Editing Small sword (section)

==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 in the 18th century, when it was considered fashionable by aristocrats ("no gentleman was dressed without his sword"&nbsp;&ndash; contemporary idiom of the middle of the 18th century), but it was still used as a duelling weapon until the middle of the 20th century. For instance, [[Gaston Defferre]] and [[René Ribière]] used larger and heavier versions of the épée, which both had small sword-blades instead of the flexible épée-blades (which have been used in sport fencing through the present day) in their duel on April 21, 1967, in Neuilly, Paris. The use of the small sword for infantry is covered in the US manual of 1861 titled ''The Militiaman's Manual''.

In modern times, the sword is often used as part of [[Court uniform and dress in the United Kingdom|court uniform and dress]]. A German version of the small sword called {{lang|de|Trauerdegen}} ("mourning épée") is still in use by the {{lang|de|{{ill|Reitendiener|de}}}} of the city of [[Hamburg]] in Germany.