New channel Discord: discord.gg/VgdsV5YcQy

Up until WW1 Germany made roughly 90% of the violins in the world So they didn't only dominate in swords.

Solingen is still the centre of the German knife manufacturing industry with companies such as Zwilling, Wüsthoffm, Böker. If you look at the equipment of any good chef, chances are he uses knives from Solingen. It's really fascinating how some town can retain its competitive edge (see what I did there?) in some specialized industry for centuries.

If someone wanted a modest sized, but notable sword collection, finding three or four identical blades from different countries with different hilts and mountings might make an interesting display.

This weekend is a knife maker fair in Solingen - and they also sell swords. 😊

Hey Matt, why not come around to us in Solingen once in the future? Might be interesting to make an appointment with someone from Deutsches Klingenmuseum (Official German Sword/Blade Museum) there and have a chat. Could also become a nice fan meeting for western Germany 😊

I have a Cavalry Sabre that was probably used in the American Civil War that was made in Soligen.

The modern kitchen knife companies Wusthof and Henkel both trace history to blade making from the era you are referring to, and are still based in Solingen. Wusthof is still in the same family as the founder.

Solingen knives was still a mark of quality when I was a child in the 70-ies. Germans just make good quality stuff.

When someone gets stabbed there's a saying" He got a postcard from Solingen" since solingen still produces knives and razors etc. I remember a report from thirty years war or later, been a while, where they made big shipments of blades to the scots and even etched or stamped something along the lines " may god protect the scots" in and after that also delivered blades to england. Pretty funny how business always the same. I remember that almost all scottish two handed swords that were examined in a report had german made blades. Some were from Solingen others from the Stantler.

And, of course, there were also plenty of German swords and sword blades imported into the United States and the Confederacy.. I've seen plenty of Model 1840 US Dragoon sabers and US Model 1860 Cavalry sabers with German blades. All 20,000 US Model 1906 cavalry sabers had German blades.

They also dominated during the dark ages, the Frankish version of the Spatha and evolved through the end of the Viking era. The term Ferangi goes all the way back to then. Fun fact, in Thailand today European race foreigners are known as "Farang". Comes from same term.

There is even a katana and a tanto with German blades, a quite rare thing to happen in japan but it happened

Very interesting! Thank you! However, as a German historian, I would disagree that Germany only became a country in the 19th century. The "Old Empire" had a head, a constitution, a supreme court, etc.

2:22 Prior to 1620 there were no quality sword blades made in England at all. That only changed when two swordsmiths from Solingen (Joseph Jenekes & Johan Kindt) moved to Hounslow Heath and opened a sword smithy there.

You mentioned Solingen a lot, but maybe you should make a Video about the other famous place of sword production in Passau. The Passau Wolf sign was very common(and often copyied) on blades from the middle ages up to the 18 century

Just going to show that the same *blade* can be hilted in multiple ways! Sometimes with the same dynamics and the same handling; sometimes with the same dynamics but being preferred to be handled (literally) a bit differently; and sometimes with even slightly different dynamics and just handled differently. The upshot being every application had its strengths, its weaknesses, in its contexts--and what (to its extent) worked ... worked.

Germany actually was a unified country when swords were still being used in earnest. The Holy Roman Empire wasn't always as divided as during the 30 Year's War.

I own an original Peter Munich hand and a half sword and I have to say it's pretty fantastic!

The first sword that has the hilt with the stalk is genuinely gorgeous. Fascinating video thank you

I've got a pen knife with 'Solingen' etched on the blade. Never knew this was a place with an important blade-making tradition. Not saying the knife is awesome because of this, but it actually is awesome. I've had it 30 years.

Perhaps it's also partly a function of geography. Germany sits more-or-less in the middle of Europe so they could have exported products in every direction without having to cross too many borders or very long distances. While that doesn't fully explain how they came to be exported as far as China, it could be a factor in how Germany came to be such a powerhouse in the manufacture of swords. Of course, once they had it thoroughly industrialized, they could crank them out in overwhelming quantities and eventually supply them to such distant realms.

I wonder what role the 30 Years War played in the big German export. The German states had massive demand for weapons, especially after Wallenstein massively increased the size of his armies. He equipped them by standardizing kit and having it mass produced. He also lowered the price by investing in machinery and infrastructure. Those methods were then copied by the other combatants. Would explain the price advantage and would nicely fit the timeline. But just a theory, I have no research to back that up.

Fascinating! That first sword looks like it could have been the inspiration for the LotR elven blades.

I feel like German swords were particularly the nicest looking swords too, in my opinion

Some of my ancestors were bladesmiths from Solingen. I'd like to think the blades they forged ended up in interesting places.

Solingen was known for blade making and Prague for high probability to get stabbed by some. HRE had both, makers and users :-D

One reason why German blades found their way into India in such large numbers is most likely due to the fact that there was a very substantial trade of goods going the other way, and no it wasn't just spices, gems or finest, gold embroidered textiles, but enormous quantities of black powder, produced in the Mughal empire. The 30 years war was mostly fought with Indian gun powder and its end in 1648 meant that there was a greatly felt dwindling of income for the Mughal empire, weakening its economic powers to a degree that ultimately contributed to its downfall. Globalisation isn't a new phenomenon, economic relations over long distances existed long before the 20th/21st century and it sometimes created the same kind of boom and bust for certain parts of the world that we witness in our days. One reason that helped giving Solingen its cpmpetitive edge with blade production is due to the ingenious ways of them harnessing water power, to drive all kind of machinery, from massive hammerworks to grinding wheels of every size, both crucial to sword and knife production. This type of early mechanisation enormously reduced the necessairy workforce needed to churn out the desired numbers of blades at a much quicker pace than a blacksmith with his assistants could do in an Indian village or any other place in the world.

First German industrial (r)evolution really started in the 1550s and was water power based, with ever increasing size of bloomeries and water powered hammers to work the bloom into iron ingots and steel. Germany has lots of rain and lots of hill, and thus had lots of mills of all kinds already in 1500. Renaissance and Luther pushing for education accelerated things a lot. The iron bloom that could be produced in one go went from 50-100kg in 1500 to around 800kg around 1600. In some Austrian places, with the Alps providing lots of water in high places and thus potential energy, they reached 2t around 1620, with some outliers peaking at 4t (though those generally proved too big to economically produce and handle). Before Ferdinand I put in an embargo, Austria exported 1,5 million knife blades / year to the Ottomans alone. Scythes were produced in the hundred thousands in shops cutting the work into 40 distinct steps, modern factory style, with different workers using different water powered hammers for each step. The devastations of the 30yw (with destroyed production centers and worse, 1/3 of the local customers dead) combined with the little ice age (less precipitation, thus smaller snow and ice packs on the mointains, thus less reliable water overall) in reducing the size of furnaces after 1650 back down to the 800kg range that could be run with much less water power. Bronce producers in the Rhineland where already using coked coal as a resource, and simple steam engines did pump water out of Spanish silver mines by 1620. Without Ferdinand 2, the bungling idiot, the industrial revolution probably would have happened in GER, not in England...

I have a non standard US M1840 staff and fild offices saber with a solingen blade.

As a German, i say this very interesting and i have this not known, thanks for lesson. God research!

I would wager that also most high quality armor worn by the kings and wealthier nobles of England before the founding of the Royal Almain Armoury in Greenwich by Henry VIII. were made somewhere in the HRE, (future) Germany or Italy.

As far as I know, Weyersberg Kirschbaum & Co is still active. They even have a website

I am proud to live near the " Bergisches Land",with Solingen as the heart of knivemaking and blades in general. 3 things were importand for this industrial development. Coal, from the Ruhrgebiet /Ruhr area. Metal, brought by ship. And water, wich was needed for the forging-mills. ‐------ After your report, Im a little bit proud, to have that heritage.... 🙂

Most of my collection of Brazilian swords (19th and 20th century) have German/Solingen blades, even the English models or English inspired models

gives a whole new meaning to German steel knives.

always learn something interesting thanks Matt

Ferdinand Magellan mentioned in his log, that a quantity of "the cheapest german knifes" was loaded on his ships as one of numerous trading goods. They wanted to trade them for spice cloves.

One of the reasons the Dutch Golden Age happened was that almost the entirety of Europe was at war with itself, and we sold weapons and supplies to everyone. So I would not be surprised if Dutch traders brought those blades to Asia as well.

+scholagladiatoria *Thanks for the historian perspective.* Solingen, NW, DEU, manufactured sword blades of quality for centuries. Don't know how many Battles for Solingen were fought in the 30 Years' War.

German Engineering in the house!

That Indian 'Farangi' Sword is beautiful, and even though you said its use in the Caribbean would likely have seen the blade mounted to a cutlass hilt, I kind of like the image of Blackbeard wielding that beast with both hands, after firing off his last shot.

Schola, I cannot express my envy for the job you have, but appreciate that you bring the information of your job to KZfaq for all to learn. Cheers.

One of the reasons for Solingen hegemony in blade manufacturing was their smelting and purification processes. One method I read about in college involved feeding crushed iron ore mixed into chicken mash to flocks of fowl. The digestion process was believed to remove many of the impurities before smelting.

Great video, as always ! Thank you very much.

Guy from western Europe here. I always wondered where the terminology Ferengi in Star Trek came from, I didn't expect that it basically described the region I live in a few hundred years ago from a Persian perspective.

the Solingen Knife makers in the beginning we Protestants made to emigrate from the Steyr Valley in Austria. The Valleys of Enns, Steyr and Krems in Upper Austria, downriver from the Erzberg ("Ore Mountain") was the biggest center of Iron products. Knife makers were concentrated in the Steyr Valley. There is a small Museum in Grünburg, and a Scythe -Maker Museum in Micheldorf. my Grandfather was a Scythe-Smith before becoming a Railway man. In the Steyr Valley, only one Knife maker is left, LSM in Molln.

The cultures who bought German sword blades were fully capable of making their own swords, but why do that when the German sword blades are so affordable? Besides, you can buy them in bulk and attach them to the hilt of your choice 👍

I had absolutely no idea! Thank you, Matt, this is genuinely fascinating stuff.

The German art of perfectionism! Also a few German inventions: - Incandescent lamps (Heinrich Göbel 1854) - The Telephone (Johann Philip Reis 1859) - The dynamo and tram (Werner von Siemens 1866) - The 35 mm camera (Oskar Barnack 1925) - Nuclear fission and atomic bomb (Otto Hahn - emigrated to the Americans during Nazi Germany - 1938) - The ship chart (Jürgen Dethloff and Helmut Gröttrub 1969) - Periodic Table (Julius Luther Meyer 1864) - Jeans (Levi Strauss 1873) - The recorder, player - with which the first films were possible (Emil Berliner 1887) - The Aspirin - Which all great athletes felt used to relieve pain, And which saved countless lives (Felix Hoffmann, Klausi Alder.. 1879) - Spark plug (Robert Bosch 1902) - Thermos flask (Reinhold Burger 1903) - the toothpaste (Ottomar Heinsius von Mayenburg) - The coffee filter (Melitta Bentz) - Cassette recorder (Fritz Pfleumer 1928) - Teabag (Adolf Rambold 1929) - The jet engines - Essential for all jets and rockets + First war rockets V1, V2 of the Nazis (Hans von Ohain 1929) - First rocket (in general, Hans von Ohain) - The helicopter (Heinrich Focke 1936) - The first car (Carl Benz - With honorary Schnauzer - 1886) - First Computer (Konrad Zuse 1941) - First 3D film (during the Third Reich) - Fanta (Yes THAT Fanta.. Also during the Nazi era) - The typewriter (Peter Mitterhofer - 1869) - NASA (actually the US buyed thousands of German engineers to build NASA because they can't do it themselves) The first letterpress Mashine (Which was probably the best invention of all time because now they could start printing books, Johannes Gutenberg - 1440) - the trigger of the gold rush (Johann August Sutter was a Swiss but actually German since he was born in Germany, but Swiss and German are one blood anyway, Who triggered the gold rush in America. Not an inventor but cool fact - 1848) Well, as you saw, the Germans changed the world with their inventions many times. Where we would be today without the German art of thinking. Germany the land of poets and thinkers - that's how it was known (Actually)

Solingen is still known for it's blades today, my mom has a mix of old (100-200 year old) butterknives made there^^

"Everybody was German sword fiiiiighting, those Berserkers was fast as lightning........"

Nice, I always find it interesting to learn how the economics and manufacturing worked in the past - not many channels that I know even touch the subject. Thank you

Very nice Talwar hilt, that one is southern, from the Malabar coast. These straight swords are locally called Kayamkulam vaal, not very common, especially silver-plated :-)

Solingen actually to this day is often referred to as "Klingenstadt" or "Blade-Town" in Germany with a strong local culture based around blademaking and remembering the history of Solingen in context with sword manufacturing.

"I like swords."

German firearms had substantial influence in America too. Pennsylvania German settlers put out their long muzzleloading rifles, which only morphed into Hawken rifles, Post Revolutionary War. And as the movement westward uncovered more and dangerous bears. Hence the need for bigger firearms.. Germans lost the arms race until Paul Mauser began designing magazine repeating rifles. By then the west was tamed by Sharp's buffalo guns and Winchester lever rifles. Then Springfield had to pay for borrowing its 1903 rifle design from Gewehr 98. Teutonic influence is always close to the stars & stripes.

Good old fashion "made in germany" was always a mark of quality. Once on the Dominicanian Market day in Gdańsk, Poland i bought this old Chocolate bar with hugo boss eagle on it's cover. It was 70 years old and still good to eat! and after this snack I haven't sleep 4 days it was so much fun!

One of your best fun focused to the point video yet. Practical too! In the market

This is why the royal ceremonial sword of the king of Norway, is a German Sabre.

an interesting facet of bladesmithing is that while steel production technologies changed, smithing techniques largely stayed the same and had to be transmitted via instruction to apprentices by bladesmiths, resulting in very long chronologies of expertise in particular regions. Solingen is a classic example, which may date back to the 900s with the Ulfberht phenomenon and be rooted in the lower Denmark cultures that produced the pattern welded swords at Nydam around 200AD. Another example is the swordmaking complex in Bizen in Japan, which is thought to represent a traditoon stretching back to before 1000AD.

Posts from both Skal and Mr Easton. What a great end to an odd and disturbing week. Thank you.

My family is originated in an area in Germany where in the past iron mining was very important. There are archaeological finds of iron smelting from 3500 years ago - probably the oldest finds north of the alps. In my eyes, there are a few rationales for german blades being that economic to produce: 1. Rivers: Rivers are the best way to transport heavy items like iron ore, coal or sword blades. Transport on a boat or raft is far easier, quicker and cheaper than transport via ox wagon. Where I'm from, the iron was mined near the shores of a smal stream. Melting took place downstream (at a place where the Romans tried to build a city at around the same time they lost the battle in Teutoburg forrest) from there, the raw iron or raw steel could be transported easily downstream and via the Rhine to places like Solingen. Another trip downstream and you are in the Netherlands or Britain and can ship the finished blades to everywhere in the world. 2. Socio-economic structures: In Germany you have somehow differing socio-economic structures depending on the region you are at. Most of the area east of Elbe river for example was settled only during the middle ages and had a strong influence of Junkers and was a german style of a plantation economy. In other parts of the german lands, peasants were either more or less free. In my area, a lot of the agriculture but especially the forestry was cooperative. This way, no one got extraordinarily rich, but everyone had some spare time to work in the mine or at a furnace. This kind of cohesion or togetherness is typical for areas in Germany, where traditionally mining industry played a big role. 3. Lack of other income sources: Germany has not that much other sources of income. When we look at my home region again, that becomes clear: After one of the last big contracts had expired (Swords for the Imperial Japanese Army somewhen around 1920-ish), the mines weren't profitable anymore and were nearly closed. Only Hitler and WWII brought them back to life. And soon after the war, the mines were unprofitable agein and closed in the 50s and 60s, wich lead to a drastic impoverishment of the whole region. Iron was the only valuable good and for hundreds of years, everything had been build around iron smelting and export and as soon as that was over, people realy had to struggle to find a job to put food onto their plates.

Thanks for the good information as always ⚔️

Thanks!

I would say that German (HRE)-made swords dominated the Western World prior to the 17th century as well. Not only during the earlier Middle Ages with the Ulfbehrt swords, but also in the Late Middle Ages. Several (if not all) of the Castillon Hoard swords are believed to have been made in the lower Rheinland, Passau, etc., even though they were being used in France by English people. In any case, it sounds like Solingen (pronounced "ZOLL-ingen") swords were to the world what Sheffield knives were to the early American frontier: they were cheap and numerous, but they were dependable, and EVERYBODY wanted one!😁

Trivia: in Germany a knife stab was also called "Gruss aus Solingen" (Greeting from Solingen) 🙂

It is especially the Rhineland inside Europe that dominated international trade, partially thanks to the river dominating it's name. The Rhine was a massive river long before deepening and straightening of rivers made many more rivers navigable in parts that they previously weren't. Thus being located in the Rhineland you had access to a prime highway for trade that just so happened to also carry many raw materials from further downstream that were needed for economic action. It is not that other places couldn't manufacture similar products, it's that the combination of factors coming into the location allowed for prices nobody else could easily match.

Been waiting for this vid for years

In pre-industrial times, transport was the most expensive factor. Some places in Germany therefore had a production location advantage in Europe because several factors came together here: ore deposits and energy in the form of water power and wood. Therefore, the German steel industry was basically not in a bad position when the industrial revolution began in England. For a while, the Germans then studied the technical innovations that came from England and then started out on their own. Although, to be precise, something was still missing at the beginning, and that was coal. There were hardly any known coal deposits in Germany, except in Silesia. And some Germans were afraid of the idea that they might have to burn up all the forests of their homeland in these new machines from England. So the discovery of new coal deposits was just as important for the transformation of the German steel industry.

Bookmarking this to use when I teach World History next year.

Love the video and the history. It’d be fascinating to find some sources that cover the merchants who traded these blades far and wide. It amazes me how robust and diversified the trade networks were during this period and back through the Roman Republican era.

Fun Fact: Furt means river crossing, and the city Frankfurt is the city where the Franks had a crossing.

note how that map of the HRE also includes the low countries, rightly so in this regard, great metallurgy in Brabant, Flanders, Liege and Hainaut too.

interchangeable parts of sword parts that are kit bashed make sense. If you have a broken blade and your in a foreign land you make do with what is around. even if it is not optimum fit.

excellent stuff

So your later comment about pipe-backed swords I had to look up as I was not familiar and the top search item was your video from four years ago on pipe-backed blades.

I just want to point out that "the region today known as Germany" was also known as Germany in the 18th century. And in fact dating back into high medieval times. It's correct that there wasn't a modern nation state called "Germany" until 1871. But it's not like medieval people didn't understand that there's a cultural difference between the German parts and the Bohemian or Italian parts of the Empire. And it wasn't just a cultural difference, there were actual political and legal difference between the "Regnum Teutonicum" (literally the Kingdom of Germany = the German countries) and the others. And since the German parts were so dominant within the Empire, they called the whole country "Sacrum Imperium Romanum Nationis Germaniae" (Holy Roman Empire of German Nation) since the 16th century until the dissolution of the HRE in 1806.

I have a söllingen knife from ~1900

,,,,excellent research!

Imagine the storys these old swords could tell u

Cool video, I've been learning a little about European history on KZfaq, and and the history of Germany is a pretty complicated subject. Prussia was the major military power, it was really interesting to learn about Frederick the Great. I wouldn't have guessed that they were exporting weapons to this degree, this video adds a lot to my understanding of what was going on in the world back then!

Have you ever done a video on the colonial Spanish espada ancha? Have seen a number of them recently (at museums) found around New Mexico, many lived long lives through several owners and look very individualized/non-standard as a result. On top of that, this area is where they seem to have most survived. Since you’ve done more on New World weapons, was wondering if you knew much about them

Hello Matt. During the 17th and 18th century was it common that difrent armys had guns and Cannons purchased from the same location. Sweden was big gun and cannon manfuctring contry during 16th to 18th century and you can find swedish cannons all over Europe.

Love you brother

Solingen seems like modern Longquan, as far as sword manufacturing goes. (Yes, I know Longquan has a long sword smithing history.)

In 1730 a kind of secret service action happened performed by the french in order to break the german monopoly of sword manufacturing. In Solingen, the heart of sword manufacturing sword makers where threatened with death penalty if they tried to leave their home without permission from the government. The french government started a long term program to settle a french blade manufacturing with workers from Solingen. The built an entire new village including water wheel driven grinderies in a valley of the Vosges mountains. Then the french managed to smuggle seven sword makers undetected out of Solingen to this new founded village which was named "Klingenthal" ("Klingen" the german word for blades and "Thal" the old style german word for valley). From then on until about 1960 they manufactured swords and agricultural tools such as scythes and sickles in this village. Today one can visit a museum where the whole story of this village is shown. The village is located in Alsace about 30 km southwest of Strasbourg.

to quote Rudolph von Strohheim: "Doitsu no kagaku wa sekai ichi!"

Solingen is still marketing this as if nowhere else decent blades could be crafted. Actually, whenever demand was high, manufacturers in the surrounding region had the licence to print the Solingen stamp on their blade products too. This goes back to centuries old contracts that smiths on one flank of the river (i.e. in Solingen) were to focus on blades, on the other one (Cronenberg, Remscheid) on tools.

Good to know Böker was active back in the day already.

Hm, dass geht runter wie Öl. :) Nice Video. Greetings from a long time german subscriber!

there is a nice blade and sword museum in Solingen today, if you ever get there. I guess, just like Toledo, the name Solingen stood for good quality for a long time, but with Industrilisation they became a mass-product and all "real" sword smiths died out and with them the quality.

10:20 The fullers on the narrower blade are closer together. I think these were forged and ground at different widths from the 'go'. BTW, I'd love to have an authentic curved blade like your first example, to put my own hilt on.

Today German "craftsmanship" is still on par or better than anything around, BUT you can no longer just assume that German-made means quality, longevity and all those other good things. Many brand names have been sullied by their management, due to the short-sighted greed to enhance profit.

I am going to Solingen in my summer holiday. :)

american civil war there are very many german made swords used then.

I sat down to watch a video and I was taken to school. This is part one. Part two is teaching how very similar blades were used differently based on hilt type and region. Please porridge hot.

With Jedi voice: But what about the Toledo swords?

A museum actually exists in solligen dedicated to blades and it is a very nice if a bit small collection

Hi, I am a Belgian historian and HEMA practitioner, thanks so much for your great chanel! Could you please tell me if you know sthg about the apparently famous "Walloon swords" (Walloonia being southern Belgium nowadays but more generic term when they were used)? Thank you