Why change to the Spatha?

[Ironhand]

Don't forget also that most Germanics had a short sword as well (the seax) so they could use whichever weapon best suited the combat of the moment. People mostly think stabbing with the gladius, but it was effective at both stabbing and slashing. Combat changed though and while the shorter blades worked well in the early years while most groups using longer weapons lacked efficient battle tactics, more and more groups used effective tactics along with a variety of efficient equipment and strategies which forced the Romans to evolve. Most Germanic swords did not go above 32" in blade length at the extreme and even the no-taper entirely straight blades seem a lot more wieldly based on blade profile than some of the Celtic La Tene III type blades. In my opinion as a Western Martial artist having a metal crossguard is not as important with earlier combat styles than the later medieval period where shields were largely abandoned and the sword was your sole offense and defense when you used it. A bone, horn, or softer metal guard works fine against a blade sliding down and defending with the sword was a last resort anyway. The gladius is a great weapon, but changes in the world and combat tactics rendered it ineffective as the main weapon and while it could have took the place of the seax as a weapon to use when it was necessary (It isn't unreasonable to think in the early Late Roman period there might have been those who used the spatha and the gladius, but I don't have any sources for it) cultural changes definately probably played a part.

You're definately right about sword replicas being inaccurate both in weight and balance. There are many good ARMA articles about this. I know a lot of weekend warrior reenactors that think wielding a sword is a weight lifting contest. Swordsmiths back then had to cater to those who trusted their lives to the blade and had to adjust to their wishes, desires, and demands of the field. Now it is often catering to LARP, Tolkien, SCA types who often know very little other than I want to look cool and be just like the dude from Highlander (pick a historically inaccurate movie, tv show, fantasy book). Its strange though how smiths often don't even realize they are making crap. Here is a good article on this. Marketing gimmicks are a historical thing, but today its like finding a grain of wheat in 10 tons of chaff. Best thing to do these days is find a smith and stick with them.

http://www.thearma.org/essays/fantasy.htm