Small sword The small sword or smallsword ( also court sword , fr : " épée de cour " or dress sword ) is a light one - handed sword designed for thrusting which evolved out of the longer and heavier rapier of the late Renaissance . The height of the small sword ' s popularity was between mid 17th and late 18th century . It is thought to have appeared in France and spread quickly across the rest of Europe . The small sword was the immediate predecessor of the French duelling sword ( from which the épée developed ) and its method of use — as typified in the works of such authors as Sieur de Liancour , Domenico Angelo , Monsieur J . Olivier , and Monsieur L ' Abbat — developed into the techniques of the French classical school of fencing . Small swords were also used as status symbols and fashion accessories ; for most of the 18th century anyone , civilian or military , with pretensions to gentleman ly status would have worn a small sword on a daily basis . The small sword could be a highly effective duel ling weapon , and some systems for the use of the bayonet were developed using the method of the smallsword as their foundation , ( including perhaps most notably , that of Alfred Hutton ) . Militarily , small swords continued to be used as a standard sidearm for infantry officers . In some branches with strong traditions , this practice continues to the modern day , albeit for ceremonial and formal dress only . The carrying of swords by officers in combat conditions was frequent in World War I and still saw some practice in World War II . The 1913 U . S . Army Manual of Bayonet Drill includes instructions for how to fight a man on foot with a small sword . Small swords are still featured on parade uniforms of some corps . As a rule , the blade of a small sword is comparatively short at around , though some reach over . It usually tapers to a sharp point but may lack a cutting edge . It is typically triangular in cross - section , although some of the early examples still have the rhombic and spindle - shaped cross - sections inherited from older weapons , like the rapier . This triangular cross - section may be hollow ground for additional lightness . Many small swords of the period between the 17th and 18th centuries were found with colichemarde blades . Hilt . The small sword guard is typically of the " shell " type , sometimes with two lobes that were decorated as clam shells . The shells were often replaced with a simple curved oval disk , which was still referred to as the " coquille " ( shell ) . In later foils , the lobed type evolved into the " lunette " or figure - 8 guard , and the disk became the modern foil " bell " guard , but the guards were still referred to as " coquilles " . Small swords with this type of guard normally included other features of the older rapier hilt , including quillons , ricasso , knuckle - bow , and a " pas d ' âne " , although these were often atrophied beyond the point of usefulness , serving mainly as a decorative element . However , they were maintained in a usable state on some weapons , including the Italian foil , into the 20th century . In the 19th century , simple cross - hilt small swords were also produced , largely as ceremonial weapon s that were evocative of more ancient types of weapons . An example is the Model 1840 Army Noncommissioned Officers ' Sword , which is still used by the United States Army on ceremonial occasions . As the wearing of swords fell out of fashion and the small sword evolved into the duelling sword ( forerunner of the modern épée ) , the older hilts gave way to simpler grips such as the French grip and Italian grip . Use . Small swords were used both by the military ( where they served more as a sign of a certain rank rather than a real weapon for close combat ) and as a dueling weapon . The very height of the small sword ' s widespread popularity was ( as mentioned above ) between the middle of the 17th and the late 18th century , when it was considered fashionable by aristocrats ( " no gentleman was dressed without his sword " – contemporary idiom of the middle of the 18th century ) , but it was still used as a dueling weapon until the middle of the 20th century . For instance , Gaston Defferre and René Ribière used larger and heavier versions of the epee , which both had small sword - blades instead of the flexible epee - blades ( which are used in sport fencing until today ) in their duel on April 21 in 1967 at in Neuilly , Paris , in France . The use of the small sword for infantry is covered in the US manual of 1861 titled " The Militiaman ' s Manual " . It can be obtained here : . In modern times , the sword is often used as part of court uniform and dress . A German version of the small sword called " Trauerdegen " ( " mourning dagger " ) is still in use by the Reitendiener of the city of Hamburg in Germany .