Twitter: https://twitter.com/Tenminhistory
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=4973164
Merch: https://teespring.com/stores/history-matters-store-2

Special Thanks to the following Patrons for their support on Patreon:

Alen
Richard Wolfe
Chris Fatta
Kevin Sanders
Daniel Lambert
Stefan Møller
sharpie660
D. Mahlik
anon
Warren Rudkin
Mitchell Wildoer
Andrew Niedbala
John Garcia
Ariadni Voulgari
Bernardo Santos
Blaine Tillack
Danny Anstess
Perry Gagne
Joooooshhhhh
Sam
Shaun Pullin
Henry Rabung
Magdalena Reinberg-Leibel
Vesko Dinev
Adam Barrett
I’m Not In The Description
Troy Schmidt
hamid kadiwala
FuzzytheFair
Mark Ploegstra
Jeffrey Schneider
Byzans_Scotorius
Haydn Noble
Spencer Smith
Josh Cornelius
Gideon Rashkes
Cornel Borină
Colin Steele
João Santos
Richard Manklow
Chance Cansler
Gabriel Lunde
Donald Weaver
Pierre Le Mouel
Seth Reeves
Konstantin Bredyuk

Why did people stop duelling? Because shooting people for being rude to you became to be seen as impolite.

Sources:

The Code of Honour and Its Critics: The Opposition to Duelling in England, 1700-1850 by Donna T. Andrew

Courts of Honour in the Late Imperial Russian Army by Paul Robinson

The Double Guilt of Dueling: The Stain of Suicide in Anti-Dueling Rhetoric in the Early Republic by Richard Bell

Let's be reasonable, if a person insults you then you have every right to fight to the death in order to restore your honor.

As you'll have noticed, we don't duel anymore.

When did duelling become illegal and why did people want it to stop?

Now, the height of duelling occurred around the late 18th and early 19th centuries, but duelling continued in some countries into the 20th.

In Britain and Russia, formal codes of chivalry were drawn up and sold alongside sets of duelling pistols.

And as late as 1894, the Russian Tsar Alexander III signed off on legislation formalising how Russian officers were allowed to duel each other.

However, you should know that in wider Russian society, the practice of duelling was dying off and largely seen as barbaric.

Whereas in France, duelling was banned by Louis XIV, who saw them as needless spilling of blood.

Now, for the most part, although there were regional differences, duels worked like this.

A person would say or do something to insult another, and the insulted party would demand satisfaction.

Satisfaction being either an apology or a duel.

Now, not everyone could challenge everyone.

A junior officer in the army couldn't challenge a general or a high-ranking member of the nobility, for example.

Now, you didn't have to accept and put your life on the line, but it could lead to you being called a coward, and that wouldn't do.

If you did accept, then as the 1 being challenged, you often had the right to choose the weapon used, most commonly swords or pistols.

For example, in Germany or Italy, swords were commonly used, whereas in Britain, the US, and Russia, pistols were much more common and, of course, more deadly.

Anyway, after choosing your weapons, you would meet at a set time and date, and there would be a last chance to come to an agreement.

You would bring your second with you, that is, a close friend and representative, to hash things out with your opponent second and if nothing could be agreed on, then it was fight time.

Well, for a start, the fact that so many young officers were killing each other meant that it was affecting Britain and America's ability to wage war.

George Washington, for example, had issues with stopping officers from killing each other during the War for Independence.

Another reason was that there were concerns, especially in the church, that many people were using jewels as a means to legally commit suicide, an accusation thrown at Alexander Hamilton and a fear that was especially prevalent in the United States.

In Britain, there was a great deal of outrage in the 19th century as many wealthy aristocrats were able to kill in a duel and walk free.

The reasons why duelists got off with literal premeditated murder was because the judges came from the upper classes and were very sympathetic to the idea of personal honour.

In the US, duelling was banned fairly early on in many of the northern states, but these laws weren't enforced.

When Aaron Burr killed Hamilton, he was charged with murder, but none of these stuck because, I mean, it was a duel between 2 upstanding citizens, and they both knew the risks.

Whilst in the northern states the duel was fairly rare as of the early 19th century, it stayed popular in the South, particularly in South Carolina where new dueling etiquettes were written in the 1830s, and it was the Civil War that finally killed dueling in America.

So many people dying really took the shine off of shooting your fellow Americans over things like honour.

Now, dueling had always been subject to some mockery, but as of the Victorian era, people began to see it as horrendously outdated.

As the conditions of modern warfare became widely known, the notion of the aristocracy somehow being able to maintain their honour by shooting someone in Wimbledon was seen as laughable, and in the end, across Britain and America, the duel slowly fell out of fashion.

It wasn't legislated away as such, although duelling in the military died out in Britain when widows' pensions were withheld from men killed in duels.

Instead, duelling saw a slow death as upper and middle class culture changed to a more moderate means of settling scores.

Waterhouse, Aaron the White, Michael Reynolds, Urchway and Emperor, Chris Wicker, Gustav Swan, Gareth Turner, Spinning 3 Plates, David Silverman, Winston Cawood, Maggie Pakskowski, Christian Checke, Anthony Beckett, Robert Wetzel, Skye Chappell, and Ike.


Speaker 0: Let's be reasonable, if a person insults you then you have every right to fight to the death in order to restore your honor.

Speaker 1: As you'll have noticed, we don't duel anymore. But why not? When did duelling become illegal and why did people want it to stop? Now, the height of duelling occurred around the late 18th and early 19th centuries, but duelling continued in some countries into the 20th. In Britain and Russia, formal codes of chivalry were drawn up and sold alongside sets of duelling pistols.

And as late as 1894, the Russian Tsar Alexander III signed off on legislation formalising how Russian officers were allowed to duel each other. However, you should know that in wider Russian society, the practice of duelling was dying off and largely seen as barbaric. Whereas in France, duelling was banned by Louis XIV, who saw them as needless spilling of blood. Yet the last duel there took place in

Speaker 0: 1967.

Speaker 1: Now, for the most part, although there were regional differences, duels worked like this. A person would say or do something to insult another, and the insulted party would demand satisfaction. Satisfaction being either an apology or a duel. Now, not everyone could challenge everyone. A junior officer in the army couldn't challenge a general or a high-ranking member of the nobility, for example.

Now, you didn't have to accept and put your life on the line, but it could lead to you being called a coward, and that wouldn't do. If you did accept, then as the 1 being challenged, you often had the right to choose the weapon used, most commonly swords or pistols. For example, in Germany or Italy, swords were commonly used, whereas in Britain, the US, and Russia, pistols were much more common and, of course, more deadly. Anyway, after choosing your weapons, you would meet at a set time and date, and there would be a last chance to come to an agreement. You would bring your second with you, that is, a close friend and representative, to hash things out with your opponent second and if nothing could be agreed on, then it was fight time.

So why did duelling fall out of favour? Well, for a start, the fact that so many young officers were killing each other meant that it was affecting Britain and America's ability to wage war. George Washington, for example, had issues with stopping officers from killing each other during the War for Independence. Another reason was that there were concerns, especially in the church, that many people were using jewels as a means to legally commit suicide, an accusation thrown at Alexander Hamilton and a fear that was especially prevalent in the United States. In Britain, there was a great deal of outrage in the 19th century as many wealthy aristocrats were able to kill in a duel and walk free.

The reasons why duelists got off with literal premeditated murder was because the judges came from the upper classes and were very sympathetic to the idea of personal honour. In the US, duelling was banned fairly early on in many of the northern states, but these laws weren't enforced. When Aaron Burr killed Hamilton, he was charged with murder, but none of these stuck because, I mean, it was a duel between 2 upstanding citizens, and they both knew the risks. Whilst in the northern states the duel was fairly rare as of the early 19th century, it stayed popular in the South, particularly in South Carolina where new dueling etiquettes were written in the 1830s, and it was the Civil War that finally killed dueling in America. So many people dying really took the shine off of shooting your fellow Americans over things like honour.

Now, dueling had always been subject to some mockery, but as of the Victorian era, people began to see it as horrendously outdated. As the conditions of modern warfare became widely known, the notion of the aristocracy somehow being able to maintain their honour by shooting someone in Wimbledon was seen as laughable, and in the end, across Britain and America, the duel slowly fell out of fashion. It wasn't legislated away as such, although duelling in the military died out in Britain when widows' pensions were withheld from men killed in duels. Instead, duelling saw a slow death as upper and middle class culture changed to a more moderate means of settling scores. Lawsuits.

Waterhouse, Aaron the White, Michael Reynolds, Urchway and Emperor, Chris Wicker, Gustav Swan, Gareth Turner, Spinning 3 Plates, David Silverman, Winston Cawood, Maggie Pakskowski, Christian Checke, Anthony Beckett, Robert Wetzel, Skye Chappell, and Ike.

See all History Matters transcripts on Youtube

Why Don't People Duel Anymore (Short Animated Documentary)