Why did the Three Musketeers use swords and not muskets?

Question

Then why use this title? why not swordsman?

Obviously the muskets of the time were not well developed, so why NAME these elite soldiers after them? Most answers are along the lines of "swords worked better than the muskets of the time", which misses the point of the question.

Answer 1

Oh, but they did use muskets. But muskets have a couple of key problems that prevented them from being used in day-to-day duties.

Muskets were a pain to carry around and were rather sensative to things like moisture. Plus it was difficult or impossible to carry them around loaded all the time. Remember, we're not talking about nice prepackaged bullets like we have today. You had to pour in powder, then pack in paper wadding with a ramrod, then drop in a lead ball. Loading the gun was a time consuming activity that wasn't 100% reliable... the gun could easily blow up on you if you did it wrong or if the barrel was cracked and you didn't see it.

The reload time was pretty attrocious. Not only did you have to go through the steps listed above to fire the gun, but you had to clean the weapon out before you could fire it again. All that paper packing that held the powder in place and made a nice seal so it would shoot the gun well had to be cleaned out, as well as any hot remnants of the powder. If you just poured more powder in, it was liable to blow up on you. We're talking several MINUTES between shots--not several shots a minute. Accuracy wasn't all that good, either. The barrel of the gun couldn't be machined to the tolerences of today's guns.

Now all that aside, they did a lot to advance the art of warfare. Suddenly peasants could kill nobles, which was never possible before. Armor stopped being useful (which is why the musketeers moved to rapiers... you don't need massive broadswords if the enemy isn't wearing armor). Muskets were still powerful and deadly weapons, but don't compare them to today's guns.

The Musketeers trained in both. A rapier could be carried around wherever you went and was always ready for action. Many fighters at the time considered them to be classier weapons... to quote a jedi, "Not as random or clumsy as a blaster; a more elegant weapon for a more civilized age." So when range was called for, they'd use a musket. But once they'd fired their round, they'd close with the enemy and draw their rapiers.

Hope this helps.

Answer 2

Three Musketeers Sword

Answer 3

Swords were the tool of use at the time. The musket was awkward and hard to load in a hurry. A man could be killed with a sword before he could get a musket loaded, as most of the swordsmen were far more experienced than anyone who used a musket at that time.

Answer 4

At the time the story was written Musketeers were using the newest technology. So the point of the name is to give them that cutting edge glamor to the group. The equivalent today of saying they were green berets or seals or even space marines. That they didn't use muskets is more a product of the author not understanding the latest technology and simply having them use the same old technology soldiers had always used since that was something the author and frankly the book buying public did understand.

Answer 5

Muskets are a muzzle loading single shot flint-lock firearm. Your rate of fire is no more than 3-4 shots per minute. Basically, after you fire your weapon at a charging opponent, what you have is a club, and a fairly heavy and awkward club at that. While you're trying to swing it, your opponent is cutting you to mincement.

Besides, being a King's Musketeer sounds a whole lot cooler than being a King's Swordsateer. So they fought with swords and carried the musket for the name.

Answer 6

I always assumed they were musketeers in the military. So a musket would not be something they carry while off duty. But a sword was personal side arm that many men carried back then.

Answer 7

They were called Musketeers because they were the first military division of any nationality to carry muskets, but muskets were inaccurate and took a very ling time to load, so they usually fought with swords.

Answer 8

Because period muskets were a pain to use. They were wildly inaccurate, a pain to reload, smoky, heavy, and completely impractical in close quarters. 9 times out of 10, you could do more damage with a musket by hitting someone with it than actually firing it. Not to mention that the only completely safe place to be when it was fired was directly behind the shooter, preferably with a stone wall between you, as they often backfired.

Answer 9

I think(if my history teacher was right) musketeers in the "olden days" before guns were invented, they used swords to defend themselves? I think thats why dont be angry if I am incorrect

giggles

Answer 10

They used swords because they were all accomplished swordsmen and that was the weapon of choice for that time period in history.