War-sword

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The term war-sword was historically used specifically for the post-Roman steel swords of medieval Europe. This was used to describe any primary "sword-of-war" such as the bastard-sword of the High Middle Ages; this is the more accurate term for what are today called long-swords or even more erroneously broad swords. Not included under this moniker were the overly large great-sword nor the smaller sized arming-sword. The final variation of the primary sword of war was the side-sword of the Renaissance.

For more information see long-sword.

Other Swords of War

While a sword by design is a weapon and not a dual-functioning tool as are some polearms, not all swords are/were built for the purposes of war. Exemplar is the rapier of the Renaissance which (contrary to some swashbuckling movies) was used strictly as a civilian weapon and had limited martial applications. Thus while some swords could be used both on the battle field and moonlight in a civilian setting, the reverse was not true.

The following is a list of some swords that were used on the field of war:

Ancient swords

Greek xiphos
Greek kopis
Roman gladius

Pre-industrial European swords

Middle-Eastern swords

Asian swords

Chinese jian
Chinese zhanmadao
Chinese shoudao
Chinese liuyedao
Chinese wodao
Chinese yanmaodao
Burmese dha
Japanese tachi
Japanese nodachi
Japanese katana
Japanese zanbatou
Siamese Krabi
Siamese Daab
Filipino kampilan

Colonial swords

Naval cutlass
Cavalry saber

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