Which was the last war in which swords were actively used as the primary weapon by an army?
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1Define 'Used'. Do you mean as primary offensive weapon on a battlefield?– User999999Jan 9, 2017 at 10:43
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Are you including cavalry? Use by officers?– Steve BirdJan 9, 2017 at 10:44
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2Do we count machetes as swords? If so then just look back to the Rwandan civil war, tons of them were used!– ed.hankJan 9, 2017 at 14:08
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3You'll need to define "actively used", "sword" and "army", and possibly "war".– CGCampbellJan 9, 2017 at 15:01
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1They could actively use them for parades or for cans opening... Better change that to "use as a primary or at least a secondary weapon"– GangnusJan 10, 2017 at 8:32
2 Answers
Swords were certainly used in World War II.
Japanese officers carried Guntō swords and used them as hand-to-hand weapons.
One eccentric British officer, "Mad Jack" Churchill used a broadsword, along with a longbow, through the war.
During the WWII Russian, Polish, German, French and Italian cavalry regiments existed. And they really used swords. The use against tanks is obviously a fallacy, but in the sudden attacks against infantry the swords worked!
Here is a large collection of contemporary photos and pictures.
So, these armies had not only CARRIED swords, not only USED swords, but even COUNTED on them in battle!
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Thank you. Corrected. In comments here: wiki.istmat.info/… you can find an example of cavalry attack against tanks and motorbikes, but it was not a sword attack, of course.– GangnusJan 9, 2017 at 15:59