The unfair advantage: The subtle differences in 19th century French dueling épées

Reduced weight.

Upside-down mounted blades.

A sneakily set handle.

Early attempts in gaining an unfair advantage with épées de combat.

Silence of the Sticks: Why wooden weapons fell out of favor in 19th-century Germany

The Irish beat each other with shilelaghs, the English drew blood with singlesticks and quarterstaves, the French wielded canne and baton. The Portuguese still play at jogo de pao and the Italians had the bastone. The Germans, however, showed no interest in wooden weapons, at least after the Fechtschul traditions of dussack and assorted staff weapons (most of which with a blade of one kind or another) had disappeared. How come?

Meet J. Christoph Amberger

This site’s editor, J. Christoph Amberger, was born and raised in West Berlin, Germany. He studied in Berlin, Göttingen, Aberdeen, and Annapolis and holds an M.A. in Liberal Arts from St. John’s College Graduate Institute. After Obtaining his J.D. from the University of Baltimore School of Law in 2015 and passing the Maryland bar, he is now an attorney in Baltimore City.

About J. Christoph Amberger

Who is this guy?

J. Christoph Amberger was born and raised in Cold-War West Berlin, Germany. He studied in Berlin, Göttingen,