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Fascine Knife
The fascine knife was a side arm / tool issued to 17th to 19th century light infantry and artillery. It served both as a personal weapon and as a tool for cutting fascines (bundles of sticks used to strengthen the sides of trenches or earth ramparts protecting the batteries). It could be straight or curved, double edged or single edged with a sawtoothed back. History Seventeenth- and 18th-century German, Prussian and Swedish fascine knives were more like cavalry swords, often with a brass handle and a hand guard, but later models were more like billhooks in shape and appearance. By the 20th century, it became the Pioneer's billhook in the British Army, used in World War I for making machine gun emplacements. In the Indian Army, it is known as a Knife Gabion (gabions, like fascines, are used for supporting earthworks). Some types of fascine knife are probably descended from 16th century sidearms weapons like the baselard or the Swiss sword. Others, known to British foot sold ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Indian Army
The Indian Army is the land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), who is a four-star general. Two officers have been conferred with the rank of field marshal, a five-star rank, which is a ceremonial position of great honour. The Indian Army was formed in 1895 alongside the long established presidency armies of the East India Company, which too were absorbed into it in 1903. The princely states had their own armies, which were merged into the national army after independence. The units and regiments of the Indian Army have diverse histories and have participated in several battles and campaigns around the world, earning many battle and theatre honours before and after Independence. The primary mission of the Indian Army is to ensure national security and national unity, to defend the nation from external aggression an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blade Weapons
An edged weapon, or bladed weapon, is a melee weapon with a cutting edge. Bladed weapons include swords, daggers, knives, and bayonets. Edged weapons are used to cut, hack, or slash; some edged weapons (such as many kinds of swords) may also permit thrusting and stabbing. Edged weapons contrast with blunt weapons such as maces, and with thrusting weapons such as spears. Many edged agricultural tools such as machetes, hatchets, pitchforks, axes, sickles, sling blades, and scythes, have been used as improvised weapons by peasantry, militia, or irregular forces – particularly as an expedient for defence. Edged weapons and blades are associated with the premodern age but continue to be used in modern armies. Combat knives and knife bayonets are used for close combat or stealth operations and are issued as a secondary or sidearm. Modern bayonets are often intended to be used in a dual role as both a combat knife and knife bayonet. Improvised edged weapons were extensively used in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Model 1816 French Artillery Short Sword
The 1816 artillery short sword was a sidearm issued to the French foot artillery. Heavily influenced by the prevailing Neoclassical style of the day, the sword was based on ancient sculptural depictions of the Roman ''gladius'', the standard sword of the Roman legionaries. The short sword would not have been a practical weapon for combat without a shield, but served as a fascine knife or a machete Older machete from Latin America Gerber machete/saw combo Agustín Cruz Tinoco of San Agustín de las Juntas, Oaxaca">San_Agustín_de_las_Juntas.html" ;"title="Agustín Cruz Tinoco of San Agustín de las Juntas">Agustín Cruz Tinoco of San ... to clear fields for the guns. It also served for other practical uses, the French soldiers calling it a ''coupe-chou'' ("cabbage cutter"). It was in service until about 1870. The model was reissued in 1831 with minor changes. Most visibly, the newer model had a ringed grip rather than the fishscale pattern seen in the earlier model. It also ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bayonet
A bayonet (from French ) is a knife, dagger, sword, or spike-shaped weapon designed to fit on the end of the muzzle of a rifle, musket or similar firearm, allowing it to be used as a spear-like weapon.Brayley, Martin, ''Bayonets: An Illustrated History'', Iola, WI: Krause Publications, , (2004), pp. 9–10, 83–85. From the 17th century to World War I, it was a weapon for infantry attacks. Today it is considered an ancillary weapon or a weapon of last resort. History The term ''bayonette'' itself dates back to the mid-to-late 16th century, but it is not clear whether bayonets at the time were knives that could be fitted to the ends of firearms, or simply a type of knife. For example, Cotgrave's 1611 ''Dictionarie'' describes the bayonet as "a kind of small flat pocket dagger, furnished with knives; or a great knife to hang at the girdle". Likewise, Pierre Borel wrote in 1655 that a kind of long-knife called a ''bayonette'' was made in Bayonne but does not give any ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Machete
Older machete from Latin America Gerber machete/saw combo Agustín Cruz Tinoco of San Agustín de las Juntas, Oaxaca">San_Agustín_de_las_Juntas.html" ;"title="Agustín Cruz Tinoco of San Agustín de las Juntas">Agustín Cruz Tinoco of San Agustín de las Juntas, Oaxaca uses a machete to carve wood. file:Mexican machete.JPG, Mexican machete, from Acapulco, 1970. Horn handle, hand forged blade (hammer marks visible). A machete (; ) is a broad blade used either as an agricultural implement similar to an axe, or in combat like a long-bladed knife. The blade is typically long and usually under thick. In the Spanish language, the word is possibly a diminutive form of the word ''macho'', which was used to refer to sledgehammers. Alternatively, its origin may be ''machaera'', the name given by the Romans to the falcata. It is the origin of the English language equivalent term ''matchet'', though it is less commonly used. In much of the English-speaking Caribbean, such as Jamai ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spanish Army
The Spanish Army ( es, Ejército de Tierra, lit=Land Army) is the terrestrial army of the Spanish Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is one of the oldest active armies — dating back to the late 15th century. The Spanish Army has existed continuously since the reign of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella (late 15th century). The oldest and largest of the three services, its mission was the defense of Peninsular Spain, the Balearic Islands, the Canary Islands, Melilla, Ceuta and the Spanish islands and rocks off the northern coast of Africa. History During the 16th century, Habsburg Spain saw steady growth in its military power. The Italian Wars (1494–1559) resulted in an ultimate Spanish victory and hegemony in northern Italy by expelling the French. During the war, the Spanish Army transformed its organization and tactics, evolving from a primarily pike and halberd wielding force into the first pike and shot formation of arquebusiers and pi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Swiss Degen
The Swiss ''degen'' (') was a short sword ('' Degen''), an elongated version of the Swiss dagger, with the same double-crescent shape of the guard. It was used as a type of side arm in the Old Swiss Confederacy and especially by Swiss mercenaries, from the first half of the 15th century until the mid 16th century. The native term used in the 15th century for this weapon was baselard. The term ''Schweizerdegen'' (as Early New High German ') is first attested in 1499. The blade length could be anywhere between and . Although there was a general trend towards longer blades over time, this development was not linear and disparate blade lengths coexisted throughout the 15th century, and only in the 16th century a more or less discrete split between the short dagger (') and the long ' becomes evident. These weapons were widely worn both by soldiers and by civilians. They were very popular with the Swiss mercenary pikemen throughout the late 15th and early 16th century. ''Degen'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Baselard
The baselard, ''Schwiizerdolch'' in Swiss-German (also ''basilard, baslard'', in Middle French also and variants, Latinized etc., in Middle High German ) is a historical type of dagger or short sword of the Late Middle Ages. Etymology In modern use by antiquarians, the term ''baselard'' is mostly reserved for a type of 14th-century dagger with an I-shaped handle which evolved out of the 13th-century knightly dagger. Contemporary usage was less specific, and the term in Middle French and Middle English could probably be applied to a wider class of large dagger. The term (in many spelling variants) first appears in the first half of the 14th century. There is evidence that the term ''baselard'' is in origin a Middle French or Medieval Latin corruption of the German ''basler esser' "Basel knife". Both the term ''baselard'' and the large dagger with H-shaped hilt or "baselard proper" appear by the mid 14th century. Several 14th-century attestations from France gloss the term as ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gabion
A gabion (from Italian ''gabbione'' meaning "big cage"; from Italian ''gabbia'' and Latin ''cavea'' meaning "cage") is a cage, cylinder or box filled with rocks, concrete, or sometimes sand and soil for use in civil engineering, road building, military applications and landscaping. For erosion control, caged riprap is used. For dams or in foundation construction, cylindrical metal structures are used. In a military context, earth- or sand-filled gabions are used to protect sappers, infantry, and artillerymen from enemy fire. Leonardo da Vinci designed a type of gabion called a ''Corbeille Leonard'' ("Leonard basket") for the foundations of the San Marco Castle in Milan. Civil engineering The most common civil engineering use of gabions was refined and patented by Gaetano Maccaferri in the late 19th century in Sacerno, Emilia Romagna and used to stabilize shorelines, stream banks or slopes against erosion. Other uses include retaining walls, noise barriers, temporary flood w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fighting occurring throughout Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Pacific, and parts of Asia. An estimated 9 million soldiers were killed in combat, plus another 23 million wounded, while 5 million civilians died as a result of military action, hunger, and disease. Millions more died in genocides within the Ottoman Empire and in the 1918 influenza pandemic, which was exacerbated by the movement of combatants during the war. Prior to 1914, the European great powers were divided between the Triple Entente (comprising France, Russia, and Britain) and the Triple Alliance (containing Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy). Tensions in the Balkans came to a head on 28 June 1914, following the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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