Originally posted by shavixmirpeople didn't walk around all day carrying swords in their right hand...a right handed person would have worn his sword on the left, so if swords were going to get entangled it would be by walking on the right.
Well.
Interesting, but biasedly British and untrue.
Yes. Everybody drove, walked on the left. But a problem kept occuring. Namely, you carry your sword on your right hand side (most western people did) and (especially on stairs) this caused the inconvience of swords getting tangled.
Napoleon put an end to this by having people walk on the right, so ...[text shortened]... tangled any more.
Napoleon never concurred England, and that's why Britain stayed as it was.
it can't have been much of a problem anyway..swords were around thousands of years before Napoleon, in fact by his time they had been more or less superceded by firearms
Originally posted by SiskinNo.
people didn't walk around all day carrying swords in their right hand...a right handed person would have worn his sword on the left, so if swords were going to get entangled it would be by walking on the right.
it can't have been much of a problem anyway..swords were around thousands of years before Napoleon, in fact by his time they had been more or less superceded by firearms
If you are right handed you carry the sword on your right.
I know certain Hollywood films would have you believe that you rip it from your side in a dazzling motion from left to right. It is, in fact, wrong.
The sheath is carried on the right hip so you can tilt it with your left and and draw with the right hand. This saves time!
If you carry it on the left you have to reach around.
On a side note, carrying on the left leaves you with one less attack as well. When drawing from your right you can swing with your left hand and draw with your right. If you are carrying the sword on the left hip, you can't lash out with your hand and draw the sword at the same time.
In the wise words of Luke Skywalker: "It's better to lose a hand than a head."
Well....he could have said it...
so you tip the scabbard with your left hand ..whilst simultaneously using your left hand to strike your opponent... a ver effective strategy I concede...as long as you have at least two left arms
Short swords, as used by the Romans for exa,mple, could be effectively drawn with the right hand from the right side..and long swords as used in the middle ages were carried at the front and drawn two handed...
but medium length swords are most effieciently drawn from the left side with the right hand (for a right handed swordsman)
http://www.militaryheritage.com/swords1.htm
and
http://howardlanham.tripod.com/unireg.htm
shown US Civil War, and French Napoleonic soldiers...(so not British) all with their scabbards on the left.
Are you really claiming that people kept passing on the left for centuries, kept geting their swords entangled...and no-one could work out a solution until Napoleon suggested passing on the other side?
Originally posted by SiskinYes. I am.
so you tip the scabbard with your left hand ..whilst simultaneously using your left hand to strike your opponent... a ver effective strategy I concede...as long as you have at least two left arms
Short swords, as used by the Romans for exa,mple, could be effectively drawn with the right hand from the right side..and long swords as used in the middle ages w ...[text shortened]... d...and no-one could work out a solution until Napoleon suggested passing on the other side?
The problem was at its worst with unsheathed swords and on staircases.
You tip the sheath with your left hand and as you are drawing your sword your left hand is free to lash out. If you draw from the left, the left hand is already to the left and therefor cannot effectivly lash out.
On a same note, would you suggest that Napoleon who can be credited for bring into practice such great and useful things as Baguettes (Napoleonic wars), the metric system and the translation of heiro...hyro...heirogl...ancient Egyptian, would force a whole army to walk a certain way, just because he was left handed?