Canne de Combat - History

History

The “Canne de Combat” or “Canne d’Arme” is a product of French history and culture. It developed in the early 19th century as a self-defence discipline and was particularly used by upper class "bourgeois" gentlemen in big, unsafe cities such as Paris. Some speak of French martial art although its codification as a sport does not allow this name officially. The history of the discipline is closely linked to the development of the Savate boxing techniques which at the beginning was mainly using kicks and lately under the influence of the British incorporated also punches. Gentlemen trained into the Savate techniques mastered cane as a way of fighting from a certain distance as well as close combat kickboxing. The cane was in the hands of the city men, while the staff was in the hands of farm men. In fact, cane and staff were closely associated in many countries and cultures.

In the olden days, the techniques of “Savate” and “Canne d’Arme” increased in popularity up to the point that they were used by military and police forces (depicted in the TV series Les Brigades du Tigre, referring to a special police task force of the French Third Republic) until World War I. The millions of French lives lost during the war caused the discipline to nearly disappear. The techniques continued however to be taught in a few “savate boxing” clubs that reopened in between the two wars and managed to survive World War II. There is reputed to be a group who operated during the Nazi occupation who used cane techniques to carry out assassinations. Cane fighting techniques of the late 1950s and 1960s were influenced by a few skilled individuals who revived it.