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<blockquote data-quote="loseth" data-source="post: 4023233" data-attributes="member: 54535">Myths like this abound, and it's often hard to know who to believe, but just thinking about it in terms of common sense quickly makes it clear that early modern soldiers were right to go into battle with broadswords (military weapons) rather than smallswords (the duelling weapon and civilian sidearm of the age). If a blade enters your body somewhere where it might hit an artery, is there a greater chance of the artery being hit by a 1/2&quot; hole made in your body or a 3&quot; hole? If your muscle is penetrated, will it function better with a 1/2&quot; tear in it or a 3&quot; tear? Would you rather have your bone hit by a sharp edge with almost no weight behind it or one with quite a bit of weight behind it?Many of the duels you have heard about were probably conducted with 'french blades,' i.e. smallswords (which can be used both to stab and slash--the 'cut vs. stab' controversy is itself a huge collection of myths and misunderstandings), and as noted in the OP, they were rarely immediately deadly (though death due to infection later on was extremely common).Basically, civilian sidearms need to be light and easy to carry, while military weapons do not suffer these restrictions and are thus much deadlier.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="loseth, post: 4023233, member: 54535"] Myths like this abound, and it's often hard to know who to believe, but just thinking about it in terms of common sense quickly makes it clear that early modern soldiers were right to go into battle with broadswords (military weapons) rather than smallswords (the duelling weapon and civilian sidearm of the age). If a blade enters your body somewhere where it might hit an artery, is there a greater chance of the artery being hit by a 1/2" hole made in your body or a 3" hole? If your muscle is penetrated, will it function better with a 1/2" tear in it or a 3" tear? Would you rather have your bone hit by a sharp edge with almost no weight behind it or one with quite a bit of weight behind it? Many of the duels you have heard about were probably conducted with 'french blades,' i.e. smallswords (which can be used both to stab and slash--the 'cut vs. stab' controversy is itself a huge collection of myths and misunderstandings), and as noted in the OP, they were rarely immediately deadly (though death due to infection later on was extremely common). Basically, civilian sidearms need to be light and easy to carry, while military weapons do not suffer these restrictions and are thus much deadlier. [/QUOTE]

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