The history of edged weapons has a very original look - it is an ordinary household scythe, impaled on a shaft in a special way and thus turned into an instrument of death. Its very specificity suggests that it was used mainly by peasants during the bloody uprisings that so often disrupted the course of a peaceful, but by no means easy village life.
Peasant scythes turned into weapons
For the first time, this agricultural tool was used for military purposes back in the 14th century. Usually, peasants, for one reason or another, who decided to forcefully change the established way of life or were forced to repel the attack of enemies, remade their braids. By changing the angle of attachment of their cutting parts to the pole or simply by strengthening them on a common axis with it, they achieved an effect in which a completely harmless scythe yesterday became a deadly weapon.
Cold weapons, created in this way, had a number of advantages. It was versatile, maneuverable, effective, but most importantly - cheap and affordable. Sometimes, instead of the usual blade of a scythe, a sharply sharpened shredding knife orspecially forged double-edged and slightly curved blade.
The weapons of the Swiss and Czech peasants
For the first time, the use of this type of weapon is mentioned in connection with the battles fought by the peasants of a number of Swiss cantons, repelling the attacks of the Austrian knights, which took place in the XIV century and then repeatedly resumed over three centuries.
When a religious war broke out in the Czech Republic at the beginning of the 15th century, started by reformers led by Jan Hus (the Hussites), the main contingent of troops consisted of peasants, in whose hands were all the same scythes - a weapon that was available in every home au pair.
Period of peasant wars
A century later, the entire central part of Europe was engulfed in bloodshed, which broke out for a number of economic and religious reasons and was called the Great Peasants' War. Once again, the scythe (weapon) often decided the outcome of battles, as the armies of the warring parties were manned mainly by peasants who could not afford more expensive weapons.
Most of the battle scythes exhibited today in various museums around the world date back to the 16th century, but there are also later examples. One of them is a scythe (weapon) that once belonged to a Prussian militia and, according to the brand on it, was released in 1813. It can be seen at the Dresden State Museum.
End of the Middle Ages
In the era of the late Middle Ages, that is, the historical period discussed above, it was also widelya common weapon in the form of a scythe, which was its more advanced version - a glaive, or glaive. It was intended mainly for close combat and was a one and a half meter shaft with a flat, sharply sharpened tip about 60 cm long and 7-10 cm wide.
To protect the shaft from damage, it was covered with rivets or even wrapped with steel tape. The blade, sharpened, as a rule, only on one side, was equipped with a steel spike extending at an angle to the side. With its help, it was possible to repel blows inflicted from above, as well as to respond to them yourself, piercing the enemy’s armor with this smashing edge. In addition, it was also very convenient for them to pull the rider off the horse and, already on the ground, inflict a mortal blow on him.
Thus, the glaive, which allowed inflicting both chopping and stabbing blows in battle, was a rather formidable weapon. It was widespread throughout Europe, but was especially popular in France and Italy, where it was an indispensable attribute of the guards of honor of all senior government officials. There, over time, it was transformed into a special type of halberd called the guisarma. It, as a rule, was equipped with two tips - straight and curved - and allowed the fighter to inflict stabbing blows and pull the enemy off the horse.
Scythe in the arsenal of the Zaporizhzhya Cossacks
It is also interesting to note that the combat scythe is a weapon whose invention is disputed by many nations. For example, a number of researchers believe that for the first time itappeared in the arsenal of the Zaporizhzhya Cossacks, who were mostly former peasants. It is difficult to say how justified this statement is, but the fact is undeniable that during the Ukrainian national liberation war of the 17th-18th centuries, this weapon was one of the main ones.
The death scythe played a decisive role in the Battle of Berestets, which took place in 1651 between the army of the Polish king Jan Casimir and the Cossacks of hetman Bogdan Khmelnitsky. The memories of the gentry remained, telling that it was with the help of combat scythes that the Cossacks managed to carry out the defense and subsequent counterattacks with extraordinary efficiency.
Recently, a large number of exhibits related to the role of this type of weapon in the battles for the independence of Ukraine, appeared in the funds of the Zaporozhye Historical Museum. They make up a complete and complete collection, reflecting the different periods of production and improvement of combat scythes by the weaponsmiths of this region.
The use of combat scythes in Russia
In Russia, the history of this type of weapon is associated primarily with the uprisings led by Stepan Razin, and then Emelyan Pugachev. In both cases, the peasant and Cossack masses went into battle armed with items borrowed from their own households - axes, pitchforks and scythes, remade and become a formidable weapon in their hands.
And of course, one cannot but mention the battle scythes in the hands of the legendary partisans of the Patriotic War of 1812, whose steel was well remembered by the soldiers of the Napoleonic army,ingloriously leaving the borders of Russia. In the Moscow museum dedicated to the history of those heroic events, you can see several of their original samples.
Polish cosigners
However, perhaps the most widespread scythe (weapon) was in Poland. This was especially clearly demonstrated during the Polish rebellion caused by the second partition of the Commonwe alth, which took place in 1794. Then the Polish, Belarusian and Lithuanian peasants who fought against the regular units of the Russian army formed numerous detachments, which had at their disposal only combat scythes and related types of edged weapons, which were knives mounted on a shaft and all kinds of handicraft blades. The fighters of such units were called cosigners (from the words "scythe", "mow", etc.).
According to historians, the cosigners played a decisive role in the battle of Racławice in 1794, where the rebels of Tadeusz Kosciuszko clashed with government troops. Their units, united in the so-called Krakow militia, repelled enemy attacks, lined up in three rows, and, armed with battle scythes, chopped and stabbed as if they had sabers and spears in their hands, and not agricultural tools converted by necessity.
In the first row stood warriors armed with firearms, and in the second and third - with scythes. When the arrows fired a volley, they immediately retreated behind the backs of the cosigners, who covered them while they reloaded their weapons, which at that time requiredcertain time.
A similar pattern was repeated during the Polish uprising of 1830, when many of the regular infantry battalions were armed with scythes. According to the participants of those events, the enemy infantrymen, even with a bayonet fastened to the gun, could not resist the cosigner in hand-to-hand combat, inflicting chopping and stabbing blows with its long and heavy scythe.
Japanese modification of the combat scythe
As a special variety, historians also know the Japanese combat scythe. This weapon is somewhat different from the one discussed above. Also, representing a modification of an agricultural implement, it nevertheless underwent quite significant changes. First of all, even with a cursory acquaintance, a shortened shaft is striking, to which a blade is attached almost at a right angle. This type of weapon is often also called a combat sickle.
Despite the fact that this design reduces the angular velocity of the weapon on impact and thus reduces its striking ability, it provides the fighter with greater maneuverability and makes him extremely dangerous in close combat. In some cases, a weight was attached to the shaft on a long chain, spinning which, it was possible to deliver a strong smashing blow to the enemy.
Combat scythe belongs to the strong and brave
The pictures of weapons presented in the article (scythes and their modifications) allow us to present the whole variety of types that gunsmiths of different times and countries have created, taking ordinary agricultural tools as a basis. The closest relatives of the scythe were not only the guisarms, which were described above, but also siege knives and mowers - combat pitchforks.
The use of this type of weapon in battle did not require any special training - the technique of using it was quite simple. It was necessary to have only endurance, physical strength and, of course, a fair amount of courage, which is necessary for a fighter, no matter what weapon he has in his hands.
