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[Bengalzona]

(07-18-2016, 05:07 PM)Millhouse Wrote: Just finished it last night, thought it was good overall. Had a few cameos in it from faces Ive seen in other movies, biggest being Rutger Hauer in first episode. But yeah I liked it. It was actually very good for being a made for t.v. series in the U.K. I could tell there were times they had a limited budget to work with, but did the best they could with it though. 

But what drew me to it was that I am just getting into that part of history. I've studied/read countless books on American Civil War for many years, then Colonial times, Revolution, westward expansion, WW2 and Vietnam as well. Then I got into Ancient Rome, and the classical age. The story of King Alfred is important because it bridges that gap of the dark ages after Rome fell and the medieval period that was just about to begin in England once it was unified under Alfred. And that is important for us because without it who knows how history would have evolved if England never came together like it did under him.

The rest of Europe inherited the shield wall from the Romans, who had inherited it from the Greeks. But the Romans were the real masters of it. They had a couple of clever tricks. 

First, the Romans used large shields (scutum) that covered almost their whole bodies. The Greeks had round shields that left their legs exposed. That's why you sometimes see Greek hoplites with armored greaves covering their shins, while the Roman soldiers just wore sandals. That one thing may seem small, but the less armor you had to wear, the less it wore you down over the long haul. Also with the large shields, each Roman soldier could be expected to defend his area. The Greeks carried their round shields in their left arms and their phalanx spears in their right. This left a gap on the right side. Greeks would shelter behind their buddy's shield to their right. Eventually, the whole formation would drift right because of this (and because enemies would try to flank them on the exposed right side). The Greeks adapted to this. The Romans thought it was silly. The Romans would also use their shields on their sides to protect their flanks and the inner soldiers would left them over their heads to protect against arrow or missile fire. 

Second, the Romans armed their troops with two javelins (pila) and a short sword (gladius). Sometimes they also carried a stabbing spear as well (hasta), but this was less common. This may seem rather light armament, considering they were sometimes facing long phalanx spears, archers, cavalry, etc. But it was how they used what they had that made the difference. The Roman pila javelins are not what people normally associate as javelins. Rather than being slim and light, they had thick square wood shafts, long iron heads and were quite heavy. There was a reason for this. They were thrown into the enemy formations: the first at about 50-60 yards, the second at about 20 yards. If they hit some unfortunate people, that was fine. Obviously, they would do substantial damage and sometimes cause disruption in the enemy ranks. But the secondary use of these explains their design. They were made to puncture shields when they hit. Unlike arrows, the weight of these heavy javelins rendered rendered a punctured shield useless. When fighting another enemy with a shield wall, they could render a good portion of the enemies shields in the first couple of ranks useless with two volleys. After tossing the javelins, the Romans would lock up their large shields and extend the gladius blades through a tiny gap between shields. The whole Roman line would move forward like some kind of tank with blades poking in and out. It would have been fearsome to have seen if you were on the other side. 

For some reason, some of the lessons of the Roman shield wall (large shields, javelins, etc.) were lost during the dark ages. But they never forgot the shield wall itself. It would be the basis for less mobile, defense first type warfare in the West for centuries. 


Roman pila


Gladius


Roman scutum and shield wall.


Roman hasta, or thrusting spear.