Austro-Hungarian cavalry sword M1869

[Jim McDougall]

Originally Posted by Victrix

Jim, I share your sentiment completely, and like the wider and more businesslike blades. But in this particular case I fell for the eagle decoration on the guard. I believe Austro-Hungarian cavalry units were used more on the Eastern front in WWI against Russia. The casualty rates were substantial so efforts were made to make uniforms and horses less conspicuous, so to provide less clear targets. Kaiser Franz Joseph was said to dislike tanks because they frightened the cavalry horses!

These are outstanding swords, and it seems few of the general public realize just how far into the 20th century the use of the sword and cavalry continued. While our line of demarcation for the study of weapons here is set at 1900, many of these 19th century patterns as well as actual examples carried , as we see, even up to WWII.

I once had the opportunity to interview a British Brigadier who had led one of the last mounted cavalry charges in Khyber regions in 1931. I was able to handle the M1912 officers sword he carried, and he showed me numerous weapons he captured. The unit was Bengal Lancers so the lance was of course used also.

The lances used by German uhlans in WWI were steel and 12ft. long. In considering the terrain in most of the battle areas, it is easy to understand that horses were most effective in most cases.