Table of Contents
A backsword is a type of sword characterized by a single-edged blade and a hilt designed to be held with one hand. The name comes from the triangular cross-section of the blade: the cutting edge is on one side, while the other side forms a flat back.
Later versions often had a so-called “false edge” on the back side near the tip. This was often sharpened, providing an additional cutting edge, making the sword more suitable for thrusting.
Because a backsword was cheaper and easier to manufacture than swords with a double-edged blade, it was a popular weapon. In various regions, different variants of this type of sword emerged. From the 17th century, the backsword was often used as a secondary weapon by European cavalrymen.
Basked hilted backsword
The basked hilted backsword was popular with the 17th-century infantry of the Scottish clans. It was widely worn in the Highlands, along with the basked hilted broadsword, which had a blade with two sharp edges. In Scottish Gaelic, this sword was referred to as claidheamh cùil (“back sword”),
Descendants of the basket-hilted broadswords, sometimes in the form of backswords with a reduced “half” or “three-quarter” basket hilt, remained in use by cavalry during the Napoleonic era and the 19th century. Examples include the 1796 Heavy Cavalry Sword, the Gothic Hilted British Infantry Sword used from the 1820s to 1890, the 1897 Pattern British Infantry Officer's Sword, and the Pattern 1908 and 1912 cavalry swords, which were still worn up to the eve of World War I.
