Matt, Really enjoying the last few clips... Thanks..... Wouldn't it be a bit more accurate to describe these as "Staff Sergeants'" swords? Infantry Sgts didn't carry swords past the early, mid century. Staff Sergeants and WOs did though... Except in the Guards, the last vestige is the wearing of brown sword belts, with slings (w/o swords) by WOIIs today. Cheers.
If I were a sword designer in the 18th or 19th century, I'd just name my sword the "1901 pattern sword" or something like that just to annoy future historians
Oh, I love that spadroon. Speaking of that 1895 pattern sword and Hutton's criticism, having read that system's manual (and the criticism) and seen you talk about the sword itself, they really were awfully mismatched. It's a cut-based system. It does cover thrusts, but it was (as I recall) based around elbow-powered cuts. Not a great approach for that sword.
I own and have seen several 1897p sergeants swords marked to a regiment and their sword number is usually 1, occasionally 2. This supports the fact of being few sergeants in regiments.
Please do 1821 cav officers sword like those hanging vertically behind you! You only ever talked about the troopers sword with the "ears" on the backstrap...
Hey Matt I e taken the plunge and purchased a french/belgian c. 1850 pattern sabre ...Klingenthal ...Also a a&a.s. marked sabre piped back with a slightly curved blade big steel guard and the scabbed is metal with two hanging hoops ..... Question I have is the Prussian saber has a bit of rust ...Do I gently work the rust off and oil or leave it be for values sake ? Also I'm having one hell of a time figuring out exactly what the a&as. actually is model wise and year wise ... I'm sure it's an old sabre pre ww1 due to two hangers on scabbard
I would imagine that Sergeants swords were very seldom carried in action, certainly from the later Napoleonic wars onwards, when they stopped carrying spontoons, except perhaps by Sergeant Majors (introduced in 1797). Colour Sergeants (introduced 1813) normally carried standard infantry small arms and Company Sergeant Majors really only came in just before WWI with the introduction of 'double companies', at which time Infantry Sergeant Majors became Regimental Sergeant Majors.
99IronDuke at that point in history was RSM a rank? Today in Canada at least Company Sergeant Majors and Regimental Sergeant Majors are appointments and not a rank.
I really like the blade of the second sword you've shown, the "typical mid-Victorian era infantry officer's sword". It's long and it seems fairly decent at both cutting and thrusting.
Pattern 1845. Fullered and spear-tipped. A real classic of British blade design and better than what came before and what came after (though later hilts offered more protection).
Informative video ! Really liked the 1889 pattern sword. Matt can you please tell me how regiment fencing masters were chosen ? because i have heard that only Sergeants were selected for this task ! (for example Charles Ewart )
Very nice. Good point about the officers/sergeants having a sword because they couldn't be distracted with loading and firing their own rifle (well, the case with the carbine is slightly different I suppose). I was visiting St. Simon's Island, Georgia, USA, which was the site of a conflict between the Spanish and British in the 1740s (1741 I think). Apparently some of the British had pikes/spears, which I thought was interesting. I then figured it was likely for officers or NCOs to have a spear so they could use it if they really needed to but otherwise the rankers would use firearms. Interestingly, there were some Highlanders who IIRC had Scottish basket swords (shields I think too) in their kit, along with their muskets.
Andrew Penman, an officers job is to lead platoons and above so even today you won't seem them firing their rifle as much as senior NCO's and lower ranks.
Question: That "clean" line about a foot down from the hilt, is that from a repair to the blade (causing it to have less patina) or a result of something else?
The infantry officers sabre at 6:00 Matt does that have a squared guard? or is that a trick of the camera, because it very much looks like an 1845 pattern, like the one I bought from you, instead the guard looks very squarish from where i'm sitting, less round than usual?
Hi Matt, you keep mentioning that officers would supply their own blades. Is it they were actually free in their choice or did they get a general blueprint and were only allowed to add minor detail like etching a Family coat of arms or the like? Like taking it to the extreme: Could an officer run around with a 16th century rapier if he prefered it over what was "fashion" in his actual time period?
I've been wanting to ask this for a while: why is the fuller on that spadroon located in such an asinine position? I can tell from here that it must make it a terrible cutter.
Hello Matt. Very interesting video as always. But seeing those "gothic" guards I was wondering : where there any left handed versions of British pattern military sabers after the introduction of asimetric guards ? And if there where none, did some left handed individuals got their swords modified ? Would such modifications be frowned upon by the army ?
Hi. I have one question not directly related to the video: what is the typical balance of military sabres for HEMA (how close to the handle should the center of weight be)?
Funny, the 1892 sorta reminds me of a proto 1908. I wonder if Commissioned Officers were quicker to adopt untested, more radical designs since they were use less likely to have to use their swords as self defense weapons than NCOs because they were higher up on the military hierachy?
Just looking at the 1796 model sergeant's sword, the basic hilt design reminds of the Walloon sword. Thinking on that weapon, have you ever seen Solomon Kane from 2009? The title character uses what looks like (albeit a stylized variation of) English backsword and dagger (though a smaller falchion seems to have been substituted as the offhand weapon now and again). I wondered if you could review the final fight, which pitted the backsword and dagger against longsword. Another great video! Cheers!
+Shawn Roche It's a rapier that he uses, not a backsword. And I think at the beginning of the film his offhand weapon is a short cutlass. But you are right, a review of the swordwork in that film would be interesting.
Hey, so out of curiosity, would a sword with an enclosed hilt be absolute shite in medieval warfare? I think it was mentioned in an earlier video that there isnt as much grappling involved in sabre fighting as say longsword or arming sword. If you could choose a sword from any time period to fight in late medieval times, against armor, what would it be?
Why is this one like a rapier, but the other more like an estoc? (Did I spell that right, and remember what you actually said?) Or is it just something that came out and I shouldn't read into it too much?
It seems to me that this sergeant's sword is the ideal infantry officer's sword. What is the function of an infantry officer's sword? First, (as Matt says) to allow the officer to fend off attacks from bayonets, swords and other melee weapons until his men arrive to save him; and second, to allow the officer a reasonable chance to win the fight if his men can't get there. It seems to me that requirement #1 means that the most important thing for an officer's side arm to be able to do is block and parry and (secondarily) threaten and discourage attackers. This implies that a good officer's sword has: (a) good hand protection to prevent the hard from being injured (and to give confidence) when the officer attempts to parry or block; (b) a balance closer to the hilt to allow for quick blocks and parries; (c) a strong forte or ricasso to the blade to give authority to the block or parry and minimise the chance of damage to the blade; (c) a threatening point to discourage enemies from charging; and (d) an edge good enough to give sufficiently worrying defensive cuts to discourage further attacks. On the other hand, requirement #2 means that a good officer's sword should have: (i) an edge capable of doing real damage for when a stressed officer reverts to "caveman" cutting/basing; (ii) a point of balance away from the hilt to give authority to the cuts; and (iii) a point capable of penetrating heavy clothing for a killing blow. Both considerations seem to imply a robust straight or very slightly curved cut-and-thrust blade with strong hand protection, The only tension is with point of balance - for defence you want it closer to the hilt (factor 1(b)), for authority in the cut you want it more blade heavy (factor 2(ii)). Given that the priority in an infantry officer's sidearm should be on defence, I'd say you want the balance closer to the hilt.
Benjamin O'Donnell Don't understate the importance of signaling with swords and sabers. Gunfire is deafening and it helps if you can be directed by a gleaming piece of metal raised above everyone's head when not everyone can hear you. Given that necessity, it becomes useful (though less necessary) to be able to distinguish various officers and sergeants swords and sabers with levels of decoration, since there's a possibility your officer or sergeant is ducking behind cover, smothered in smoke or buried in a formation and therefore not easily identified by his uniform or voice.
made me remember... in the canadian army, officer cadet receive their sword drill class from senior nco... probably the same thing in the british army, you know since canadian military tradition is largely based on british one
Maybe the theory behind the thrusting sword was that since firearms could shoot so much faster by that time it encourages you to go in for a stab before you get blasted by a pistol or bolt-action rifle.
hey matt, let's say you're going to war, and you want to have a sword on your hip (not modern war, war that suits the context for the sword chosen) what sword would you have? like, if you choose a 1796 light cavalry sabre you're serving in the Napoleonic wars
+Harry McCusker It seems that by the 1740s, some British troops (probably lower officers) were using spears/polearms, at least in the southern American colonies. There's a museum on St. Simon's Island, Georgia (also the remnants of a fort) which has some of the Brits with them. IIRC the force was more or less chosen by a particular British guy, so it was probably just his personal preference. He also had some Highlanders with swords and shields I think, in addition to their muskets.
Hi Matt, I've watched a number of your videos and find them very informative. Thank you! Though I have been a competitive epee (USFA) fencer for years, after watching some of your videos, my interest in HEMA has grown significantly. I think I will check out one of the local clubs sooner than later and get a better feel for it. Over the past year or so, I have come to love the sabre however, and knowing you are also a sabre lover, was wondering if you could direct me in the right direction to buy my first "real" sword, which I want to be a sabre. What are the sabres behind you in this video? I know you mentioned authentic/antique swords are the way to go in previous videos - and Cold Steel is really the only mainstream replica company that comes close, but still does not live up to the quality of the real deal). Do you still feel this way? What would you recommend?
About the time you made this comment, I too had been inspired to move from sport fencing to HEMA. Now I have several dozen antique sabres! Hope you got your own.
why did the footsoldier NCOs have swords then? Why corporal does not carry sword, why lance corporal does not carry sword? Why only senior NCO like master sergeant (etc...) carry sword. I wanted to ask this question because my grandfather was actually captain-rank officer in the Finnish army during 1950s. He did have a dress sword for military ceremonies and parades (sword was beautiful looking, but sadly it was dull, LOL) Certainly in Finnish army only the officer traditionally carries sword. In such a case I think that the lowest officer carrying sword is indeed 2nd lieutenant rank.
Hi, I really love the channel! Very unique from what I have seen. I was wondering what that sword second from the bottom is and if you have any videos on it or something similar. Thanks!
Timothy Heimbach Indeed, but the ones at the end of the video, from the 1890s, gave the impression that the sergeants sword was superior for fighting compared to the lighter-weight officer's sword of the time. Hence why I wondered if any officers of the time saw that and decided they would rather have the beefier weapon
+Ben Kirkby by 1892 sword based combat was very rare, and the adoption of the reliable and powerful Webley revolver in 1887 meant that the pistol was the officer's primary weapon. Therefore most officers wouldn't want to carry around a heavy sword.
"The pattern didn't change but they became more curved with time": how specific was the pattern then? Today, an M16 is an M16, no matter the year, and every factory manufacturing parts is within thousands tolerance, but this obviously wasn't the case with swords.
Since officer swords were commissioned individually, the level of decoration and exact specs were unique to each new sword, so I look to their hilts. Blade length, for fighting reasons, is dependant on officer height, and thus is unimportant when determining pattern. But a single pattern will look nearly identical in the scabbard (from hilt to pommel) for uniformity / parade reasons.
+weesh ful Think of it more like Microsoft Windows: Windows 95 was still Windows 95 in 1996 and 1997, then Windows 98 was released and ran through several years; then came Windows 2000 and so on.
I'm surprised that it took so long to get the right sword, when it should have been a matter of basic common sense rather than fashion. The 1889 is really one of the best 19th Century swords I've ever seen. Even George Silver would have been proud of it.
"The sword is invariably most famous for its role in the hand of Richard Sharpe in the Sharpe books. Bernard Cornwell describes it as 'heavy and ill balanced', 'crude and mass-produced', a 'brutal blade that will hammer through lighter swords and finer techniques' 'the mere weight of which can crush a man's skull". It is deemed as the character's signature weapon" "The trooper's sword, and the officer's undress sword, was a dedicated cutting weapon with a broad heavy blade and was renowned as being completely unfit for delicate swordsmanship" " most cavalry troopers used the blades like bludgeons and the guards as knuckle dusters" - This is whats wrong. Morons who call themselves historians and post this shit to wikipedia.
Can do a movie fight review from the movie War Horse (2011)? In the scene The British Calvary Unit use 1908 and 1912 pattern calvary sword to ambush a german infantry camp . Link to scene. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-FXLcbrD6nsQ.html
+Marc Ritz From Wikipedia: "Sergeant, (normally abbreviated to Sgt) is a rank used in many armies, police forces, and other uniformed organizations. Its origins are in the Latin serviens, "one who serves", through the French term sergent."
Matt I know, that you know, how to handle a sword, but every time you rest a sword on your shoulder and gesticulate with your hands, I cringe thinking you are going to take your ear off.
Hey Matt I e taken the plunge and purchased a french/belgian c. 1850 pattern sabre ...Klingenthal ...Also a a&a.s. marked sabre piped back with a slightly curved blade big steel guard and the scabbed is metal with two hanging hoops ..... Question I have is the Prussian saber has a bit of rust ...Do I gently work the rust off and oil or leave it be for values sake ? Also I'm having one hell of a time figuring out exactly what the a&as. actually is model wise and year wise ... I'm sure it's an old sabre pre ww1 due to two hangers on scabbard
