To the Death: 20 Fascinating Facts About Duels Throughout History

In the summer of 1777 in Clonmel, Ireland, gentlemen from five counties reportedly gathered to draft the rules that would govern how men would duel with pistols over the next century. The Code Duello emerged from that meeting and contains 25 to 27 meticulously detailed rules.

That’s where being the offended party was actually an advantage: if someone insulted you and you challenged them to a duel, they were the ones who chose the weapons. Wait, that sounds illogical, doesn’t it? In fact, the person who received the challenge chose whether you would face off with pistols or swords.

Rifled barrels—those spiral grooves inside the barrels of firearms that cause bullets to spin and enable them to fly with precision—were considered completely unsportsmanlike in English dueling circles. The Code Duello specifically required smoothbore pistols, weapons so inaccurate that killing one’s opponent required both skill and divine intervention. 

Trust was hard to come by when your life was on the line, which is why Rule 18 of the Dueling Code required seconds to load the pistols in each other’s presence. These trusted friends carefully measured out the gunpowder and inserted the bullets.

Duels were illegal virtually everywhere they were fought, which made timing crucial to avoid disruptive interruptions by police officers. Dawn became the traditional time for duels, as the dim light made the participants harder to spot, and the night forced hot-headed gentlemen to sleep on their anger.

Some duelists attempted to circumvent the system by deliberately firing into the air or at the ground, a practice known as “deloping,” from the French word meaning “to throw.” Rule No. 13 of the Irish Code put an end to this practice: “No foolish shots or shots fired into the air are permissible under any circumstances…”

The very first rule of the Duello Code established a counterintuitive hierarchy. The person who had uttered the initial insult had to apologize first, even if the response was more offensive than the original insult. This rule prevented endless cycles of escalating insults.

Rule No. 5 was the strictest in the entire Duello Code: “Since it is strictly forbidden to strike a gentleman under any circumstances, no verbal apology can be accepted for such an insult.” Striking another gentleman was the ultimate transgression.

Before anyone fired a shot, the seconds had a crucial diplomatic mission: to prevent the entire affair from taking place, if possible. Rule 21 explicitly stated: “The seconds are required to attempt a reconciliation before the duel takes place, or after a sufficient number of shots or blows, as specified.”

The distance in a duel was a serious matter, generally ranging from 8 to 15 paces—or about 7 to 14 meters—with pistol duels most often taking place at a distance of 10 to 12 paces. The more serious the insult, the shorter the distance.

Rule No. 20 closed a potential loophole that could have led to endless disputes: “In all cases, a misfire counts as a shot, and a misfire must be considered a misfire.” This prevented procrastination, disputes, or attempts to gain an advantage.

The goal was not to kill. The aim was to satisfy a matter of honor, as Rule No. 22 explicitly stated: “Any wound sufficient to unsettle the nerves and make the hand tremble must bring the affair to an end for the day.” Most duels ended after a single exchange of shots.

Dueling was an exclusive privilege of the upper classes, with strict social requirements imposed by the code of honor itself. A gentleman could honorably refuse a challenge if the challenger was of a significantly lower social rank, but this inferiority had to be immediately apparent.

Duellists needed seclusion for two main reasons: to avoid being discovered by the authorities, who would have put an end to this illegal activity, and to find a jurisdictional gray area that might prevent legal prosecution afterward. Islands located in rivers separating two jurisdictions became particularly popular dueling grounds.

The technical debate over rifled barrels versus smoothbores revealed deep philosophical divisions regarding the purpose of dueling. Rifling—the spiral grooves cut into the inside of the barrels—causes bullets to spin in flight, greatly improving their accuracy and range, and making them far more lethal than smoothbore weapons.

American duelists showed remarkable creativity in finding places where the law could not reach them; river sandbars were particularly popular in the South. These temporary islands, formed by shifting sediments, existed in the middle of rivers.

Duels were not just a matter of bravado. A qualified surgeon was often called upon, ready to treat gunshot or sword wounds as soon as honor had been satisfied. These doctors played a strange dual role: they had sworn to save lives, yet they discreetly participated in an illegal ritual.

The actual firing procedures varied, but one of the most spectacular methods involved placing a second person in the duelists’ peripheral vision, holding a handkerchief aloft. Rule 19 specified three methods of firing: by signal, by verbal command, or at will.

These duels were fought to obtain “satisfaction”—that is, to prove that you valued your reputation enough to literally risk your life—which restored what the insults had damaged. This explains why many rules of dueling seem designed to reduce the likelihood of death: fighting at dawn, in the twilight.

Rule No. 25 acknowledged a delicate reality: sometimes, the seconds ended up dueling alongside their principals. When the seconds disagreed about the conduct or fairness of a duel, they had the option to “exchange shots themselves at the same time.”