What is a sword?
A: A sword is an edged, bladed weapon intended for manual cutting or
thrusting.
Its blade, longer than a knife or dagger, and is
attached to a what?
A: Hilt
It can be straight or what?
A: Curved.
A thrusting sword tends to have a straighter blade with
a what?
A: A pointed tip.
A slashing sword is more likely to be what?
A: Curved and to have a sharpened cutting edge on one or both sides of the
blade.
Many swords are designed for what?
A: Both thrusting and slashing.
The precise definition of a sword varies by what?
A: Historical epoch and geographic region.
Historically, the sword was developed in what age?
A: The Bronze Age.
What did it evolve from?
A: From the dagger.
The earliest specimens date to when?
A: About 1600 BC.
The later Iron Age sword remained fairly short and
without a what?
A: A crossguard.
The spatha, as it developed in the Late Roman army,
became the predecessor of what?
A: The European sword of the Middle Ages.
At first adopted as the what?
A: Migration Period sword.
In the High Middle Ages it developed into the what?
A: Classical arming sword with crossguard.
The use of a sword is known as what?
A: Swordsmanship or, in a modern context, as fencing.
In the Early Modern period, western sword design
diverged into what two forms?
A: The thrusting swords and the sabers.
Thrusting swords such as the rapier and eventually the
smallsword were designed to do what?
A: Impale their targets quickly and inflict deep stab wounds.
Their long and straight yet light and well-balanced
design made them what?
A: Highly maneuverable and deadly in a duel but ineffective when used in a
slashing or chopping motion.
A well-aimed lunge and thrust could do what?
A: End a fight in seconds with just the sword's point.
The sabre and similar blades such as the cutlass were
built more heavily and were more typically used in what?
A: Warfare.
It was built for slashing and chopping at what?
A: Multiple enemies, often from horseback.
Most sabers had sharp points and double-edged blades,
making them capable of doing what?
A: Piercing soldier after soldier in a cavalry charge.
Sabers continued to see battlefield use until when?
A: The early 20th century.
The US Navy kept tens of thousands of sturdy cutlasses
in their armory well into what?
A: World War II and many were issued to Marines in the Pacific as jungle
machetes.