Dual wield

Dual wielding is the technique of using two weapons, one in each hand for training or combat. It is not a common combat practice. Although historical records of dual wielding in war are limited, there are numerous weapon-based martial arts that involve the use of a pair of weapons. The use of a companion weapon is sometimes employed in European martial arts and fencing, such as a parrying dagger. Miyamoto Musashi, a Japanese swordsman and ronin, was said to have conceived of the idea of a particular style of swordsmanship involving the use of two swords.

Mongolian soldiers dual wielding knives during skills display

In terms of firearms, especially handguns, dual wielding is generally denounced by firearm enthusiasts due to its impracticality.[1] Though using two handguns at the same time confers an advantage by allowing more ready ammunition, it is rarely done due to other aspects of weapons handling. Dual wielding, both with melee and ranged weapons, has been popularized by fictional works (film, television, and video games).

History
A young boy in a black vest over a white shirt and a black hat raises a pistol high in his right hand and lets another hang from his left hand.
An urban proletariat boy dual wields pistols in Eugene Delacroix's painting La Liberté guidant le peuple.

Dual wielding has not been used or mentioned much in military history, though it appears in weapon-based martial arts and fencing practices.[2]

Dimachaerus were a type of Roman gladiator that fought with two swords. The name is the Latin-language borrowing of the Greek word διμάχαιρος meaning "bearing two knives" (di- dual + machairi knife)[3] Thus, an inscription from Lyon, France, mentions such a type of gladiator, here spelled dymacherus.[4] The dimachaeri were equipped for close-combat fighting.[5] A dimachaerus used a pair of siccae (curved scimitar) or gladius and used a fighting style adapted to both attack and defend with his weapons rather than a shield, as he was not equipped with one.[5][6]

The use of weapon combinations in each hand has been mentioned for close combat in western Europe during the Byzantine,[7] Medieval, and Renaissance era.[8] The use of a parrying dagger such as a main gauche along with a rapier is common in historical European martial arts.[9]

North American Indian tribes of the Atlantic northeast used a form involving a tomahawk in the primary hand and a knife in the secondary. It is practiced today as part of the modern Cree martial art Okichitaw.

All the above-mentioned examples, involve either one long and one short weapon, or two short weapons. An example of a dual wield of two sabres is the Ukrainian cossack dance hopak.

Asia

During the campaign Muslim conquest in 6th to 7th century AD, a Rashidun caliphate general named Khalid ibn Walid was reported to favor wielding two broad swords, with one in each hand, during combat.[10]

Traditional schools of Japanese martial arts include dual wield techniques, particularly a style conceived by Miyamoto Musashi involving the katana and wakizashi, two-sword kenjutsu techniques he called Niten Ichi-ryū.

Eskrima, the traditional martial arts of the Philippines teaches Doble Baston techniques involving the basic use of a pair of rattan sticks and also Espada y daga or Sword/Stick and Dagger. Okinawan martial arts have a method that uses a pair of sai.

Chinese martial arts involve the use of a pair of butterfly swords and hook swords.

Famed for his enormous strength, Dian Wei, a military general serving under the warlord Cao Cao in the late Eastern Han dynasty of China, excelled at wielding a pair of ji (a halberd-like weapon), each of which was said to weigh 40 jin.

During Wei–Jie war, Ran Min, emperor of the short-lived Ran Wei empire of China, wielded two weapons, one in each hand, and fought fiercely, inflicting many casualties on the Xianbei soldiers while mounted on the famous horse Zhu Long ("Red Dragon").

Gatka, a weapon-based martial art from the Punjab region, is known to use two sticks at a time.

The Thailand weapon-based martial art Krabi Krabong involves the use of a separate Krabi in each hand.

Kalaripayattu teaches advanced students to use either two sticks (of various sizes) or two daggers or two swords, simultaneously.

Modern

The use of a gun in each hand is often associated with the American Old West, mainly due to media portrayals. It was common for people in the era to carry two guns, but not to use them at the same time, as shown in movies. The second gun served as a backup weapon, to be used only if the main one suffered a malfunction or was lost or emptied.[11]

However, there were several examples of gunmen in the West who actually used two pistols at the same time in their gunfights:

  • John Wesley Hardin killed a gunman named Benjamin Bradley who shot at him, by drawing both of his pistols and firing back.[12]
  • The Mexican vaquero Augustine Chacon had several gunfights in which he was outnumbered by more than one gunman and prevailed by equipping himself with a revolver in each hand.[13]
  • King Fisher once managed to kill three bandits in a shootout by pulling both of his pistols.[14]
  • During the infamous Four Dead in Five Seconds Gunfight, lawman Dallas Stoudenmire pulled both of his pistols as he ran out onto the street and killed one bystander and two other gunmen.[15]
  • Jonathan R. Davis, a prospector during the California Gold Rush, was ambushed by thirteen outlaws while together with two of his comrades. One of his friends was killed and the other was mortally wounded during the ambush. Davis drew both of his revolvers and fired, killing seven of the bandits, and killing four more with his bowie knife, causing the final two to flee.[16]
Model dressed as Lara Croft dual wielding pistols

Dual wielding two handguns has been popularized by film and television.[17]

Effectiveness

MythBusters compared many firing stances, including having a gun in each hand and found that, compared to the two-handed single-gun stance as a benchmark, only the one-handed shoulder-level stance with a single gun was comparable in terms of accuracy and speed. The ability to look down the sights of the gun was given as the main reason for this.[18] In an episode the following year, they compared holding two guns and firing simultaneously—rather than alternating left and right shots—with holding one gun in the two-handed stance, and found that the results were in favor of using two guns and firing simultaneously.[19]

In media

See also

References
  1. "Why Dual Wielding Doesn't Work in Real Life". YouTube.
  2. Castle, Egerton (2012-06-19). Schools and Masters of Fencing: From the Middle Ages to the Eighteenth Century. Courier Corporation. p. 51. ISBN 9780486138756.
  3. The Power of Spectacle in Ancient Rome: Gladiators and Caesars, ed. by Eckart Köhne and Cornelia Ewigleben (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 2000), p. 63. ISBN 978-0-520-22798-9
  4. CIL XIII, 1997
  5. Nossov, Konstantin (2009). Gladiator: Rome's bloody spectacle. Osprey. p. 208. ISBN 978-1-84603-472-5.
  6. Marcus Junkelmann, 'Familia Gladiatoria: "The Heroes of the Amphitheatre"' in The Power of Spectacle in Ancient Rome: Gladiators and Caesars, ed. by Eckart Köhne and Cornelia Ewigleben (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 2000), p. 63. ISBN 978-0-520-22798-9
  7. Tim Dawson PhD (2010). Byzantine Infantryman: Eastern Roman Empire C.900-1204. Osprey Publishing. p. 48. ISBN 978-1-84603-105-2.
  8. Steve Shackleford (7 September 2010). Spirit Of The Sword: A Celebration of Artistry and Craftsmanship. Adams Media. p. 48. ISBN 978-1-4402-1638-1. Retrieved 12 June 2013.
  9. Clifford Rogers (June 2010). The Oxford Encyclopaedia of Medieval Warfare and Military Technology. Oxford University Press. p. 240. ISBN 978-0-19-533403-6. Retrieved 12 June 2013.
  10. Agha, Ibrahim Akram (2006). The Sword of Allah: Khalid Bin Al-Waleed, His Life and Campaigns. Adam Publishers & Distributors, India. ISBN 978-81-7435-467-9.
  11. Jeremy Agnew (2012). The Old West in Fact and Film: History Versus Hollywood. McFarland. p. 170. ISBN 978-0-7864-9311-1. Retrieved 12 June 2013.
  12. Hardin, John Wesley (1896). The Life of John Wesley Hardin: As Written By Himself. Seguin, Texas: Smith & Moore. p. 20. ISBN 978-0-8061-1051-6. Retrieved March 30, 2011.
  13. Wilson, R. Michael (2005). Legal Executions in the Western Territories, 1847-1911: Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington and Wyoming. McFarland. pp. 43-44. ISBN 978-0-7864-4825-8
  14. Texas Gunslinger, Outlaw and Lawman.
  15. Metz, Leon Claire. 1979. Dallas Stoudenmire: El Paso Marshal. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press. 162 p.
  16. The Spell of the West: Captain Jonathan R. Davis. Retrieved: 2012-10-31.
  17. Jerry Ahern (5 October 2010). "18". Gun Digest Buyer's Guide to Concealed-Carry Handguns. F+W Media, Inc. pp. 135–137. ISBN 978-1-4402-1767-8. Retrieved 12 June 2013.
  18. Savage, Adam; Hyneman, Jamie (November 23, 2011). "Wheel of Mythfortune". MythBusters. Season 2011. Episode 177. Discovery Channel.
  19. "Hollywood gunslingers". Mythbusters - Discovery. Retrieved 13 June 2013.
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