View Single Post
Old 27th January 2017, 08:57 PM   #17
Jim McDougall
Arms Historian
 
Jim McDougall's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Route 66
Posts: 9,719
Default

Wayne, thank you for adding the picture of George Washington's sword that I mentioned, pretty interesting example.

Actually fencing has been described as a 'science', where dueling has been described as anything from a passion to an obsession, in these times. It seems that the sword in combat is quite a different thing, as the dynamics there are profoundly dynamic to say the least.

I recall an anecdote pertaining to a cavalry action in the Crimea during that war, where a British cavalryman was 'annoyed' because a Russian horseman had responded 'out of sequence' to his strike , giving him a cut so and so and knocked him off his horse.

Fencing, and in its ultimate theater, the duel of honor, is a most systemic and carefully gauged arrangement, where the features of the weapons are key in their performance in accord with techniques practiced.
Combat is an explosive and volatile interaction where no such rules or strategies can be expected to be followed, as shown in the anecdote above and how out of place it was.
Jim McDougall is offline   Reply With Quote