The Genesis Of Self Defense Courses During World War II

By Jake Ross

Prior to the 1940s, civilian self defense courses virtually wereunheard of in many countries in the western world. For instance,in nations such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Franceand other European countries, self defense courses truly were ararity. Prior to the commencement of hostilities in World WarII, self defense courses were rarely seen outside the basictraining regimen for youthful soldiers in the armed forces. Withthe trench warfare of the Great War, military experts andplanners recognized the importance of incorporating self defensecourses -- including modified submission fighting -- into thebasic training routine.

During the 1940s, civilians were introduced to organized selfdefense courses in many countries for the first time. Selfdefense courses of different types began to crop up in citiesand towns across North America and Europe as soldiers grappledin the various theaters of war during that same time period. Inmany instances, the movement towards the implementation of selfdefense courses arose out of a reasonably held belief on thepart of citizens of many countries that they might face hostileforces on their own home territories. Additionally, the hand tohand combat of World War I remained fresh on the minds of manymen and women the world over, leading to a natural



desire tolearn more about self defense courses and techniques.

Due to the obvious fact that significant portions of the adultmale population was involved in fighting the Second World War, anotable number of participants in these early self defensecourses were women and teenaged boys. (In some communities,teenaged girls could also be found involved in certain types ofself defense courses.)

Indeed, as far as educating teenaged boys via self defensecourses, many schools -- both private and public -- initiatedself defense courses as part of the overall physical educationcourse. (Again, there were some limited instances when teenagedgirls were included in self defense courses. However, during theWorld War II era, the inclusion of teenaged girls in suchactivities was exceptional.)

While there were a number of self defense courses that featuredthe use of hand held firearms in the training, these programsactually were few and far between. (Of course, later in the 20thcentury, handgun training courses were prevalent in manycountries around the world, particularly in the United States.)

Most self defense courses that were implemented during thedecade of the 1940s centered on techniques common to the martialarts and associated with submission fighting. In other words,participants in these early self defense courses were taughtwhat essentially amounted to martial arts styled hand to handcombat.

---

About the author:Jake Ross is an internationally recognized authority onhand-to-hand combat, martial arts and self defense. Jake hasresearched a multitude of martial arts from around the world andthroughout history, but he prefers the realistic combat systemsfrom the late 19th to early 12st centuries. For more informationon fighting techniques, visit http://www.combatclassics.com/