His conclusions though were that the ideal melee weapon for a female warrior would be the longsword (the real two-handed version not the D&D one) since it has excellent reach (a 3-3.5’ in the blade alone vs. the maybe 2’ blade of a short sword or maybe a foot if you’re lucky with a dagger), allows the full strength from both arms to be employed and isn’t significantly heavier than one of the two much shorter blades they’d be using with the two-weapon style (a real longsword is just 2-3 lb. while a short sword like a gladius is 1.5-2 lb. or 3-4 lb. for a pair).
A naginata or glaive would be even better, for the same reasons - probably why the naginata was the standard female home defence weapon of the Japanese samurai (also great for poking guys coming through doorways).
It's against all fantasy tropes that a 2hw (longsword, polearm) needs less strength than 2wf or 1h+shield; reality is funny like that.
Greetings!
Very cool, S'mon! I always love the old expression--"Truth is stranger than fiction".
Your commentary reminds me of some of the things I have read concerning ancient Chinese history. The Qin, the Tang,Warlords, across thousands of years. The Chinese are historically well known as a very patriarchal society, and certainly not favourable to women in combat, "gender equality", "representation" or any of the modern insanity and nonsense.
However, I do appreciate the intriguing bits of historical honesty, and integrity provided in various Chinese reports, stories and so on. The Chinese talk about on more than one occasion, noble wives serving as rulers over a city--(their husbands were off leading armies elsewhere)--put armour on, picked up weapons, and lead their troops into combat defending the city. Such noble women were depicted as being shrewd, valiant, humble, courageous, and inspiring. In addition, there are historical commentaries where thousands of women warriors were deployed in defending fortified cities, often fighting house-to-house. The women warriors were interestingly armed with swords, spears, or bows. Lots of mass ranks of women archers firing arrows into charging invaders. Likewise with groups of women holding bristling spears, defending market squares and temples. From the sources I've read, the historians and commentators never champion sending mass units of women out into the field on campaign, nor do they embrace any kind of "Institutionalized" changes in policy, nothing like that. They clearly maintain that women soldiers are generally quite inferior and undesirable for the serious general.
However, they do note, that in defending their homes, specifically, such as a city, or fortified town, that having large groups of well-equipped, well-motivated women soldiers is better than nothing--and on such occasions, the women were fierce, passionate, and devoted, and often successfully helped in the defense of such towns and cities. Within such a context, even though the women often suffered extensive casualties as well as the brutalities of torture and rape from invaders, the women successfully fought and killed many enemy invaders, and helped to make any process of conquering a town or city bloody and difficult for the foreigner. The honest assessment seems to have been under the defensive environment, with strong motivation and decent equipment, women soldiers were in fact helpful in resisting or achieving victory, and also often proved inspiring to the men soldiers--whether the women were nobles or even simple peasant women. Having a peasant girl charge the enemy and see her fight and be hacked down by the enemy seems to have been a distinct motivator for hardened, desperate male soldiers. Or a young noble woman standing on the battlements, speaking to her soldiers, and lifting up a sword as she matches with them into the enemy at the gates. Under such contexts, women soldiers could be effective, helpful, fierce, and inspiring. The women soldiers were also noted for being especially selfless, loyal, and ruthless, even if they were not always as strong or as skilled and trained as the male soldiers. Some of the things I have read suggest that the women can be surprisingly bloodthirsty and remorseless, eager to torture, kill, and execute every enemy warrior that falls into their hands. Definitely some eye-opening stuff!
I have also read that the Mongols also ensured that women were often trained in basic weapon skills--and especially using the bow, from a young age. Stronger women were apparently unusual, but also acceptable as warriors on occasion throughout the Mongol Empire. Some of the Mongol princesses and queens were famous for wearing armour and fighting in battle, and leading warriors.
Semper Fidelis,
SHARK