, rather than being treated as though they were.

9:00 they mention this in “Hamilton” too. The first of the Ten Duel Commandments is “If they apologize, no need for further action.”

Two fun facts: 1. In the early days of the state of Kentucky two Legislators got in an argument on the floor, they challenged each other to a duel. Since dueling was illegal in the state they crossed the river to the next state over to have the duel. 2. Kentucky state law requires holders of certain jobs/offices to swear an oath "That I have not fought a duel, nor have I acted as a second in carrying a duel in the stare of Kentucky".

My favourite is vikings. A dude I know posted a meme with a viking saying "Oh, I offended you? How does it feel to be so weak that words can hurt you." (yeah, he is a Fedora dude in disguise) The fun bit? There were literal laws that if someone called you f*ggot (atleast the "receiver" in the sexual act) you could take it to court and they could give you the right to kill the other dude to defend your honor.

When I was younger, I was very much sold on the idea of bringing back judicial dueling to discourage people from messing with each other. As I've aged and converted to Dudeism, that just sounds like a lot of increased, unnecessary, unchecked aggression.

Gentleman's Blood is a great book! I worked at the original California Renaissance Faire. We'd do three weekends of workshops and rehearsals before the faire opened. One year a lawyer gave a workshop about Elizabethan law, and he pointed out that trial by combat had got on the books of several states because they were old English colonies. Well the last time trial by combat was invoked in the States was sometime in the 1980's, I think in one of the Carolinas or Virginia. A guy in the SCA got sued, found out the law was still on the books, went into court with a gauntlet and a sword, layed them down on the desk and said, "I believe so much in my cause that I will defend it with my life. I call for trial by combat." The judge informed the plaintiff that, yep, put up or shut up. The plaintiff withdrew their case, and the first thing the state legislature did when they convened was get rid of that law.

What's always baffled me is that there are people out there that think someone being offended at them and politely telling them so is somehow worse than someone being offended by them and challenging them to a duel.

Hot take: Those calling for duels in the modern age are just as easily offened as the people they claim are two easily offended.

The thing about dueling is that you can still challenge people to a fight, like a boxing match, if they offend you or you wish to settle an argument like that, they just probably won't agree to it, because why would they?

“A Duel” is just a fancy way of saying “A Punch On”.

"Be polite to each other, even though you don't have to fear for your life." Wow.

Hold up wasn't dueling caused by people being offended by another person so bringing it back would only raise that.

Skall looking like a fine vampire

Hearing these stories reminded me of all the times I have been challenged into a 1v1 in video games.

Anyone who's ever been in a schoolyard fight, or a bar brawl or whatever should know that a) we still kind of have duelling and b) it doesn't solve shit. With that said, the aesthetics of it are still incredibly cool. ;)

It's time to D-DD-Duel!!!

"Sorry dude, here is the evidence that you are wrong." "You are calling me a liar? I challenge you to a duel." And at that moment, the enlightenment died.

these are darwin awards.

I'm from Philippines and the duels to the death were common until recently. The amount of people getting offended over the most minor sleights to their "honour" tells me that no, people wouldn't calm down if duelling was legalized.

We essentially still have dueling, it is just usually brawls in bars, road rage, etc. This is more or less how it would go today. Lots of dude bros, thugs, etc., would take advantage to harass people more, though probably not people who they thought could beat them. There was probably a lot of that back in the day and "professional" duelists who made a career of it.

The “if duelling was back we’d have less offended people” has always sounded to me like an euphemism for: “I wish I was able to kill people I disagree with, with impunity”

I once trained myself up to duel someone for the hand of a woman. It was an interesting tale to tell when practising and training. Before you ask, she dumped him and lost interest in me before I was able to throw down the gauntlet.

In the US Marine corps boot camp there's this thing called pugil sticks.It's basically bayonet training with padded sticks. The videos online seem tame, but once the cameras are off, the DIs tell the recruits they get phone calls home if they can knock people unconscious or break bones. (One guy got his femur literally _splintered_ in half when he got stuck in the planks they were standing on.) Anyway, by 2n'd phase, many recruits have gotten so much on each-other's nerves and formed such vendettas against specific platoon members that the DI's allow recruits to fight who they want, if it's mutual. It's in every sense a duel. And while not to the death, if you break specific bones in your opponent, he can likely be discharged from service, so if you hate him enough and he hates you, you're literally fighting for your entire future trying to maim each-other. I've done HEMA all my life. Nothing prepares you for that. Absolutely nothing. Funnest crap on the planet though.

There's still a duelling subculture in central europe: fencing fraternities. I used to be in one, and as a rite of passage, they have to duel someone from another fencing fraternity. They can also challenge each other to duels by exchanging a torn business card (usually only do that when there's a major beef)

As a gigantic man of an armed security guard, you'd be surprised how nice and polite people are and sheer amount of truth-telling I engage in when the possibility of me slapping the senses out of them for being offended little twats and being allowed to do it is a very real thing. Basic respect counts for a lot.

At 12:48, this happend in the early years of the US navy. One of the strangest duels was set into motion by an exchange of banter with stephen Decatur and Richard Somers in 1798, when both midshipmen serving on the frigate United States under captain Barry. The two of them were, by their own reckoning, inseparable friends, and as they were joking around in the wardroom one day, Decantur laughingly called Somers a "fool". Neither man thought anything of it until the next day, when several of their fellow officers refused to share the wardroom table with Somers. Having talked it over with themselves, They(they other officers) had agreed that Decantur's use of the term "fool" constituted as an insult, and that Somers must issue a challange or be ostracized as a coward. Somers and Decatur both protested that their bantering had been harmless. Decantur had not ment to suggest that Somers was not litteraly a fool, and Somers had not taken offense at the remark. Decantur offered to host the entire Wardroom at a dinner in which the exchange could be explained in fuller detail. Their messmates refused the invitation. Somer's expasperated response was to issue a challange, but not to Decantur. Nominating Decantur as his second, he challenged the other officers to fight him in sequence. The multiple challenge was accepted. In the first duel, Somers took a ball in his pistol arm; in the second, he took a ball in the thigh. Decantur offered to take his friends place for the third duel, but Somers refused. Bleeding heavily, Somers sat on the ground while Decantur propped up his pistol arm. After the third exchange of gunfire, all agreed that Somers had resolved any doubts of his courage and the buisness was called off.

You want to have an honored duel? Put on the mitts and step into the ring. There are plenty of other ways to challenge someone.

People still challenge each other to "duels" in modern times via boxing/MMA matches.

The true point of dueling wasnt to keep people from being offended, but to keep people from talking shit.

I get a feeling the ppl who say dueling should still be a thing would be the first ppl killed or simply would cop pleas if challenged to one.

More duels = more offended people killing each other = fewer offended people quick maths

The fact they would go to such lengths means they were even more offended.

I thought you might have said the increasing accuracy of firearms as a reason why dueling declined.

The "I wish duels could come back" crowd seems to forget that those being challenged can just say no to the duel.

- "He seems like a younger version of Hector Barbossa" My girlfriend when she saw you in this video. PS: she says it is meant as a compliment.

Pretty sure most people who want dueling back aren't talking about medieval style dueling. They're talking about the system where people would have seconds whose job it was to try to resolve the dispute before it came to arms. Also it's not about stopping people being offended, it's about stopping people spouting baseless shit about each other. The courts are woefully useless for getting recompense when someone lies about you, so people are wanting a different option.

Damn! Mr Price got what he deserved! That all sounds like a movie ending!

Let's see how shocked they'd be if I threw the pommel before the gauntlet.

In 1566, Tycho left to study at the University of Rostock. Here, he studied with professors of medicine at the university's famous medical school and became interested in medical alchemy and botanical medicine.[12] On 29 December 1566 at the age of 20, Tycho lost part of his nose in a sword duel with a fellow Danish nobleman, his third cousin Manderup Parsberg. The two had drunkenly quarreled over who was the superior mathematician at an engagement party at the home of Professor Lucas Bachmeister on 10 December.[13] Coming nearly to quarrel again with his cousin on 29 December, they ended up resolving their feud with a duel in the dark. Though the two were later reconciled, the duel resulted in Tycho losing the bridge of his nose and gaining a broad scar across his forehead. He received the best possible care at the university and wore a prosthetic nose for the rest of his life. It was kept in place with paste or glue and said to be made of silver and gold.[14] In November 2012, Danish and Czech researchers reported that the prosthetic was actually made of brass after chemically analyzing a small bone sample from the nose from the body exhumed in 2010.[15] The prosthetics made of gold and silver were mostly worn for special occasions, rather than everyday wear.

love your videos man, seriously underrated. I dont typically finish videos entirely because Ill get bored, but I always watch and finish yours, theyre always entertaining. Thank you and keep it going!

Here in the US, we have several states that have Mutual Combat laws Basically if two parties agree to a Mutual Combat, and there is a police officer there to referee, then two people can have a legal street fight to settle a dispute. It's not a common thing that's practiced but it has happened somewhat recently. So Im all for this to become common practice again in public.😎

I think the implied point is that the kind of people who get easily offended would die in duels so there would be fewer offended people.

I like these history focused, sit down videos. This one was very good and I like the outfit!

The social pressure thing makes sense because of the mindset for honour dueling. If you insult me, I don't challenge you to a duel because I am offended *per se* and my goal is not to inflict harm on you as punishment. I challenge you to a duel because honour (or the idea of honour at the time) involved standing up for yourself. To accept the insult, even a mild one, without issuing a counter was to lack honour, or worse to be a coward. I'm either saying 'you are right', 'my integrity is not worth fighting for' or 'I'm too scared of pointy things' The *point* of challenging you is to put *myself* in danger - to say "I refuse to accept what you have said / done and I will put my LIFE on the line to stand by that conviction" This is why both parties could have honour satisfied simply by showing up without actually doing anything - it was about being *willing* to, rather than who actually drew blood. And its why refusing to fire in a pistol duel, or shooting to the side was a thing - you're essentially defenceless and giving the other person a free shot, proving you really REALLY mean it. In fact it could even be an insult - youre refusing to let the other person face any risk. So if you don't fire and he does, well HE'S the arsehole. Obviously on top of this you have the people who just like fighting, or want to prove their superiority. My understanding is someone who sought out duels because they wanted to win as many as possible was probably looked down on a bit, though likely not in their company (to avoid being stabbed). The whole mindset is also why it was fashionable to have a dueling scar at points - it didn't matter that you got your arse kicked and got your face carved up - it mattered that you were brave enough to put yourself in that situation. Fun fact this is why so many high ranking Nazis had facial scars - back when they were all younger knife duels were The Shit for rich young men, and at that point it had bene formalised specifically to generate facial scars to show off how cool you were. TL:DR people who engaged in honour duels weren't (probably mostly) bloodthristy maniacs who wanted to kill someone for the slightest insult, they were a bunch of insecure Zuko's who had to prove they were brave and honourable by doing something stupid. Amusingly this means the response wasn't "You wot m8? Come over here and say that and I'll deck you" it was "You wot m8? You better punch me in the face if you want to say that" :D

dueling evolved into rap battles

"For that purpose, two identical hot air balloons were made..." Alright, I'm lucky I'm at home now, or people would think I've gone nuts... You got a full on Scandinavian "Höhöhö!" laugh out of me there.

A remnant of this kind of thinking continues into the modern day, minus the weapons and the death. If another guy insults you repeatedly, you’re expected to confront him, which is likely to lead to a fist fight. Even if you lose, you get better social standing for standing up to him.

A Turtle approved

I live in a mutual combat state, and if you find the right cop you can "duel" fight (box) still. It's super rare but still legal. The problem is most conflicts escalate to quickly to go through the proper channels.

The Sandbar Fight is an interesting one. The duel was pretty much over and after exchanging one shot the duellists shook hands but afterward a brawl erupted between the two parties resulting in the death of two supporters and various injuries to others. Even when some resolve the dispute sensibly there's some hotheads that want to keep things going to settle their own scores.

People have always been tribalistic and get offended easily. This doesn't mean we should allow them to throw tantrums 24/7

During this COVID bollocks it feels like some you tubers are my friends and keep me sane, thanks for that.

Tbh in our time too people happen to kill for pettiest reasons. It's just the duel was organised way of doing it, with chance to reconsider everything before it

I'm writing a story that has a lot of combat with medieval-era weaponry and your channel has helped me so incredibly much to understand how these weapons work, how they're used, and how some of the matchups go. I love your channel, have a great day and I hope you find an exceptionally kind person out and about soon!

I really enjoyed this! Very well thought out and enlightening. (No, no duel jokes!)

The world is full of people who think they're big and tough and better than other people. We already see people turning violent over petty things. If we said that it was acceptable to be violent then it would increase violence.

5:27 is that the royal insignia of canada? beaver on top of a peackock screaming?? that's so cute

Honour duels (with sharp sabers) are still a thing among certain German student fraternities. They have become a lot rarer these days but for many of these fraternities, it's still very common to have one or two obligatory duels for new members. Serious injuries are very rare nowadays, mostly because of a combination of the proscribed fighting style which generally forbids attacking below the neck and a lot of protection gear around the neck, eyes, nose and mouth. But still, minor injuries are pretty common because the fighting style also proscribes a fixed distance between the opponents. Up until like 50 years ago, having a scar on your cheek or ching or on the side of your head from one of these duels (called a "Schmiss") was considered a sign of honour and they would sometimes try and purposefully force scar tissue by keeping the wound open for longer than it needed to or stuff like that. In these days, if you see a person with that very particular sort of scar, it's generally seen as a bad thing because these sort of fraternities have (in my opinion rightfully) gotten a pretty bad reputation over the years. But yeah, to a relatively small degree, that is still a thing. I'm not sure about the whole legal situation here. It's obviously legal to the degree that they're doing it because they don't hide it or make a secret out of it, not officially anyways, and they always have a doctor present who's generally allowed the measure of calling the duel off if it gets out of hand. But my guess is that completely unprotected, unregulated duels would probably not be legal? I'm not sure.

One thing to note about duels are that while they did not cause people to be less offended, they did provide a mechanism for people to regain their honor and be satisfied, instead of remaining bitter. Afaik, duels of honour when fought with swords were most often fought to first blood, not to the death, and as you said sometimes just showing up could be enough to consider the matter settled. In pistoling duels there was also the practise of "deloping" where both would deliberately miss their shots and agree to end the matter there, with the honour of both remaining intact. One can imagine that the practice may have started to limit long lasting feuds.

Damn I'm always impressed by your French accent ^^ Beautiful video once more, although I'm not sure your point fully stands, as the ancient society tended to value honor above life, or at least close to it, especially in the military class, where as modern society often deems it stupid, and tends to value life above anything. So even if it was lawful again, I think people would be much more hesitant to accept or offer a duel. Also it should be pointed out that it wasn't just young men carried on by testosterone. The last duel I'm aware of happened in France in 1968 with swords between two members of Parliaments who had insulted each other during an assembly. Gaston Deferre was 57 and his opponent René Ribière was 45. The archive of the video of the duel is on youtube if anyone's interested btw.

"1v1 me black ops bro!"

Ah yes, nothing some stabby time can't solve.

I recently finished The Professor in The Cage: Why Men Fight and Why We Like to Watch The TL,DR on dueling specifically was that societies that allow or encourage dueling historically went one of two different ways: a culture of needless exessive dueling developed that prioritized being willing to duel to the death for the most minor of offenses, or culture developed where showing a willingness to duel was prioritized over the actual act of dueling. As an aside: This adds great context to Shakespearean plays because they're all full of people talking smack and saber-rattling, and then everyone acts surprised when someone says enough is enough and starts getting stabby-stabby. Elizabethan England was apparently the latter of dueling cultures.

An intersting and enlightening examination of the history of dueling and the consequences if it was revived.

One should also consider the case of Évariste Galois. Promising mathematician that consolidated the field of group theory at a very young age and died at 20 in a duel for some love affair. I think he should have a movie made about him.

Well, one good point about duels was that people who talked shit just could not get away that easily.

"All of my opinions on dueling are based on what I imagine history was like, and lol at these snowflakes getting so offended these days. If we bring back dueling, and there are consequences for insults, what a civil society we would have" "No, I have never read a book on the subject, why do you ask?"

"I am Offended and I Challange You! Pommels at Dawn!"

Great Video,, used too work with a guy who wanted too bring the duel back, now I know how too retort. Thank You Kindly Sir

A duel sanctioned by whom can hit the other's hot air balloon is probably the most Steampunk thing I've ever heard. XD