Since I promised this some time ago, let's go!

Today on #ClariOnHEMA:
-Injury types and their lethality-

Following content warnings apply:
Violence, injury (obvi) in graphic detail, death.

1/25

But first, why am I talking about this?

Few reasons:

1) Settling some misconceptions about the "best weapon(s)"

2) Expanding on your knowledge of various types of injury

3) Some points about what actually kills or incapacitates a combatant

2/25

Let's get the first out of the way. There is no single best weapon. As Matt Easton (a fantastic source of HEMA knowledge BTW) likes to say, it's all about context:

-who you're fighting
-what they're fighting with
-where you're fighting
-level of armour
-experience

3/25

There absolutely are best weapons for very specific situations, but nothing is universal. This will become more apparent as we get further into the types injuries. For now, it's enough that you accept as fact that a weapon will never be equally optimal in every scenario.

4/25

Points 2 & 3 will blend into each other, so I won't try to separate them artificially.

But now into the main subject, so let's look at what we're dealing with.

Types of damage weapons cause:
-puncturing/piercing
-slashing/cutting
-bludgeoning/impact

5/25

It's a very RPG division, and real life isn't quite that clear-cut, but there's truth to it. The largest overlap is with slashing and piercing, as almost all piercing weapons also slash to some degree.

Rapiers, certain rondel daggers and the like are extreme examples.

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Why is this distinction important?

Well, because out bodies are built in a very specific way to protect us, and injuries affect us very differently depending on the kind of damage they do. Also, we need to make the distinction of incapacitating vs lethal.

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But isn't lethal also incapacitating?

Once you die, of course, but if said dying takes hours or days, it's surprisingly irrelevant for the actual combat.

Battles take place in a timeframe of minutes and hours, individual attacks in seconds.

8/25

It won't do you much good if your opponent will die of organ failure next week when he's stabbing you in the face right now. That's why incapacitation is sometimes more important in a fight than outright killing.

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Injury types by lethality:

1. Puncturing/piercing
2. Slashing/cutting
3. Bludgeoning/impact

Injury types by effective incapacitation:

1. Slashing/cutting
2. Bludgeoning/impact
3. Puncturing/piercing

10/25

In more detail:

Puncturing wounds

Weapon types that can inflict these injuries:
-swords (when thrusting)
-spears/pikes
-arrows/bolts
-daggers

Pros:
-most lethal type of injury

Cons:
-rarely incapacitates
-mostly effective against unarmoured targets

11/25

Puncturing injuries are a b*tch. They become easily infected, and have a very high chance of dealing (eventually) lethal damage. As it turns out, most of our organs and circulatory system are not designed to function properly with a few extra holes in them.

12/25

Depending on where they are, such injuries can cause you to bleed out with varying speeds, or just make you a walking corpse if some vital organs like the liver are damaged beyond functioning.

However, as deadly as they are, it's a lot harder to stop someone with them.

13/25

To elaborate, there are only about three points in the human body where a puncturing wound will kill or stop someone instantly. These are:

-the heart (if you hit well enough)
-the brain
-the spinal column

Now these are all *very* tricky to stab into effectively.

14/25

The brain is protected by the skull, and it's no coincidence that the single most prevalent piece of protective gear in history is the helmet.

The heart has almost always has some armour, a gambeson if nothing more, and it is shielded by our ribcage.

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As for the spinal column, it's at the back of our bodies, surrounded by bone, preceded by our other organs and skeletal structure, and also armour.

Good luck stabbing into that one.

16/25

Next up:

Slashing wounds

Weapon types that can inflict these injuries:
-swords (when cutting)
-axes
-knives/daggers
-broad spears
-specialised arrows/bolts

Pros:
-easily incapacitating
-fairly dangerous

Cons:
-takes a good hit to be lethal

17/25

Slashing wounds fall in the happy(?) medium of injuries. They're fairly straightforward to treat, not terribly lethal, but they can cause some serious injuries if struck well. Also they're very easily incapacitating, as they can cut and sever muscles, tendons and limbs.

18/25

But before you ask, no. Medieval battlefields weren't littered with severed extremities. While a well-delivered cut can absolutely chop off an arm, it becomes much more difficult when your target is armoured and actively trying not to be killed.

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Also, while not terribly relevant, living bone is a lot easier to cut through that dead. Bone calcifies when inanimate, becoming hard and brittle. Living bone, while tough, is more spongy, for a lack of a better word.

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Lastly:

Bludgeoning injuries

Weapon types that can inflict these injuries:
-swords (pommel & guard strikes)
-maces/clubs/hammers/
-staves
-fists

Pros:
-can incapacitate
-can circumvent heavy armour

Cons:
-least lethal type of injury

21/25

Bludgeoning weapons are not terribly common in warfare, unless we're speaking of anti-armour maces and hammers (which often are actually more puncturing), mostly because our bodies are best at withstanding blunt impact trauma.

22/25

Our muscles (and organs) can move somewhat inside our bodies, allowing them to dissipate the kinetic energy of the blow, and our skeletal structure is mostly quite impact-resistant. What blunt injuries can do, is break bones, crush organs, and cause internal hemorrhaging.

23/25

But due to their relative nonlethality (tho an unarmoured person can absolutely be killed with only impact trauma), blunt weapons are employed widely by law-enforcement, even if their historical representation is limited to more specialised uses.

24/25

This, once again, ran a little longer than expected, but hopefully there's some new information for you. Later I'll probably go deeper into why, when and where certain types of weapons were used, but this is long enough as it is.

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