Sabre

The sabre is a one handed sword designed for cutting with a curved blade which has a single edge for the most part, but has an often wider double edged lower part of the blade. A curved blade offers increased cutting effect and also a longer cutting edge compared with a straight bladed sword. The origins of the sabre come from the nomadic horsemen such as the Mongols, and has throughout history been associated with horsemen. earliest archaeological evidence is from the 6th century Avars who raided the Franconian and Byzantine Empires. With their defeat the sabre seemed to disappear only to make a come back two centuries later with the Hungarian tribes. The widespread use of the sabre in the Turkish empire of the 14th century brought the weapon greater fame and widespread use. From the 16th century it became associated with light cavalry and this association was to continue during the Napoleonic wars where sabres were used by light cavalry such as light dragoons and Hussars and became something of a status symbol in many Eastern Europe countries and for a time in Russia. The sabre remained in service for considerable time and was later seen as an officers weapon with a separate infantry sabre evolving.
How to cite this article: Dugdale-Pointon, TDP. (30 September 2001), Sabre, http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/weapons_sabre.html

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