Why medieval Europe didn't use curved swords...

Why medieval Europe didn't use curved swords? Some say ''muh plate'' but plate armor is a very late addition to the medieval warfare, for a lot of time chainmail was the best someone could get and most people didn't even have that so a sabre would be perfect to cut down lightly armored opponents.

Curved swords are primarily useful for fighting on horseback because they are good for slashing. However, in Europe the lance was more popular as a weapon to be used on horseback. Swords were seen as weapons to be used when on foot.

but Russians and Lithuanians had sabres despite also using a lance as their primarily besides that doesn't explain why knights had swords alongside their lance. Why didn't they have a sabre or something similar as their back up instead?

Because thrusting gives you more reach, and a straight sword can hold two edges.

>Why medieval Europe didn't use curved swords?
They did...

and what are your examples?

They were also used primarily by horse riders.
On foot a straight blade is better.
You can see the same thing in Asia between China and Japan.
Japan used mounted warriors for their warrior caste and made curved blades. China primarily used foot soldiers and used straight swords.

but China did issue their footsoldiers with daos and that still doesn't explain why didn't european horse riders use curved blades

The Jian was far more common for foot soldiers for most of Chinese history.

>y my cartoon only sticks straight
>me like curvy stick more

that still doesn't fucking explain why european cavalry didn't use sabres holy shit how retarded are you?

Because they used lances at the time you are asking about. That was already explained. Are you stupid?

Byzantium

Did medieval cataphrats have sabres?

but they still had fucking swords as their back up you retard I'm asking why knights had longswords instead of sabres

besides mongol heavy cavalry also had lances yet they used sabres alongside them

Byzantines were not european

Falchions

Because Europeans did not fight mounted with swords. Mongols and Cossacks did. Straight blades are far superior to curved in foot combat. What part of this do you not understand? This was all already explained.

Nah but there's depictions and relics

>stops your curved sword

Paramerion

From Senegal to Japan curved swords are the norm, apparently the Greeks also had them but they weren't popular in Europe until the 17th century.

That sword is a premedieval sword though. That is why there are depictions and relics. That depiction is not a medieval era person either.

If they were mainly used on horseback why the saber became basically the main sword type in general later on?

Older Byzantine blade next to Serbian blade from Belgrade museum

European and Chinese people both had curved blades in the past yes, they replaced them with superior straight swords because swords were a foot troop weapon not a mounted troop weapon. And dismounted the straight sword is superior.

Because swords stopped being a foot weapon once you have line infantry and the like.
Swords became ceremonial or cavalry. And it's easier to make one model of sword then multiple when most non mounted swords almost never see actual use.

>in the history of Europe, the Middle Ages (or Medieval Period) lasted from the 5th century to the 15th century.

I see, that makes a lot of sense actually.
And then later cavalry was ditched and only the cerimonial usage remained.

read the fucking post will you?

Mongols didn't use swords as their main weapon you retard

it's the other way around, Jian was replaced by Dao

I was memeing, calm down

no, that wasn't meming that was reading only a part of the post and responding like a retard

jokes on you, I was only pretending to be retarded, you took my bait so easily

>Europeans did not fight mounted with swords
are you sure about that

>35 replies
>12 posters
>only one mention of falchions
>no mention of messers

The absolute fucking state...

see
And I'm here so have no fear

First of all, horsemen almost universally used either spears or bows as their primary weapons, the sword was a side-arm, a backup weapon they carried just in case or for specif situations such as fighting in a chaotic melees.
Secondly, sabers are thought to have been developed and spread to the rest of the world mainly by nomadic horse cultures. The reason for their popularity amongst such cultures is primarily because a curved blade allows a horseman to strike an opponent while riding by him without hurting his wrist or losing his sword; The more curved the blade is, the easier it will slide off the target's body while cutting.
Lastly, the reason curved swords didn't become common in Europe (excluding falchions and messers which weren't particularly curved) until latter on is the armour that they had. Even if you discount plate, you still have to deal with mail and gambesons, usually both at the same time. Mail is pretty much immune to cuts and padded armour is very resistant as well, leaving thrusts the only real option to dispatch someone wearing them.

That's the one mention.

Western warfare are defense oriented so they used swords to defend more than attack and only really needed stabbing weapons when they want to attack.

rather than fast-paced destruction it was all about long drawn out clusterfucks that made everyone regretful from the Greeks to WWI

Sabers weren't used as much because a saber is pretty useless when fighting armored opponents. Europeans, at least western ones, favored axes, maces, and swords because they could counter other armored soldiers much more easily. The types of helmets used also impacted this, as slashing full helms is useless. Eastern warriors, included Byzantium, used sabers because even the mounted warriors of the opposing side had open faced helmets and made extensive use of fabric armor. Lastly, tradition heavily influenced European sword design, as Roman swords were straight and used for stabbing. The use if certain swords is also influenced by time period, as Norman Knights using sabers was definatly not a rare occurance.

>hello medieval blacksmith can you just produce these weird curved swords for me now

Chainmail armor defeats slashing weapons almost as well as plate, and was common even in the early middle ages.

FUCKING HELL Veeky Forums WHY IS NOBODY TAKING ABOUT FALCHIONS, MESSERS, DUSACKS, AND ALL THE OTHER EUROPEAN CURVED SWORDS

...

>Why medieval Europe didn't use curved swords?
You mean like this? Curved swords were fairly common, in particular for civilian self-defence purposes.

Are you implying the Roman Empire wasn’t European?

In general the fact that Western Europe used straight swords can probably be traced back to the Celtic long sword and gladius being in vogue in antiquity. Blacksmiths were more exposed to straight swords so that’s what they made, Eastern Europe had more exposure to steppe nomads that used curved swords, and their geography makes horsemen more useful in general

Mail defends against slashing. /End thread

We wuz katanaz and shiet

Arabs/Turks/Persians used chainmail or mail-and-plate with gambesons extensively as well yet continued to use curved swords during the medieval era.

i guess maybe they had a different fighting style

Muslims focused on powerful slashes and light armor, while in europe they had a powerful lance charge and then they switch to close combat with slashes and stabs and wore heavy armor, or in later times on powerful blunt hits with their maces to penetrate even heavier armor

Europeans switched to curved swords in the 18th-19th centuries when armor became obsolete and only light cavalry was used to chase down and slash fleeing enemies

>t. German

Compare the geographic condition and its location from the steppes of those people then compare it to Western Europe.

Straight swords are better

The Arabs had straight swords for the most part. Also, they mostly used maces and axes.

No,the jian was far rarer than the singled edged dao which was replaced by the saber after the Mongol conquests.