Shield wall

Last updated September 28, 2024

A shield wall (scieldweall or bordweall in Old English, skjaldborg in Old Norse) is a military formation that was common in ancient and medieval warfare. There were many slight variations of this formation, but the common factor was soldiers standing shoulder to shoulder and holding their shields so that they would abut or overlap. Each soldier thus benefited from the protection of the shields of his neighbors and his own.

History

Ancient history

The formation was known to be used by many ancient armies including the Persian Sparabara, Greek phalanx, and the early Roman army, but its origin and spread is unknown. It may have developed independently more than once.

Although little is recorded about their military tactics, the Stele of the Vultures depicts Sumerian soldiers in a shield wall formation during the third millennium BC.

By the seventh century BC, shield walls in ancient Greece are well-documented. The soldiers in the shield wall formations were called hoplites, so named for their equipment (ὅπλα, hópla). Aspis shields were 3 ft (0.91 m) in diameter, sometimes covered in bronze. Instead of fighting individual battles in large skirmishes, hoplites fought as cohesive units in this tight formation with their shields pushing forward against the man in front (to use weight of numbers). The left half of the shield was designed to cover 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.^[1]

In a phalanx, the man at the right hand of each warrior had an important role; he covered the right side of the warrior next to him with his shield. This made it so that all the shields overlap each other and thus formed a solid battle line. The second row's purpose was to kill the soldiers of the first line of an enemy shield wall, and thus break the line.^{[ citation needed ]}

The Roman scutum was a large shield designed to fit with others to form a shield wall but not overlap. Roman legions used an extreme type of shield wall called a testudo formation that covered front, sides and above. In this formation, the outside ranks formed a dense vertical shield wall and inside ranks held shields over their heads, thus forming a tortoise-like defense, well-protected from missile weapons. Although highly effective against missiles, the formation was slow and was vulnerable to being isolated and surrounded by swarms of enemy soldiers. Caesar, in De Bello Gallico , describes the Germans as fighting in a tight phalanx-like formation with long spears jutting out over their shields.

In the late Roman and Byzantine armies, similar formations of locked shields and projecting spears were called fulcum (φοῦλκον, phoulkon in Greek), and were first described in the late 6th-century Strategikon . Roman legions were typically well-trained, and often used short stabbing-swords (such as the gladius) in the close-quarters combat that inevitably resulted when their shield-walls contacted the enemy. As auxiliaries were often less well-armed, a shield-wall with spearmen was commonly used to provide a better defence.

The Daylamite infantrymen used solid shield walls while advancing against their enemies, and used their two-pronged short spears and battle-axes from behind.^[2]

Early medieval

Tactics

The shield-wall was commonly used in many parts of Northern Europe such as in England and Scandinavia.

In the battles between the Anglo-Saxons and the Danes in England, most of the Saxon army would have consisted of the inexperienced fyrd , a militia composed of free peasants.

The first three ranks of the wall would have been made up of select warriors, such as huscarls and thegns, who carried heavier weapons such as Dane axes and consistently wore armour, and were often the retainers of ealdormen. However, the vast majority of combatants in such battles were equipped only with shields and spears, which they used against the unprotected legs or faces of their opponents. Often, soldiers would use their weapons to support one another by stabbing and slashing to the left or the right, rather than just ahead. Short weapons, such as the ubiquitous seax, could also be used in the tight quarters of the wall. Limited use of archery and thrown missile weapons occurred in opening stages of shield-wall battles but were rarely decisive to the outcome.

The drawback of the shield-wall tactic was that once a shield wall was breached, the whole formation tended to fall apart quickly. The morale of the less-trained fyrdmen was sustained by being shoulder to shoulder with their comrades, but panic might well set in among them once their cohesion was disrupted. Once breached, it could prove difficult or impossible to re-establish a defensive line, leading to a rout.

Although the importance of cavalry in the Battle of Hastings portended the end of the shield wall tactic, massed shield walls would continue to be employed right up to the end of the 12th century, especially in areas that were unsuitable for large-scale mounted warfare, such as Scandinavia, the Swiss Alps and Scotland.

Examples

The tactic was used at the Battle of Stamford Bridge in which the relatively well-armed Saxon army hit the Norwegian army of King Harald Sigurdsson unaware. The Norwegians were not wearing as much armour since they had left their hauberks behind on their ships and were only wearing their helmets. After a bloody battle between two shield walls, the Norwegians fled in panic, and were almost entirely wiped out.

Both sides at the Battle of Hastings are depicted as using the formation in the Bayeux Tapestry ^[3] although the battle was ultimately won through a combination of feigned retreats by Norman mounted cavalry and the impetuousness and fatigue of the Anglo-Saxon warriors.

Decline

The shield-wall as a tactic has declined and has been resurrected a number of times. For example, in the Greek phalanges (the plural form of phalanx), as the dory gave way to the sarissa, it became impossible to carry a large shield and so it was abandoned in favor of much smaller shields were used.

Likewise, in the Late Middle Ages, the shield was abandoned in favor of polearms carried with both hands (and often partial plate armor), giving rise to pike square tactics.

Use in modern times

Although obsolete as a military tactic because of firearms and explosives, a wall of riot shields remains a common formation for police worldwide for protection against large groups using improvised weapons, punches, kicks, and thrown objects such as bricks, bottles, and Molotov cocktails.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hoplite</span> Ancient Greek soldier in a phalanx

Hoplites were citizen-soldiers of Ancient Greek city-states who were primarily armed with spears and shields. Hoplite soldiers used the phalanx formation to be effective in war with fewer soldiers. The formation discouraged the soldiers from acting alone, for this would compromise the formation and minimize its strengths. The hoplites were primarily represented by free citizens – propertied farmers and artisans – who were able to afford a linen or bronze armour suit and weapons. It also appears in the stories of Homer, but it is thought that its use began in earnest around the 7th century BC, when weapons became cheap during the Iron Age and ordinary citizens were able to provide their own weapons. Most hoplites were not professional soldiers and often lacked sufficient military training. Some states maintained a small elite professional unit, known as the epilektoi or logades since they were picked from the regular citizen infantry. These existed at times in Athens, Sparta, Argos, Thebes, and Syracuse, among other places. Hoplite soldiers made up the bulk of ancient Greek armies.

The sarissa or sarisa was a long spear or pike about 5 to 7 meters in length. It was introduced by Philip II of Macedon and was used in his Macedonian phalanxes as a replacement for the earlier dory, which was considerably shorter. These longer spears improved the strength of the phalanx by extending the rows of overlapping weapons projecting towards the enemy. After the conquests of Alexander the Great, the sarissa was a mainstay during the Hellenistic era by the Hellenistic armies of the diadochi Greek successor states of Alexander's empire, as well as some of their rivals.

The scutum was a type of shield used among Italic peoples in antiquity, most notably by the army of ancient Rome starting about the fourth century BC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hypaspists</span> Ancient Macedonian military unit also known as a shield-bearer

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Now the horse which Artybius rode was trained to fight with infantrymen by rearing up. Hearing this, Onesilus said to his hypaspist, a Carian of great renown in war and a valiant man ...

The phalanx was a rectangular mass military formation, usually composed entirely of heavy infantry armed with spears, pikes, sarissas, or similar polearms tightly packed together. The term is particularly used to describe the use of this formation in ancient Greek warfare, although the ancient Greek writers used it to also describe any massed infantry formation, regardless of its equipment. Arrian uses the term in his Array against the Alans when he refers to his legions. In Greek texts, the phalanx may be deployed for battle, on the march, or even camped, thus describing the mass of infantry or cavalry that would deploy in line during battle. They marched forward as one entity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ancient Macedonian army</span> Army of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia

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A close order formation is a military tactical formation in which soldiers are close together and regularly arranged for the tactical concentration of force. It was used by heavy infantry in ancient warfare, as the basis for shield wall and phalanx tactics, to multiply their effective weight of arms by their weight of numbers. In the Late Middle Ages, Swiss pikemen and German Landsknechts used close order formations that were similar to ancient phalanxes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anglo-Saxon warfare</span> Military tactics

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Javelin</span> Type of light spear designed to be thrown by hand

A javelin is a light spear designed primarily to be thrown, historically as a ranged weapon. Today, the javelin is predominantly used for sporting purposes such as the javelin throw. The javelin is nearly always thrown by hand, unlike the sling, bow, and crossbow, which launch projectiles with the aid of a hand-held mechanism. However, devices do exist to assist the javelin thrower in achieving greater distances, such as spear-throwers or the amentum.

Heavy infantry consisted of heavily armed and armoured infantrymen who were trained to mount frontal assaults and/or anchor the defensive center of a battle line. This differentiated them from light infantry who were relatively mobile and lightly armoured skirmisher troops intended for screening, scouting, and other tactical roles unsuited to soldiers carrying heavier loads. Heavy infantry typically made use of dense battlefield formations, such as shield wall or phalanx, multiplying their effective weight of arms with force concentration.

The Hellenistic armies is a term that refers to the various armies of the successor kingdoms to the Hellenistic period, emerging soon after the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BCE, when the Macedonian empire was split between his successors, known as the Diadochi.

The Spartan army was the principle ground force of Sparta. It stood at the center of the Spartan state, consisting of citizens trained in the disciplines and honor of a warrior society. Subjected to military drills since early manhood, the Spartans became one of the most feared and formidable military forces in the Greek world, attaining legendary status in their wars against Persia. At the height of Sparta's power – between the 6th and 4th centuries BC – other Greeks commonly accepted that "one Spartan was worth several men of any other state."

Roman infantry tactics are the theoretical and historical deployment, formation, and manoeuvres of the Roman infantry from the start of the Roman Republic to the fall of the Western Roman Empire. The focus below is primarily on Roman tactics: the "how" of their approach to battle, and how it stacked up against a variety of opponents over time. It does not attempt detailed coverage of things like army structure or equipment. Various battles are summarized to illustrate Roman methods with links to detailed articles on individual encounters.

The hoplites were soldiers from Ancient Greece who were usually free citizens. They had a very uniform and distinct appearance; specifically they were armed with a spear (dory) in their right hand and a heavy round shield in their left.

The phoulkon, in Latin fulcum, was an infantry formation utilized by the military of the late Roman and Byzantine Empire. It is a formation in which an infantry formation closes ranks and the first two or three lines form a shield wall while those behind them hurl projectiles. It was used in both offensive and defensive stances.

The Macedonian phalanx was an infantry formation developed by Philip II from the classical Greek phalanx, of which the main innovation was the use of the sarissa, a 6-metre pike. It was famously commanded by Philip's son Alexander the Great during his conquest of the Achaemenid Empire between 334 and 323 BC. The Macedonian phalanx model then spread throughout the Hellenistic world, where it became the standard battle formation for pitched battles. During the Macedonian Wars against the Roman Republic, the phalanx appeared obsolete against the more manoeuvrable Roman legions.

The military tactics of Alexander the Great have been widely regarded as evidence that he was one of the greatest generals in history. During the Battle of Chaeronea, won against the Athenian and Theban armies, and the battles of Granicius and of Issus, won against the Achaemenid Persian army of Darius III, Alexander employed the so-called "hammer and anvil" tactic. However, in the Battle of Gaugamela, the Persians possessed an army vastly superior in numbers to the Macedonian army. This tactic of encirclement by rapid shock units was not very feasible. Alexander had to compose and decide on an innovative combat formation for the time; he arranged his units in levels; he pretended to want to encircle the enemy in order to better divide it and thus opened a breach in its defensive lines.

References

↑ Hanson, Victor Davis. The Western Way of War: Infantry Battle in Classical Greece, p.27-28.
↑ C. E. Bosworth, “ARMY ii. Islamic, to the Mongol period,” Encyclopædia Iranica, II/5, pp. 499-503, available online at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/army-ii (accessed on 30 December 2012).
↑ Bayeuxtapestry.org

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[Hanson-1] Hanson, Victor Davis. The Western Way of War: Infantry Battle in Classical Greece, p.27-28.

[2] C. E. Bosworth, “ARMY ii. Islamic, to the Mongol period,” Encyclopædia Iranica, II/5, pp. 499-503, available online at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/army-ii (accessed on 30 December 2012).

[3] Bayeuxtapestry.org

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