Saber - weapon of war
In my article "My unlikely relationship with the jian - sword of civilian defence" I opined that the jian was a weapon of civilian defence . Aside from the Roman and Greek swords and the longsword, true battle swords tended to be curved, single-edged weapons that were used for cutting - ie. sabers. Here is an extract of my article: Unlike the Chinese dao (single-handed saber) and dadao (two-handed saber) (both used by the Chinese military) or the Japanese equivalent, the katana (also a military weapon), the jian is straight and double-edged . This means it is not optimized for cutting, but for thrusting . Optimization for cutting requires a curve. And a curve often (though not always) leads to single-edged weapons... It should come as no surprise that on the battlefield, melee range weapons are best employed in terms of the former, ie. cutting/slashing with an edge . Being able to thrust with the point is, at best, an adjunct use.....