Everything about Shield Wall totally explained
The formation of
shield walls is a
military tactic that was common in many cultures in the Pre-
Early Modern warfare age. There were many slight variations of this tactic among these cultures, being called by many different names, but in general, a shield wall was a "wall of
shields" formed by soldiers standing in
formation shoulder to shoulder, holding their shields so that they abut or overlap and each man benefits from the protection of his neighbor's shield as well as his own.
In battle, there would be a large amount of brute pushing, as there was little room to swing a weapon if one arm was holding a shield that covered the entire front of the body! The shield would likely have pressed against the body with the sheer force, requiring the second rank to do most of the fighting over the shoulder of the first rank with longer weapons aiming for the heads of the front ranks of the opponent. The later ranks would just be pushing forward and killing any wounded or exhausted enemies they walked over.
The shield wall proved superior to troops in no formation but generally had many disadvantages: it was unmanageable, and the troops were so tightly packed they'd difficulty looking down, so the advancing shield wall would stumble on the corpses. The flanks of the shield wall were especially vulnerable so a smaller army would have to spread its troops thinner to prevent immediate outflanking. The shield wall didn't work well in woodland areas (though it was possible to make a large number of small shield walls which could move between the trees) and the tightly packed troops were vulnerable to missile fire.
History
Ancient times
This tactic was used by many ancient armies including the
Roman legion and the Greek
hoplite phalanx formation.
The shield wall came into use in ancient Greece during the late eighth or early seventh century B.C. The soldiers in these shield wall formations were called “hoplite”, so named for their shield, a hoplon. These were three foot diameter shields made from wood and covered in metal. Instead of fighting individual battles in large skirmishes, hoplites fought as cohesive units in this tight formation with the left half of their shield covering the unprotected right side of the hoplite next to them. The worst, or newest, fighters would be placed in the middle front of the formation to provide both physical and psychological security.
Use in Britain
Alfred the Great and the
Danes, only a small percentage of the
Saxon army would have been properly equipped. These troops would have been the professional warriors in the front few ranks, so if the shield wall was breached, the entire line, in all likelihood, would quickly be split in two as unarmoured peasants with farm tools tried to combat professional warriors with proper weapons and armor. The powerful weapons of the time, like big
swords and
axes, were too big to swing, so the more effective weapons were short swords maybe a foot long which could be stabbed under the opponent's shield into his groin or leg. This led a lot of professional warriors in Alfred the Great's army to carry two swords. Two-handed weapons were out of the question in a shield wall, due to the need to hold a shield in one of your hands. The shield wall was commonly used by Anglo-Saxons from kingdoms such as
Mercia,
Wessex, and
Northumbria; it was also used during the early medieval period in
England to refer to the main method of
Anglo-Saxon warfare, and it was clearly visible throughout the
Bayeux Tapestry.
In other nations
The shield wall was commonly used during the
8th and
9th Century by
Vikings.
Decline
Shields, and the 'shield wall' began to fall out of use due to improvements in armor; as
plate armor became more readily available, the utility of large shields declined. Improvements in missile weapons, such as the
crossbow and
longbow, also decreased the effectiveness of shields.
By the time of the
English Civil War, open
pike formations had replaced the closed shield wall. The ranks of pikes would provide protection from cavalry charges.
Use in Modern Times
Although largely obsolete as a military tactic due to firearms, the shield wall remains a common formation for riot police worldwide.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Shield Wall'.
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