Cossack saber, like other types of knives, occupies an important place in military-historical science. Their changes, the appearance of new models often had a decisive influence on the outcome of hostilities.
Edged weapons are interesting from different angles. On the one hand, the military mastery of technology is changing, incorporating the experience of wars in which Cossacks appeared. On the other hand, it is a delightful piece of jewelry. On the third hand - reflects the spiritual culture of the time.
Cossack saber, like mother alone
"Cossack" - a free man, a warrior with arms, owning the basic science of battle. Cossacks highly esteemed edged weapons. The whole way of life, from birth to death, was presented as preparation for battle. The Cossack should have been able to infallibly own all types of knives and clearly maintain tact of military operations. No wonder the glorious Don army, known for many victories, Peter the first changed the Cossack coat of arms with a deer to the coat of arms with a Cossack and a saber, which lasted 100 years.
From history, Catherine the Second formed the Army of Orthodox Cossacks of Zaporozhye. At first, that army had no weapons. But in the presence of always had either a pitchfork or slag made of horse bones tied to a stick. The Cossacks themselves made few weapons, more often they used trophy ones. The main opponents were Turks, Tatars and Poles, who widely used precisely sabers.
Selected types of Cossack sabers
Saber - a cold steel with a curved single-blade blade with or without dales. In Russia, the saber has been known since the ninth century, and since the fourteenth century it has become the main type of cold steel. Cossacks were armed with a wide variety of sabers
Cossack trophy - shamshir
Saber from Muslim Persia. This weapon with a large arcuate curvature. The rider almost did not use the edge in battle, since it was useless because of the strong curvature. Asians widely used a lingering blow, for which the curvature of the saber was intended. Shamshir is very convenient for injecting from a horse without changing the position of the body. This saber was hung from the left side of the belt, with the blade down. Some shamshir sabers are very expensive, they can have rare and expensive stones - emeralds, sapphires, jade. Some Persian sabers have an inscription in the language of the Arabs according to their central position - “In the Name of Allah the Gracious, the Merciful” The scabbard is covered with expensive fabric - velvet, an oriental pattern - a gimp stands out. The metal sections of the scabbard and guard are highlighted by rosettes of vegetation with impeccable precious stones. A rare exhibit is of historical value.
Cossack saber - carabel
Carabel was often used by Ukrainian Cossacks. The saber-carabel was delivered to the servicemen as trophies. Sometimes such weapons were made independently. The carabel was affected by the proximity of Ukraine to Poland, but Ukrainian and Polish sabers are significantly different from each other. On sabers of Zaporizhzhya Cossacks - their own symbolism. One of the subspecies of the carabel is the combat saber of the “Eagle” - of Ukrainian origin. The true length of the sword in the scabbard reaches up to nine hundred and thirty millimeters. The length of the blade is seven hundred and seventy millimeters, the width of the heel is thirty-five millimeters, the length of the sheath is seven hundred and ninety millimeters. The saber handle is made of bone in the form of a single-headed eagle.
The real owner of the saber must be the foreman of the Cossack army. The eagle bird is a symbol of fearlessness, stamina, courage. The blade of the saber is made of steel, two dales, which is made in Ukraine. There are no Arabic letters on the blade, the heel has a stamp of letters in Ukrainian with a horseman depicted. The scabbard is covered with leather material, interspersed with turquoise gemstone on metal products. The carving is visible here and there. The mouth of the scabbard has interspersed turquoise stone, which has been known since ancient times. Turquoise came to the European part from Persia, having come a long way through Turkey. The color of this stone can be of different shades, because there is a small amount of copper in it. The blue shades of turquoise are the most exalted and spiritualized, associated with power, justice and authority. More often it is installed on the handles of cold steel. On the front of the mouth of the scabbard there is a very small icon - the Virgin Mary, which directly indicates that this carabel belongs to the Ukrainian Cossacks.
Cossack "Honor" Saber
This edged weapon is forged from the highest quality steel (Damascus) using precious metals - gold, silver. On the blade from the outer end, gold letters in Arabic are visible “In the Name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful” and the spell from the enemy. The cross has two stone cabochons - garnets. The front side of the guard has the Old Slavonic words “Save”, “Save”, “Yu”, “X”, the date on the back is “1659”. The entire surface of the guard is painted with patterns of plants and geometric shapes. The handle is made of bone, surrounded by a silver plate around the perimeter with jade cabochons fixed on it. The wooden scabbard is covered with leather (morocco) with a silver device, fully decorated with floral ornaments in the form of curly hops. The inscription on the guards “U” and “X”, an ornament in the form of curly hops, as well as the date served as the reason for the version that the saber was somehow connected with the legendary historical figure, the son of Bogdan Khmelnitsky - Yuri.
Russian saber of ancestors
Saber Cossack guards, officer. In one thousand nine hundred and ninth year an order was issued by the military department number four hundred and nine, which indicated that all Cossacks were allowed to serve with "grandfather's weapons", that is, with cold steel, inherited from ancestors. Such a decision was also reflected in the armament of the Cossack guards regiments, in which their samples of officer sabers, called toothfish, were developed and adopted for carrying out of service. Four weapons are known: the canine of the Cossack regiment, the canine of the Atoman regiment, the 6th Don Cossack battery of guards mounted artillery and the canine of the Urals hundreds of Consolidated Cossack regiment. These canines repeated the shape and style of decoration of the sheath of the Cossack sabers of the late eighteenth - early nineteenth centuries.
