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The 1816 artillery short sword was a sidearm issued to the French foot artillery. Heavily influenced by the prevailing Neoclassical style of the day, the sword was based on ancient sculptural depictions of the Roman gladius , the standard sword of the Roman legionaries. The short sword would not have been a practical weapon for combat without a shield, but served as a fascine knife or a machete to clear fields for the guns. It also served for other practical uses, the French soldiers calling it a coupe-chou ("cabbage cutter"). It was in service until about 1870. [1]
The model was reissued in 1831 with minor changes. Most visibly, the newer model had a ringed grip rather than the fishscale pattern seen in the earlier model. [2] It also provided the inspiration for the American Model 1832 Foot Artillery Sword, though the American model retained the fishscale grip of the 1816 model.
