5/31/2023 0 Comments Ancient space war factsThe spacing of the maniple also let it remain functional, even when marching over uneven terrain that would spell disaster for a phalanx. By filling the gaps of the maniple, an enemy warrior would compromise his own formation to become surrounded by the highly maneuverable Roman swordsmen. Rather than compromising the maniple, funneling the enemy into the gaps placed them within a kill-box. That spacing provided the Roman soldier with ample space to swing his sword and admitted the enemy into the gaps. The manipular formation has most often been compared to a checkerboard pattern composed of three staggered lines, where each soldier has ten feet between him and his nearest comrade but there are no clear lanes through the formation. Where the phalanx’s strength relied on a close formation and the reach of their spears, the maniple used an open formation and short-swords to great effect. The maniple was a revolutionary counterpoint to the phalanx. If the Greeks can be said to have invented the ideal defensive formation, the Romans created a no less brilliant offensive formation: the maniple. Despite these limiting conditions, the phalanx was one of the most successful formations used in the ancient world. A phalanx worked best when the hoplites could stand still on flat ground, with their flanks and rear guarded from attack. Additionally, walking over rough or uneven terrain would make it difficult for hoplites to maintain the close order of their formation. If the line was pushed in, the battle was all but lost. The lack of depth of the average phalanx was also an issue. Thermopylae demonstrates that assaulting a phalanx from the front was a daunting task, but also shows how vulnerable the formation was to flanking maneuvers. King Leonidas allowed the bulk of his army to return home, while he remained to fight and die with two thousand men. On the third and final day of that battle, the Persians followed a Greek traitor up a mountain path and finally surrounded the Greek army. The power of the phalanx is most famously illustrated by the Battle of Thermopylae, in which seven thousand Greek hoplites (led by the legendary three hundred Spartans) held a pass against over a hundred thousand Persians. Matching a phalanx’s length could compromise the strength an enemy’s lines, rendering them vulnerable to collapse under the pressure of the elite hoplites. The great length of a phalanx line would have dared the enemy to match it, or be flanked themselves. The hoplites would have stood in close order, so that one man was partially protected by the shields of those at his sides. The phalanx was often a broad line, thin, but strong. The ancient Greeks and Macedonians had the phalanx, a wall of heavily armored soldiers with broad shields and long spears. The standard battle formation of an army was the manifestation of its most dear tactical goals. A formation was a specific arrangement of soldiers meant to achieve a certain objective. When the Romans realized that they were ill-equipped to seize their tactical objectives, they changed their equipment to fit their tactics.Īt the intersection of tactics and equipment was the unit formation. The Roman Cavalry had suffered several severe defeats at the hands of Hannibal’s cavalry, which led to the rout or destruction of many Roman legions. After a long history of being without any armor, the Roman Cavalry abruptly began wearing heavy armor after the harrowing Second Punic War. Conversely, the equipment of the troops mirrored their needs. Thus tactics were influenced by equipment. The equipment of a warrior lent him specific strengths and weaknesses which needed to be capitalized on and mitigated, respectively. For instance, the long sarissas of the Macedonian phalanx were designed to keep the enemy at a safe distance, while the short sword of the Roman infantryman was intended for much closer combat. This standard set of tactics worked hand-in-hand with the training and outfitting of the troops. Hannibal’s efforts to recruit aid from the Italian cities was part of his strategy, while his use of cavalry to surround the Romans at Cannae was a tactical decision.Īside from some creative license, an army would usually have a set group of tactics that they would typically use, like a playbook for a sports team. Military historians usually refer to the overarching plans of a commander as “strategy”, while the minute movements of troops on the ground fall in the realm of “tactics”. Today, I’d like to delve into the tactics used on the battlefield. So far, we’ve discussed some theory of warfare and the weapons used by various peoples. Welcome back to our discussion of warfare in the ancient world! I took a brief hiatus for Thanksgiving, but now I’m ready to finish up this series.
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