09-29-2012, 12:42 AM
I’m curious about something in the evolution of warfare. Please correct my sweeping generalization of centuries of military history if I’ve made any glaring errors.
If we begin with the Greeks and their lance-phalanx tactics, we see it evolve to the point where Alexander conquered all the way to India with it. Then the Romans came, with shields and short swords. To the best of my knowledge, the Romans conquered all of Greece, defeating their phalanx tactics. Even the Greeks adopted Roman tactics after that.
The Romans never adopted the phalanx, but were eventually bested by cavalry to the point that they adopted cavalry more and more. By the time the Western Empire fell, heavy cavalry and archers were the premier weapons. Yet, when we jump forward again into the Renaissance, the pike and phalanxes make a brief and triumphant return (an argument could be made that the Scots used them at Falkirk in 1298 under Wallace).
What gives? How did the Romans send the pike and phalanx into the dustbin for centuries?
And was the pike and phalanx/schiltron/whatever a missing tactic that would have been more effective had armies kept it in use?
If we begin with the Greeks and their lance-phalanx tactics, we see it evolve to the point where Alexander conquered all the way to India with it. Then the Romans came, with shields and short swords. To the best of my knowledge, the Romans conquered all of Greece, defeating their phalanx tactics. Even the Greeks adopted Roman tactics after that.
The Romans never adopted the phalanx, but were eventually bested by cavalry to the point that they adopted cavalry more and more. By the time the Western Empire fell, heavy cavalry and archers were the premier weapons. Yet, when we jump forward again into the Renaissance, the pike and phalanxes make a brief and triumphant return (an argument could be made that the Scots used them at Falkirk in 1298 under Wallace).
What gives? How did the Romans send the pike and phalanx into the dustbin for centuries?
And was the pike and phalanx/schiltron/whatever a missing tactic that would have been more effective had armies kept it in use?
Real name: Stephen Renico
