08-25-2015, 02:17 PM
I am inclined to take Polybius' analysis very seriously indeed; the basic fact that the legion was more module and flexible must be an important reason for its success. Nonetheless, two points are worth making
1) In the VERY small number of battles between legions and Macedonian pike phalanxes, the record is more mixed than it might seem. Pike phalanxes won two major battles (Heraclea and Asculum), the legions four (Beneventum, Cynoscephalae, Magnesia and Pydna). Enough to handily win a World Series, but when one looks closely, we know that even in victorious battles, the legions suffered serious setbacks: the near defeat of Flamininus' left wing at Cynoscephalae, the route of L. Scipio's right wing at Magnesia (here by heavy cavalry charge), and the initial Macedonian successes against Paullus' legions at Pydna, driving them back to within a few hundred meters of their camp. Never did a legion mop up a phalanx in the manner with which, say, the American M1 tanks smashed the Iraqi armored force during the First Gulf War.
2) The pike phalanx has reappeared several times during history, including the ferocious Swiss pikemen. Despite many attempts (most notably Maurice of Nassau, with the aid of the scholar Justus Lipsius), no post-Roman force has successfully recreated the manipular legion.
1) In the VERY small number of battles between legions and Macedonian pike phalanxes, the record is more mixed than it might seem. Pike phalanxes won two major battles (Heraclea and Asculum), the legions four (Beneventum, Cynoscephalae, Magnesia and Pydna). Enough to handily win a World Series, but when one looks closely, we know that even in victorious battles, the legions suffered serious setbacks: the near defeat of Flamininus' left wing at Cynoscephalae, the route of L. Scipio's right wing at Magnesia (here by heavy cavalry charge), and the initial Macedonian successes against Paullus' legions at Pydna, driving them back to within a few hundred meters of their camp. Never did a legion mop up a phalanx in the manner with which, say, the American M1 tanks smashed the Iraqi armored force during the First Gulf War.
2) The pike phalanx has reappeared several times during history, including the ferocious Swiss pikemen. Despite many attempts (most notably Maurice of Nassau, with the aid of the scholar Justus Lipsius), no post-Roman force has successfully recreated the manipular legion.
