The Small Sword

One of the more effective “dueling” weapons, the small sword has quite the reputation. Today it is mostly used as a decorative piece on military uniforms for ceremonies and parades but the small sword, or court sword, is one of the grandfather swords of the whole fencing tradition.

A thrusting weapon, the sword’s design evolved out of the rapier’s design. The long and heavy rapier was used in the late Renaissance and was a clunky sort of weapon. The wielder would hack, slash, and thrust at their opponents only to wear themselves out. The short sword eliminated a lot of the bulkiness of the weapon and allowed for a much more finesse based style of sword play and it is because of this that it should be no surprise that the weapon originated in France before becoming popular and spreading like wildfire across all of Europe.

The small sword is a relatively short weapon. It is usually constructed to be about 24 to 33 inches long. The blades will most commonly taper at the end to create a sharp stabbing point and some of these swords will lack a bladed cutting edge all together. As you can see, this sword was for thrusting into an opponent, not for chopping them down or slashing them open.

The short sword’s hilt has developed over time but has always retained one simple quality: guard the hand of the sword fighter from his opponent. The styles have ranged from the encapsulating lobed style to the half shell, and more recently to help with sheathing the weapon and holding it on a belt, the disk guard or figure-8 lunette.

“Dodge, parry, thrust,” as Daffy Duck once famously said while wielding a small sword is the foundation of small sword technique. It is easy to see the skill involved while watching two sports fencers duel with their épées which is a derivate weapon to the small sword. The fighter will stand off at an angle pointing the sword forward in one hand at his opponent while shielding his other behind his back or at his side.

On the field this weapon was commonly a last resort or close to it. Unlike its father the Rapier, there wasn’t much length to work with so it was difficult to keep the opponent far away. The fencing technique developed out of the necessity to elongate the body so as to strike farther and faster, attacking critical points on the opponent with the sharpened point of the sword rather than the blunt edges.

The weapon was in practical use until around the midpoint of World War II but the legacy of the small sword lives on in the bayonet. Once affixed to the end of a soldier’s rifle the bayonet acts very similar to a small sword. The bayonet is primarily a thrusting weapon and so many of the same techniques can still apply. Of course it is useful to use the butt of the rifle as a striking weapon when wielding a bayonet and the small sword didn’t have that kind of utility.  The U.S. Army Manuel of Bayonet Drill still includes to this day instructions on typically how one would fight on foot using a small sword.

The construction, design, and fighting style of the small sword lies at the foundation of Western military close combat traditions. It is an important historical weapon and has been made famous by depictions of its use by authors like Monsieur J. Olivier and Domenico Angelo.

The small sword may be small in name, but it is not a weapon to be trifled with.