Turkish sabers and daggers. Scimitar - the weapon of the Turkish Janissaries. How they fought with a scimitar. Scimitar fighting technique

After the liquidation of the Janissaries, everything that was connected with them was banned, but it is the Janissary corps (hearth) that still remains a symbol of the former Turkey.

The divisions of this corps were called orta, or ode.

Saber "kilidzh" and saber "fell"

Main bladed weapons the Turkish army in general and the Janissary corps in particular were kilij and fell.

Saber "Kilij". 18th century

The most obvious difference between the kilij and the Persian saber (shamshir) is a pronounced yelman with a sharp blade on it. Presumably, it appeared on Turkish weapons in the 15th century. The pala has the same yelman, but the blade of the pala is somewhat wider than that of the kilij, and has a sharper bend.

The saber fell. 18th century

The handles of the kilij and the pala were made of horn or bone and had the usual Turkish weapons teardrop ending. A cross with two flint and flint, as a rule, ended at the ends with oblong rounded thickenings.

Saber "shamshir". End of the 18th century

Until the middle of the 17th century, combat sabers were made heavy and extremely sharp in order to hit the enemy carrying defensive weapons. IN XVII-XVIII centuries the blades began to be made thinner and equipped with fullers, which served as a kind of stiffening ribs.

All inscriptions on military weapons were exclusively religious in content. Images of a magic square were allowed, where the sum of numbers when added in all directions is the same number, as well as baddukh - lucky numbers and well wishes. Often on weapons there is not only the mark of the master, but also the full names of the blacksmith and the customer, as well as the date of manufacture.

On the blades of most of the surviving specimens, a dot or some small image is put with a gold taush at the end of the yelmani. So the master marked the place that should be cut. According to his calculations, when struck with this particular part of the blade, the hand receives the least concussion, and the fighter does not feel tired even during a long battle.

Dagger "kama" and dagger "bebut"

One of the most common Turkish weapons is the dagger.

The most common dagger is a kama with a straight and wide blade, similar to those worn in the Caucasus, with the only difference that the Turkish ones were richly decorated with corals. And among the daggers there are also products of Trebizond masters. The decor of these products is characterized by a silver gilded basmen and big amount corals.

Dagger "Kama" decorated with corals. Trebizond. End of the 18th century.

Another widely used type of dagger was the bebut, a curved double-edged dagger worn by venerable people in various congregations.

The "bebut" dagger was worn at meetings. End of the 18th century.

Axe

In addition to all other weapons, the Janissaries had axes with large semicircular blades and short armies.

Janissary ax and axes of junior officers. XVI-XVIII centuries

The "History of the emergence of the laws of the Janissary corps" says the unwritten law of the ax. The janissary could approach a house under construction and hang his ax on it. After that, the owners of the house under construction did not have the right to continue work while the ax remained in place. They collected gifts that might please the owner of the axe. After some time, the Janissary returned and, if the gifts suited him, he took off his ax and left.

In addition to the axes of ordinary Janissaries, museums contain a large number of small hatchets, richly decorated and completely non-functional from a combat point of view. They belonged to the low officer ranks of the Turkish army.

Mace

Senior commanders, the highest ranks of the Turkish army, and, in particular, the Janissary corps, had maces as a symbol of their power.

The symbol of the power of the highest ranks of the Turkish army is a mace. XVIII century.

Once upon a time, maces were used to break through the armor of the enemy, but with the elimination of such, they began to be richly decorated and turned into the most spectacular accessories of high commanders.

Scimitar

Usually, great attention attracts the most exotic weapon of the Janissaries - the scimitar.

Long Turkish knives - scimitars. XVIII century.

Scimitars still pose more questions to the researcher than they give answers. Basically, two questions always arise: where does this shape of the blade come from? Why did this shape of the handle appear?

In most reference encyclopedias, a scimitar is defined as a weapon that is a cross between a saber and a knife.

Carrying and using scimitars in Turkey was the privilege of the Janissaries. Being an unbridled force, they posed a danger even to the Turks themselves, who lived in the cities where the Janissary garrisons stood. This led to the fact that in the 18th century the Janissaries were forbidden to leave the ode with weapons. During the exit to the city, they were allowed to carry only a knife and a hatchet.

The knife began to increase in size and turned into what we know as a scimitar. Indeed, all scimitars kept in museums belong to XVIII century. Only one scimitar is attributed as belonging to Suleiman I, who died in 1526/27.

It should be noted that the inscriptions on the blades of scimitars, in contrast to military weapons, could be secular content.

It is worth mentioning that the scimitar in translation from Turkish means long knife. The scimitar is a knife (from 30 to 70 cm), curved in the manner of a bull horn and having a blade on the concave side and a handle with a head in the form of a tibia joint.

We find the most ancient analogue of such a blade in Ancient Greece. According to archaeological excavations, the so-called mahaira had a similar blade. Samples of this weapon found on the territory of our country date back to the 4th-3rd centuries BC. e.

Translated into Russian, mahaira means a sacrificial knife. It probably originated precisely as a sacrificial knife, and became a weapon a little later.

A very related subject to the mahaira is the kukri, without which no Gurkha can be considered a full-fledged man.

Kukri - traditional weapons of the Gurkhas

Speaking about the shape of the handle of the scimitar, it should be noted that among the archaeological finds during the excavations of the burial ground of the XII century BC. e. on the island of Crete, a priestly sacrificial knife was discovered, which has a similar handle in the form of a tibia joint. And in the 18th century, a knife appears in Turkey, the handle of which repeats the handle of the priestly knife, which was used in the same places almost thirty centuries ago.

With the most cursory acquaintance with archaeological materials, we find forked heads of handles on Sogdian knives of the 1st century BC. e. and on the knives of the Bosporus of the 5th-4th centuries BC. e., but almost the exact analogue of this handle is found on Caucasian drafts, and regardless of the material from which they were made. Here it will be appropriate to note that, just like the scimitar, the saber in translation means "long knife".

"Ears" of Caucasian checkers

The study of the beliefs of the tribes that inhabited the space from mediterranean sea before Caucasus mountains, allows us to conclude that the most common totem they have is a bull (more precisely, a tour is a fossil bull).

The oldest priestly knife found in Crete suggests that this shape of the handle is characteristic of knives associated with the cult of the bull.

According to the hypothesis of French researchers, the Minotaur (a monster with a human body and a bull's head) is none other than the king of Crete (he is also the high priest), who, during sacrifices and other rituals, put on the mask of a bull - the totem of his tribe.

After the volcanic eruption on the island of Thera (the remains of this island are now called Santorini) in 1450 BC. e. the inhabitants of Crete began to move, and with them the cult of the bull spread to Thessaly, Thrace, to India in the east and to the Caucasus Mountains in the north.

It is also necessary to note the cult of the bull among the Nepalese Gurkhas.

It is known that the ritual priestly knife of the tribes associated with the cult of animals from the cat family - kaj - was made in the form of a cat's fang. This suggests that the blades of priestly sacrificial knives in the tribes associated with the cult of the bull were made in the form of a bull's horn.

The Janissary corps was a religious army. Its members were initiated into the mysteries of the rituals of the "dancing dervishes", as the Bektashis were called, and the appearance of sacred weapons in them is quite understandable.

Firearms

The Janissary corps was originally created from archers, but pretty soon crossbows became their weapons, and from the 17th century they were replaced by guns. Workshops for their manufacture were right in the hearth (the so-called Janissary corps).

Turkish flint-impact fittings. XVII century.

Despite the laudatory words spoken about the old state guns, for a Janissary, according to an unwritten law, it was considered a shame to have a state-owned gun.

As a professional, he had to order his instrument from good craftsmen or in well-known workshops. It was believed that the gun should talk about its owner.

Versions of Turkish cuts. XVII century.

The guns were, as a rule, extremely ornate items, but even among these fine examples there is a group of guns that stand out for their pomposity and decorative overload. These are the so-called Trebizond (Tarabuzan) guns.

For the first time, the term "Trapezund guns" is found in the inventory of the Armory of the times of Peter I.

Detail of the Trebizond gun. Second half of the 17th century.

The history of Trebizond, in Turkish Tarabuzan, now Trabzon, is very dramatic.

The Empire of Trebizond was created in 1204 by the grandchildren of the Byzantine emperor Andronicus I with the assistance of the Georgian queen Tamara.

In 1461, the empire was conquered by the Ottoman Turks, and since then it has been part of the Turkish state, with the exception of some time in 1916, when the city was taken by Russian troops and turned into the base of the Russian Black Sea Fleet.

The future Sultan Selim I ruled in Trebizond from 1512 to 1520 and, based on his experience, ordered the Janissaries of Trebizond to be scammers and help prevent Janissary riots.

As for other nationalities inhabiting the city, the Greeks were mainly engaged in trade, while the Armenians, on the contrary, received worldwide recognition as good craftsmen.

It is likely that in Trebizond, armourers' and jewelers' shops were based on Armenian craftsmen. The decor motifs of Trebizond guns echo the works of Armenian jewelers and the ornamentation of the Armenian national costume.

However, Trebizond guns are distinguished not only by their decor, but also by the style of manufacture. The same type of locks, identical barrels, a large number of sling swivels - mounting rings (at least 16-18) - characterize these guns. They are characterized by the shape of the stock, barrel, lock and other details common to Turkish rifles.

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Scimitar is a contact long-bladed piercing-chopping-cutting melee weapon up to 810 mm long and a blade from 570 to 690 mm, curved towards the blade, a sharp fighting end and a handle, as a rule, without limitation, with a massive protrusion towards the blade blade and a bifurcated head in the form of "ears". The European tradition classifies the scimitar as a sword. This melee weapon was, rather, the weapon of infantrymen, because it is rather inconvenient to cut them backhand.

The scimitar is mainly known as the specific weapon of the Turkish Janissaries - military units Ottoman Empire, which were often formed from persons of non-Turkish origin.

The shape of the scimitar blade is not unique, because a concave blade with a sharpening on the concave side was possessed by such types of edged weapons as mahaira, falcata, underhand knife, kukri, cleaver. Although it is in the scimitar that the blade does not have an extension to the tip, and retains the same width. However, extremely rare, but still there were exceptions.

Sharpened on the concave side, the scimitar was considered a weapon that "in defense - a shield, and in an attack - inflicts two wounds at once." Indeed, if in battle to block an enemy weapon with a concave blade, then it will be much more difficult for him to slip off this obstacle.

One of the most common fighting techniques with a scimitar was the following: placing a hard repulsing block with the blunt, convex side of the weapon, turn the brush around and inflict an injection on the opponent's armpit or side with the point. From the same position it was possible to carry out a cutting blow on oneself - the massive ears on the handles of many scimitars well protected the hand from jumping off them.

With a chopping-cutting blow with a scimitar, a “sickle effect” can occur when the weapon actually inflicts two wounds: one - with the middle of the blade or its part adjacent to the handle, and the other - with the opposite part of the blade or with the tip when cutting on itself.

Some authors argue that, in addition to using the scimitar in close combat, it is possible to effectively use it as a throwing weapon. The throwing of the scimitar is ensured by the specific shape of its blade and hilt. The "lugs" mentioned above provide the stabilizing flight of the scimitar.

Experienced bladed weapon throwers say that throwing such weapons is possible only 5-6 meters, no more.

Story

The scimitar began to be used in the 16th century. It has a blade with one-sided sharpening on the concave side (the so-called reverse bend). The hilt of the scimitar is devoid of guards, the handle at the headband has an extension for resting the hand. The blade of the Turkish scimitar near the hilt deviated at a significant angle down from the handle, then it was straight, near the tip it broke again, but already up. Thus, the point was directed parallel to the handle and sharpened on both sides, which made it possible to strike forward. The reverse fracture of the blade simultaneously allowed cutting blows from oneself and increased the effectiveness of both chopping and cutting blows. The straight shape of the blade in the middle pull increased its resistance to transverse bending. In addition, replacing a smooth bend with a break made it possible to achieve a greater effective length of the weapon.

The scimitar, having a reverse bend, sought to “break out” of the hand upon impact. Therefore, he did not need a developed guard. On the other hand, in order for the fighter not to lose his weapon, very sophisticated measures were taken: the handle completely covered the lower part of the palm, forming specific extensions (“ears”), and sometimes continued with an emphasis on the second hand, which was located completely perpendicular to the straight part of the blade. The blade and handle had a variety of decorations - carving, notches and engraving. Scimitars were kept in scabbards and carried around the belt like daggers.

Basically, the scimitar is known as the specific weapon of the Turkish Janissaries. According to legend, the Sultan forbade the Janissaries to wear Peaceful time sabers. Janissaries circumvented this ban by ordering arm-length combat knives. And so the Turkish scimitar appeared. Some scimitars have a biconcave blade (like the Egyptian khopesh) - reverse at the base of the blade and saber at the tip. The scimitar usually has a bone or metal handle. The scabbard of the scimitar is wooden, covered with leather or lined with metal. Since there is no guard, the scimitar blade enters the sheath with part of the hilt. The total length of the scimitar is up to 80 cm, the length of the blade is about 65 cm, the weight without a scabbard is up to 800 g, with a scabbard - up to 1200 g. In addition to Turkey, the scimitar was used in the armies of the countries of the Middle East, the Balkan Peninsula, South Transcaucasia and the Crimean Khanate.

Scimitars fell to the Cossacks as trophies after successful campaigns. During the time of the Transdanubian Sich, they became more widespread among the Transdanubian Cossacks, who were military service the Turkish sultans.

Scimitars were used by infantrymen (the Janissaries were exactly the guards infantry) in close combat.

The attacking shock actions of the scimitar were performed mainly with a point and a concave blade. The design features of this blade allowed the master to inflict two wounds simultaneously during the execution of a chopping and cutting blow. Protective beats were carried out both with a blade and with a non-pointed convex side. When repulsing a blow with a concave blade, a much more reliable hold on the enemy blade was provided, but at the same time, the possibility was lost due to the sliding rebounds inherent in the saber to deliver lightning-fast counterattacks. Thus, the scimitar had both advantages and disadvantages. Cossacks, like the vast majority of the then European warriors, gave preference to curved or straight blades.

Scimitar as a throwing weapon

Some authors point to the possibility, in addition to using the scimitar in close combat, to effectively use it as a throwing weapon, provided by the specific shape of its blade and handle (ending in two "ears", additionally stabilizing the flight). The children's military encyclopedia indicates the range of the scimitar, at which it freely pierces the tip into a wooden target - about 30 meters. However, this is not true. The experience of throwers allows us to talk about throwing such weapons at 5-6 meters, no more.

Scimitar in literature

Satan star- a novel by Dalia Truskinovskaya (in the title Khanjar)

Notes

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At the mere mention of the word scimitar, as a rule, associations arise with Turkish Janissaries. What kind of weapon is this? Some believe that this is some kind of miracle weapon, while others are just an attribute of parades that served as harmonious additions to exotic oriental costumes for Europeans.

But as always, in reality, everything turned out to be much more trivial. Until then, while in all wars the palm of primacy was held exclusively by melee weapons, gunsmiths have always tried to create something like an “ideal” universal blade.

Moreover, one that could be equally well adapted as a chopping and piercing weapon. So the scimitar appeared as the culmination of development in one of these areas. This is a weapon of choice wielded by the Turkish Janissaries, who were once considered the finest foot soldiers in the ancient Muslim world.

What is a scimitar

Scimitar (from the Turkish yatagan literally “laying down”) is a bladed piercing and cutting and chopping cold weapon, having a long single-edged blade with a double bend. In other words, it is something between sabers and cleavers. The configuration of the blade can hardly be suspected of being unique, because mahairs, falcates, underside knives, kukri, and also cleavers had concave blades with sharpening on the concave sides. For all that, the actual blades of the scimitars did not expand towards the tip, but remained the same across the entire width.

With a small weight of the weapon (approximately plus / minus 900 g) and with a rather long blade (up to 65 cm), it was possible to produce not only single, but also a series of chopping, cutting and stabbing blows. The convenient special configuration of the handle did not allow the weapon to break out of the hands when applying chopping blows. The cavalrymen possessed scimitars, the length of the blades of which sometimes reached up to 90 cm. Everything depended on the materials from which the scabbard was made.

Basically, the manufacture of scabbards for scimitars was made of wood, from the outside they were covered with leather or lined with metal. In addition, there were also samples that were cast from silver, and wooden plates were put inside. As a rule, scimitars were decorated with a wide variety of engravings, incisions, or filigree embossing. For the most part, the names of the masters or owners of weapons were applied to the blades, and at times phrases from the sutras of the Koran. The scimitar was worn behind the belt in the same way as the dagger.

Scimitars had blades with one-sided sharpening on the concave sides (the so-called reverse bends). The hilts of the scimitars were devoid of guards, the handles at the heads had extensions to support the hands. The blades of the Turkish scimitars near the hilts deviated at significant angles downward from the handles, then straightened out, but closer to the point they broke again, but now upwards. As a result, the points were directed parallel to the handles and sharpened on both sides. Thanks to this, it was possible to deliver stab blows from oneself forward.

The presence of reverse fractures of the blade made it possible to deliver cutting blows from oneself, and to increase the effectiveness of chopping and cutting blows. In the presence of straight forms of blades in medium pulls, their resistance to transverse bending increased. Moreover, when replacing smooth bends with kinks, the length of the weapon increased.

Scimitars, having reverse bends, seemed to be pulled out of the hands during the strikes. As a result, they did not need developed guards. However, in order for the Janissaries not to lose their weapons, they resorted to extremely sophisticated measures. Yes, the handles were covered lower parts palms, with the formation of specific extensions (the so-called "ears"). Blades and handles had a wide variety of decorations, such as carvings, notches and engravings.

During attacking strikes, scimitar blows were applied mainly with the help of a point and concave blades. Due to the design features of such blades, craftsmen could inflict up to two wounds at once when performing chopping and cutting blows. Protective beats were carried out both with blades and with non-pointed convex sides.

In order to inflict cuts on the enemy with the help of this weapon during return movements, there was no need to lean on the scimitar or press on it, because this was done as a matter of course. By parrying blows with concave blades, one could provide much greater reliability in holding hostile blades.

However, during this, the potential was lost in delivering lightning-fast counterattacks, through sliding parries, which are inherent in the sabers themselves. As a result, scimitars had both advantages and disadvantages.

Scimitar: myths and legends, truth and fiction

It was almost impossible to penetrate metal armor with a high degree of reliability with scimitars due to their small mass, as well as design feature blades. In addition, there were myths that scimitars could be throwing weapons.

And in general, any type of weapon can be made throwable, but to what extent it will be effective is another question. The range of an aimed throw with a scimitar can be literally a few meters, but in a mass battle, such use of it will be at least not rational and most likely can lead to the death of the “thrower”.

Another legend is that scimitars were used as a rest for guns or muskets in the process of opening fire. Some believed that their so-called "ears" were intended for this purpose. However, it remains indisputable that the scimitars did not have sufficient length for these purposes. So, even when firing in a kneeling position, it will be inconvenient to do this. It will be much easier to take a prone position and conduct aimed fire.

It just so happened that scimitars are better known mainly as weapons used by Turkish Janissaries. However, this is not a completely correct opinion, because it is known that not only Turkish soldiers used such weapons. Such swords were also armed in the Middle Eastern and Middle Eastern states.

In particular, the Persians and Syrians had such weapons. It is also known that the Transdanubian Cossacks were also armed with scimitars. These were the former Zaporizhzhya Cossacks, or rather part of them, which, after the destruction of the Zaporizhzhya Sich, crossed the Danube. So June 15, 1775 Russian troops, commanded by Lieutenant General Pyotr Tekelli, in accordance with the decree of Catherine II, managed to secretly move towards the Sich and surround it.

Then the ataman Pyotr Kalnyshevsky gave the order to surrender without a fight. Since then, both the Sich itself and the entire Zaporizhzhya army were disbanded. Some Cossacks even went to the service of the Turkish Sultan, where they were armed.

There is a version that scimitars trace their genealogy from the time ancient egypt. Allegedly, they are distant descendants of the ancient Egyptian khopesh swords. However, khopesh have a more sickle-shaped configuration and a longer length, and subsequently they were also sharpened on both sides.

Scimitars that have survived to our time date back to the first quarter of the 19th century. They remained Janissary weapons until 1826, and subsequently they were given another opportunity to exist after 1839. Most of all, this was associated with the completion of the reign of Mahmud II.

Scimitars of the late XVIII - early XIX For centuries, most of all, they were personal weapons for a wide variety of local self-defense showdowns. The scimitar of that period was made mainly of low-quality iron, however, it was richly decorated. It had a fragile hollow handle that could not withstand strong blows. The scimitar became a ceremonial and ceremonial weapon and a symbol of the passing era.

This was further facilitated by the fact that the Janissaries were forbidden to carry settlements sabers, axes and of course firearms. Scimitars were not classified as serious weapons, as a result of which they were not banned.

In 1826, following another rebellion, the Janissaries were defeated, and the survivors were exiled. Scimitars almost in the blink of an eye sank into oblivion. Further efforts to restore another important historical era, as well as his weapons, did not bring success. It has caused too many disasters.