The Makedonian phalanx -- why such depth?

[PMBardunias]

You are very close George to what I believe to be correct. No matter how critical I will seem of some of your points to follow, you are way ahead of the curve on what really occurs when groups of men collide.

Any theory that proposes a forceful mass push by all ranks, according to my opinion is crucially flawed.

1. During a run, it would be impossible to coordinate the ranks to push at the same time. The first rank would fall on the enemy first, then the second etc and as a result, the force of the push would dissipate causing more problems to the attacker than the defender. 8 ranks of defenders would hold back the impetus of a running man and he would have to keep his balance in order to not break the cohesion of his own phalanx. Multiply by a thousand first rankers and you get the picture.

Bravo, completely correct. Any number of ranks of charging men can be absorbed by a few ranks of close ordered men if they do not arrive at contact essentially simultaneously. The trick is that the attacking force has to be packed together in ranks with so little interpersonal space that they act like an incompressible fluid. This is what occurs when people get crushed in crowd disasters. An analogy would be a comparison between being hit by a stream of 5 lbs of BBs as opposed to being hit with a 5 lb sledgehammer.

2. Running back ranks would find it impossible to not forcibly fall on the backs of their protostates, however peculiar angles they would have assumed. So, even if they kept their balance, the push would make them lose it again. Just imagine the enemy back stepping and you can imagine what happens if a line pushed on a back without balance... Should the first ranks go down, unable to withstand the pressure of the back ranks, the whole line would crumble.

Correct again, but only because you begin from a flawed premise. First, we know they sometimes ran or at least moved fast enough to threaten disorder (The Cyrean Mercs at Cunaxa for example). We can argue about how fast the run was and how disordered it made them, but clearly they did not advance slowly. The fact that the Spartan advance to flutes was so impressive indicates that the usual advance was less so.

Second, it is a myth that men cannot pull up and stop short before contact with the enemy phalanx. Humans and animals can easily do this. Psychologically it is probably easier than getting them to charge home. It is not like the front rank stops and the rear ranks simply run into them, the rear ranks take their cue from those in front and the whole formation pull sup short. We'd be writing this in French if the horses at Waterloo could not pull up out of a charge prior to contact or if the subsequent ranks simply barreled them into the squares. Humans can do this just as easily.

Third, as you have noticed charging into the enemy line does not work. What does work is closing ranks in tight and pushing like a crowd. If the enemy back-steps, your crowd simply loosens, you don't fall over.

3. Even at small speeds, uncontrolled pushing would end up in parts of the line (more possibly single files) penetrating the enemy ranks (for 1-2 or more ranks) and not in a mass push. Actually it would be very easy to allow the enemy to penetrate the ranks, only to stab him from his unprotected side. Keep in mind that a man who is pushed from behind is unable to fight, for he cannot keep his balance to do so, while a man being supported by his epistates, as if standing supporting his back on a wall would have the required flexibility to stab, especially if he was trained to oppose blind pushing.

This is a problem, but it is mitigated by the overlap of aspides, which tends to keep men from penetrating by file. Also, as you have noted, the advance is by small steps or half-steps, thus there is no bursting into the enemy line, but a steady pressure.

4. There is no such instance described in any ancient or medieval account.

There are many instances of crowd-like behavior in roman and later contexts, dead men standing in ranks because there was no room to fall, etc. The problem is that you are looking for othismos as a "tactic". It is not. There surely was no command "start othismos". It is the result of two masses of men colliding and probably occurred to some degree in any combat of mass troops. Where the Greeks differed is not in the occurrence of the crowd-like state, but their ability to withstand the crushing pressure, thanks to the aspis, long enough to fight while in the crowd-like state.

5. Should the "othismos" occur in the beginning of the battle, then the spear or the pike would not have been the weapon of choice. Striking with a spear while 7-9 or more pen are ready to force you forward would just make things more difficult and would end up in more problems as some spears would break, others would withstand the blow and only keep the assailant away, even if the men were trained to immediately release their spears, another never attested tactic.

Once men pull up from the charge at any speed, closing up into crowd-like density takes time. Time in which men are spear fencing. The battle could simply end there, one side winning the spear fencing and never moving on. But the space between phalanxes could collapse for a variety of reasons, with promachoi colliding shield to shield. I've fought like this, by the way, and it is very interesting. Its a bit like being in a clench while boxing, the man in front of you is perhaps the least of your worries once you lock up swords. The ranks behind then pack in tight and the crowd-vs-crowd pushing competition begins.

6. Why did other armies deploy in such depths?

Because there are many reasons for depth- morale, replacement, movement, etc.

7.How come that phalanxes 50 men deep lost to phalanxes 12 men deep?

Sadly for the Spartans and the Thebans, they did not lose. They were held up by a determined crowd of 12 men deep because coordinating the movement of a 50 man crowd is very difficult. Thus it was a much more even battle of ranks that could be coordinated, with the Thebans having essentially a wall of men at their back that kept them from being pushed back too far. This asymmetry governed the outcome.

8. Why is order so much being praised, since it would be lost in seconds after the charge?

The order reforms at the end of the charge, but most efficiently if they began in proper spacing.

9. Since raw strength has little to do with experience, why were experienced troops many times arrayed in shallow formations, especially if they were expecting such a forcible push?

Strength may have little to do with experience, but getting massed men to push (actually lean forward) in unison is greatly aided by training in group movement. Mass can to some extent counter such coordination, as we see with the extra-deep phalanxes, but probably even 16 ranks gained from this.

And of course, why isn't it stated as a tactic to fight against shallow formations?

A key point. Because othismos cannot occur unless one of two conditions is met: 1) your opponents want to push against you. 2) Your opponents cannot get out of the way. This need to almost agree to fight in othismos has led to hoplite combat appearing stylized and agonistic. The alternative of course is to get out of the way, but fleeing the field is no way to win a battle. Mock flight is an excellent way to force your foe into unpacking his ranks and may have been used by the Spartans and perhaps by Phillip at Chaeronea. But keeping a mock flight "mock' is beyond the discipline of most forces.

Conclusion

Blind pushing, a forceful crowd pushing forward most times ends with the front people crushed, which clearly shows that the front ranks would be unable to coordinate their actions being pushed from behind and so, even a small difference in pushing strength or ability to withstand pressure would end up in chaos which would be easily be exploited by an opponent who would be trained to do so.

The aspis ensures that this does not occur. It allows men to survive being crushed at high pressure by protecting the diaphragm from compression, and through overlapping greatly increases the cohesion of the line along ranks and prevents penetration by files.

Look into forces generated by crowds and the self-organization of groups to learn more.