War Scythe
A war scythe is a regular scythe that has been adapted for combat use by re-attaching the blade parallel to the haft, rather than perpendicular to it, so that it looks like a bill. After the German Peasants' War during 1524–1525, a fencing book edited by Paulus Hector Mair described in 1542 techniques how to fence using a scythe. War scythes were widely used by Polish and Lithuanian peasants during revolts in the 18th and 19th centuries.
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Famous quotes containing the words war and/or scythe:
“Their bodies are buried in peace; but their name liveth for evermore.”
—Apocrypha. Ecclesiasticus, 44:14.
The line “their name liveth for evermore” was chosen by Rudyard Kipling on behalf of the Imperial War Graves Commission as an epitaph to be used in Commonwealth War Cemeteries. Kipling had himself lost a son in the fighting.
“Time doth transfix the flourish set on youth
And delves the parallels in beauty’s brow,
Feeds on the rarities of nature’s truth,
And nothing stands but for his scythe to mow:
And yet to times in hope my verse shall stand,
Praising thy worth, despite his cruel hand.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)