By Mikes Loades
This marvelous publication tells the tale of the evolution of swords, how they have been made, how they have been used, and the folks that used them. It does not declare to provide complete insurance yet in its place takes yes surviving examples as landmarks on a desirable trip throughout the historical past of swords. every one is chosen since it may be associated with a selected person, therefore telling their tale too and giving a human curiosity. So the adventure begins with the sword of Tutankhamun and ends with the swords of J E B Stuart and George Custer. alongside the best way we absorb Henry V, Cromwell and Uesugi Kenshin, and there's the main targeted dialogue you will discover wherever of all of George Washington's swords. The chapters on those particular swords and swordsmen are alternated with extra basic chapters at the altering technical advancements and models in swords and their use.
The reader's advisor in this old journey is Mike Loades. Mike has been dealing with swords such a lot of his existence, as a struggle arranger, stuntman and historic guns professional for television and level. He considers the sword as a useful weapon, murals, style assertion and cultural icon. up to his profound wisdom of the topic, it really is his lifelong ardour for swords that comes via on each web page. His interesting textual content is supported via a lavish wealth of pictures, many formerly unpublished and brought in particular for this booklet.
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Extra resources for Swords and Swordsmen
Example text
Never again! Apart from having a horse more suited to the task, the cavalryman must take care not to let the rear point of his xyston extend beyond his horse’s rump, lest it endanger the companions riding hard behind, but the advantage of a double-headed lance, as Alexander was to find out, is that once the forward end has broken, you can simply lift your arm above your head and you immediately have a short stabbing spear. In closing, Spithrobates had drawn his sword but, as he swung it, Alexander drove what remained of his xyston into Spithrobates’ face, killing him outright.
At this stage the blade would be work hardened by hammering it with a bronze hammer on a bronze anvil and then it would be put to a whetstone to give it an edge. Last of all, a charcoal dust and clay paste on a soft cloth gives a final polish, bringing to life a blade that gleamed resplendently and reflected warm golden rays as if it were the sun itself. An army equipped fully with bronze weapons would have been a magnificent and terrifying sight. Axeheads and spearheads would play their part but the psychological intimidation created by massed ranks with sharp, glinting khepeshes must have been greater, not least because it might suggest that the soldiers were at a higher level of military training.
His father, Akhenaten, had begun his reign as Amenhotep IV. He changed his name five years later in an act of religious reformation that was to have cataclysmic impact and which rocked the foundations of the Egyptian establishment. Hitherto the Egyptians had worshipped a pantheon of gods, of which Amun was a principal, but not the sole, deity. Amenhotep, a name meaning ‘Amun is satisfied’, declared suddenly that Aten was the only god and changed his name to Akhenaten, meaning ‘the effective spirit of Aten’.