Dagger Fighting

This modern textbook provides an extensive depiction of more than 75 dagger fencing techniques according to 15th-century dagger Master Hans Talhoffer's manuscripts, among other fencing luminaries, from past and present. In the Middle Ages, dagger fighting was part of every fencer's standard repertoire--just as combat training was for swordsmen. The authors have spent years thoroughly researching the techniques and studying and interpreting the old manuscripts in order to subsequently test them in practice. Based on these historical representations--complete with striking medieval drawings--each technique is explained and illustrated in a series of action photographs. The fencing student is thus able to follow the sequence of movements that make up each technique. Valuable tips on equipment and training, plus a glossary of important terms round out this new standard work.

In 1827, James Bowie carved his way into American history at the Sandbar Fight, and soon every fighting man of the South and West had to have a knife like his. The bowie knife could cut like a razor, chop like a cleaver, and stab like a sword, and many considered it deadlier than a pistol at close range. So great was the dread it inspired that by 1838 it was banned in several states—a ban that did little to stanch the flow of blood. Bowie's story is well known, but what of the other cutters and stabbers of his day? Gunfighters have long been celebrated, but those who fought with the bowie knife have been largely ignored—until now. Unearthing accounts from memoirs, court records, regional histories, and newspaper archives, Paul Kirchner, author of the Paladin bestsellers The Deadliest Men and More of the Deadliest Men Who Ever Lived , presents their stories for the first time in Bowie Knife Fights, Fighters, and Fighting Techniques. Kirchner identifies and profiles the four greatest bowie knife fighters of history, as well as numerous other wielders of the blade. He details the weapon's use in the Texas War of Independence, the Mormon exodus, the Mexican War, the slave system, the Gold Rush, Bleeding Kansas, the Civil War, the Lincoln assassination, the Indian Wars, and the Western frontier. The book describes bowie knife fighting tricks and techniques and provides numerous accounts of knife-against-knife and knife-against-gun encounters. Its final chapter surveys the continued use of the bowie and other fighting knives in modern warfare.

Provides an historical analysis of the range of weapons used in hand-to-hand combat from prehistoric flint knives to eared daggers of the mid-sixteenth century, to nineteenth-century British and American naval dirks.

This is the classic book on knife fighting from one of the world's foremost experts. From it, you will learn all the facets of the art: assassination methods, history and development of knife design and in-depth reviews of the techniques perfected by Fairbairn, Biddle, Applegate and others. Rare photos and never-before-published info on Oriental techniques.

Whether a side-street skirmish or an all-out war, fight scenes bring action to the pages of every kind of fiction. But a poorly done or unbelievable fight scene can ruin a great book in an instant. In Fight Write you'll learn practical tips, terminology, and the science behind crafting realistic fight scenes for your fiction. Broken up into "Rounds," trained fighter and writer Carla Hoch guides you through the many factors you'll need to consider when developing battles and brawls. • In Round 1, you will consider how the Who, When, Where, and Why questions affect what type of fight scene you want to craft. • Round 2 delves into the human factors of biology (think fight or flight and adrenaline) and psychology (aggression and response to injuring or killing another person). • Round 3 explores different fighting styles that are appropriate for different situations: How would a character fight from a prone position versus being attacked in the street? What is the vocabulary used to describe these styles? • Round 4 considers weaponry and will guide you to select the best weapon for your characters, including nontraditional weapons of opportunity, while also thinking about the nitty-gritty details of using them. • In Round 5, you'll learn how to accurately describe realistic injuries sustained from the fights and certain weapons, and what kind of injuries will kill a character or render them unable to fight further. By taking into account where your character is in the world, when in history the fight is happening, what the character's motivation for fighting is, and much more, you'll be able write fight scenes unique to your plot and characters, all while satisfying your reader's discerning eye.

Every person should carry a small knife and know how to use it for self-defense. It's that simple. That's the major thrust (sorry, pun intended) of JKD's Way of the Blade. You don't have to be a Navy SEAL to know how to correctly utilize a basic knife for your self-defense and this book will show you how. Of course, the overwhelming majority of people, when considering a weapon for self-protection, disregard the pocket knife and figure a gun is the only game in town. They do this for three primary reasons. First, Hollywood bombards us with movies where a knife wound is at best a paper-cut. Remember Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt in Mr. & Mrs. Smith and how, during an epic battle with bad guys, Jolie throws a knife that hits Pitt's character in the leg? He gives her a look and she shrugs and smiles. It's all so funny in the movie - and then he pulls it out as though it's just a hangnail. Then he walks off and continues killing the enemy with nary a limp. Well, that's all nonsense and yet a big reason why so many people think a knife won't work for self-defense. Next is the common myth that you shouldn't bring a knife to a gunfight. That line is nearly ubiquitous in pop-culture and what makes it dangerous is that it sounds so self-evident. Well, it's actually untrue. Sure, a knife wouldn't do you much good if you were landing on Normandy Beach but that's not what you're using your knife for. You're using it in the event of a sudden, violent encounter in a parking garage, a sexual assault and things like that. And in those environments the knife actually has considerable advantages over a gun. Think about it: it's easier to carry than even the smallest sub-compact; it never runs out of ammo; it's multi-directional. Oh, and don't forget, it's virtually impossible to accidentally kill someone with your knife too. Once a gun is fired, the bullet goes where it goes. You have no leadership over what that bullet does. This ought to worry any self-defender. The next mistake the book corrects is the misuse of the blade for civilian use. Bruce Lee's Intercepting Fist method, otherwise known as Jeet Kune Do, was based heavily on fencing concepts. JKD's Way of the Blade, therefore, takes these same simple and true principles and applies them to small knives and tactical folders. Dominant knife methods other than JKD are generally Kali based, which favors a thousand fancy moves and multiple cutting angles. But such complexity is both too dangerous (complex actions break down under stress) and contradictory to most self-defense scenarios. How can you justify cutting a guy 50 times anyway? JKD's Way of the Blade will teach you to avoid complexity and keep you within the confines of proper moral and legal use of your weapon by showing you the same simple principles Lee taught in his empty hand method. For modern self-protection, the small knife is indispensable. JKD's Way of the Blade will teach you everything you need to know to confidently carry and use one. You'll learn the best and only way to hold the blade as well as the integrated footwork and cut that will keep you safe. You won't learn a hundred different techniques you'd never use unless you were applying to Ninja school. Instead, you'll get the single strike at the heart of the entire method. Yes - just one striking technique. That's all you'll need. And you'll learn how to protect the blade from grabs too.In all, it will revolutionize the way you think about self-defense and knife work.

The Codex Wallerstein is one of the best known of the late medieval fencing treatises still in existence. Though perhaps not as widely known as Talhoffer 1467 or Flos Duellatorum, it is just as important to students of the Western martial arts. Originally written in Middle High German during the late 14th and early 15th centuries, the Codex Wallerstein has long been available to scholars in microfilm format from Augusburg University. Now with the publication of this book, the text and drawings are available to scholars and martial artists in the original Middle High German, as well as in Modern German and English translations. The translations were provided by Grzegorz Zabinski, with assistance from Bartlomiej Walczak, two of the most esteemed interpreters of medieval combat in the world. The codex offers a series of fundamental counters to common attacks, using the longsword, falchion and dagger, as well as the complete system of wrestling techniques. In this work the reader will find a great deal of instruction on thrusting at or closing in against an opponent, expanding Master Johannes Liechtenauer's art of longsword combat. For martial artists, medievalists, historians or anyone with an interest in historical arms or self-defense, Codex Wallerstein is sure to become an invaluable reference.

The term "medieval martial arts" conjures images of armoured knights wielding sword, lance, and axe. While the image is correct, at the foundation of knightly combat was a sophisticated form of close quarter combat, centered on fighting with-and against-the dagger, a deadly weapon of both self-defense and last resort.In Mastering the Art of Arms, Volume One: The Medieval Dagger, Guy Windsor presents a complete guide to the principles and practice of Italian dagger combat, as set down in Il Fior di Battaglia a manuscript written in 1410. Readers are guided step-by-step through the process of mastering this six hundred year old art, from choosing a dagger to striking with it; from guard positions to steps and turns; from disarms to locks and takedowns; from safe falling practice to formal drills, and finally pressure testing their skills with sparring.Both a primer on the art and a methodology for on-going training, this book will give the complete novice a solid starting point, while providing useful drills and ideas for advanced martial artists. Those who study other traditional knife arts, and modern military combatives, will find many familiar techniques present in this ancient system.

Before arming yourself with a fighting knife, arm yourself with the facts. Colonel Applegate, the world's foremost authority on close combat, wrote this book to instill in readers the skills necessary for contemporary knife fighting. Now you, too, can benefit from the same instructions that generations of military and intelligence personnel have.