BRONZE AGE SWORDS

Bronze Age Swords

Bronze Age Swords

Introduction

Sword - kind of knives with a straight blade , designed for chopping blow or impact and puncture  , in the broadest sense - the collective name for all long-bladed weapon with a straight blade.In the modern domestic historical oruzhievedenii taken a narrower definition of the sword: an offensive weapon with a double-edged straight blade longer than 60 centimeters, is designed primarily for chopping blows(Bader, 1991, pp. 105). A weapon with a one-sided sharpened blade refers to the broadsword. However, in common parlance to swords often mistakenly attributed a variety of weapons with a curved blade, in particular - Japanese weapons including the katana and wakizashi , attributable to the State standard two-handed swords and weapons with a straight blade with single-sided sharpening, which refers to either the broadsword, or for combat knives, broadswords , and so on - in particular, the Falchion . These types of weapons, such as sword and rapier , is also ranked among the swords, that is not quite true - in the current classification, they are allocated into separate types of weapons along with the sword, though related to him their origin(Keeley, 1996, pp. 136-138).

According to the method and purpose of the mechanism of injury is divided into swords slashing, cut-and-stabbing, stabbing, slashing, stabbing.

Dividing a two-edged cut-and-piercing weapons to swords and daggers rather arbitrary, often characterized by a long sword blade (40 cm).Weight sword ranges from 700 g ( gladius ) and 6 kg ( tsvayhander , Cloak ). Weight-handed slashing or cut and thrust of the sword was from 0.9 to 2 kg.

The sword was the offensive and defensive weapon professional soldier, often from privileged (noble) class. For the sword required extensive training, years of practice and physical training. A distinctive feature of the sword is its versatility(Pollard, 2007, pp. 136-139):

armed with a sword, and hiking and horseback warriors, but as a secondary weapon even archers ;

slashing sword strikes are particularly power, especially when cutting the saddle, as against bezdospeshnyh warriors and soldiers in armor(the effective protection of the sword provide only Plate armor elements);

can be applied as a sword slashing and thrusting;

sword was convenient to carry a (without the help of an executioner ) and in danger of quickly prepare for battle.

Sword from antiquity to the late Middle Ages was so well-known type of weapon, which, along with a shield , a symbol of a warrior and military affairs, came into heraldry , aphorisms and sayings, even in the XXI century, while remaining recognizable symbol and hero of fantasy and even science fiction. In practice, for most of its history, the sword was expensive and relatively less common weapon, playing in the complex weapons, usually a supporting role. Basic combat knives until the wide spread of fire was a spear in its various forms (although the same riflewith a bayonet is a variant of the same spear).

The emergence of the first bronze swords refer to the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC. e., when the opportunity to make the blades bigger than a dagger (Clements, 1999, pp. 136).

In European countries, the swords were widely used until the end of the XVI century, and in the XVII century, were finally replaced with swords ,sabers and swords , which are essentially constituted its special, highly specialized ...