this post was submitted on 28 Oct 2024
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If your spear is not long enough to get out in front of the formation, that means you're going to have a pointy spear at the back of one of your fellow soldiers. As well disciplined as the Romans were, maintaining a perfectly straight line while being attacked is a lot to ask for. So I imagine keeping the spears up until they're needed is to reduce friendly casualties
Small correction - the Romans never used the pike phalanx on a large scale. This was Greek/Macedonian.
The Romans liked big shields and small swords. ๐
And weighty javelins to fuck up the other side's shields