What's the difference between the ancient eastern sword and the western sword?

A very important difference is that the Oriental Sword (China Sword) basically withdrew from the military field in the Han Dynasty and degenerated into a ceremonial article. That is, from the Han Dynasty, China's standard weapon was a knife (straight-edged knife).

In terms of format, the sword before the Han Dynasty considered military operations, which was relatively wide and had a thick ridge, so it was not easy to bend and was more practical.

After the Han dynasty, the sword became a ritual vessel, paying more attention to beauty and lightness than actual combat, so the length of the sword increased, the width narrowed and the ridge of the sword became thinner (that is, the war sword in the martial arts film).

The western sword, which lasted until the musket era, was the standard equipment in the army.

Its system evolution is more complicated.

At first, the western sword was an epee, wide and thick. Must be waved with both hands, basically can be used to cut, not to stab. Some epees even cut the sword only in the first half, so that the second half can be held with both hands.

In the actual war, westerners found the inconvenience and low combat effect of this two-handed sword, so the western sword also changed from two hands to one hand. At this time, the most famous western sword is the hand half sword. Half-handed sword is very similar to China's saber during the Warring States Period. It has a thick ridge, a wide blade and a moderate weight. You can hold it with one hand, that is, you can cut it or poke it.

With the increasing application of longbows, crossbows and firearms, the swords of soldiers and officers have degenerated from main battle weapons to protective weapons. Obviously, there is no need to put too much weight on an auxiliary protective weapon, so the half swords in their hands have also withdrawn from the historical stage, and the stab swords have appeared.

Stabbed swords are the swords we saw at the Olympic Games today, and some of them even had their heads cut off. The advantage of stabbing sword is that it is very light, and it can be used for self-defense when the enemy is approaching and the musket is too late to load-when the bayonet, bayonet, bayonet, bayonet, bayonet, bayonet, bayonet, bayonet.

Finally, talk about China's knife.

Great changes have taken place in China's Dao during the Tang and Song Dynasties. Knives in the Tang Dynasty and before were basically straight-edged knives, and machetes never appeared in China's standard equipment.

From the Song Dynasty, China's knife became a curved blade, and the radian of the blade became larger and larger, reaching its peak in the late Qing Dynasty.

Curved blades have many advantages. First, it is easy to be separated, and it is easy for cavalry to draw huge wounds when using it. Secondly, the curved blade knife is very suitable for waving, and people with a little training can easily dance out the knife flower. Of course, the curved blade knife also has a disadvantage, that is, the stabbing power is low, especially in the Qing Dynasty, the curved blade knife can hardly be used for stabbing.

Straight-edged knives are clumsy and difficult to get rid of at first, so cavalry is not suitable; Secondly, it is difficult for a straight-edged knife to dance out the knife flower, and the simple attack method is chopping. To put it bluntly, it's useless except for infantry killing in the war.

Therefore, the curved blade knife began to appear in the infantry equipment in the Song Dynasty. Because machetes are less efficient in killing people in war, but they are much superior to straight knives in playing tricks and showing off martial arts.