Cultures from all over the world crafted fighting blades, many of them so elaborately formed and decorated that they are noted for their beauty and craftsmanship as they are for their brutal capabilities. This book traces the bloody and fascinating history of daggers, dirks and bayonets. It looks at the journey played by fighting blades in military combat from hand-held stabbing tools, to the famous Highland dirk, to the bayonets of World Wars I and II, and the 20th-century Commando knives. Weapons from around the world are described, from the Indian Katar to the Japanese Tanto. The book looks... View More...
This is a visual encyclopedia of edged weapons from around the world, including knives, daggers, bayonets, machetes and khanjars, with over 500 illustrations. This is a visual encyclopedia of over 350 edged weapons from around the world from the Stone Age to the modern day. Each specially commissioned colour photograph is clearly labelled to show the significant features of each blade plus at-a-glance specification boxes give date of manufacture, country of origin and size. This title covers some of the world's most deadly and beautiful knives, daggers and bayonets, including fighting knives f... View More...