spatha or gladius?

[SwissBarbar]

The Spatha still is one of the most successful weapons in history. Especially in later periods (middle ages..), when even Germans armoured themselves, the Spatha was known to be able cutting trough armour. It's in the 12th century, when armour grew even thicker to protect from missiles from crossbows etc., when the Spatha got useless because it was finally unable to cut through this immense heavy armour of these knights.

The Gladius was great for close combat, but traditional field battles got rarer in later times.