The history of duels began in time immemorial. In any case, the “father of historians” Herodotus mentions them when describing the customs of the Thracian tribes. At the other end of Europe - among the Vikings - duels have also long been public. As a rule, the duel in Ancient Scandinavia took place on the top of a hill and continued “until first blood”. Later, the loser was forced to pay off a fairly significant sum. Naturally, professional fighters soon appeared and provoked duels. Then fights began to be banned
Duelist's Honor
However, the prohibitions made duels even more romantic. The aristocrats were especially sophisticated. The first dueling code was published in France by the Comte de Chateauvillard in 1836. The delay to the place of the duel should not exceed 15 minutes; the duel began 10 minutes after the arrival of all participants. The manager, chosen from two seconds, offered the duelists last time make peace. If they refused, he outlined to them the conditions of the fight, the seconds marked the barriers and loaded the pistols in the presence of the opponents. The seconds stood parallel to the battle line, the doctors behind them. The opponents performed all actions at the command of the manager. At the end of the fight, the opponents shook hands with each other.
A shot in the air was allowed only if it was the person challenged to the duel who fired, and not the one who sent him the cartel (challenge), otherwise the duel was considered invalid, a farce, since none of the opponents exposed themselves to danger. There were several options for a pistol duel.
Usually the opponents, remaining motionless at a distance, took turns shooting at the command. A fallen, wounded opponent could shoot while lying down. It was forbidden to cross the barriers. The most dangerous version of the duel was when the opponents, standing motionless at a distance of 25-35 steps, shot at each other simultaneously on the command on the count of “one-two-three.” In this case, both opponents could die.
As for the duel with edged weapons, here it was most difficult for the seconds to regulate the course of the duel due to its mobility and the excitement of the opponents. In addition, in fights with edged weapons (sword, saber, espadron), the inequality of the fighters in such a complex art as fencing has always had a stronger effect. Therefore, duels with pistols were widespread, as they more equalized the opportunities and chances of duelists.
Of the officers– to the rank and file
In France, where hundreds of proud nobles died in duels, duels were banned in the 16th century. In Russia, Peter I issued strict laws against duels, providing for punishment up to the death penalty. However, these laws were not applied in practice. Almost up late XVIII centuries in Russia, duels were a rare occurrence, and in France, although Cardinal Richelieu banned duels on pain of death, they continued...
During the era of Catherine II in Russia, duels among noble youth began to spread. In 1787, Catherine II published the “Manifesto on Duels,” according to which, for a bloodless duel, the offender was threatened with lifelong exile to Siberia, and wounds and murder in a duel were equated to criminal offenses.
Nicholas I generally treated duels with disgust. Duelists were usually transferred to the active army in the Caucasus, and in the event of a death, they were demoted from officers to privates.
But no laws helped! Moreover, duels in Russia were characterized by exceptionally cruel conditions: the distance between barriers was usually 7-10 meters, there were even duels without seconds and doctors, one on one. So fights often ended tragically.
It was during the reign of Nicholas I that the loudest, famous duels with the participation of Ryleev, Griboyedov, Pushkin, Lermontov. And this despite harsh laws about responsibility for the duel.
Trembling hand
In his first duel, Pushkin fought with Lyceum friend Kuchelbecker, whose challenge turned out to be a kind of review of Pushkin’s epigrams. When Kükhlya, who shot first by lot, began to take aim, Pushkin shouted to his second: “Delvig! Take my place, it’s safer here.” Kuchelbecker got angry, his hand trembled, and he shot through the cap on Delvig’s head! The comic nature of the situation reconciled the opponents.
This is what Pushkin’s friend Liprandi from Chisinau recalls about another duel between the poet and a certain Colonel Starov, which, according to Pushkin scholars, took place on January 6, 1822 according to the old style: “The weather was terrible, the snowstorm was so strong that it was impossible to see a few steps away.” subject." Naturally, both opponents missed. The opponents wanted to continue the fight by moving the barrier again, but “the seconds strongly opposed, and the fight was postponed until the snowstorm stopped.” However, the opponents froze and dispersed without waiting for favorable meteorological conditions. Thanks, again, to the efforts of Pushkin’s friends, the duel was never resumed. Note that Starov was a well-known sniper in Russia...
In the spring of the same year in Chisinau, and then throughout Russia, they discussed for a long time the next duel of the poet with an officer General Staff Zubov. Pushkin came to the place of the duel with cherries, which he calmly ate while the enemy took aim. Zubov missed, but Pushkin refused the shot and asked: “Are you satisfied?” Zubov tried to hug him, but Pushkin remarked: “This is unnecessary.” Pushkin later described this episode in Belkin’s Tales.
"My life belongs to the proletariat"
By the way, many famous people were duelists. So, once the young Leo Tolstoy challenged Ivan Turgenev to a duel. Fortunately, the duel did not take place. And the revolutionary anarchist Bakunin challenged Karl Marx himself to a duel when he spoke disparagingly about the Russian army. It is interesting that Bakunin was an anarchist and an opponent of any regular army, but he stood up for the honor of the Russian uniform, which he wore in his youth as an artillery ensign. However, Marx, who in his youth had fought with swords more than once with students at the University of Bonn and was proud of the scars on his face, did not accept Bakunin’s challenge. The author of Capital responded that “his life now belongs not to him, but to the proletariat!”
AND last example: before the revolution, the poet Gumilyov challenged the poet Voloshin to a duel, offended by his practical joke. Voloshin fired into the air, but Gumilyov missed.
In general, at the beginning of the 20th century (before 1917), hundreds of officer duels took place in Russia, and almost all with pistols, but with death or seriously injured Only a few duels ended.
- Most known method challenge to a duel - throwing a glove at your feet or striking it in the face - refers to the medieval custom of knighting. During the ceremony, the future knight was given a resounding slap. And then they encouraged him that this was the last insult for which he could not get even.
- Duels in our usual understanding are only a few centuries old: they appeared in the 14th century. But during their existence they were able to carry away an amount human lives, comparable to a loss in several bloody wars. In just 16 years of the reign of the French monarch Henry the 4th, more than 8 thousand duelists went to another world. And this despite the fact that the laws of that time prohibited duels. The punishment was the most severe: death penalty.
- It's interesting that initially business as usual, not at all condemned by society, was the use of techniques modern ideas that do not comply with knightly rules: to distract the enemy’s attention, to hit someone who accidentally slipped or stumbled, to finish off a disarmed or wounded person, to stab in the back
- Sometimes women did not lag behind men in this matter. In the autumn of 1624, in the Parisian Bois de Boulogne, the Marquise de Nesle and the Countess de Polignac, in the presence of seconds, crossed not daggers, but real swords. The bone of contention was the favor of the future cardinal, but for now only the Duke of Richelieu. As a result, the countess got the better of the marquise, almost tearing off de Nesle’s ear with a blade.
- For a long time it was believed that the word “duel” is a descendant of the Latin “duellum”, that is, “war”. In fact, the duel has another “relative”: the word “duo” (two).
- Over time, European monarchs realized that as a result of duels they were losing the color of the young society, and took decisive measures. For example, the Decree of Cardinal Richelieu of 1602 established as a punishment for a duel death penalty or exile with deprivation of all rights and confiscation of all property for all participants in duels, including even spectators. During the reign Louis XIV 11 edicts against dueling were issued.
- In 1899, the director of the American patent agency, a certain Duell, announced that it was time to close the patent offices because technical progress has exhausted itself and man has already invented everything that was possible. If this official were in our time, he would probably go crazy...
- Compared to the rules of Russian duels of the 19th century, European ones were of an operetta nature and rarely ended not only in someone’s death, but also in injury. After all, in Europe, opponents fired from at least 30 steps. Russian duelists fired at each other from ten. In the event of a mutual miss, the rivals did not disperse, but demanded final satisfaction: they shot until one of them was seriously wounded or killed.
- One of the most famous medical disputes on the dueling topic is whether Pushkin could have survived if he had shot himself today and the most modern technologies. Most experts are sure that no: the poet’s injury would have been too much for even modern medicine, it was so heavy.
- Astronomer Tycho Brahe was considered one of the most avid duelists in history. Duels interested him no less than doing science. During one of the fights, in his youth, part of the scientist’s nose was cut off. But Brahe did not lose heart for a long time and inserted a prosthesis made of pure silver into his nose.
- Modern epee fencers participating in the Olympics and other competitions are actually “fighting a duel.” After all, their weapon, sporting and completely harmless, originated from the medieval sword - the favorite companion of duelists of that time.
The most famous way of challenging a duel - throwing a glove at your feet or striking it in the face - refers to the medieval custom of knighting. During the ceremony, the future knight was given a resounding slap. And then they encouraged him that this was the last insult for which he could not get even.
Duels in our usual understanding are only a few centuries old: they appeared in the 14th century. But during their existence they were able to claim a number of human lives comparable to the losses in several bloody wars. In just 16 years of the reign of the French monarch Henry the 4th, more than 8 thousand duelists went to another world. And this despite the fact that the laws of that time prohibited duels. The punishment was the most severe: death penalty.
For a long time it was believed that the word “duel” is a descendant of the Latin “duellum”, that is, “war”. In fact, the duel has another “relative”: the word “duo” (two).
In 1899, the director of the American patent agency, a certain Duell, announced that it was time to close the patent offices, since technological progress had exhausted itself and man had already invented everything that was possible. If this official were in our time, he would probably go crazy...
Compared to the rules of Russian duels of the 19th century, European ones were of an operetta nature and rarely ended not only in someone’s death, but also in injury. After all, in Europe, opponents fired from at least 30 steps. Russian duelists fired at each other from ten. In the event of a mutual miss, the rivals did not disperse, but demanded final satisfaction: they shot until one of them was seriously wounded or killed.
One of the most famous medical disputes on the dueling topic is whether Pushkin could have survived if he had shot himself today and the most modern technologies had been used to save him. Most experts are sure that no: the poet’s wound would have been too much for even modern medicine to handle, it was so severe.
Astronomer Tycho Brahe was considered one of the most avid duelists in history. Duels interested him no less than doing science. During one of the fights, in his youth, part of the scientist’s nose was cut off. But Brahe did not lose heart for a long time and inserted a prosthesis made of pure silver into his nose.
It is believed that only men arrange duels, and women, if they want to sort things out, can simply pull each other’s hair. But history knows many examples when people approached the barrier beautiful ladies, and they fought not only among themselves, but also with men. In 1828, a certain sweet girl convicted her lover of infidelity and challenged him to a duel. True, she did not know that the dueling pistols were empty-loaded. The lot determined that the lady should shoot first. She shot and missed. The “enemy”, who knew about the deception, took aim for a long time, expecting the girl to cry or in some other way show how scared she was. But he stood calmly and awaited his fate. This was followed by a shot in the air, passionate hugs and a happy ending that even Hollywood could envy.
Defending one's honor through a duel has always been considered a noble cause. Among the duels, a top list of the most unusual ones has been compiled. It is also known about the most curious, most terrible and fastest duel.
Top most unusual duels
Duels have been known since the times of the Vikings. They called them “holmring”. The battle, carried out on the top of the hill, ended with the appearance of the first blood. After this, the loser was obliged to pay the winner a certain amount.Despite the fact that over time duels were officially prohibited in many countries around the world, they were still carried out. Rivals believed that this was the only way to find out who was right, defend honor, determine the winner in a dispute, and so on. Unusual duels were in fashion. Next, let's look at some of them included in the top.
The most interesting and fastest duel
There is a known duel that took place in the fourteenth century between two friends, one of whom was already dead. The names of these friends are Jacques Chevantier and Andre Marchand. Together they went hunting, however, only Chevantier returned back. 
Many noticed that after this event, the missing friend’s dog, for unknown reasons, began to be very aggressive towards Chevantier. This was regarded as a challenge to a duel. The dog allegedly wanted to take revenge on his owner’s friend for killing Marchand. Chevantier accepted the challenge. He took a club with metal spikes as a weapon, and the dog took his own teeth. As soon as the dog was released, it sank its teeth into its opponent's throat. Andre Marchand died, but before his death he managed to confess that it was he who killed his friend.
The most terrible duel
The most terrible and unusual duel took place in Africa. The subject of the dispute was the girl. The Africans, who had never swam more than a hundred meters before the duel, decided to compete in swimming. They sailed on boats about five kilometers from seashore and jumped into the water. The seconds watched the progress of the duel.I must say that everything was not at all harmless, since the water was infested with sharks. Soon the seconds realized that the duelists urgently needed to be pulled out of the water. Although they were exhausted, they were both alive. The sharks didn't have time to eat them.
Duel with the most ridiculous type of weapon
General Bismarck decided to challenge a certain scientist named Rudolf Virchow to a duel. In itself, such a challenge was non-standard, since Bismarck held a very high position, being the Chancellor of Germany, and the scientist headed the opposition liberal party. Since, according to this scientist, Bismarck was fluent in any weapon, ordinary sausages were chosen for the competition, one of which would be with poison. 
The scientist proposed to eat one sausage each during a duel, after which fate would decide which of them would live and which would die. Bismarck refused this duel, because he believed that a hero could not die after overeating.
"Skirt Fight"
Duels also happened between representatives of the fairer sex. One of these fights took place after a harmless tea party in France between two friends. Lady Braddock and Mrs. Elphinstone became the duelists. The reason for the duel was that one of the friends described the appearance of the other in the past tense, namely, she said that she used to be a beautiful woman. 
Considering such words offensive to myself, offended woman I challenged my friend to a duel. They immediately went to Hyde Park with the intention of shooting with pistols. Lady Braddock's hat was shot through, however, she insisted that the duel continue with swords. Soon after the fight began, Braddock slightly wounded her offender. The wounded offender also brought her a written apology.
An unusual duel of the mid-twentieth century
Even in the twentieth century, duels took place from time to time. It is known about a duel that took place in the middle of last time in America. Both duelists are farmers who fell in love with the same girl. They chose cars as their weapons. The lovers planned to speed up and drive towards each other enormous speed. They chose a plateau as the place for the duel. 
At this duel, in addition to the seconds, there was also a girl present, who became the subject of a dispute among the young and ardent farmers. Having accelerated, they decided to turn off at the last moment, thus preventing the instant death of both. The duelists continued to fight, trying to push each other into the abyss while sitting behind the wheel. One of the lovers and the car soon flew into the abyss, while the winner had to go to prison for fifteen years. The girl became the wife of the bus driver, who kindly gave her a ride when she was returning from this duel.
The most unusual duel in history: balloon battle
Perhaps the most unusual duel took place in the air over Paris. Two contenders for the diva's heart decided to climb balloons and fire at each other. We are talking about Monsieur de Picquet and Monsieur de Grandpré. Each of them took a second with them. 
Monsieur de Grandpré was the first to shoot after the necessary convergence of the balloons. The ball in which Monsieur de Piquet was with his second caught fire and collapsed. It should be noted that the diva did not appreciate the duel that took place, leaving the city with the third contender for her heart.
Mass confrontations are also interesting. .
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