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#1 | |
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#2 |
Arms Historian
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Indeed the phenomenon of military style hilts was an apparent popular convention of the period post Gandamak Treaty (1879) .As the British occupied Afghan regions nominally, and tribesmen of various Khyber region tribes with para military levees attached to the army often favored their own blades, these hybrid 'saylaawa' (=Khyber knife) were often seen.
Many of these hilted with the European style hits had the Mazar i Sharif stamp on the blade, presumably from hilting in these shops near the Kaar Khaana e Jangalak (Machin Khana) in Kabul. The European military style hilt seems to have been known in degree in Afghan regions as Daoud Shah is seen wearing a sword with similar hilt design at the signing of the Treaty of Gandamak, May, 1879. There were suggestions that this design was a pattern of 1889 regulation hilt, but as far as I have known that has never been substantiated. These military style swords with this distinct hilt form seem to have produced in Kabul from 1893-1903 (I have one dated 1896) but it has not been clear which units used them. |
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#3 | |
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I think I saw a while back here someone assume the rather unique blades of the Afghan military short swords were made in solingen for some reason but by 1893 the factory had state of the art European equipment, and had the potential to make blades up to a high standard. Afghanistan by this point was totally self sufficient in the making of edged weapons- however by the 1920s the factory fell into disrepair and knowledge regressed- swords from that point on have noticeably rougher etching on the blade, and much simpler fullers |
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#4 |
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The dates you note seem to be correct, and indeed the British were no longer occupying Afghan regions formally, but retained suzerainty while providing notable subsidy in various areas.
I am curious, you assert that the Afghans by virtue of the advanced manufacturing equipment were fully capable of producing these heavy, notably uniquely channeled blades by 1893....which seems the earliest date known for these military swords........have you found evidence that this equipment included that for producing sword blades? Most images I have seen of the factory works show the production of the Enfield rifles. The emphasis on the rifle production had once compelled me to think the similarity of the hilts design and construction aligned with that of British bayonets, but that notion also remains unproven. As far as I am aware, the production lines at Machin Khana were geared toward production of Enfield rifles. I am unaware of such fullering on blades for swords of this type, except perhaps for European forces such as sappers, miners and artillery gunners. It seems I had heard suggestions these Afghan swords were intended for gunners, but they also have been suggested for other issue. There were other shops in the area of the Machin Khana as I have understood which might have conducted assembly of these swords, and as they were accepted by the arsenal the state stamp of Mazir i Sharif placed on the blades. This seems likely given the fact that tribal Khyber blades are found with these hilts, and state stamped accordingly......the are Gurkha kukris known also stamped with the Mazir i Sharif mark, and obviously not produced there. BTW, do you have Dmitry Milerosov's 2019 book on Afghan weapons? Photo-my example date 1893 |
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#5 | |
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Mind you there were quality control and production problems in the workshops due to a lack of wood to feed steam engines, but starting in 1887 the Afghans imported an entire small arms manufacturing ecosystem, they made martini Henry rifles, breechloading cannon, even Gatling guns. They also purchased half finished Krupp cannons and finished them in the Kabul workshops. Edged weapon manufacturing would have been much simpler. Many workers from British Indian factories of course were also brought there. The English scholar NR Jenzen Jones will soon release a book on the Kabul arsenal, sadly his focus is on rifles and cannon, not edged weapons As far as edged weapons go these are what were made: Officers Sabres in the Russian style Shashkas Generic Mamluke style swords British style Mamluke swords (fine details of the brass casting slightly inferior to a British made piece ) British pattern bayonets And of course those unique short swords |
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#6 | |
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#7 | |
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This is all exceptional information, and much appreciated, you are clearly very well informed. Honestly I am delighted to find that these edged weapons (and thank you for the itemized list) were indeed made at the Machin Khana. I had never been able to find proof that was the case. As ALWAYS, the emphasis is on guns with edged weapons seldom meriting mention as with most military oriented literature. I am thrilled to hear of this upcoming book, and hope you will keep us informed on how to obtain when released. I presume though the focus is on firearms, the details on swords regardless how minimal are mentioned as suggested. Good to know these blades on the Afghan military swords are unique as I had suspected, so your confirmation is appreciated. Also that the hilts were based on some British design (I had mentioned similarity to a sword bayonet hilt). I once tried to reach Wilkinson to discover if they in fact had any part in these hilts being so close to bayonet style, but no useful response was forthcoming. In these times Wilkinson had plenty of contracts supplying India as well as Abyssinia, so it does not seem it would have been a problem, but if the Khan chose otherwise. The Afghan shashka would of course have been unique to Afghanistan, however these have often been deemed Uzbek, which is rather a vague differentiation which I have yet to follow the particulars. Note fluted scabbard component similar to those on paluoars. If the British pattern bayonets were being produced there, wonder if the components were interchangeable for the grip, pommel, and ferrule? Some of these military hilts have had different guards, and on occasion it seems similar to paluoar types. |
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#8 | |
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Basically officers could private purchase more elaborate swords to wear, as long as it matched whatever the standard issue prototype was roughly. I wonder if such a policy still existed at the same time in Europe, or if by the mid 19th century officers were only allowed to wear government issue swords |
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