I got a really bad cut on my leg as a kid climbing an iron wire fence once, I still have a scar. I didn't go to the hospital or even told my parents until later because I wanted to keep playing, just put a band aid over it. If I was a secondary character in a movie I would be already dead.
Well yeah, small (or sometimes large) wounds won't really get infected if you don't smear dirt directly into it and we know for a fact that they cleaned wounds and applied clean bandage around the wounds from medical texts of the time. So while microscopical organisms killed more it wasn't usually a wound getting infected, they knew how to deal with that shit. But dysentry and other things that they had no idea what caused it.
Infection is less of a risk from a blade cut because you can clean the cut pretty easily and it''s not going to carry dirt, bits of clothing, or whatever deep into the wound like bullets do. But anything that pierced your chest or abdominal cavity, and especially if it punctured a lung or digestive organ, was a sure death sentence.
I had a similar experience to Shad’s but I got a pencil go between right above my eye. All i saw was red out of one eye and barely anything out of the other. (Also cause most of my sight was covered in blood). I also didn’t feel any pain.
I think you’re over estimating how lethal decapitations are, I was once decapitated and I proceeded to beat them to death with their own liver. Never found my body though, very inconvenient
4nderzzon that makes the guillotine that much more scary. Imagine having your head in a basket looking back upon it’s body and the people responsible for their death. Frightening
You can trust Shad... I mean he wears glasses which he moves while talking. If anime has taught me anything is that, people who touch their glasses while speaking are really smart and are never mistaken.
WWI infantry had rifle bayonets (effectively arming them with a spear) for close warfare. But most discarded these in favour of sharpened digging spades (which would be more axe-like). Apparently bayonets stuck firmly in a man's ribs after you stabbed him hard enough to matter and the time it took for you to work it out would get you killed in the trenches while your opponents could keep swinging those crescent-bladed spades without pause.
@@pwnmeisterage Actually Clubs of all sort got real popular but it mainly a case of what type of attack your were doing. I have seen way more examples of hand made clubs than the only one example of sharpened digging spade I have seen. Raids sneaking into trenches or when trenches of each side hit each other clubs and your sharpened spade would come in use because there was not the room to use a poll-arm which is what a Bayonet on a Rifle is. But when charging into a trench the Bayonet could be great as it gave you range over the shorter weapons especially stabing down into the trench from above. Example from movie "they shall never grow old" soldier relates how he took out several with his Bayonet after surviving the charge involved. He said he stabbed one and then kept going along stabbing people with it.
I worked on an ambulance for a short time. You'd be amazed at how much damage people can take and survive. I've seen people walking around with serious life threatening injuries. It's actually pretty hard to kill people unless you hit some very specific spots.
I also worked as an EMT and was always amazed at how many times someone really hosed up would pull through and and that someone showing almost no trauma but with an increasingly distended abdomen would expire. My department had a patient welfare form we could fill out to find out how they fared later
In gunfighting there is something known as "the dead man's ten" - the ten seconds of good action you have left after receiving a fatal wound before you black out and die. Unless you "unplug" them with a hit to the lower brain or spinal cord (small targets entirely shielded in think bone), the dead man's ten applies. For gunfighting, this is the justification for the mag dump policies of police departments that give them so much grief. Essentially you are increasing the odds of an instant unplugging stop, making sure a fatal hit is made, AND filling up the time in those ten seconds with noise, flash, and fresh pain so that the person they are shooting at is too distracted to react and fire back during those all important ten seconds. Sword wounds are also going to follow the same limitations. A sword thrust to the heart is not going to take your ten. In fact, so long as it stays in the wound you might have some goodly fighting left (the removal is the real start to the countdown). That is also rare because hearts are deep - almost back at the spine. Some wounds would unplug, as you mention, like a beheading. Others would just start the ten, like fatal chest thrusts or something like severing off a hand or leg. That said, the ten still applies and with quick medical treatment (a tourniquet), even the loss of a limb could be survivable. In real battle, however, you don't have to kill the other guy. If you wound him, he is going to withdraw if he can, as you have giving him a reason to leave the battlefield with his honor intact and without being labeled a deserter.
Oakspar Oakspar - If you have a moment check out this documentary of the medieval battlefield graves of the battle of Visby on the island of Gotland. Go to 38:10 in the documentary to see the damage swords did as evidenced by the recovered skeletons: th-cam.com/video/TxkgBDaVsP0/w-d-xo.html The battle of Visby was fought in 1361, between invading Danish and German mercenaries and farmers from Gotland trying to defend their homeland. Because the peasants were not well equipped and did not have armor below the waist, the invaders seem to have adopted the strategy of hacking at the lower extremities. There are incredible examples in the video showing feet and legs that have been sheared cleanly through the bone in one powerful sword cut. The documentary is worthwhile if you are interested in medieval arms and armor. The graves on Gotland are the largest and most complete collections from a medieval battle ever found.
As a veteran combat medic the biggest shocker I learned is that evisceration is severe, but not immediately life threatening. Just a little knowledge bomb
Yes and Yes. Serious bleeding even proceeds breathing. An arterial bleed will kill you in about a minute. You can go without breathing for 5 to 7 before there are issues from it.
Ouch. Yeah, that's the kind of thing that's important to know but also quite messed up. Still I don't envy you being a medic... Supposedly the medics are the highest risk group for developing PTSD later on. I'm honestly not surprised given what you must be dealing with in a regular basis...
KuraIthys It takes a special kind, that is for sure. We learn to cope in different ways, like regular doctors and nurses. I picked up a rather dark sense of humour, which is one of the more common ones
David Christensen im joining up to the royal marines and it always did concern me thinking about which poor medic and the lads are gunna have to pick up my pieces should the worst happen. I wouldnt want to do that.
"Tis but a scratch" came before "your arm's off". The Black Knight's last response was actually, "I've had worse", prompting Arthur to yell, "You liar!"
I watched all those shock videos when I was younger. You probably know the ones. Back then it was nothing... Nowadays I turned into a pussy and no way in hell am I about to look that up and watch a dude get chopped up. I can do SAW movies, but real bestgore type shit nah lmao.
Same, most of them the people are just acting tough and playing chicken without hitting each other. Some are smart and use a plastic chair or garbage can as a shield. I don’t understand how some people can be dumb enough to have a one handed only weapon and every time they get swung at they throw up their arm instinctively, yet not use something people used for thousands of year to protect themselves.
Fun fact: Same does aplly to grenades fired on tanks. If the alignment is to bad the shot doesnt go through at does only damage on the surface (A scratch). Because the distance to pass through increases with each degree alignment (Ideal degree 90 to the point you hit, were the effectiv thickness is 100%; the less the more it increases). At 45° (a diagonal hit) you are at around +40% effectiv thickness. At for example 20° you are at almost 3 times the thickness. Effectiv thicknes= Nominal thicknes * (1/ (sin x)). 'x' beeing the degree you hit from (90° when hit straight through). Same with skin and cuts. Its simple: Good aiming is essential to cut through anything (even paper).
Hollywood likes to also do the same thing with firearms, regardless of where the hero shoots the person dies instantly. "Oh you where shot in the shoulder? Well you obviously died immediatly, even with that full metal jacket, which is meant to actually reduce lethality"
FMJ bullets aren’t intended to reduce lethality, they’re meant to increase reliability and decrease lead fouling. They also have the effect of increasing penetration which is good or bad depending on cartridge type, range, and application. In rifles they can be less deadly, with certain notable exceptions. In pistol calibers it’s very complicated and depends greatly on the specific cartridge.
In my experience hunting sometimes animals shot appear to drop dead immediately, while other times animals shot through the heart and/or lungs with a relatively powerful rifle will haul ass for a few seconds.
Bad Cattitude you’re also right and wrong. Mostly right. Like I said earlier, expanding bullets make rifles a lot deadlier. That’s really the reason for the rule in the Hague convention. They’re deadlier because they transfer a great deal of energy in the form of hydraulic shock. Pistol rounds generally don’t have enough energy to take advantage of hydraulic shock on a human target. There’s a lot of talk about .45 acp being more effective in FMJ form than 9mm but there just isn’t any evidence for that. 9mm is in fact a very effective cartridge. The military has found it to be about as effective as .45 acp as have law enforcement. To provide evidence for my claim that hollow points aren’t more effective in pistol calibers you can look at NYPD shooting statistics. They switched from 9mm FMJ to 9mm hollow point in 1997 (I think, maybe 1996 or 1998) but the rate of deadliness didn’t significantly change. The only major advantage of hollow points in calibers like 9mm and .45acp (which produce similar energies in standard pressure variants) is that they pose less danger to bystanders because they’re less likely to exit the body or ricochet.
And even then, the disposition of the person can play a role. There really is such a thing as 'will to live' though in this context it's often more of a 'will to live long enough to kill the guy that killed you'.
I recently cosplayed as the black knight from monty python in London MCM comic con, literally every other person was shouting out quotes as i walked by, England is so great.
In the 70s, sure, but starting in the 1980s swords of quality might do 1d10 + 1. (Obligatory old dude nerd dick wave: I bought the original Dungeon Master's Guide the day it came out.)
Brian Sly If the medical tech is advanced enough they could live for a fair number of years afterwards. They would likely die as a result of toxic medication like mercury and not because of infection
@@erojerisiz1571 I get that you are insinuating that I've overlooked Doctors roles in saving lives, but depending on the era this protagonist is living in, That "brrrr" could be the doctor thrumming his index finger over his mouth while he treats open wounds by packing them with feces, or eye injuries by dribbling a cadavers ground up skull into it. Doctors have come a VERY long way, but even in modern hospitals, when it comes multiple deep lacerations and puncture wounds, survival is less than certain. My favourite saying about knife combat is: "The winner of a knife fight is the one that makes it to the hospital first." Still, if the protagonist lives in modern times, and gets to a hospital, and treated fast enough their chance of survival is pretty good, I will give you that. Hopefully wherever they are getting sliced to ribbons has several people who frequently pass nearby, are able to render competent first aid, and will call for an ambulance. So... Not in a back alley or the depth of a villians lair.
@@mosisusasu9205 that one is not going to take days to kill you. In fact, it will be hours at most. If your intestines get open, the amount of bacteria which will spill everywhere is enough that your body does not know how to deal with it. Unless you get medical help, your body will go into something resembling coma in a couple hours or so.
Actually the term deadman walking comes from being shot in the abdoman somone can seem fine for days but in that time they wouldnt survive it is the worst way to die
Swords were obviously so effective, that you could cut through plate, male, gambeson, flesh aaaaand bones in one swing without any difficulty. Don't you watch any kind of movie?!
without any difficulty ?!?!?!?!? those effects shots take a lot of time and effort to do and are in fact difficult to do .... well, at least to do well :D Trouble with plot armour is that you end up with a load of plot holes ....
Watch the SECOND duel in "The Duellists", where they're fighting on foot with sabers. You'll see how much damage can be done to a body and still allow the person to keep fighting. Another factor in the lethality of swords(or ANY weapon, for that matter) in a fight is the strength and stamina of the person(s) engaged. One CAN receive a mortal wound, and still live long enough to kill one's opponent
It was said that Theoderic once cleaved the Lombard king, Odovacar in half lengthwise with a two hander. To be honest I might prefer that political system to this one...
Cut my big toe off in a lawnmower a few weeks ago, didnt feel a thing until later that night when the adrenaline finally wore off. It didn't really bleed that much when I elevated the wound, so I guess if I was in a sword fight and I got a few fingers cut off I would easily still be able to fight the rest of the battle. Bottom line is you gotta be pretty accurate with your blows if you want to kill someone within a few hours.
Point of clarification, for what it's worth; I attended and filmed the lecture, it was published under Mike's production company. All credit of course goes to Mike Edelson. He did all the real work. Good vid, Shad. Cheers!
11:38 Recreating historical swordsmanship is hard, because when you break someone's nose with your elbow, their knee with a kick, or their skull with your pommel, you suddenly sent to jail. HEMA is not historical european martial arts, its SAFE historical european martial arts.
People don't understand just how much the human body can take and how amazing it can be at suppressing pain. There are accounts of people getting shot and only feeling a slight stinging, not realizing they'd even been shot until they saw the blood. Most accounts I've heard have stated that the recovery is much more painful than the event.
@@prestontheinconsistentyout1573 A good, solid peace treaty will leave your A10 low on fuel with all its ammo stored in another hanger and nobody willing to fly it except for maintenance purposes. ;)
I do think it's necessary that you point out the difference between sharpening and honeing. Usually When someone thinks their knife has gone dull they really just have a rolled edge .This can be easily fixed by stropping the blade on Leather bringing it back to razor sharpness . And I am a professional Blade sharpener .
On the point of individual continuing to fight after sustaining injury. There are reports from US soldiers in both the Filipino Insurrection & Somalia where enemy combatants who had sustained lethal gunshot wounds kept fighting because of adrenaline & combat drugs. Also there are reports from police officers of perpetrators on PCP receiving lethal gunshot wounds & continuing to fight.
@@brucetucker4847 They can give them a few seconds, and in modern gunfights where even headshots may result a lined up shot being fired by already dead shooter's gun killing others it's a big difference. Shooting someone who doesn't flinch and can calmy aim right before dying is a scary proposition
zaqzilla1 General Nathaniel Greene of the American Revolutionary Southern force (who basically won the war by luring Cornwallis into a false sense of security) was shot 6 times in a single battle, and went on to live a relatively long life. Human bodies aren’t nearly as fragile as Hollywood likes to pretend
Hey shad! I just wanted to let you know you content is absolutely awesome, even though you'll probably never see this. I usually listen to your videos and swedish ballads during my writing, and it really helps me keep informed in my writing and just in general. thank you for existing!
I've always maintained that there are "cuts" and there are "cuts," as in the difference between a laceration that looks dramatic but might only kill through bleeding, versus a bone cleaving chop that's similar to what is done in a slaughterhouse to animal carcasses. The battle of Killecrankie between the Scots and the Brits in 1689 illustrates this point nicely, from an eye witness account: "On the morning after the battle - for night had thrown its curtain over the horrors of the scene, before the extent of the carnage could be ascertained - the field of battle and the ground between it and the river, extending as far as the pass, presented an appalling spectacle in the vast numbers of the dead which strewed the savage and unrelenting ferocity with which Mackay's men had been hewn down by the Highlanders. Here might be seen a skull which had been struck off above the ears by a stroke from a broad-sword - there a head lying near the trunk from which it had been severed - here an arm or a limb - there a corpse laid open from the head to the brisket; while interspersed among these lifeless trunks, dejectaque membra, were to be seen broken pikes, small swords and muskets, which had been snapped asunder by the athletic blows of the Lochaber axe and broad-sword." These are the sort of cuts that blast through the clavicle or frontal bone to enter the chest cavity or braincase, resulting in a gruesome but mercifully quick conflict resolution.
I have no quarrel with you, good Sir knight, but I must cross this bridge, Shad has uploaded a new video for me, King of the Britons, and I shan't miss it!
There is a lot of validity to that "context". When I was a teen, I fought with katana and was very good at it. I had an instructor that was a master of Kenjutsu teaching me. Outside of his guidance and watchful eye, I had sparred on my own time with real blades (stupid, I know). The very first bad injury I had sustained was a cut to the neck, right between my throat and left artery. The blade had left the wakazashi and spun toward me. Everything became slow motion and I was able to dodge most of the hit. The the last few inches of the blade cut my neck open and the spine spun around and hit my throat. That was actually the worst part of the injury, causing problems for me for years after. I don't know how sharp the edge was, but it did a lot of damage, despite a light and quick cut. I have a small and shallow scar across my stomach on the right side, as well as a cut on my wrist right side. The one on the wrist was from a blade lock gone bad. All in all, those injuries didn't bleed much, but could have been so much worse, even with a dull blade. Dull being in comparison to someone who maintains their sword edge.
One of my favorite parts of the many Conan novels I read was Conan and a sword fighter discussing the broadsword (really an arming sword, but whatever) vs the rapier. Conan said, "I've seen a man take a thrust to the heart, go on to kill his opponent and two others before falling over a stool and dying. Split a man's skull to the teeth and, if he doesn't fall over right away, walk around and see what he's leaning against." Brilliant! Contrast that with Hollywood showing us time after time a man dying instantly from one GSW to the heart. Pow. Looks shocked. Falls down. Dies.
Not sure if you've already done a video on this, but I would love to see a video on how deadly war hammers, maces, or various blunt weapons were in real life as compared to swords. I've heard it said that the sheer force behind such weapons could make them deadlier as opposed to the emphasis put on cutting as in swords.
Internal organs and the brain will take much more damage from blunt weapons such as warhammers and maces when encased in armor(plate armor in this case), due to the internal concussive tremors that triggers and ''explodes'' inwards on impact with the armor, while not as lethal when no mail or plate(especially plate) armor is present. Then there's also the fact that your bones will often break even in armor when getting hammered by these blunt weapons. A gambeson would do the trick at having an easier time surviving the encounter, although it would definitely hurt getting hit by one anywhere on the body, unless the gambeson is so thick you can barely feel the mace or warhammer. Even when wearing a helmet, a hit to the helmet encased head(with either a mace or warhammer, or a flail for that matter) will cause a loud painful and tremendous bang that will also send tremors into the brain which might very well cause hemorrhaging. You might very well be able to kill someone with a mace when the target is not in armor, but it isn't as quick or as easy to do as with a sword or even a spear, axe or a knife. Takes longer time, depending on where you're aiming and keep hitting, but no matter where you're hitting, chopping someone's head off is much more effective and time saving than trying to kill someone by bashing someone to death, and taking time with it might be inconvenient. Not to mention more tiresome, since you have to keep hitting the target until it's dead, which might take some time, and most of the time you won't kill someone outright with a blunt weapon, no matter if it's a mace or warhammer(maybe a poleaxe or polehammer will do the trick in that regard). With a sword you save so much energy and time and can end your opponent so much easier and with less effort. That was more of a wall of text than I intended, but my thoughts carried me away. xP I hope it was helpful, informative, interesting and not too much to read for you. :)
With that being said, I'd also like to see that video of Shad's. Him covering these topics and hearing his personal thoughts and opinions is very interesting and rewarding stuff. ^^ I learn much from him and other HEMA enthusiasts/practitioners, such as Matt, Skall, Metatron and Lloyd(well, reenactments in the case of Lloyd, but he knows quite a bit of the topic atleast so he definitely counts ;P).
And yes Shad did cover in this video that killing someone outright isn't always so easy, even with a sword, if you're not doing it right. But it is atleast much easier with a sword than a club weapon, again, such as a mace. I hope I'm not sounding like a lunatic now. x) I don't mean to come across as one. I mean, killing with swords, knives, spears, axes and clubs was what people did back in the days after all(and bows and arrows and crossbows and bolts of course, let's not forget those ;P), so naturally there were right ways and wrong ways to end your opponents if you wanted to end them the quickest most efficient way, just like there always have been and just like there are to this day, and there always will be, just mostly with guns these days around.
I read an article years ago that examined numerous historical duels where one or both participants were badly wounded but fought on (sometimes both later dying). One fellow lost some fingers grabbing a blade and fought on, a fellow got a sword through the upper torso (and survived) and killed his opponent. It discussed wounds to different organs and the effects. Even had a 19th century brawl where a guy got wounded in the heart, walked several blocks to get a weapon and was heading back when he finally succumbed to his wound. Very interesting stuff and I can't find the damn article now.
I wonder why the Falchion didn't make a return to popularity after plate armor went out of fashion. Imagine if they brought them back into military service during the enlightenment period instead of moving to smallswords!
Smallswords were specifically intended for dueling. The point wasn't that they were particularly effective, it's that everyone would be armed with a similar weapon, and they weren't terribly cumbersome to wear around town and to dinner like rapiers were.
The extreme cutting power of a falchion wasn't needed to get through the military uniforms at the time, so we saw the adoption of the saber, which was designed with the same principles as the falchion, but traded a little of it's cutting power for other advantages. It wasn't the smallsword (which was really a dueling weapon) that succeeded the falchion, but the saber.
Flails we're actually very rarely used in historical medieval combat - if at all. There's some in paintings, but they're rarely mentioned in treatises. I think Matt Easton (Scholagladiatoria) has a video on it.
Simply put, movies, games, animes, and every other fantasy fictions have RUINED the lethality of sword by romanticizing its power. A need for dramatic effects to keep the audience in check, I suppose? However, just like everything else in life, the reality is far more complex due to the "context." I learned a lot from this video. Thank you, Mr. Shad.
Aqua Essence In the "realistic" fantasy I'm writing, I am really trying to bring an accurate presentation of the correct armor, weaponry, and most importantly, the methods and true effectiveness of such. And let me tell you, it is EXTREMELY hard. I never thought it would, but it can almost seem boring to say "the sword bounced harmlessly off his mail" instead of the Hollywood "The strike ignored the mail and cleaved his body in two!" Luckily, I've got the epic gentleman of the TH-cam sword community like Shad to help steer me along. :)
@@thehackingburger3002 What I use in my low fantasy story is that in order to justify the increased durability and lethality of swords (they can even be drawn from metal scabbards without dulling), they are made of a really strong metal I came up with. They may not cut through metal armor but they are certainly deadlier than swords in real life.
In Kendo (a Japanese sport based off of the samurai fighting style) the scoring system isn’t based off of contact, rather a point is awarded only when the judges can agree on it (usually they’re looking for how clean the strike was, how fast and how much commitment goes into it). On top of this there are only 3 main areas to strike that count as points, which is the “men”, (head) “kote” (hands) and “do” (body, specifically just above the hips). Kind of applies to the aspect of how realistic rewarding points in duels are when it comes to where you strike and how well.
I really enjoyed this video bc as an EMT trauma is the most interesting area of my job and I’d like to see a future video on medieval surgery for these kinds of wounds!
With two edges on most western swords..... is there any evidence to one edge being sharpened differently to another? A very small adjustment of bevel angle or adding a micro bevel would make a big difference to the durability of an edge.
Stuart Chignell There is some evidence that the edges may sometimes be kept at different levels of sharpness. I’m personally not aware of any record of this happening, mostly just hearsay- but it makes sense, from a certain point of view.
As far as I'm aware the only evidence of this being done systematically is on knives, things like clip point bowies, but even then it's questionable whether the difference in bevel is the cause of the clip point, or just an artifact of it. Probably closer to the two-different-edges idea would be some sabres, where the forte was (not always, but sometimes) somewhat dull. This made plenty of sense given that sabres parry directly edge on edge in the vast majority of cases, and the forte is the last place you want a blade to begin to chip.
I was actually talking to one of the smiths at "Arms and armor" about a custom piece, (Before I haz a no monies) and this fact came up. Problem is, its hard to shape the steel after the temper, and heat treat, and the heat treat will cause a asymmetrical blade to "saber" to one side. It can be reshaped, but that takes time and money. P.S. Realizing financial issues after exchanging several detailed emails with a smith is the single most embarrassing thing in the universe.
A castle upon a the back of a dragon could actually be very useful (of course considering it is a propah cahssle with propah machicolations, and ignoring the fact that even the dragon alone violates several laws of physics, but yeah, magic. Magic and machicolations)
I've always thought that if I ever designed a sword, the opening at the top of the sheath would have a sharpening groove where one typically draws the blade across to register it.
I would also vote for mace, fail or morning-star. Some call them blunt weapons, but having seen what a 3 pound ball of iron with a 3 inch spike can do to heavy plate armor I wouldn't exactly call them blunt... Swords are good against light armor, but nothing beats spiked blunt weapons against plate armor. Not only does the spikes penetrate it, but the blunt "ball" will also dent the armor, making it harder to move/breath. Always choose the right tool for the job, and you will see that there is no such ting as the most effective weapon. It all depends on the context, and this video presents that in a great way!
"I would also vote for mace, fail or morning-star." mace, fail or morning-star fail Dang, imagine the conversation in the armory! "I'll grab an awesome mace! What about you?" "I'll take an epic fail!" Couldn't resist, that typo was so juicy! :p ...If it even was a typo and not a next level joke instead. Either way, I couldn't stop giggling for quite some time.
I met a guy once who had a large sword, and bladed weapons collection. They were all laid out displayed around the room. After looking at some of them I picked one up, and of course he warned me they were sharp, but I ran my finger a small space along the edge, with very light pressure, and it cut me instantly, just like what you see in the movies. Like when Boromir does it with the shard of Narsil, it was exactly like that. I was surprised, and did not expect the cut. I've run my finger on knives plenty of times with no cut at all (of course I use only very light pressure, and kitchen or utility knives), but this time was different. Truly a slash from a sharp sword would slice you easily and deeply.
You should sharpen your kitchen knifes then. You'll appreciate it. Often times you don't realise how much nicer a sharp knife is until you try the difference. The way to check the sharpness of a blade is to run your thumb perpedicular to the edge by the way. I also made the same mistake as you, but you only do it once lol.
An important aspect that is over looked in both this and Skal's video is edge type. You can get an edge "razor sharp" by using a high grit stone to hone your edge which would give you very high levels of push cutting ability while destroying draw cut ability as shown in Skal's video. When you sharpen a straight razor, for instance, it's not uncommon to use a grit rating of 6k or more for the final edge. While this edge would be comfortable enough to smoothly shave your face, a butcher may use a coarse grit edge (say 325 grit) to maintain the tiny micro teeth that form the edge which will greatly help in draw cuts for cutting meats. Think of a microscopic saw. Great video btw!
I read an analysis of sword wounds in the napoleanic wars and it said that the French caused more casualties because their cavalry was trained to thrust whereas the British weren’t as effective because they were trained to slash.
Hello Shad, long time viewer, first time commenting. First off, as usual good video, but more importantly I'm happy to see the subject covered in the first place. So often we see swords shallowly depicted as good for this and less good for that without discussing the variance in the basic designs nor how little variables like sharpness and angles affect a strike. And we pretty much never hear about how rare "instakills" actually are, or were rather, in reality, which in a way undermines how gnarly and unpredictable two guys trying to kill each other could be. So thank you for addressing the topic, it helps to debunk the myth of killing being simple. I am curious however, would you be willing to do the same video subject, but regarding axes and their immediate kin such as the poleaxe and bardiche? I'd relish that as I'm sure many others watching would. :) Anyways, thanks again and Happy Halloween!
Movies in general likes to have inconsistency! Like, the hero might take several life threatening cuts, stabs, blows etc... while less important characters die instantly from smaller things. :P
How deadly a sword is, is dependent upon what sword you use, who's wielding it, whom or what you're wielding it against, and in which particular set of circumstances. These variable should always be taken into account, and yet, I cannot tell you how often a new sword enthusiast or an aspiring collector asks the dreaded novice question of, "So, what sword is the best?" I may have to just start sharing this video so I can save myself some time in answering. And for that, I have hit the "subscribe" button, so well done, sir!
When you were talking about the rules in HEMA I would just like to add that Matt Easton of Scholagladiatoria(as if anyone doesn't know who he is)made the excellent point that the benefit(and arguably the reason)for having different rulesets are for training different things. His main point was that if you only spar with one set of rules you will eventually learn to win within those rules rather than just learning to fight. Having different rules to essentially test different skills solves this problem in a rather excellent way. Link to Matt's video: th-cam.com/video/0pak-UC-1gc/w-d-xo.html
One of the hear representations of what you're talking about here is in Berzerk's Golden age Arc. The main character narrowly avoided getting his head split like a melon due to his opponents axe being chipped from wrecking a ton of armored opponents prior.
@@inthefade yeah, it's the battle where the Band of the Hawk first noticed Gutz and picked him up after. The duel with Bazuzo ( idk how to spell that properly )
Good for research for my fantasy novel Question if a sword stayed in a sheath for about 300 years underground and not rust will it still be very sharp after the 300 year time period?
Contact damage or corrosion are really the only ways to lose sharpness. When Peter Johnsson examined the Maurice of Turin sword so Albion could replicated it (the original is over 700 years old) he described the blade as being so sharp "you could sharpen a pencil with it, it is that sharp."
This reminds me of when the us military was considering stepping up from the traditional 9mm to something with more stopping power. I was just as surprised then to learn that even after having a clip emptied into them an enemy combatant could still retaliate to lethal effect! As fragile as a living thing may be a human can be surprisingly resilient when push comes to shove...
The FBI deemed the 10mm in the 80's too powerful. Lol Which it's not. They just weren't manly to use it. And they said as much. The female FBI couldn't use it as effective as the 9mm. And they were not using those Full Power 10mm loads from Underwood either. Now that's Power..
Idea for experiment Give 2 rival uncontacted tribes a surplus of medieval swords, plant hidden cameras all over the place and examine the tribes waging war against each other
I don know if this is a meme question, but I think not at all. When real people tried to hunt real big animals (elephants, whales) they sure as hell didn't use swords!
Well you haven't seen any dragons around lately, have you? So obviously they were all ended rightly. Komodo dragons are AWESOME. There's one at the Shark Reef in Vegas. He just sits there being awesome and flicking his tongue and you know he's thinking "Dude, if it weren't for that plate glass..."
You know those kitchen knife sharpeners that you just run the blade between. Need to put one of those in the sheath. That way sword will get sharper when put away and taken out.
No. Those tend to ruin the edge. It is the lack of knowing what sharp actually is that makes people think those work. Sharp in comparison isn't necessarily sharp.
@@SS2LP no, most of them do "sharpen" unless it has fine ceramic stones or the like, which are for honing an already sharp blade. They actually tear the edge up more than sharpen it, however. This depends on the sharpener, of course, but most kitchen sharpeners are actually ruining the blade more than maintaining it.
One of the important points about receiving a blow with a sword is that it can knock you out or break a bone even though it does not penetrate. This is because all of the force is still focused on a very narrow area. Also, ever had a strong hit on you hand? It can be strong enough that you lose grip as the pain is just mindblowingly flowing through all bones in your hand for several seconds. Haven't had that happen when I was high on adrenaline, though.
WHAT DO WE WANT?
*CONTEXT*
WHEN DO WE WANT IT?
*IT DEPENDS*
Hehehehe. Good one mate.
i.pinimg.com/originals/ee/37/e0/ee37e0d3a42e39061e95038e87d2a52a.jpg
Lol
Chanting commie dogs...
now I’ve seen it all 😂
Valerie Lastname 1kth like, just thought I’d announce that
I got a really bad cut on my leg as a kid climbing an iron wire fence once, I still have a scar. I didn't go to the hospital or even told my parents until later because I wanted to keep playing, just put a band aid over it.
If I was a secondary character in a movie I would be already dead.
Well yeah, small (or sometimes large) wounds won't really get infected if you don't smear dirt directly into it and we know for a fact that they cleaned wounds and applied clean bandage around the wounds from medical texts of the time. So while microscopical organisms killed more it wasn't usually a wound getting infected, they knew how to deal with that shit. But dysentry and other things that they had no idea what caused it.
Infection is less of a risk from a blade cut because you can clean the cut pretty easily and it''s not going to carry dirt, bits of clothing, or whatever deep into the wound like bullets do. But anything that pierced your chest or abdominal cavity, and especially if it punctured a lung or digestive organ, was a sure death sentence.
Top ten historical treatments of fighting wounds.
iafozzac Couldn't have been that bad if you just put a band aid on it. Band aids are tiny. Lol.
A family friend was a hairdresser who cut his palm slightly with his scissors. He died three days later.
The body is a very complicated thing.
VERY deadly, being killed by a sword has a 100% fatality rate!
Did you know: swords can kill~
So do humans.
So humans using swords are double as scary~
100 %?That's slightly overrated. Deduct any divine intervention, and we might settle with 99,9%.
People die when they are killed??!!
No I was killed by a sword once, I mean I had to go to the hospital obv but I’m fine now
I think Rasputin got killed once, but he didn't die, so they had to kill him two more times
"Half of my face was covered in blood. It was amazing!" and that's, Ladies and gentlemen, is mentality of a swordsman XD
I
Friends accidentally smacks my hand during sparring: "ohmygod are you okay?"
Hand swelling up: "Yeah!!"
I had a similar experience to Shad’s but I got a pencil go between right above my eye. All i saw was red out of one eye and barely anything out of the other. (Also cause most of my sight was covered in blood). I also didn’t feel any pain.
Yep or boxing/ marital arts
I think you’re over estimating how lethal decapitations are, I was once decapitated and I proceeded to beat them to death with their own liver. Never found my body though, very inconvenient
the head can survive for half a minute after being chopped off
@@4nd3rzzon unless your head hits the dirty floor... 5 second rule.
Hate when that happens.
4nderzzon that makes the guillotine that much more scary. Imagine having your head in a basket looking back upon it’s body and the people responsible for their death. Frightening
Then how are you typing this if you don't have any fingers?
You can trust Shad... I mean he wears glasses which he moves while talking.
If anime has taught me anything is that, people who touch their glasses while speaking are really smart and are never mistaken.
Can confirm!
_source: I wear glasses._
If he were to ever say "heh" whilst doing so, you'd know it's already too late to run.
No offense intended, but it usually also means a complete disinterest in the opposite/same sex... Wonder if that's true?
but also they are usually the bad guy
ARA ARA !
"Tis but a scratch!"
"A scratch? Your arm's off!"
"No it isn't!"
Sam Lucas "I've had worse" 😂
CrazyDrunkenBoxer 勇敢. Ikr once i got killed in a fight and still kept fighting taking dkwn my opponent before being revived
"I'll get you for that!"
"What are you gonna do; bleed on me?"
"tis but a flesh wound"!
Run awayyyyy
Blades are too complicated. All you need is a mace and a spear. Smashy Smashy, Stabby Stabby.
Why not have both in one and get a halberd.
WWI infantry had rifle bayonets (effectively arming them with a spear) for close warfare. But most discarded these in favour of sharpened digging spades (which would be more axe-like). Apparently bayonets stuck firmly in a man's ribs after you stabbed him hard enough to matter and the time it took for you to work it out would get you killed in the trenches while your opponents could keep swinging those crescent-bladed spades without pause.
@@pwnmeisterage Actually Clubs of all sort got real popular but it mainly a case of what type of attack your were doing. I have seen way more examples of hand made clubs than the only one example of sharpened digging spade I have seen. Raids sneaking into trenches or when trenches of each side hit each other clubs and your sharpened spade would come in use because there was not the room to use a poll-arm which is what a Bayonet on a Rifle is. But when charging into a trench the Bayonet could be great as it gave you range over the shorter weapons especially stabing down into the trench from above. Example from movie "they shall never grow old" soldier relates how he took out several with his Bayonet after surviving the charge involved. He said he stabbed one and then kept going along stabbing people with it.
Spear and large shield is the best combo ever. The Spartans knew this to be true.
More like warhammer smashy smashy
I worked on an ambulance for a short time. You'd be amazed at how much damage people can take and survive. I've seen people walking around with serious life threatening injuries. It's actually pretty hard to kill people unless you hit some very specific spots.
At the same time, someone can fall and smack their head on a wooden table and die. We are robust and we are fragile.
@@inthefade yea head is one of those very specific spots that can be very lethal if hit
I also worked as an EMT and was always amazed at how many times someone really hosed up would pull through and and that someone showing almost no trauma but with an increasingly distended abdomen would expire. My department had a patient welfare form we could fill out to find out how they fared later
Anonymity that’s cool that you could do the form
Blake Cook it certainly helped to not keep you up thinking about it
In gunfighting there is something known as "the dead man's ten" - the ten seconds of good action you have left after receiving a fatal wound before you black out and die. Unless you "unplug" them with a hit to the lower brain or spinal cord (small targets entirely shielded in think bone), the dead man's ten applies.
For gunfighting, this is the justification for the mag dump policies of police departments that give them so much grief. Essentially you are increasing the odds of an instant unplugging stop, making sure a fatal hit is made, AND filling up the time in those ten seconds with noise, flash, and fresh pain so that the person they are shooting at is too distracted to react and fire back during those all important ten seconds.
Sword wounds are also going to follow the same limitations. A sword thrust to the heart is not going to take your ten. In fact, so long as it stays in the wound you might have some goodly fighting left (the removal is the real start to the countdown). That is also rare because hearts are deep - almost back at the spine.
Some wounds would unplug, as you mention, like a beheading. Others would just start the ten, like fatal chest thrusts or something like severing off a hand or leg. That said, the ten still applies and with quick medical treatment (a tourniquet), even the loss of a limb could be survivable.
In real battle, however, you don't have to kill the other guy. If you wound him, he is going to withdraw if he can, as you have giving him a reason to leave the battlefield with his honor intact and without being labeled a deserter.
Oakspar Oakspar - If you have a moment check out this documentary of the medieval battlefield graves of the battle of Visby on the island of Gotland. Go to 38:10 in the documentary to see the damage swords did as evidenced by the recovered skeletons: th-cam.com/video/TxkgBDaVsP0/w-d-xo.html
The battle of Visby was fought in 1361, between invading Danish and German mercenaries and farmers from Gotland trying to defend their homeland. Because the peasants were not well equipped and did not have armor below the waist, the invaders seem to have adopted the strategy of hacking at the lower extremities. There are incredible examples in the video showing feet and legs that have been sheared cleanly through the bone in one powerful sword cut.
The documentary is worthwhile if you are interested in medieval arms and armor. The graves on Gotland are the largest and most complete collections from a medieval battle ever found.
Very interesting, I was always wondering about that. Typical Hollywood One-Shot Misconceptions
The heart is NOT “deep”. It basically fills the chest from anterior to posterior and from just behind the left nipple to just right of the sternum.
Gerrit van Heerden
Your correct and a sword thrust to the heart would cause immediate loss of perfusion. You would go down immediately.
I sense you that your interactions with violence up to this point are nil
As a veteran combat medic the biggest shocker I learned is that evisceration is severe, but not immediately life threatening. Just a little knowledge bomb
David Christensen So tuck guts back in and work on upper chest wounds?
Yes and Yes. Serious bleeding even proceeds breathing. An arterial bleed will kill you in about a minute. You can go without breathing for 5 to 7 before there are issues from it.
Ouch. Yeah, that's the kind of thing that's important to know but also quite messed up.
Still I don't envy you being a medic...
Supposedly the medics are the highest risk group for developing PTSD later on.
I'm honestly not surprised given what you must be dealing with in a regular basis...
KuraIthys It takes a special kind, that is for sure. We learn to cope in different ways, like regular doctors and nurses. I picked up a rather dark sense of humour, which is one of the more common ones
David Christensen im joining up to the royal marines and it always did concern me thinking about which poor medic and the lads are gunna have to pick up my pieces should the worst happen. I wouldnt want to do that.
This is why I love this guy.
Nearly nothing is overlooked and if he makes a mistake, he admits that!
"Real sharp" < "insanely sharp" < "real insanely sharp". I like these categories of the shaping of the sword edge, easy to understand.
Most professional blade sharpeners actually know these terms.
Real insanely sharp > 9000
not so sharp?
Should be "really" rather than "real". :P
You forgot "Mega incredibly sharp"
King Auther: your arm's off
black Knight: no it isn't
King auther: then what's that then
Black knight: tis but a strach
"Tis but a scratch" came before "your arm's off". The Black Knight's last response was actually, "I've had worse", prompting Arthur to yell, "You liar!"
@@matthewmuir8884 come on, ya pansy. Chicken, chickeeeen.
"A scratch you say"
Lol
That movie where that scene was great i loved it
Shad: "Don't recommend watching machete fights."
Me: TH-cam; "Machete fight."
I watched all those shock videos when I was younger. You probably know the ones. Back then it was nothing... Nowadays I turned into a pussy and no way in hell am I about to look that up and watch a dude get chopped up. I can do SAW movies, but real bestgore type shit nah lmao.
@Alexander The Great A nasty introduction to the Human Experience
@@boostio_music I can relate to that. We see violence and gore on movies and games and it looks cool there, but in reality... that stuff is sick.
@@boostio_music That's not being a pussy mate thats Empathy. Good on ya
Same, most of them the people are just acting tough and playing chicken without hitting each other. Some are smart and use a plastic chair or garbage can as a shield. I don’t understand how some people can be dumb enough to have a one handed only weapon and every time they get swung at they throw up their arm instinctively, yet not use something people used for thousands of year to protect themselves.
Very true, in a real fight bad edge alignement just doesn't cut it.
Bro
Gold my friend, gold
Indeed, you make a very good point.
Uhhhh
Fun fact: Same does aplly to grenades fired on tanks. If the alignment is to bad the shot doesnt go through at does only damage on the surface (A scratch). Because the distance to pass through increases with each degree alignment (Ideal degree 90 to the point you hit, were the effectiv thickness is 100%; the less the more it increases). At 45° (a diagonal hit) you are at around +40% effectiv thickness. At for example 20° you are at almost 3 times the thickness. Effectiv thicknes= Nominal thicknes * (1/ (sin x)). 'x' beeing the degree you hit from (90° when hit straight through). Same with skin and cuts. Its simple: Good aiming is essential to cut through anything (even paper).
“Your mother was a hamster, and your father smelt of elderberries!”
Well your father spoke French and your mother ate cow
Dont taunt me a second time!!
From Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
RUN AWAY...RUN AWAY...
He is brave sir robin
Hollywood likes to also do the same thing with firearms, regardless of where the hero shoots the person dies instantly. "Oh you where shot in the shoulder? Well you obviously died immediatly, even with that full metal jacket, which is meant to actually reduce lethality"
tristin arnold
Don't forget to mention they will fly 30 meters in the air
FMJ bullets aren’t intended to reduce lethality, they’re meant to increase reliability and decrease lead fouling. They also have the effect of increasing penetration which is good or bad depending on cartridge type, range, and application.
In rifles they can be less deadly, with certain notable exceptions. In pistol calibers it’s very complicated and depends greatly on the specific cartridge.
tristin arnold Heroes also get hit on their legs and shoulders/arms. Never on their perfectly good bullet resistant vests
In my experience hunting sometimes animals shot appear to drop dead immediately, while other times animals shot through the heart and/or lungs with a relatively powerful rifle will haul ass for a few seconds.
Bad Cattitude you’re also right and wrong. Mostly right.
Like I said earlier, expanding bullets make rifles a lot deadlier. That’s really the reason for the rule in the Hague convention. They’re deadlier because they transfer a great deal of energy in the form of hydraulic shock.
Pistol rounds generally don’t have enough energy to take advantage of hydraulic shock on a human target. There’s a lot of talk about .45 acp being more effective in FMJ form than 9mm but there just isn’t any evidence for that. 9mm is in fact a very effective cartridge. The military has found it to be about as effective as .45 acp as have law enforcement.
To provide evidence for my claim that hollow points aren’t more effective in pistol calibers you can look at NYPD shooting statistics. They switched from 9mm FMJ to 9mm hollow point in 1997 (I think, maybe 1996 or 1998) but the rate of deadliness didn’t significantly change. The only major advantage of hollow points in calibers like 9mm and .45acp (which produce similar energies in standard pressure variants) is that they pose less danger to bystanders because they’re less likely to exit the body or ricochet.
It's like asking how lethal a bullet is... It depends on the bullet and where it hits someone.
And even then, the disposition of the person can play a role. There really is such a thing as 'will to live' though in this context it's often more of a 'will to live long enough to kill the guy that killed you'.
Swords are just metal sticks when compared to the true lethal weapon:
*The pommel*
The sword is just the pommel's pommel.
@@wouldhave4998 1000 IQ
@@wouldhave4998 then it should be more deadly
Isn't that Lethal Weapon 6? and does Bruce Willis need the bucks?
The tongue
I recently cosplayed as the black knight from monty python in London MCM comic con, literally every other person was shouting out quotes as i walked by, England is so great.
What are you going to do? Bleed on me?
Alright, we'll call it a draw!
Trade me cherries, peasant!!!
Where's my schwubbery ??????????????????? !
@@freezatron Wrong scene. That's the Knights Who Say Ni
Everyone knows that all swords are within the 1d6 to 1d10 range. It's common knowledge.
Unless fighting large opponents - then they do more damage. :)
Too bad you don't get to roll for shock. XD
That's hilarious!
In the 70s, sure, but starting in the 1980s swords of quality might do 1d10 + 1.
(Obligatory old dude nerd dick wave: I bought the original Dungeon Master's Guide the day it came out.)
BS, a zweihander have 2d6
Of course swords are as deadly as the plot demands it.
So... all those protagonists that suffer many cuts and survive is more plausible than the grunts that die from one cut?
Sure, if the protagonist dies afterwards. haha
Plot armour and plot weapons (one-hit kills everything that isn't wearing plot armour)
Lol they slash, which does nothing when the opponent is wearing chain mail.
Brian Sly If the medical tech is advanced enough they could live for a fair number of years afterwards. They would likely die as a result of toxic medication like mercury and not because of infection
@@erojerisiz1571 I get that you are insinuating that I've overlooked Doctors roles in saving lives, but depending on the era this protagonist is living in, That "brrrr" could be the doctor thrumming his index finger over his mouth while he treats open wounds by packing them with feces, or eye injuries by dribbling a cadavers ground up skull into it.
Doctors have come a VERY long way, but even in modern hospitals, when it comes multiple deep lacerations and puncture wounds, survival is less than certain.
My favourite saying about knife combat is:
"The winner of a knife fight is the one that makes it to the hospital first."
Still, if the protagonist lives in modern times, and gets to a hospital, and treated fast enough their chance of survival is pretty good, I will give you that. Hopefully wherever they are getting sliced to ribbons has several people who frequently pass nearby, are able to render competent first aid, and will call for an ambulance.
So... Not in a back alley or the depth of a villians lair.
The worst thought is laying there dying for several hours on the battlefield from a stab to the abdomen
Even worse, by a good cut across the stomach that leaves the intestines spilling out.
Brb just made myself sick gonna throw up
@@mosisusasu9205 that one is not going to take days to kill you. In fact, it will be hours at most. If your intestines get open, the amount of bacteria which will spill everywhere is enough that your body does not know how to deal with it. Unless you get medical help, your body will go into something resembling coma in a couple hours or so.
Actually the term deadman walking comes from being shot in the abdoman somone can seem fine for days but in that time they wouldnt survive it is the worst way to die
That would be the only sinario i cancthink of where god would forgive you for a suicide
You’d most likely pass out before you die
I ain’t the sharpest -tool- *sword* in the -shed- *armoury*
Doc Jabberwock I let autocorrect do it’s job
syaondri very passive-aggressive
She was looking kinda dumb with her finger and her thumb in the shape of an L on her foreharmory
Slashmouth
Slashmouth sounds metal as fuck.
Good point but what about sword wielding machicolated dragons?
Swords were obviously so effective, that you could cut through plate, male, gambeson, flesh aaaaand bones in one swing without any difficulty.
Don't you watch any kind of movie?!
Yeah the only thing that stops swords, bullets and arrows is plot armour.
Mathijs Boven US military needs to invest more heavily on plot armor
I mean why does anyone even invest in padded plate armor?
without any difficulty ?!?!?!?!?
those effects shots take a lot of time and effort to do and are in fact difficult to do .... well, at least to do well :D
Trouble with plot armour is that you end up with a load of plot holes ....
Watch the SECOND duel in "The Duellists", where they're fighting on foot with sabers. You'll see how much damage can be done to a body and still allow the person to keep fighting. Another factor in the lethality of swords(or ANY weapon, for that matter) in a fight is the strength and stamina of the person(s) engaged. One CAN receive a mortal wound, and still live long enough to kill one's opponent
Honestly, having nearly bled out from a < 5 _cm_ knife from hitting a vein, I would honestly say that swords are likely terrifyingly deadly.
Wouldn't you be dead?
It was said that Theoderic once cleaved the Lombard king, Odovacar in half lengthwise with a two hander. To be honest I might prefer that political system to this one...
Honestly though, are you being honest?
Cut my big toe off in a lawnmower a few weeks ago, didnt feel a thing until later that night when the adrenaline finally wore off. It didn't really bleed that much when I elevated the wound, so I guess if I was in a sword fight and I got a few fingers cut off I would easily still be able to fight the rest of the battle. Bottom line is you gotta be pretty accurate with your blows if you want to kill someone within a few hours.
Everyone is forgetting the main strength of swords. The pommel...
#EndHimRightly #PommelBeatsDragon
massaweed420 thats rude for mine dragon slaves
Dank meme alert.
I thought it was the...swordsarm..
I knew what was consign before I got halfway through your comment XD
massaweed420 that meme is soooooooo overused
Point of clarification, for what it's worth; I attended and filmed the lecture, it was published under Mike's production company. All credit of course goes to Mike Edelson. He did all the real work.
Good vid, Shad. Cheers!
Thanks heaps mate, so glad you liked it ^_^
11:38 Recreating historical swordsmanship is hard, because when you break someone's nose with your elbow, their knee with a kick, or their skull with your pommel, you suddenly sent to jail.
HEMA is not historical european martial arts, its SAFE historical european martial arts.
They also like to bitch about it when you hit their hands, and break some of their fingers. It's a valid combat technique damnit!
Wow, you are so badass
People don't understand just how much the human body can take and how amazing it can be at suppressing pain. There are accounts of people getting shot and only feeling a slight stinging, not realizing they'd even been shot until they saw the blood. Most accounts I've heard have stated that the recovery is much more painful than the event.
The more I learn about swords, the more I want a mace
*trebuchet
@@landlockedcroat1554 *minigun
@@prestontheinconsistentyout1573 Peace treaty?
@@ZlothZloth A10
@@prestontheinconsistentyout1573 A good, solid peace treaty will leave your A10 low on fuel with all its ammo stored in another hanger and nobody willing to fly it except for maintenance purposes. ;)
Well, now I'm curious to look up machete fights.
@ShieldWife: That's kinda creepy for me. Soccer hooligans in Kraków are said to use machetes freguently.
ShieldWife
It's a free country, but don't come back asking for psychological treatment... You've warned! ;)
Maciej Smoleń An aquaintance of mine was injured by a spear slash across his back by British hooligans...
Do it, it will be an experience in many ways...
Maciej Smoleń ~~ ~~ ~ ~~lol~ ~ ~~ ~
I do think it's necessary that you point out the difference between sharpening and honeing. Usually When someone thinks their knife has gone dull they really just have a rolled edge .This can be easily fixed by stropping the blade on Leather bringing it back to razor sharpness . And I am a professional Blade sharpener .
Anewlevel ....I Mike
Isn't a honing steel a essential item in every kitchen?
@@cahdoge the most unused thing as well
On the point of individual continuing to fight after sustaining injury. There are reports from US soldiers in both the Filipino Insurrection & Somalia where enemy combatants who had sustained lethal gunshot wounds kept fighting because of adrenaline & combat drugs. Also there are reports from police officers of perpetrators on PCP receiving lethal gunshot wounds & continuing to fight.
True, but there is no amount of PCP or adrenaline that will keep you fighting with a punctured heart or a cut or smashed spinal cord.
@@brucetucker4847 They can give them a few seconds, and in modern gunfights where even headshots may result a lined up shot being fired by already dead shooter's gun killing others it's a big difference. Shooting someone who doesn't flinch and can calmy aim right before dying is a scary proposition
zaqzilla1 General Nathaniel Greene of the American Revolutionary Southern force (who basically won the war by luring Cornwallis into a false sense of security) was shot 6 times in a single battle, and went on to live a relatively long life. Human bodies aren’t nearly as fragile as Hollywood likes to pretend
Hey shad! I just wanted to let you know you content is absolutely awesome, even though you'll probably never see this. I usually listen to your videos and swedish ballads during my writing, and it really helps me keep informed in my writing and just in general. thank you for existing!
Love it when you and skallagrim, or Todd from todd's workshop, metatron, ... work together! It's really a community you guys are part of!
I've always maintained that there are "cuts" and there are "cuts," as in the difference between a laceration that looks dramatic but might only kill through bleeding, versus a bone cleaving chop that's similar to what is done in a slaughterhouse to animal carcasses. The battle of Killecrankie between the Scots and the Brits in 1689 illustrates this point nicely, from an eye witness account:
"On the morning after the battle - for night had thrown its curtain over the horrors of the scene, before the extent of the carnage could be ascertained - the field of battle and the ground between it and the river, extending as far as the pass, presented an appalling spectacle in the vast numbers of the dead which strewed the savage and unrelenting ferocity with which Mackay's men had been hewn down by the Highlanders. Here might be seen a skull which had been struck off above the ears by a stroke from a broad-sword - there a head lying near the trunk from which it had been severed - here an arm or a limb - there a corpse laid open from the head to the brisket; while interspersed among these lifeless trunks, dejectaque membra, were to be seen broken pikes, small swords and muskets, which had been snapped asunder by the athletic blows of the Lochaber axe and broad-sword."
These are the sort of cuts that blast through the clavicle or frontal bone to enter the chest cavity or braincase, resulting in a gruesome but mercifully quick conflict resolution.
The excerpt you quote sounds absolutely horrific; but, as you say, at least it was a quick death (hopefully).
#henchmenlivesmatter
yes!
I saw a Shadiversity video with the cover image of the Black Knight from Monte Python, instantly said, "Oh I gotta see this!"
Seems to me like one factor behind sword lethality was forgotten:
How skilled the swordsman is.
7:34 That’s why you should always have someone with healing spells in the party.
I have no quarrel with you, good Sir knight, but I must
cross this bridge, Shad has uploaded a new video for me, King of the Britons, and I shan't miss it!
King of the who? I didn't vote for 'im.
How do you know so much about swallows?
Well you have to know these kinds of thing when you’re a king, you know.
"'Pull the other one!!!"'
Damn it, Shad. STOP BEING SO AWESOME! I can't take all the quality content you keep putting out. lol.
12:04 LIGHTSABER!
My first thought in how deadly are swords was "it depends on how advanced medicine is."
There is a lot of validity to that "context". When I was a teen, I fought with katana and was very good at it. I had an instructor that was a master of Kenjutsu teaching me.
Outside of his guidance and watchful eye, I had sparred on my own time with real blades (stupid, I know). The very first bad injury I had sustained was a cut to the neck, right between my throat and left artery. The blade had left the wakazashi and spun toward me. Everything became slow motion and I was able to dodge most of the hit. The the last few inches of the blade cut my neck open and the spine spun around and hit my throat. That was actually the worst part of the injury, causing problems for me for years after.
I don't know how sharp the edge was, but it did a lot of damage, despite a light and quick cut.
I have a small and shallow scar across my stomach on the right side, as well as a cut on my wrist right side. The one on the wrist was from a blade lock gone bad.
All in all, those injuries didn't bleed much, but could have been so much worse, even with a dull blade. Dull being in comparison to someone who maintains their sword edge.
"How pointy the pointy end is" Shadiversity 2017
Educational video: "How pointy the pointy end is."
How to get Shad to notice you:
Step 1) watch video
Step 2) MACHICOLATIOOONS
Step 3) ....?
Step 4) Profit
You've cracked the system, though a thought provoking comment will to the job too ^_^
Dragons are fine too )))
ALink2DFuture The battle cry of “machicolations” haunts me to this day as well
One of my favorite parts of the many Conan novels I read was Conan and a sword fighter discussing the broadsword (really an arming sword, but whatever) vs the rapier. Conan said, "I've seen a man take a thrust to the heart, go on to kill his opponent and two others before falling over a stool and dying. Split a man's skull to the teeth and, if he doesn't fall over right away, walk around and see what he's leaning against." Brilliant!
Contrast that with Hollywood showing us time after time a man dying instantly from one GSW to the heart. Pow. Looks shocked. Falls down. Dies.
whats a gsw
Fascinating synopsis
*BUT WHAT ABOUT GAMBERSON!?*
If I am watching advertisements for you, am I going through adversity for Shadversity?
Not sure if you've already done a video on this, but I would love to see a video on how deadly war hammers, maces, or various blunt weapons were in real life as compared to swords. I've heard it said that the sheer force behind such weapons could make them deadlier as opposed to the emphasis put on cutting as in swords.
Internal organs and the brain will take much more damage from blunt weapons such as warhammers and maces when encased in armor(plate armor in this case), due to the internal concussive tremors that triggers and ''explodes'' inwards on impact with the armor, while not as lethal when no mail or plate(especially plate) armor is present. Then there's also the fact that your bones will often break even in armor when getting hammered by these blunt weapons.
A gambeson would do the trick at having an easier time surviving the encounter, although it would definitely hurt getting hit by one anywhere on the body, unless the gambeson is so thick you can barely feel the mace or warhammer. Even when wearing a helmet, a hit to the helmet encased head(with either a mace or warhammer, or a flail for that matter) will cause a loud painful and tremendous bang that will also send tremors into the brain which might very well cause hemorrhaging.
You might very well be able to kill someone with a mace when the target is not in armor, but it isn't as quick or as easy to do as with a sword or even a spear, axe or a knife. Takes longer time, depending on where you're aiming and keep hitting, but no matter where you're hitting, chopping someone's head off is much more effective and time saving than trying to kill someone by bashing someone to death, and taking time with it might be inconvenient.
Not to mention more tiresome, since you have to keep hitting the target until it's dead, which might take some time, and most of the time you won't kill someone outright with a blunt weapon, no matter if it's a mace or warhammer(maybe a poleaxe or polehammer will do the trick in that regard). With a sword you save so much energy and time and can end your opponent so much easier and with less effort.
That was more of a wall of text than I intended, but my thoughts carried me away. xP I hope it was helpful, informative, interesting and not too much to read for you. :)
With that being said, I'd also like to see that video of Shad's. Him covering these topics and hearing his personal thoughts and opinions is very interesting and rewarding stuff. ^^ I learn much from him and other HEMA enthusiasts/practitioners, such as Matt, Skall, Metatron and Lloyd(well, reenactments in the case of Lloyd, but he knows quite a bit of the topic atleast so he definitely counts ;P).
And yes Shad did cover in this video that killing someone outright isn't always so easy, even with a sword, if you're not doing it right. But it is atleast much easier with a sword than a club weapon, again, such as a mace. I hope I'm not sounding like a lunatic now. x) I don't mean to come across as one. I mean, killing with swords, knives, spears, axes and clubs was what people did back in the days after all(and bows and arrows and crossbows and bolts of course, let's not forget those ;P), so naturally there were right ways and wrong ways to end your opponents if you wanted to end them the quickest most efficient way, just like there always have been and just like there are to this day, and there always will be, just mostly with guns these days around.
-_- му памеѕ гуап
-
ААааааа
I read an article years ago that examined numerous historical duels where one or both participants were badly wounded but fought on (sometimes both later dying). One fellow lost some fingers grabbing a blade and fought on, a fellow got a sword through the upper torso (and survived) and killed his opponent. It discussed wounds to different organs and the effects. Even had a 19th century brawl where a guy got wounded in the heart, walked several blocks to get a weapon and was heading back when he finally succumbed to his wound. Very interesting stuff and I can't find the damn article now.
The death count from duels was raised significantly after the introduction of the rapier, being mainly a trusting sword.
I wonder why the Falchion didn't make a return to popularity after plate armor went out of fashion. Imagine if they brought them back into military service during the enlightenment period instead of moving to smallswords!
Smallswords were specifically intended for dueling. The point wasn't that they were particularly effective, it's that everyone would be armed with a similar weapon, and they weren't terribly cumbersome to wear around town and to dinner like rapiers were.
The extreme cutting power of a falchion wasn't needed to get through the military uniforms at the time, so we saw the adoption of the saber, which was designed with the same principles as the falchion, but traded a little of it's cutting power for other advantages.
It wasn't the smallsword (which was really a dueling weapon) that succeeded the falchion, but the saber.
Hey Shad, can you do a video about the uses of flails?
Yeah, I would like that too. Flails are awesome.
Unless you are just flailing around.
Flails we're actually very rarely used in historical medieval combat - if at all. There's some in paintings, but they're rarely mentioned in treatises.
I think Matt Easton (Scholagladiatoria) has a video on it.
and other flail like things like weighted chains.
Derp Gerpenstein might want to have a look at lindybeiges old videos.
Simply put, movies, games, animes, and every other fantasy fictions have RUINED the lethality of sword by romanticizing its power. A need for dramatic effects to keep the audience in check, I suppose? However, just like everything else in life, the reality is far more complex due to the "context."
I learned a lot from this video. Thank you, Mr. Shad.
Aqua Essence
In the "realistic" fantasy I'm writing, I am really trying to bring an accurate presentation of the correct armor, weaponry, and most importantly, the methods and true effectiveness of such. And let me tell you, it is EXTREMELY hard. I never thought it would, but it can almost seem boring to say "the sword bounced harmlessly off his mail" instead of the Hollywood "The strike ignored the mail and cleaved his body in two!"
Luckily, I've got the epic gentleman of the TH-cam sword community like Shad to help steer me along. :)
@@thehackingburger3002 What I use in my low fantasy story is that in order to justify the increased durability and lethality of swords (they can even be drawn from metal scabbards without dulling), they are made of a really strong metal I came up with. They may not cut through metal armor but they are certainly deadlier than swords in real life.
In Kendo (a Japanese sport based off of the samurai fighting style) the scoring system isn’t based off of contact, rather a point is awarded only when the judges can agree on it (usually they’re looking for how clean the strike was, how fast and how much commitment goes into it). On top of this there are only 3 main areas to strike that count as points, which is the “men”, (head) “kote” (hands) and “do” (body, specifically just above the hips). Kind of applies to the aspect of how realistic rewarding points in duels are when it comes to where you strike and how well.
Shad: Chopping in half is rare
Claymore: am I a joke to you?
It's only a flesh wound
Andre of Astora Aww...you beat me to it. Lol
what do you need a sword for Andre?? I seem to remember you prefer pugilism
😂
wasn't it only a scratch, you knight of the coconut :D
Everyone knows that, as Hollywood teaches, sword were like...
LIGHTSABAAHH
(You should make a shirt out of this.)
Except when they're picked up by mooks.
It could have a knight in full plate getting skewered by a sword
Jorge Hanel With LIGHTSABAAHH written at the bottom or top of the shirt.
very true anime is another culprit of this practice.
Excalibuuuuur!
You know what's better than Swords?
Nothing. Nothing is better than *SWOOORDS!!!*
I really enjoyed this video bc as an EMT trauma is the most interesting area of my job and I’d like to see a future video on medieval surgery for these kinds of wounds!
GREETINGS I AM SAD
I know his name is Shad but every time he says it sad comes to my mind
With two edges on most western swords..... is there any evidence to one edge being sharpened differently to another? A very small adjustment of bevel angle or adding a micro bevel would make a big difference to the durability of an edge.
Stuart Chignell There is some evidence that the edges may sometimes be kept at different levels of sharpness. I’m personally not aware of any record of this happening, mostly just hearsay- but it makes sense, from a certain point of view.
As far as I'm aware the only evidence of this being done systematically is on knives, things like clip point bowies, but even then it's questionable whether the difference in bevel is the cause of the clip point, or just an artifact of it. Probably closer to the two-different-edges idea would be some sabres, where the forte was (not always, but sometimes) somewhat dull. This made plenty of sense given that sabres parry directly edge on edge in the vast majority of cases, and the forte is the last place you want a blade to begin to chip.
Sure but I thought we were talking about period swords
and how they were maintained and used.
I was actually talking to one of the smiths at "Arms and armor" about a custom piece, (Before I haz a no monies) and this fact came up. Problem is, its hard to shape the steel after the temper, and heat treat, and the heat treat will cause a asymmetrical blade to "saber" to one side. It can be reshaped, but that takes time and money.
P.S. Realizing financial issues after exchanging several detailed emails with a smith is the single most embarrassing thing in the universe.
Good job shad! Gives me a warm feeling that you like all these people's comments.
But what about dragons with MACHICOLATIONS?!
A castle upon a the back of a dragon could actually be very useful (of course considering it is a propah cahssle with propah machicolations, and ignoring the fact that even the dragon alone violates several laws of physics, but yeah, magic. Magic and machicolations)
Or, specifically: what about the lite-seyba machicolations dragons?
João Pedro That with cannons containing pommels would be...too much for this world.
+Steel Xcaliber
You do realise that if you drill a hole in a cannonball, it could technically be used as a pommel.
Will Bloodworth there is machicolations t-shirts to sale ?
Shad "doesn't recommend" that you look up machete fights.
I've always thought that if I ever designed a sword, the opening at the top of the sheath would have a sharpening groove where one typically draws the blade across to register it.
Very interesting, never thought about it that much. Well, now I can complain even more about Hollywood sword fights :D
Well... not everything is from Hollywood, perhaps there'd be mroe.
Of course it’s deadly! It’s the only weapon with which you can end your opponent rightly with!
#theonewithapommelwins
HEY SHAD!
Moses Weaver - Katana is more deadly. It can cut you in half but if you sharpen the sword good enough it probably can do same thing.
Of course katanas are more deadly, but they're most deadly as thrown weapons propelled with the force of a back-draw iai.
I would also vote for mace, fail or morning-star. Some call them blunt weapons, but having seen what a 3 pound ball of iron with a 3 inch spike can do to heavy plate armor I wouldn't exactly call them blunt... Swords are good against light armor, but nothing beats spiked blunt weapons against plate armor. Not only does the spikes penetrate it, but the blunt "ball" will also dent the armor, making it harder to move/breath. Always choose the right tool for the job, and you will see that there is no such ting as the most effective weapon. It all depends on the context, and this video presents that in a great way!
M3RS a katana couldn't cut trough riveted chainmail while a sword can.
"I would also vote for mace, fail or morning-star."
mace, fail or morning-star
fail
Dang, imagine the conversation in the armory!
"I'll grab an awesome mace! What about you?"
"I'll take an epic fail!"
Couldn't resist, that typo was so juicy! :p
...If it even was a typo and not a next level joke instead. Either way, I couldn't stop giggling for quite some time.
That's why like 90% of swords are just the secondary weapon
And what would be primary...
@@kidkoopa6389 Spear, Mace, Axe, Polearm, Lance as example.
@@kael2295 ahh gotcha
Rifle.
@@noobsaibot8780 haha
I met a guy once who had a large sword, and bladed weapons collection. They were all laid out displayed around the room. After looking at some of them I picked one up, and of course he warned me they were sharp, but I ran my finger a small space along the edge, with very light pressure, and it cut me instantly, just like what you see in the movies. Like when Boromir does it with the shard of Narsil, it was exactly like that.
I was surprised, and did not expect the cut.
I've run my finger on knives plenty of times with no cut at all (of course I use only very light pressure, and kitchen or utility knives), but this time was different. Truly a slash from a sharp sword would slice you easily and deeply.
You should sharpen your kitchen knifes then. You'll appreciate it. Often times you don't realise how much nicer a sharp knife is until you try the difference.
The way to check the sharpness of a blade is to run your thumb perpedicular to the edge by the way. I also made the same mistake as you, but you only do it once lol.
An important aspect that is over looked in both this and Skal's video is edge type. You can get an edge "razor sharp" by using a high grit stone to hone your edge which would give you very high levels of push cutting ability while destroying draw cut ability as shown in Skal's video. When you sharpen a straight razor, for instance, it's not uncommon to use a grit rating of 6k or more for the final edge. While this edge would be comfortable enough to smoothly shave your face, a butcher may use a coarse grit edge (say 325 grit) to maintain the tiny micro teeth that form the edge which will greatly help in draw cuts for cutting meats. Think of a microscopic saw. Great video btw!
I read an analysis of sword wounds in the napoleanic wars and it said that the French caused more casualties because their cavalry was trained to thrust whereas the British weren’t as effective because they were trained to slash.
Hello Shad, long time viewer, first time commenting. First off, as usual good video, but more importantly I'm happy to see the subject covered in the first place. So often we see swords shallowly depicted as good for this and less good for that without discussing the variance in the basic designs nor how little variables like sharpness and angles affect a strike. And we pretty much never hear about how rare "instakills" actually are, or were rather, in reality, which in a way undermines how gnarly and unpredictable two guys trying to kill each other could be. So thank you for addressing the topic, it helps to debunk the myth of killing being simple. I am curious however, would you be willing to do the same video subject, but regarding axes and their immediate kin such as the poleaxe and bardiche? I'd relish that as I'm sure many others watching would. :) Anyways, thanks again and Happy Halloween!
I know that we neef to talk about weapons, but WHAT ABOUT DRAGONS!
Movies in general likes to have inconsistency! Like, the hero might take several life threatening cuts, stabs, blows etc... while less important characters die instantly from smaller things. :P
Damn, the foil stubbed their toe, we'll need to find another.
@Fifteen 4 do not underestimate the stubbed toe
How deadly a sword is, is dependent upon what sword you use, who's wielding it, whom or what you're wielding it against, and in which particular set of circumstances. These variable should always be taken into account, and yet, I cannot tell you how often a new sword enthusiast or an aspiring collector asks the dreaded novice question of, "So, what sword is the best?" I may have to just start sharing this video so I can save myself some time in answering. And for that, I have hit the "subscribe" button, so well done, sir!
When you were talking about the rules in HEMA I would just like to add that Matt Easton of Scholagladiatoria(as if anyone doesn't know who he is)made the excellent point that the benefit(and arguably the reason)for having different rulesets are for training different things. His main point was that if you only spar with one set of rules you will eventually learn to win within those rules rather than just learning to fight. Having different rules to essentially test different skills solves this problem in a rather excellent way.
Link to Matt's video: th-cam.com/video/0pak-UC-1gc/w-d-xo.html
So you're telling me that time Kakashi got his belly open by Zabuza and kept on fighting was not completely BS? Wow
Solid video. Always figured Hollywood did a shit job of representing medieval weaponry, swords in particular.
I never knew how interesting this topic was, thank you for this video
One of the hear representations of what you're talking about here is in Berzerk's Golden age Arc. The main character narrowly avoided getting his head split like a melon due to his opponents axe being chipped from wrecking a ton of armored opponents prior.
I don't remember that! I assume that is in the Golden Age Arc?
@@inthefade yeah, it's the battle where the Band of the Hawk first noticed Gutz and picked him up after. The duel with Bazuzo ( idk how to spell that properly )
I like the “sharp enough” factor. It makes me laugh when people sharpen the EDC blades so sharp that they can shave with them.
Why?
Job Dylan because even though you can get a knife that sharp, it goes away rather quickly.
Good for research for my fantasy novel
Question if a sword stayed in a sheath for about 300 years underground and not rust will it still be very sharp after the 300 year time period?
There are swords found in archeological digs from thousands of years ago that have rusted but are still extremely sharp
Contact damage or corrosion are really the only ways to lose sharpness. When Peter Johnsson examined the Maurice of Turin sword so Albion could replicated it (the original is over 700 years old) he described the blade as being so sharp "you could sharpen a pencil with it, it is that sharp."
I have a weird question for you. How effective was the Hailsbrad to a soldier with a sword and sheild ?
This reminds me of when the us military was considering stepping up from the traditional 9mm to something with more stopping power. I was just as surprised then to learn that even after having a clip emptied into them an enemy combatant could still retaliate to lethal effect!
As fragile as a living thing may be a human can be surprisingly resilient when push comes to shove...
The FBI deemed the 10mm in the 80's too powerful. Lol Which it's not. They just weren't manly to use it. And they said as much. The female FBI couldn't use it as effective as the 9mm. And they were not using those Full Power 10mm loads from Underwood either. Now that's Power..
Idea for experiment
Give 2 rival uncontacted tribes a surplus of medieval swords, plant hidden cameras all over the place and examine the tribes waging war against each other
nvm I just rememebered the Maori musket wars
Idea for experiment
Put your family and relatives into a battle royale to the death, winner gets to live.
More importantly: How DEADLY were swords against dragons in real life?
Thomas Jenkins komodo dragons?
I don know if this is a meme question, but I think not at all. When real people tried to hunt real big animals (elephants, whales) they sure as hell didn't use swords!
+MisterJohnyBlank we don't speak of cousin Leroy.
They were so deadly that dragons never existed, knowing that they would be decimated by swords.
Well you haven't seen any dragons around lately, have you? So obviously they were all ended rightly.
Komodo dragons are AWESOME. There's one at the Shark Reef in Vegas. He just sits there being awesome and flicking his tongue and you know he's thinking "Dude, if it weren't for that plate glass..."
But how deadly would a dragon wearing a machicolated gambeson be?
/enable godmode
You know those kitchen knife sharpeners that you just run the blade between. Need to put one of those in the sheath. That way sword will get sharper when put away and taken out.
Those do t actually sharpen usually they hone the edge
There were, and still are, knife and bayonet sheaths that had/have just such a sharpening device built into the throat
No. Those tend to ruin the edge. It is the lack of knowing what sharp actually is that makes people think those work. Sharp in comparison isn't necessarily sharp.
@@SS2LP no, most of them do "sharpen" unless it has fine ceramic stones or the like, which are for honing an already sharp blade. They actually tear the edge up more than sharpen it, however. This depends on the sharpener, of course, but most kitchen sharpeners are actually ruining the blade more than maintaining it.
@Logan Waltz no, the rod is honing. I'm screaming inside because of how little people know about maintaining a tool these days.
One of the important points about receiving a blow with a sword is that it can knock you out or break a bone even though it does not penetrate. This is because all of the force is still focused on a very narrow area. Also, ever had a strong hit on you hand? It can be strong enough that you lose grip as the pain is just mindblowingly flowing through all bones in your hand for several seconds. Haven't had that happen when I was high on adrenaline, though.
I’m wondering has Shad ever had a character in his book saved by the fact that an enemy’s sword got dulled over a prolonged sword fight.