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birblib.bsky.social
Birb_at_Arms
@birblib.bsky.social
890 followers 790 following 7.6K posts
Skeets about history, politics, martial arts, birbs and post-Soviet space. He/Him
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birblib.bsky.social
Birb_at_Arms @birblib.bsky.social · 14h
Likewise, our concerns today are often the result of political choices as much as scarcity; we could absolutely build more housing, run public works projects better, enact political reforms, etc.

The reasons we don't relate to everyone from political or business leaders to voters and workers.
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birblib.bsky.social
Birb_at_Arms @birblib.bsky.social · 14h
Hell, the literal moral of A Christmas Carol is still relevant today if you change some of the details around.

Cratchet is poor largely because Scrooge pays him as little as possible. Scrooge's business makes enough money that he could - and eventually does - pay him quite a bit more.
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birblib.bsky.social
Birb_at_Arms @birblib.bsky.social · 16h
It is absurd to claim there has been no improvement in standard of living since 1843.

Not to mention, many of our modern problems stem from the fact that our lives *have* gotten better, but in ways that incurred costs.

Burning fossil fuels made us richer, but also gave us climate change, etc.
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birblib.bsky.social
Birb_at_Arms @birblib.bsky.social · 16h
Yeah, like, our introduction to Cratchet's relationship with Scrooge is Cratchet having to ask for time off on Christmas day and Scrooge being very reluctant to grant it.

This guy probably works Monday to Saturday minimum.
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birblib.bsky.social
Birb_at_Arms @birblib.bsky.social · 19h
That's a kick to the upper leg or abdomen, similar to what you see in Fiore and Talhoffer's books (left).

It's more the kicks to the head (right) that don't show up until the 19th century.
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birblib.bsky.social
Birb_at_Arms @birblib.bsky.social · 19h
Likewise, all kicks in martial arts from before the 19th century are directed to the abdomen or lower. These are much easier to learn and pose substantially lower risks of being unbalanced, though they do not allow you to KO your opponent with your heel or shin.
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birblib.bsky.social
Birb_at_Arms @birblib.bsky.social · 19h
But both contexts are very artificial and required quite a few things to happen to social norms related to recreational violence.

Before that, people tended to strike with the palm, the bottom of the fist, or the back of the knuckles. All are safer for the hand when bare-knuckled.
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birblib.bsky.social
Birb_at_Arms @birblib.bsky.social · 19h
High kicks come from Savate, which started as a training game for swordsmanship where you use kicks to mimic attacks with a sword.

Same deal here: after a few years of playing kick tag, savateurs noticed that slamming your foot into someone's face can actually be pretty effective!
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birblib.bsky.social
Birb_at_Arms @birblib.bsky.social · 19h
The straight punch was first documented in a peculiar Venician practice called bridge fighting, which is exactly what it sounds like.

The straight punch gets more popular in England with the advent of boxing, which develops gloves to protect the hand and rules against using weapons or wrestling.
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birblib.bsky.social
Birb_at_Arms @birblib.bsky.social · 19h
Also, the high kick was probably invented in 19th century France.

In both cases, these can be very effective strikes. But if you do them poorly, you risk serious injury. So there needs to be a reason to learn to do something like this well, and such contexts can be rare.
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birblib.bsky.social
Birb_at_Arms @birblib.bsky.social · 20h
Today in historical hot takes: a well-supported argument that the straight punch was invented in early-modern Venice and likely didn't exist before that. hemamisfits.com/2025/10/05/a...
A paucity of punches: why was punching so rare in pre-modern martial arts
by Maxime Chouinard To most people, punching seems like one of the most natural ways of fighting when unarmed. Most movies will show protagonists and villains alike dealing numerous punches, and kn…
hemamisfits.com
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birblib.bsky.social
Birb_at_Arms @birblib.bsky.social · 22h
From Gladiatoria, a helmet grounded on the cuirass and buckled to the back plate.
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birblib.bsky.social
Birb_at_Arms @birblib.bsky.social · 22h
Depends on the helmet. A knight is going to be wearing a good one, though, and by the end of the 15th century is was common to buckle the helmet to the breastplate, effectively transferring most of the force away from your head. I've taken heavy hits in my reproduction S-18 that I barely felt.
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birblib.bsky.social
Birb_at_Arms @birblib.bsky.social · 22h
This meant that Rome had access to way more numerous and better-equipped infantry in proportion to its population than any of its competitors, but less access to actual money except through wars of conquest (to vastly oversimplify things). The Empire changed to professionals for various reasons.
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birblib.bsky.social
Birb_at_Arms @birblib.bsky.social · 22h
Rome had a fairly unusual system of universal conscription throughout the Republic, which effectively allowed citizens to perform military service in lieu of taxes. Since they provided their own equipment, tax evasion was basically impossible and roman troops bought the best kit they could afford.
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birblib.bsky.social
Birb_at_Arms @birblib.bsky.social · 22h
I've even heard an argument that the hammer was considered "safe" enough that knights could use them for practice fights against their friends, actually.
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birblib.bsky.social
Birb_at_Arms @birblib.bsky.social · 22h
A two-handed hammer, as seen on pollaxes, stands a better chance of damaging armour (and the pollaxe is 100% a knightly weapon).

However, it's debatable how effective the hammer is alone. It could be used to set up a takedown (as @preachypreach.bsky.social said) or break hands and fingers.
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birblib.bsky.social
Birb_at_Arms @birblib.bsky.social · 22h
Maces were good in basically two contexts:
1) against people wearing mostly mail (which doesn't resist impact very well)
2) on horseback once you'd already lost you spear and sword (where the speed of the charging horse increases your hitting power)
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birblib.bsky.social
Birb_at_Arms @birblib.bsky.social · 22h
Neither of those things is true.

Maces and warhammers were somewhat useful against armour, but not very; you could set up a disabling attack with blunt force, but you'd need to hit them a *lot* to deal incapacitating damage.

Driving a sharp point into a gap between the plates was better.
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birblib.bsky.social
Birb_at_Arms @birblib.bsky.social · 23h
Roman legionaries throwing javelins also had a pretty effective way to counter the reach of the spear, although they only got a couple shots per person.

It is also *extremely* effective to throw a spear or javelin and then charge with sword and shield if you can get your sword out fast enough.
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birblib.bsky.social
Birb_at_Arms @birblib.bsky.social · 23h
It works reasonably well to use a sword and shield against a spear if you also have somewhat better armour than your opponents (which the Romans usually did). From the WMAW 2019 Italian experiment: youtu.be/1pkxw-TWhTo?...
WMAW 2019 - Samples of the Italian Experiment
YouTube video by Starpilot Orvidius
youtu.be
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birblib.bsky.social
Birb_at_Arms @birblib.bsky.social · 23h
I'm pretty sure the most common knightly weapon was a spear all the way through, with a sword and dagger worn as backups.

Artwork of the time usually shows formations armed mostly with spears, with a couple halberds or pollaxes near the front.

Which makes sense IMO, since reach is still important.
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birblib.bsky.social
Birb_at_Arms @birblib.bsky.social · 23h
In this scenario, both the people in the shield wall and the people attacking it will probably be carrying swords as backup weapons to spears or long-handled axes if they can afford to. It's not an either-or.
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birblib.bsky.social
Birb_at_Arms @birblib.bsky.social · 23h
It's a false dichotomy anyway. The most common historical infantry weapon set was spear, sword and dagger with a shield in the off-hand. The exceptions to this usually involve a more specialized polearm standing in for the spear or unusually heavy armour standing in for the shield.
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birblib.bsky.social
Birb_at_Arms @birblib.bsky.social · 1d
Abbas had the correct take on this back in 2009.
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