The SHASHKA: what, whom, where, when and how?

[Radu Transylvanicus]

I am very excited along with others in the Forum to see an infusion, a captivating wave of interest regarding the Shashka sabers. I also feel guilty of not knowing enough about them.
Does anyone know any article or maybe any kind of manual that deals with the type of fencing tied specifically to the shashkas? Does the early Russian Army, likely the Czarist had anything like it since by all means these swords were no outlaws, were well regarded and in regimental issue.
I would assume more than anything would be a cavalry sword used much in the fashion of a kilij/shamshir. But many differences exist. Their curvature is equal to that of classic Japanese katana. The morphology of the blade is similar to the Central-Eastern European sabers. The hilt is resemblant of the eared type Turko-Iranian weapons, especially the early yataghan. Still it retains a certain uniqueness and a sense of place as a breed apart. While the blades are very utilitarian, very fit for combat, the absence of guards, quillions, thumbrests or such suggests a different approach to fencing exercise. I am sure nevertheless you should be able to do new tricks, which were not permitted with others...
Without doubt, as powerful as beautiful, there is no questioning of the lethality but it seems very little fencing literature has been wrote on the matter of Shashka. I refuse to believe such an individual weapon had no particular place in the military manuals.
Even so, there are endless folk dances of the formers Soviet nations of the Caucasian that involve the use of the kindjals but don’t recall a single one to have the shashka as protagonist.

[Titus Pullo]

That's a very interesting story! I love to read about it if anyone have any information regarding this. This seems like a very quick and powerful fencing style to me judging from from the lack of large guard, which are not necessary like the Japanese style and the Thai krabi-krabong. Sound very interesting!

[Tim Simmons]

I am not sure you actually fence with combat weapons, fencing is practice and sport. I also feel you are stretching things to think one fences when dueling, which most often ended in a most bloody ungentlemanly fight for survival. Many cavalry troops were used as a shock weapon against infantry positions where the weapon would pierce or cut down often fleeing opponents once thier formation had been breached. Beautiful steel but not the most noble weapon. Tim

[Rivkin]

Concerning the manuals:

Prior to 1810 or so, russian army did not have any standard patterns. Repair and maintanance was also considered to be a private matter of individual cavalrymen. Central russian arsenals rarely included more than 30-50 workers, theoretically responsible for repairing 5,000 or so swords a year. As a result while there were certain preferences (like heavy palashes in cuirasier regiments), all of the weapons were obtained on the individual basis. With this in mind there were no special regulations concerning shashkas and so on.

On the other hand circassians and other northern caucasians did not have any writing system until XIX century (arabic, ughur or turkish runic being used here and there for the purpose of written communication), so not much is known in this direction.

While a lot of russian units used shashkas - circassian (kabarda) heavy cavalry in 1812-1815, later cossacks and tribal units ("wild" division and imperial convoy (bodyguards)) all of these units assumed that a recruit is already accomplished in using his weapons. Most of the observations of russian officers/writers concerning the nature of shashka's use talk not so much about fencing, but about attacking targets (folded rugs, canes etc.), drawing the shashka (shashka is worn edge up and special attention was given knowing how to make the first draw/attack). I don't remember anyone mentioning some complex fencing system.

By far the most important documentation of caucasian's martial arts are small series printed by N.K.V.D. in 1930's. Because the new not-so-secret police needed to organize martial arts training for the recruits, multiple mission were dispatched that collected the information on Caucasian martial arts and assembled them in small books.

These books are very _rare_. I have seen once the one on khevsurian fencing, and it was extremely impressive, detailing the details of dozens of techniques.

Concerning folk dances with shashkas - there are some, however 99% of folk dances that are widely known today are either georgian (highly modernized and almost ballet-like), or dagestanian/lezgi related. In the latter case the emphasis was put on one specific like of dance (for example Mahaev's ensemble "Lezginka") which is very different from circassian dances.\

I have a very good article on the culture of war in Caucasus. While it is largely mased on the tales about great heroes and therefore delivers all-too-noble and rather one sided view of the history, it is very interesting. Unfortunately it is in russian.

[ariel]

Just a brief point about kindjals: despite beautifully sharp and even occasionally reinforced points, they were used as purely slashing weapons. Sticking it in was regarded as inappropriate behaviour and no Caucasian would allow himself to be viewed as less than a perfectly noble knight. Just give him a hint of disapproval and he would right away slash your throat (but NOT stab you!!!).
The test for shashkas was (as Rivkin mentioned) cutting though the "burka"(sheepskin overcoat); it was stood up on the ground and should not have moved after a cut, then the upper part should just slowly slide down; slicing though a silk handkerchief or through a careless and less than polite opponent (apparently the origin for the word "gurda"). Khevsurs (who used heavier swords with guards) practiced dueling while kneeling; the parrying was done mainly by small bucklers. They also used fighting rings worn on the right thumb: with sharpened protrusions (gajjiyeh) or without (satiteh).
Astvatsaturyan (who else?) cites a traveler by name G. Radde who witnessed Khevsuri boys practicing with wooden swords. He said they used "primes, secundas, tercies and quartas according to the best examples of fhe fencing art".
Circassian and Daghestani kids learned to use shashkas early on but I am unaware of any desription of techniques. Since they (the Circassians, especially) valued lightness, sharpness and springiness of the blade, and since they did not use handguards, it seems to me that they did not "fence" as such; rather the entire idea was speedy single blow. And then, turn to the next opponent!
They are incredibe people! Fearless, generous to a fault, wily, cruel, stoic, romantic, with almost rabid sense of honor and loyalty (the latter, of course, when it suited them...). There were hundreds, if not thousands, of them who called themselves "Prince" (despite having only a measly flock of sheep) and vendettas were centuries-old. Since everybody was constantly armed, insults were avenged on the spot and, therefore, extreme politeness was the norm. "The well armed society is a polite society" as the NRA says....
And, to boot, Georgian food and wines have few equals: Alexander Dumas-pere, who traveled to the Caucasus, maintained that only two cusines in the world could be called superior: Chinese and Georgian. Coming from the French......

[Yannis]

Fine thread! There are a lot of things we can write about shashkas. In my personal taste, from all the swords I have in my collection, a shashka is the most well balanced. Very good info about shashkas, where my poor knowledge is obvious, exist in this thread.

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=266

One thing I have heard is that the split in the pommel was used for holding the musket steady for better shooting. I don’t know if it is true. Can you confirm it?

Talking about georgian swords, it is a pitty that some late copies destroyed the fame of the antique ones. I envy the winner of this. He got a nice piece in my humble opinion.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tem=6596431280

Originally Posted by ariel

And, to boot, Georgian food and wines have few equals:

Ah, the georgian wine! The best red I have ever taste was local made in a poor village. If you visit Georgia be prepared for endless toasts.

[Radu Transylvanicus]

Originally Posted by Tim Simmons

I am not sure you actually fence with combat weapons, fencing is practice and sport. I also feel you are stretching things to think one fences when dueling, which most often ended in a most bloody ungentlemanly fight for survival. Many cavalry troops were used as a shock weapon against infantry positions where the weapon would pierce or cut down often fleeing opponents once thier formation had been breached. Beautiful steel but not the most noble weapon. Tim

Wikipedia: In the broadest possible sense, fencing is the practice of armed combat involving cutting, stabbing or bludgeoning weapons directly manipulated by hand, rather than shot or thrown (in other words, swords, knives, pikes, bayonets, batons, clubs, and so on)....

It is not necesarily the guys with funny withe tights in the Olympics, could be practiced with weapons, like "back in the days", fencing is a lot like sex, it could be done on your own, very safe and easy but no fun, so its good to have a partner or sometimes depends, if youre really good or crazy you do it with a lot more than one... That being said, I hope my wife doesnt read the posts...

[Tim Simmons]

Correction, I am not sure one actually fences in a combat situation Tim

[ariel]

Originally Posted by Tim Simmons

Correction, I am not sure one actually fences in a combat situation Tim

My guess, it mainly happens in the movies. On the battlefield one would tend to chop, smash, slash etc.
Nobody on the battlefield uses target shooting postures and careful breathing/squeezing techniques either.....
You do, you die....

[ariel]

For all of you interested in that area, here it THE book:
"The Sabres of Paradise" by Leslie Blanch
This is a history of the Russian conquest of the Caucasus, especially the Murid wars of Shamil.
It is so well written that my wife, having been glued to it for 3 days, asked me to show her my Shashkas and Kindjals and started reading Astvatsaturyan and Askhabov's books on Caucasian weapons!
How about an epiphany!

[Rivkin]

I would just add a few words of caution:
one of the typical misconecption of caucasian studies is that the codes of honor were followed by everybody. First of all in almost all nations nobility (even through very often it comprised 50-80% of the total population) was the backbone of the code. Lower classes were rarely expected to completely adhere to the code.
Second misconception is that modern caucasian are even remotely similar to the knights of earlier ages. The changes that happened in Caucasus in late XIX early XX century - the end of Caucasian war in the North, Islamization and Sovietization effectively wiped out both the code and the people who adhere to it. There are few things that probably remain, but in general it is a completely different society.
Third misconception is that extremely large amounts of folklore depicting the code in action account for everyday life. Instead they should be understood as accounting for heroic actions that are to be remembered and imitated.
Fourth misconception is based on assuming that the code satisfied our opinions of what is noble and what is not.
As an example: women were traditionally elevated in a society. There is a story, and no one even remembers from which nation it comes about a man who is walking through a snow storm and sees a hut. He asks for a shelter and is welcomed by a woman, hut's ownder (hospitality being one of the most important things in the code). Unknowingly for the man, the woman's husband is away so when the guest goes to sleep, the woman sleeps outside (since it is considered inappropriate for them to sleep in the same house). When the man awakes he is greatly distressed by this fact (if he would've known that she is alone he would not have asked for shelter). To add to his distress he inadervtently touches a woman (which is a grave sin). When he walks away from the hut he takes his kindjal (everyone carries one) and cuts the fingers that touched the woman (so he can testify that the woman's honor have been preserved, since no part of his _present_ body touched her).

Now this may seem as a rather strange behavior, but both of them are willing to go long way to protect each other (even through they never met before). At the same time you have Turkish garems filled with circassian women, voluntarely sold by their parents. The same "protected women" were sold in masses if the price reached an acceptable level.

Another thing is that quite unlike a traditional image of mountainer bestowed by TV - kind, joking and drunk, the nobleman was usually required to be completely absent from emotions, speak little, always be polite. Both public expressions of hate and love were shunned, what was prized is being essentially a "rock-like" in appearance.
Among Circassians for example, whose code of honor - Adighe-Habze (ways of Adighe) is probably one of the better known and developed codes, the life of a nobleman - uerk was completely ritualized. He trained, married, had children than went to war with certain knowledge that he'll soon be killed.
The warfare among Circassians became mostly ritualistic - opposing sides often shared a meal before the battle. The sole intention of the battle itself was to promote individual status of participants - one had to find a well known opponent, challenge and defeat him. Usually the army was accomponied by a few people skilled in poetry to construct tales about heroic and cowardly behavior of the knights. Defeated opponents were offered quarter, but imprisonment was considered the highest level of dishonor. In fact, one of the most important uses of a kindjal were suicide charges - in a doomed confrontation rifles, bows and swords were destroyed, and the suicide (since killing yourself was considered dishonorable) charge was mounted with kindjals. On a more grim note it was not unusual for a bisieged clan to mount suicide charges as a whole - with children and women, so that no one survives. One of the children who took part in such a change was a somewhat famous artist Circassian (he was rescued).
Any non-war related business - trading, investing, seafaring etc. was shunned by uerks. Their lands were usually managed by specially invited personnel, often mamshuhs. It is interestingly that circassian say "there is no honor without shame" meaning that only people who can be shamed into obeying the code can becoming true followers of it.

Before christianity and islam dead were usually buried in the trees, or if they were killed in a far away land, their head was chopped off and carried to be buried home. Southerners (georgians and chechens) usually chopped heads and hands of killed opponents. They were boiled in salt and later displayed on victor's horse or house.

Revenge was a big part of the society's life, together with the brotherhood. Revenge for a killed woman or child usually had to be exotically horrible, since these acts were considered to be completely unacceptable. If it did involve such acts, revenge would usually start with someone painting scabbard into red (or putting some of his own blood on it). He would walk around with this scabbard for a few days (so that the other side would be prepared) and, if the kill was sucsessful and he was considering the revenge to be completed would wash the red from the scabbard (his weapons was cleansed with blood). Opposite to revenge was "brotherhood" - kunaks. There were many rituals by performing which, it was possible for people to become brothers - kissing the breast of one's mother, drinking milk together, or mixing ones' blood together. Kunaks were considered very close relatives, and usually shared their secret names with each other (a lot of nations in Caucasus give chidren two names - "common" that everybody knows and "real one" which is known only be very close relatives).

Last tradition which is probably very well known is stealing women for the purpose of marriage. It is hard to say how it started and to what extent it was real "stealing" and to what extent simply a custom, but if you wanted to marry someone you needed to "steal her" from her parents, not nessesaraly for real.

[ham]

Bravo, Rivkin.
This kind of cultural information is as important to the study of weapons and warfare as the weapons themselves. The Forum is fortunate to have members who have been raised with such cultures, have the languages and perspectives which most Americans and Brits among others, do not.
Rivkin, how did you come by this data? It sounds as though you are speaking from within this cultural perspective.
Again, bravo.

Ham