Sabre - Origins of The Weapon

Origins of The Weapon

Sabre-like curved backswords have been in use in Europe since the medieval period (falchion), or indeed since antiquity (makhaira), but the introduction of the sabre proper in Western Europe, along with the term sabre itself, dates to the 17th century, via influence of the Eastern European szabla type. The weapon gained widespread use in the early 19th century, inspired by the Mameluke sword, a type of Middle Eastern scimitar.

The original type of Szabla or Polish sabre was used as a cavalry weapon, probably inspired by Hungarian or wider Turco-Mongol warfare. The Karabela was a type of szabla popular in the late 17th century, worn by the Polish, Lithuanian, and Ukrainian nobility class, the Szlachta. While designed as a cavalry weapon, it also came to replace various types of straight-bladed swords used by infantry. The Swiss sabre originates as a regular sword with a single-edged blade in the early 16th century, but by the 17th century begins to exhibit specialized hilt types.