Szabla - Definition and Overview

Szabla was a saber-like melee weapon used in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. It had a curved blade and was carried in a scabbard.

Typical 19th-century cavalry saber, closely related to szabla.

The szabla was an almost obligatory status item for a szlachcic (member of the Commonwealth's noble class, which indeed took its name from a German word for "hacking" or "cutting"). The origins of the szabla can be traced to the oriental curved scimitars of the Ottoman Empire.

The first type of szabla, the Hungarian-Polish (węgiersko-polska) szabla, was popularized among szlachta during the reign of King Stefan Batory in the late 16th century. Before his reign, the szabla was considered a plebeian weapon unworthy of the noblility.

Other notable types of szabla included:

• hussar szabla, introduced around 1630, a cavalry melee weapon, precursor to many other such European weapons;
• karabela, a lighter version introduced around 1670, often used in parades;
• kosciuszkowska, a variant popularized during the Kosciuszko Uprising;
• Szabla wz.34 ("model 34 szabla"), a 20th-century variant produced from 1934 in the Second Polish Republic for Polish cavarly; about 10,000 were made.

Sword parts. Note that the szabla was curved, not straight

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