Cossack Shashka, saber

$180.11
Last pieces in stock
Code: WUN652

This Cossack buffoon comes with a wooden scabbard covered in black leather with a brass throat and foot.

  • Supplied with scabbard
  • Overall length: 95,5 cm
  • Blade length: 81 cm
  • Blade thickness: 6 mm
  • Blade width: 3,2 cm
  • Handle length: 7.5 cm
  • Weight: 1.1 kg
  • Blade: Unsharpened
  • Material: carbon steel 1035
  • Made by Windlass Steelcrafts

The Cossacks were a population of intrepid horsemen from the southern Ukrainian and Russian steppes who were militarily oriented and united by their life path rather than their ethnicity. They were a force to be reckoned with in this highly unstable geographic region. Cossacks have fired the imagination of romantics for centuries because they were seen as the personification of an idealised struggle for freedom and resistance to authority.

The shashka developed in the Caucasus during the 12th and 13th centuries and was later adopted by the Cossacks. As the Russian state became more powerful, the Cossacks were sometimes favoured by the tsars, at other times they were persecuted. By the 19th century, however, the shashka had become a common weapon in the Russian army and was still used in the Soviet army during World War II.

The shashka was originally known as a Cossack weapon used on horseback and later became the official officer's sword of the Soviet Union. This sword is a replica of a Soviet officer's sword still in use during World War II.

Our Cossack Shashka is a replica of this cavalry saber with a forward curve designed for effective slashes and lunges from the horse's saddle. The slightly curved single-edged carbon steel blade has a wide, flat cut that extends approximately 4/5 of its length. The blade has a short ricasso. The short handle of reddish-brown carved wood is framed in brass and surrounds a riveted full tang. The brass pommel has a typical eagle head shape and contains embossed decorations, including the Soviet hammer and sickle symbol and the inscription CCCP. The hole can be used to attach a wrist strap if desired.