I’ll also mention that fencing used to be wildly dangerous to train in. When I learned to fence (Italian school longsword) we practiced with plastic swords and lacrosse gloves. Compared to wood swords with leather gloves this is an incredible safety improvement, and still we broke fingers from time to time. Even modern longsword fencing helms[0] (sport fencing helms can’t handle the abuse) are much tougher thanks to the presence of pre-drilled plate which provides better visibility without reduced protection[1].

0 - https://i.pinimg.com/originals/4a/15/22/4a1522079ba2951466fb... This type is necessary if you wish to practice with steel swords, among other protective equipment. Steel can cave in regular fencing masks.

1 - Against cutting blows, which is the main issue in practice. Such a plate would be disastrous in actual war, since it would guarantee that any arrow making contact would “bite” rather than deflecting.

Every time I see an evil comic book-style villain with a scared face I am reminded that that look is based in realty. Pre-war, many well-to-do Germans took part in a style of fencing that resulted in regular injuries to the face. A scared face was a badge of status. There were several prominent WWII leaders with facial scars not from battle but from fraternal fencing organizations. A few years later and the comic book supervillains had scared faces too.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_fencing

Interesting. When I took modern foil fencing classes, it wasn't dangerous in the slightest. The training foils (the long thin bendy swords that people usually think of when they think of fencing) are extremely flexible and have a button on the tip. You score a point by pushing that button against your opponent in a score zone of their body. You wear an electrified vest over your torso with a long wire leading back to the score machine, and when the opponent's sword tip touches your vest it completes an electric circuit. If that circuit is completed at the same time the opponent's foil tip button is depressed, they score a point. Both people have full cage facemasks, and there's almost zero chance of injury short of tripping.

Epee fencing, on the other hand, uses a heavier, stiffer sword, so when you poke somebody it can bruise.

Sabre fencing is the third modern fencing style, and allows you to score points with the blade (slashing) instead of just the point as with foil and epee. I've never done it but have heard it is the most physical style of the three.

This photo is of an epee match, but displays the still considerable flexibility of the weapon and the electrification wires that trail behind each combatant. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89p%C3%A9e#/media/File:Fin...

It’s worth mentioning how much heavier and more energetic a longsword is compared to modern sport fencing weapons. A fencing saber weighs 500g (~1.1lbs) by regulation. Longswords on the other hand tend to weigh in the 3-4lb range based on the size of the fencer. Longswords are also relatively inflexible in the cutting direction to avoid a “whipping” effect, although they’ll flex on the thrust for safety.

For comparison’s sake here[0] is a very high quality practice fencing blade in a historically correct style. The weird shape is to help maintain the correct balance after the edge and point have been thickened to avoid injury.

We didn’t really go for point based scoring, since we were attempting to replicate a historical fencing school. In actual fights it is incredibly common for both combatants to fatally injure each other in an exchange, so we recognized the idea of dual hits where both combatants were struck. With both steel and plastic weapons the impacts are loud enough to not require any special detection equipment.

[0] - http://www.albion-swords.com/swords/albion/maestro/sword-pra...

Melanie Reid [0] is a journalist and experienced horse rider who broke her neck and back in 2010 aged 53 [0]. She now writes a weekly article ('Spinal Column') that describes her continuing experiences of being tetraplegic. Very insightful concerning the resultant life-shattering injuries.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melanie_Reid