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An edged weapon, or bladed weapon, is a melee weapon with a cutting edge. Bladed weapons include
Beith, Ian H. (Capt.), ''Modern Battle Tactics: Address Delivered April 9, 1917'', National Service (June 1917), pp. 325, 328
Brayley, Martin, ''Bayonets: An Illustrated History'', Iola, WI: Krause Publications, , (2004), pp. 9-10, 83-85
Peterson, Harold L., ''Daggers and Fighting Knives of the Western World'', Courier Dover Publications, , {{ISBN, 978-0-486-41743-1 (2001), p. 80: "Right at the outset trench knives were introduced by both sides during World War I, so that the common soldier was once again equipped with a knife designed primarily for combat."
Weapons
Melee weapons
An edged weapon, or bladed weapon, is a melee weapon with a cutting edge. Bladed weapons include sword
A sword is an edged, bladed weapon intended for manual cutting or thrusting. Its blade, longer than a knife or dagger, is attached to a hilt and can be straight or curved. A thrusting sword tends to have a straighter blade with a pointed ti ...
s, daggers, knives, and 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 Illustr ...
s. 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
An improvised weapon is an object that was not designed to be used as a weapon but can be put to that use. They are generally used for self-defence or if the person is otherwise unarmed. In some cases, improvised weapons are commonly used by attac ...
by peasantry, militia, or irregular forces
Irregular military is any non-standard military component that is distinct from a country's national armed forces. Being defined by exclusion, there is significant variance in what comes under the term. It can refer to the type of military orga ...
– 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 trench warfare of the First World War; for example, an entrenching tool might be modified to take an edge and be used as a melee weapon.
See also
* List of premodern combat weapons * Lists of swords * List of medieval weaponsReferences