What is the difference between a checker and a saber? Cossack saber: description and photo. Ancient edged weapon. The difference between a checker and a saber

The time when the curved saber blade appeared on the battlefields has not been recorded by anyone. But it is known that sabers first appeared on the territory of modern Iran and Turkey; these were the early varieties of these weapons, the kilych and the shamshir saber. After the Crusaders, these blades became widespread in Europe. They appeared in Rus' with trade guests and received excellent praise from the soldiers.

It should be noted that not only the Turks and Europeans appreciated the cutting power of the curved blade, Far East I went my way as usual. That's where they appeared. The famous katana and Chinese dadao, these swords with a curved cutting surface were developed in the countries of the east.

Design

The classic saber had a slightly curved blade up to 850-900 mm long, the bend could be up to 50-70 mm, sharpened on the convex side. The upper third of the blade, up to the tip, was called elman; some sabers on elman had additional sharpening.

Along the blade part of the weapon there were valleys, which are sometimes called blood flows, although in reality they played a completely utilitarian role as stiffening ribs. The back of the blade was called the butt.

The Polish saber was already different from the eastern ones in its bend.

Later changes affected the hilt. European weapons had a full-fledged guard with a bow or several bows. The handle itself is in the form of an oval or ellipsoid in cross-section on the same axis as the blade. The butt plate usually had a hole for a lanyard.

The following types of sabers were distinguished by type of activity:

• cavalry, with a long blade and an indistinct tip;
• infantry, shorter blade, simplified handle;
• sea ​​or boarding, usually pronounced elman, strongly curved blade, developed tip, most often closed handle.

The general appearance of the blade depended greatly on the conditions of its use. In addition to the statutory samples, noble officers often bought themselves more expensive, and therefore durable, blades made of Damascus steel or damask steel.

Evolution

The appearance of the saber was most likely due to the development of armor. The entire evolution of weapons is an endless competition of strike and defense. The long straight blade of the sword lost the battle to plate armor and was replaced by narrow broadsword blades and curved saber blades.

The main difference from straight sword this was exactly what happened, the curved blade was lighter, but at the same time it inflicted deeper wounds due to the bending of the blade.

In addition, this blade made it possible to use it in fencing, while heavy ones were poorly suited for this.

Curved blade made it possible to cut off the tip of a spear during an attack, required less steel for production, and besides, it was simply more convenient. They first appeared in the East, the Turkish saber - klych and the Iranian shamshir are the most famous at present.

When removing it, it is enough to pull it and the checker itself falls into the palm, while the saber is taken out with the hand overlapping. The second difference is in balancing; the saber is not only intended for chopping, it was created as a combined weapon.

For this reason, the balance of the saber is shifted towards the hilt, even in weapons with a developed and heavy hilt.

The center of gravity of the checker is shifted to the tip, this is done so that when chopping, the force of the blow also contributes to the weight of the blade.

The third is a purely visual difference. The checker always has an open handle without a cross or guard. The checker blade is not intended for thrusting and for this reason often has a rounded or blunted tip.

In popular culture

Sabers are used in many games, for example, in the world of WOW there is a very light saber; in the browser game “War Banner” there is a type of saber called the karabela. The saber is mentioned in many literary works and films.

In epics, proverbs and sayings. There is still a proverb in Tula: “marry a blacksmith, you will walk around and wave a saber,” in fact, this meant a real situation when the wives of blacksmiths-gunsmiths went out into the street waving red-hot blade blanks, cooling and hardening them.

Cutlass sung by Sabbatini and Stevenson. Many children still portray Captain Blood, holding a wooden saber in their hands. In addition, many remember the times of the Union and the legends about the red cavalry, although the saber still played the main role there.

Replicas of mild steel sabers are still sold today; many people decorate their homes with collections of edged weapons.

The presence of a saber and checker on the carpet in the living room greatly decorates the interior of the house. At the same time, blades made of Damascus and damask steel are also sold, or rather with a pattern imitating them.

Video

The saber was a common weapon in Russia in the 16th-19th centuries. Each variety has its own characteristics. The Cossack saber replaced other types of similar weapons. In the 19th century, it was the most common variant in Russia and the Caucasus. A saber of this type was also called a Cossack saber. With development firearms and the abolition of metal armor, the combat saber was used by almost all warriors of the imperial Russian army. In conditions of combat, in which bullets could pierce the iron armor of a warrior, an attack using a Cossack saber became more than relevant. This was possible due to a number of characteristics and features of this type of edged weapon.

general characteristics

A Cossack saber is one that has a rather long blade. It was used in battle and served as an attribute of military clothing. Today such a saber is a valuable antique edged weapon. It makes it possible to understand the battle tactics of those times.

Original Cossack saber consists of a blade and a hilt (handle). The standard blade length reaches 1 m. It is single. But for combat they used 2-bladed weapons. The blade itself was slightly curved.

The hilt does not have a cross. At its end the handle bifurcates. May have a round tip.

It is the Cossack saber that is called a saber. In this case it's the same thing. But an ordinary saber is not equivalent to a checker. In the first case, wounds were inflicted only by chopping, and in the second, the possibility of stabbing and cutting was added. This is a feature of Cossack weapons.

There are two main types of checkers of this time: Caucasian and Asian. They have some differences. Cossack sabers also differ by year of manufacture.

Carrying and using a checker

The Cossack saber did not have a guard or a pronounced point. The curvature of the blade was minimal. All these factors determined its different balancing compared to a regular saber.

The saber was kept in a wooden sheath. Due to the method of its use in battle, the saber was positioned with the butt forward. The scabbard was usually covered with leather.

The saber was attached to the waist or shoulder belt. For this purpose, one or two rings were used, attached to the curved side.

In the dashing Cossack fun on the battlefield, one had to not only participate in battle, but also sometimes repel sudden attacks. Therefore, in the sheath it lay with the blade up.

The Cossack saber was easily snatched and did not require a change of hand. This is a convenient weapon. According to its characteristics, the saber can be compared to a samurai katana. They have a similar blade shape, as well as use and carrying.

Origin of checkers

The word "saber" is borrowed from the Circassian or Adyghe language, where such weapons were called "sashkho" or "seshkhue". Translated this means " long knife".

Circassian models differed from Russian ones. They were shorter and lighter. The ancestor of the Cossack saber of the 1881, 1904, 1909 model is a weapon of the 12th-13th centuries. Researchers found it in the Circassian lands.

This type of saber was first adopted by the Terek and Kuban Cossacks. They consider the saber a traditional part of a military costume. Already from the Cossacks, such weapons began to be used among lower and higher army ranks.

As a statutory saber, it was used by the cavalry, gendarmerie, police, and also among officers. To this day, dashing Cossack fun and military exploits are invariably presented in combination with a saber. You could say this is an attribute of the Cossacks.

Cossacks for a long time They used Turkish and Persian checkers for their weapons.

Until the mid-19th century, there were a lot of Caucasian type sabers. But the most popular, regulated saber of the Cossacks in 1834-1838 was the Asian-style saber.

It had a single-edged steel blade of a curved shape. The weapon had one wide fuller. The combat end was double-edged.

Its total length reached 1 m, and the blade - 88 cm. Its width was 3.4 cm. The Asian-style checker of 1834-1838 had a curvature of 70/395 mm. This weapon weighed about 1.4 kg.

The Asian officer's saber had decorations on the hilt and scabbard. Similar weapons was assigned to the lower and highest army ranks of Nizhny Novgorod and Seversky, as well as sergeants of the Plastun battalions and local teams of the Kuban Cossack army.

Later they were approved as military weapons in the Tver, Pereyaslav, Novorossiysk Dragoon Regiments.

model 1881

After defeat Russian Empire V Crimean War(lasted in 1853-1856) there was an urgent need to carry out reforms in the army, starting from the very higher levels management. This process was managed by the head of the Military Ministry D. A. Milyutin. After his resignation in 1881, reform of the army ceased.

The establishment of a single type of weapon was carried out in the same year. All other types of bladed weapons were abolished, and for cavalry, dragoons and infantry troops introduced a single type of saber.

Very quickly, the Cossack saber of 1881 became the most common piercing and cutting weapon in the Russian army. They were of two varieties: for lower ranks and for officers.

The geometry of the weapon made it possible to inflict deep, severe wounds. This feature became the reason for choosing this saber as a single model in the Russian army.

Cossack saber of the lower ranks (1881)

The soldier's saber had a total length of 102 cm. Its blade was standard 87 cm, and its width was 3.3 cm. The weight of the weapon was 800 g. The handle had a straight shape with a sharp bend at the end. It was made of wood and had deep inclined grooves. For technological reasons, the lanyard hole was shifted down towards the stop.

The scabbard did not have a bayonet mount. It was not intended for Cossack carbines. However, some regiments were issued a scabbard with a closed bayonet block at that time. By 1889, Asian-type checkers were issued to all lower ranks. This exemplary weapon is called the Cossack saber, original from 1881.

Officer's saber 1881

In 1881, the General Staff of the War Department issued Circular 217. It stated detailed description officer's saber. According to this document, the blade and hilt of the weapon were described in detail. Their components were specified down to the smallest detail.

The blade consisted of fighting end, middle part, heel and lower thickened rib (butt) and upper blade. The part of the blade that is intended for chopping is called febel, and for repelling blows is called forte.

The center of the blade is located at a distance of 0.25 arshins, measured from the tip. The fullers on the blade end there.

The hilt consists of a nut, a head, a handle, its back and front rings, a bow and a leather ring.

The handle is made of wood called backout. Sometimes other breeds were used for these purposes.

Antique edged weapon of the 1881 model has cross section in the middle part in the form of a tetrahedron with rounded corners. At the ends it has an oval shape. The back of the handle is slightly thicker than the front.

Materials

The blade of the presented type of weapon was a “doll” made of steel. A variety of materials were used to make the hilt. The back ring was made of copper with gold plating. This element had an oval shape. At the top there was a slot for the bow. The front ring is also copper and gold plated.

The nut located inside the hilt can be steel, copper or iron. It is screwed onto the tail of the blade very tightly.

The head of the handle is copper with gilding. It looks like a corolla. The bow is made from the same material.

The ring, pinched between the hilt and the back section of the heel, is made of leather. Cossack weapons of those times were made from the listed materials for both soldiers and officers.

The difference between a soldier's and an officer's saber of the 1881 model

Both lower and higher ranks used almost the same type of edged weapons. The blade was no different. The difference was in the technology of attaching the handle.

The bushing located at the top and the handle were attached to the tang of the blade with three rivets. Therefore, two veins were cut into the wooden base from the top to its middle. They were beaten off along with the tip. The middle rivet was driven through them.

In the officer's saber, due to a change in design, the lanyard hole was located higher than in the soldier's version of the saber. It was located on the midline of the handle.

However, the Cossack saber of the lower ranks was distinguished by its simplicity of fastening. Over time, officers' edged weapons began to be manufactured using the same technology.

Saber of the lower ranks, model 1904

The Cossack saber of the lower ranks was similar to the previous model. However, there were some differences. A characteristic feature of such weapons was the application of abbreviations by etching. They were located on the inside of the blade and looked like this: “TKV” (Terek Cossack Army). On the other outer side of the blade there were also the letters “ZOF”, which stood for Zlatoust Arms Factory. The year of issue of the checker was also indicated here. This became a feature of the Cossack saber of the 1904 model.

The scabbard was wooden, covered with leather. Combat saber was recessed into them up to the head of the handle thanks to the socket at the top of the wooden case.

The weapons of the lower ranks of the 1904 model weighed 1 kg. Its total length is 92 cm, and the blade is 74 cm. The width of the blade reached 3.5 cm.

This saber was adopted by the Caucasian Cossack troops for soldiers. Later it was slightly improved. But general form remained virtually unchanged.

Officer's saber, model 1909

General Staff Circular 51 dated March 22, 1909 introduced changes to the description regulations officer's checkers. The golden edged weapons of the highest army ranks and sabers with the Order of St. were left in their previous form. Anna 4th degree. All that was added was the decoration on the booth and the back ring.

Officer's sabers of the 1909 model had no differences from the previous type of weapon in the blade area, except for the location on the outside of the blade named after the Sovereign Emperor. On the other side was the coat of arms.

The back ring was decorated with laurel branches, as well as the raised name of the Emperor. There were also decorative borders. The head of the handle was decorated in the form of a vignette.

Later other samples were developed, but in post-war years(after World War II) such weapons were abolished. The saber became a ceremonial attribute of the army, as well as an integral weapon of the Cossacks.

Today these are award sabers. Receiving it is considered very honorable for military officials. You can wear a saber only with permission, like any similar products. After all, this is a formidable military weapon.

Considering such a bladed weapon as a Cossack saber, you can delve deeply into military organization past times. In its own way, it was a formidable tool on the battlefield. With the regulation of this particular weapon, reforms and transformations in the Russian imperial army began. It was widespread and was available to both ordinary soldiers and officers. Today it is an integral attribute of the Cossacks, which acts as a symbol of military honor and valor.

In our countries, perhaps, only art connoisseurs, fencing athletes and collectors of antiquities are familiar with the topic of edged weapons. The average person can hardly show off deep knowledge in this area, for example, tell right away how a checker differs from a saber. But curiosity and interest are important here, and knowledge on this issue can be obtained without difficulty.

Saber- This is a type of bladed weapon for piercing and chopping purposes, invented in the 7th century. Checker appeared in the 12th century and is also a bladed weapon, whose purpose is no longer so much piercing as chopping. Why is that?
The saber blade is curved, and the checker blade is almost straight. The saber has a clear edge, but the checker does not. That is why the saber also cuts, but it is also more difficult to learn how to use it. In addition, the length of the checker does not exceed a meter, and the saber can be longer. Checkers do not make such an elegant impression; they were invented precisely in order to deliver short, accurate and powerful blows in battle. The production of a checker was cheaper than the production of a saber. The saber is always equipped with a guard on the handle; checkers do not have a guard.

In general, learning to wield a saber is easier than learning to wield a saber. This is also due to the fact that a checker and a saber have differently located centers of gravity, although their weight is almost the same, which is especially interesting.

Checker
Saber

Conclusions website

1. The checker appeared 5 centuries later than the saber;
2. The checker cuts and stabs, and the saber cuts and stabs;
3. The checker does not have a curved blade, unlike the saber;
4. The checker does not have a handle with a guard, but the saber has just one;
5. Checkers have always been cheaper and easier to use;
6. The saber is longer than the checker;
7. The centers of gravity of the checker and saber do not coincide.

Many researchers consider the saber to be one of the most advanced types of bladed weapons. In written sources, sabers in Rus' have been mentioned since the 10th century. They are found in burial mounds of the 10th-11th centuries.

Saber X century

The fight against nomads, who used the saber as their main weapon, led to its widespread use in Rus'.

Blades of Mongolian sabers of the 13th century

It is difficult to say with certainty what exactly the shape of the Old Russian sabers was and how they differed from eastern blades. What is known for certain is that the Russian saber could both chop and stab.

In the second half of the 17th century, a wide saber of the “Turkish type” appeared. In cavalry weapons, they are increasingly using the type of Persian saber, which is lighter and, as some researchers believe, more advanced in its design. By this time, sabers were so widespread that they were even found in the weapons of the urban townspeople.

Persian saber

Under Peter I, the saber remained only with the Cossacks and hussars. Even under Alexei Mikhailovich, Serbs, Georgians and Croats who fled from Turkish oppression settled in Sloboda Ukraine. Of these, irregular hussar regiments were formed, which became part of the Russian regular army in the 1740s. These regiments were armed with a special saber.

The 18th century hussar saber had a fairly wide blade of medium curvature with a slight expansion at the end - elmanya. It is believed that the elman gave great force to the blow. The planes of the blade were called holomen. On the holomen of saber blades of the 18th century, fullers were almost always made - grooves that served to lighten the blade and give it rigidity.

Hussar saber XVIII century

Since the saber was supposed to cut through chain mail or armor, its blade was honed to a razor sharpness. After the defensive weapons began to fall away, the sabers began to be slightly dulled.

The fact is that when struck, a very sharp blade quickly penetrates muscle tissue, and its spasm can squeeze the saber so tightly that the warrior who struck the blow will be disarmed.

The saber hilt consisted of a handle slightly inclined in relation to the blade, a handle placed on it and a cross with a crosshair, turning into a bow at a right angle. The handle was usually covered with black leather and wrapped with twisted copper wire.

French sabers horse artillery 1829
(soldiers and officers)

In the 19th century, the handles of officers' sabers and broadswords were already covered with galyusha - specially treated shark or stingray skin. The skin of these creatures feels like a file, and sabers with such a handle are much more difficult to knock out of their hands.

Note that the cavalrymen wore rather thick leather gloves- and not only out of necessity and for the sake of convenience, but also following the ancient tradition, according to which a nobleman rider has no right to be without a hat and gloves.

The scabbard was made of wood, covered with leather or fabric and decorated with copper, and for officers - with gilded equipment.

In the second half of the 18th century, hussar sabers became lighter and smaller in size. In 1775, sabers were approved for the dragoon cavalry, differing from the hussars in having a smaller curvature of the blade and a broadsword-type shield (guard) on the hilt.

From top to bottom: infantry saber model 1855 (Solingen, Schaff workshop); infantry half-saber model 1826 (Zlatoust); cavalry saber model 1827/1909 (Afghanistan, 1913); cavalry saber model 1827 (Zlatoust); two hussar sabers, model 1797 (Zlatoust)

Russian edged weapons were produced mainly at Tula arms factories, and after 1816 a decree was issued according to which all edged weapons for the Russian army should be created in Zlatoust.

Alexander I, returning to Russia after the foreign campaign of the Russian army in 1815, invited German craftsmen from the city of Solingen, famous for its weapons factories, to work in Zlatoust. Many of them came to Russia and stayed here forever.

Thanks to German craftsmen, they introduced a whole range of completely new technological techniques for decorating edged weapons.

So, they invented a method of extremely impressive finishing of the blade, which they called “foot-and-mouth bluing.” With this decoration, the surface becomes bluish, some call it blue-black, and the texture of the metal resembles the skin of a lizard.

With the arrival of German craftsmen, the decoration of weapons with gold notching became widespread. The most significant works of weapon art using this technique were created by Russian masters Bushuev and Boyarshinov.

Saber with scabbard. Ivan Bushuev, 1824

The technique of defense - metal carving - was widely used. Later they began to use etching with gilding of the etched pattern or image.

Can be distinguished in special group blades of Cossack units. The background of these sabers is interesting. On turn of XIX-XX For centuries, the Cossacks expressed dissatisfaction with the fact that the old grandfather’s blades remained only in songs and epics, while with the introduction of new models, the Cossacks were obliged to wear new service swords, which, in their opinion, reduced the educational role of weapons.

In 1909, Emperor Nicholas II found a compromise solution: the Cossacks were allowed to create their own (military) models of edged weapons and pass them on from generation to generation, but carry them outside the formation. Then the so-called fangs (from the Turkish “kilij”) began to appear.

Variant of the saber "klych"

In the 19th century, the saber was gradually replaced by the saber. The saber remained in service with the hussar regiments for the longest time.

In 1881, a radical reorganization of the cavalry took place: all Russian regular army cavalry was converted into dragoons and fully armed with sabers. The Guards Hussars' sabers remained with full dress uniform up to 1917.

Here are the main examples of sabers used in Russia in the 18th and 19th centuries. Of course we're talking about exclusively about authorized (service) weapons; listing the huge number of non-statutory, same eastern, sabers would take up too much space.

It is interesting that in the Russian army, as well as in a number of other European armies, there was a tradition, when a new type of edged weapon appeared, to put a service hilt on an old, well-deserved blade and make a newly introduced sheath for it.

Very often such a mount is seen on award-winning weapons.

In many orders, an object that we can confidently characterize as a saber is called a saber, and vice versa. Thus, according to orders, dragoon sabers (soldiers’ and officers’) of the 1841 model are considered sabers.

Dragoon saber (checker) model 1841

The word "checker" comes from the Kabardian-Circassian sa "shkho - a long knife.

Sometimes, when starting to explain the main differences between a saber and a checker, they point out that the checker is a little shorter, that it does not have a guard at all or has one bow, such as, for example, the drill model of 1881.

This does not always correspond to a specific item, because when a new model was approved, as we have already said, they took an old blade (sometimes a saber) and put a new service hilt on it, and most importantly, a new sheath.

Top down: dragoon saber sample 1909 (Zlatoust); Cossack saber of the 1910 model (Zlatoust);
dragoon saber, model 1881 (Zlatoust); Dragoon saber of the 1881 model

It is the way of wearing that primarily distinguishes a saber from a checker. On the saber scabbard, two rings for attaching the apiaries of the sword belt are located on the side of the blade's butt. On a checker sheath, either two rings are on the side of the blade, or one ring is located on the side of the blade, and the other on the side inside the upper holder of the scabbard.

The first saber in the regular Russian cavalry appeared in 1834 in the Nizhny Novgorod Dragoon Regiment, which for its long service in the Caucasus also received elements of the Caucasian national costume- gazyrs for the uniform and hat.

In other countries, the concept of "checker" is absent. Some write: “checker-type saber”, others - “checker-type saber”, but, one way or another, in Western publications there is an attempt to explain to readers that this is one of the varieties of saber.

The number of checkers options is small. This is explained primarily by the fact that the saber was one of the youngest types of bladed weapons in the regular army and was in service with the Russian infantry and cavalry for only half a century.

Often, not Zlatoust blades, approved by the military department, were used on the saber, but Caucasian blades, created by Georgian or, preferably, Dagestan masters. It was a kind of chic, especially for those units that were related to the Caucasian theater of military operations.

Command staff checker. USSR (1940).

The latter, adopted for service already in Soviet army, was a saber for command personnel of the 1940 model.

The checker and saber are one of the most ancient types of bladed (piercing-cutting and cutting-piercing) weapons, which were used in our country in almost all types of troops. This ancient weapons There are many books and articles devoted to the difference between a checker and a saber. However, despite this, at the everyday level, a saber is often confused with a saber and a saber is often called a saber and vice versa. In foreign literature and the press, the saber is even called a “special type” of saber and is not distinguished as separate species cold steel, which is fundamentally wrong. We propose to dot all the i's and, finally, figure out what the main differences between a checker and a saber are.

So, first, the saber is much older than the checker. The first mentions of the saber date back to the 7th century. The saber appeared, as noted above, in the East and was one of the main types of weapons of the Turkic peoples. In fact, the saber was a kind of broadsword - one might say, a more improved one (with a noticeable bend
blades) version. At the same time, the saber appeared later - in the 12-13th century in the Caucasus. For many years, the saber was the main melee weapon of the peoples of the Caucasus.

The very word “checker” (from the Adyghe “sashkho” - “big long knife”) was first used in relation to weapons even later - in the 17th century. It is noteworthy that initially the saber was used as an auxiliary weapon (always came after the saber), but over time the saber replaced the saber, becoming the main weapon, first in the Caucasus, and later throughout Russia.

Age, however, is not the only difference between a checker and a saber. The main difference lies in the design of the weapon and functionality. One of the main differences between a checker and a saber has always been a scabbard made of natural wood, always covered in leather with a metal ring (one, less often two).

Unlike a checker, a saber was usually sheathed in steel. Another important point - in the case of a saber, the rings are located on the concave side of the scabbard, with a saber - vice versa. It was customary to wear a saber on a belt belt, and a saber on a shoulder belt. Another important difference is the degree of bending of the weapon’s blade. The blade of a checker is less curved compared to a saber. In addition, a checker is slashing weapon, and the saber is piercing-cutting. A saber, unlike a checker, has a handle with a guard, and the centers of gravity of the checker and saber are located differently. And finally, the last thing - a checker is shorter than a saber. The maximum length of a checker is 88 centimeters, a saber - 110. The difference is obvious.

Remembering these simple differences:

Handle device

Blade bend,

Scabbard and arrangement of rings on the scabbard, as well as the purpose of the weapon

Purpose of the weapon

in the future you are unlikely to confuse a checker with a saber either in a store (if you suddenly want to buy a checker or purchase a saber as a gift) or in a museum.