The Longsword vs The Katana which one is better? Part 1

in this post i'm going to go over when these two swords were used who used them and what materials were used to make them. 

The Longswords first saw use in the late 1200's and were used quite often up until the late 1600's when it started to be replaced by more advanced weaponry. it was used by knights nobles and footmen alike. but was not used as the primary weapon for combat by most knights and nobles in the late 1200's rather it served more as a one-handed sidearm that was used only after their main weapon was no longer usable. another reason why the Longsword wasn't often used by knights and nobles as their primary weapon was because knights and nobles at the time would almost always be on their warhorses to show their nobility even going as far as making shoes that couldn't be used on land. the Longsword was mostly used as a foot weapon as lances spears and halbards were more suited for mounted combat due to their longer range. The Longsword was most notably used on foot by king Edward the third of England during 1333 when he faced off against the Scottish during this time he ordered his knights to demount in order to provide shielding for his longbow men which turned out to be a brilliant tactic as he was able to quickly take down the Scottish using this tactic. The Longsword was made of either iron or steel though its hard to give an average quality of most Longswords as it would all depend on what materials the smith used how skilled the smith was at smelting the iron into steel and how well he could craft. though most Longsword blades used by foot soldiers were made in mass production sometimes being very weak leading to many of them being disposed of after long battles.                      

The Katana first saw use in the late 1100's up until the late 1800's when the samurai were abolished as a social class. it was used mostly by samurai and became their primary weapon replacing the older and larger Tachi's during the 1400's due to the changes in close combat warfare where victory depended heavily on fast response times. one of the most notably figures who wielded the Katana was Musashi Miyamoto who created Kenjutsu or tradition Japanese swordsmanship. the Katana was made of tamahagane or jewel steel tamahagane is a type of steel that's made from iron sand Katana's were made with high carbon tamahagane  which is very hard and allows for a razor-sharp edge and low carbon which is very tough and allows for shock absorption.

       

in terms of quality if you were to pick up a random Longsword and a random Katana on average the Katana would be of higher quality as their were made only for samurai and rich men vs a Longsword which was made for knights nobles and footmen meaning while you could get a really high quality sword made for a rich noble or knight you could also get a really poorly made one. there's a few things i forgot to mention above one of which is where you could get these swords. in the ancient world unlike the Longsword the Katana didn't spread much to other countries meaning it was very unlikely that you would see it if you were outside of Japan the only other place you could find Katanas outside of Japan would be in some parts of Korea where the weapon was also used. in fact you would be more likely to find swords like the Chinese Jian the Indian Talwar or the Filipino Kris then you would a Katana due to it staying mostly in Japan. that said the Longsword has the advantage of being a more common weapon meaning it would be much easier to get replacement parts for it unlike a Katana which unless you were working with a Japanese sword smith it would be much harder to get replacement parts or to repair.  i apologize if i didn't give as much info for the Katana as i did the Longsword. but i promise in later posts there will be much more on the Katana. the reason why there's so much of the Longsword in this post is because i wanted to clear up some misunderstands about it is all. 

Well thanks for reading i hope you enjoyed reading this as much as i did writing it please tell me what you think in the comments below.