![Bayeux Tapestry 4](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/24/Bayeux_Tapestry_4.jpg)
A shield wall ( or in
Old English
Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...
, in Old Norse) is a
military formation
Military organization or military organisation is the structuring of the armed forces of a State (polity), state so as to offer such military capability as a military policy, national defense policy may require. In some countries paramilitary ...
that was common in
ancient
Ancient history is a time period from the beginning of writing and recorded human history to as far as late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the Sumerian cuneiform script. Ancient history cov ...
and
medieval warfare
Medieval warfare is the warfare of the Middle Ages. Technological, cultural, and social advancements had forced a severe transformation in the character of warfare from antiquity, changing military tactics and the role of cavalry and artillery ( ...
. There were many slight variations of this formation,
but the common factor was soldiers standing shoulder to shoulder and holding their
shield
A shield is a piece of personal armour held in the hand, which may or may not be strapped to the wrist or forearm. Shields are used to intercept specific attacks, whether from close-ranged weaponry or projectiles such as arrows, by means of a ...
s 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
![Stele of Vultures detail 01a](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6f/Stele_of_Vultures_detail_01a.jpg)
The formation was known to be used by many ancient armies including the
Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
Sparabara
The ''sparabara'', meaning "shield bearers" in Old Persian, were the front line infantry of the Achaemenid Persian Empire. They were usually the first to engage in hand-to-hand combat with the enemy. Although not much is known about them today, it ...
,
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
phalanx
The phalanx ( grc, φάλαγξ; plural phalanxes or phalanges, , ) was a rectangular mass military formation, usually composed entirely of heavy infantry armed with spears, pikes, sarissas, or similar pole weapons. The term is particularly ...
, and the
early Roman army The Early Roman army was deployed by ancient Rome during its Regal Era and into the early Republic around 300 BC, when the so-called "Polybian" or manipular legion was introduced.
Until c. 550 BC, there was probably no "national" Roman army, but ...
, 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
The Stele of the Vultures is a monument from the Early Dynastic IIIb period (2600–2350 BC) in Mesopotamia celebrating a victory of the city-state of Lagash over its neighbour Umma. It shows various battle and religious scenes and is named after ...
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 three feet 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.
[Hanson, Victor Davis. ''The Western Way of War: Infantry Battle in Classical Greece'', p.27-28.]
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.
The Roman
scutum
The ''scutum'' (; plural ''scuta'') 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.
The Romans adopted it when they switched from the military formati ...
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
In ancient Roman warfare, the ''testudo'' or tortoise formation was a type of shield wall formation commonly used by the Roman legions during battles, particularly sieges.
Formation
In the ''testudo'' formation, the men would align their sh ...
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
''Commentarii de Bello Gallico'' (; en, Commentaries on the Gallic War, italic=yes), also ''Bellum Gallicum'' ( en, Gallic War, italic=yes), is Julius Caesar's firsthand account of the Gallic Wars, written as a third-person narrative. In it Ca ...
'', describes the Germans as fighting in a tight phalanx-like formation with long spears jutting out over their shields.
In the
late Roman
Late may refer to:
* LATE, an acronym which could stand for:
** Limbic-predominant age-related TDP-43 encephalopathy, a proposed form of dementia
** Local-authority trading enterprise, a New Zealand business law
** Local average treatment effect, ...
and
Byzantine armies, similar formations of locked shields and projecting spears were called ''
fulcum
The ''phoulkon'' ( gr, φοῦλκον), 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 ...
'' (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
''Gladius'' () is a Latin word meaning "sword" (of any type), but in its narrow sense it refers to the sword of ancient Roman foot soldiers. Early ancient Roman swords were similar to those of the Greeks, called '' xiphe'' (plural; singular ''xi ...
) 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
The Daylamites or Dailamites (Middle Persian: ''Daylamīgān''; fa, دیلمیان ''Deylamiyān'') were an Iranian people inhabiting the Daylam—the mountainous regions of northern Iran on the southwest coast of the Caspian Sea, now comprisin ...
infantrymen used solid shield walls while advancing against their enemies, and used their two-pronged short spears and battle-axes from behind.
Early medieval
Tactics
The shield-wall was commonly used in many parts of
Northern Europe
The northern region of Europe has several definitions. A restrictive definition may describe Northern Europe as being roughly north of the southern coast of the Baltic Sea, which is about 54th parallel north, 54°N, or may be based on other g ...
such as in
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
and
Scandinavia
Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion#Europe, subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, ...
.
![Beowulf - scild weall](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/30/Beowulf_-_scild_weall.jpg)
In the battles between the
Anglo-Saxons
The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...
and the
Danes
Danes ( da, danskere, ) are a North Germanic ethnic group and nationality native to Denmark and a modern nation identified with the country of Denmark. This connection may be ancestral, legal, historical, or cultural.
Danes generally regard t ...
in
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
, most of the Saxon army would have consisted of the inexperienced ''
fyrd
A fyrd () was a type of early Anglo-Saxon army that was mobilised from freemen or paid men to defend their Shire's lords estate, or from selected representatives to join a royal expedition. Service in the fyrd was usually of short duration and ...
'', a militia composed of
free peasants. The shield-wall tactic suited such soldiers, as it did not require particular skill since it was essentially a shoving and fencing match with shields and spears.
The first three ranks of the wall would have been made up of select warriors, such as
huscarls and
thegn
In Anglo-Saxon England, thegns were aristocratic landowners of the second rank, below the ealdormen who governed large areas of England. The term was also used in early medieval Scandinavia for a class of retainers. In medieval Scotland, there w ...
s, who carried heavier weapons such as
Dane axe
The Dane axe is an early type of battle axe, primarily used during the transition between the European Viking Age and early Middle Ages. Other names for the weapon include English long axe, Danish axe, and hafted axe.
Construction
Most axes, b ...
s and consistently wore
armour
Armour (British English) or armor (American English; see spelling differences) is a covering used to protect an object, individual, or vehicle from physical injury or damage, especially direct contact weapons or projectiles during combat, or fr ...
, and were often the
retainers
Retainer may refer to:
* Retainer (orthodontics), devices for teeth
* RFA ''Retainer'' (A329), a ship
* Retainers in early China, a social group in early China
Employment
* Retainer agreement, a contract in which an employer pays in advance for ...
of
ealdormen
Ealdorman (, ) was a term in Anglo-Saxon England which originally applied to a man of high status, including some of royal birth, whose authority was independent of the king. It evolved in meaning and in the eighth century was sometimes applied ...
. 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
''Seax'' (; also sax, sæx, sex; invariant in plural, latinized ''sachsum'') is an Old English word for "knife". In modern archaeology, the term ''seax'' is used specifically for a type of small sword, knife or dagger typical of the Germanic pe ...
, could also be used in the tight quarters of the wall. Limited use of
archery
Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a bow to shoot arrows.Paterson ''Encyclopaedia of Archery'' p. 17 The word comes from the Latin ''arcus'', meaning bow. Historically, archery has been used for hunting and combat. In m ...
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
Morale, also known as esprit de corps (), is the capacity of a group's members to maintain belief in an institution or goal, particularly in the face of opposition or hardship. Morale is often referenced by authority figures as a generic value ...
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
A rout is a panicked, disorderly and undisciplined retreat of troops from a battlefield, following a collapse in a given unit's command authority, unit cohesion and combat morale (''esprit de corps'').
History
Historically, lightly-equi ...
.
Although the importance of cavalry in the
Battle of Hastings
The Battle of Hastings nrf, Batâle dé Hastings was fought on 14 October 1066 between the Norman-French army of William the Conqueror, William, the Duke of Normandy, and an English army under the Anglo-Saxons, Anglo-Saxon King Harold Godw ...
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
The Alpine region of Switzerland, conventionally referred to as the Swiss Alps (german: Schweizer Alpen, french: Alpes suisses, it, Alpi svizzere, rm, Alps svizras), represents a major natural feature of the country and is, along with the Swiss ...
and
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
.
Examples
The tactic was used at the
Battle of Stamford Bridge
The Battle of Stamford Bridge ( ang, Gefeoht æt Stanfordbrycge) took place at the village of Stamford Bridge, East Riding of Yorkshire, in England, on 25 September 1066, between an English army under King Harold Godwinson and an invading N ...
in which the relatively well-armed Saxon army hit the
Viking
Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden),
who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...
army of
King Harald Sigurdsson of Norway unaware. The Vikings 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 Vikings fled in panic. Each side had lost five to six thousand men, but the English numerical superiority won the battle.
Both sides at the
Battle of Hastings
The Battle of Hastings nrf, Batâle dé Hastings was fought on 14 October 1066 between the Norman-French army of William the Conqueror, William, the Duke of Normandy, and an English army under the Anglo-Saxons, Anglo-Saxon King Harold Godw ...
are depicted as using the formation in the
Bayeux TapestryBayeuxtapestry.org
/ref> although the battle was ultimately won through a combination of feigned retreat
A feigned retreat is a military tactic, a type of feint, whereby a military force pretends to withdraw or to have been routed, in order to lure an enemy into a position of vulnerability.
A feigned retreat is one of the more difficult tactics fo ...
s by Norman
Norman or Normans may refer to:
Ethnic and cultural identity
* The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries
** People or things connected with the Norm ...
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
A dory is a small, shallow-draft boat, about long. It is usually a lightweight boat with high sides, a flat bottom and sharp bows. It is easy to build because of its simple lines. For centuries, the dory has been used as a traditional fishin ...
gave way to the sarissa
The sarisa or sarissa ( el, σάρισα) was a long spear or pike about 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. Thes ...
, 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
A polearm or pole weapon is a close combat weapon in which the main fighting part of the weapon is fitted to the end of a long shaft, typically of wood, thereby extending the user's effective range and striking power. Polearms are predominantly ...
carried with both hands (and often partial plate armor), giving rise to pike square
The pike square (German: ''Gevierthaufen'', lit. 'square crowd', or ''Gewalthaufen'' lit. 'crowd of force') was a military tactical formation in which 10 rows of men in 10 columns wielding pikes, was developed by the Swiss Confederacy during th ...
tactics.
Use in modern times
Although obsolete as a military tactic because of firearms and explosives, a wall of riot shields
A riot shield is a lightweight protection device, typically deployed by police and some military organizations, though also utilized by protestors. Riot shields are typically long enough to cover an average-sized person from the top of the head to ...
remains a common formation for police worldwide for protection against large groups using improvised weapon
An improvised weapon is an object that was not designed to be used as a weapon but can be put to that use. They are generally used for self-defence or if the person is otherwise unarmed. In some cases, improvised weapons are commonly used by attac ...
s, punches, kicks, and thrown objects such as bricks, bottles, and Molotov cocktails
A Molotov cocktail (among several other names – ''see other names'') is a hand thrown incendiary weapon constructed from a frangible container filled with flammable substances equipped with a fuse (typically a glass bottle filled with flammab ...
.
See also
*Line formation
The line formation is a standard tactical formation which was used in early modern warfare.
It continued the phalanx formation or shield wall of infantry armed with polearms in use during antiquity and the Middle Ages.
The line formation provi ...
*Phalanx formation
The phalanx ( grc, φάλαγξ; plural phalanxes or phalanges, , ) was a rectangular mass military formation, usually composed entirely of heavy infantry armed with spears, pikes, sarissas, or similar pole weapons. The term is particularly u ...
*Roman infantry tactics
Roman infantry tactics refers to 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 tactic ...
*Schiltron
A schiltron (also spelled sheltron, sceld-trome, schiltrom, or shiltron) is a compact body of troops forming a battle array, shield wall or phalanx. The term is most often associated with Scottish pike formations during the Wars of Scottish Indep ...
*Wedge formation
A flying wedge (also called flying V or wedge formation, or simply wedge) is a configuration created from a body moving forward in a triangular formation. This V-shaped arrangement began as a successful military strategy in ancient times when inf ...
*Mesopotamian military strategy and tactics
The Mesopotamian Civilization had an adept grasp of tactics. In fact, they are the first confirmed users of the shield wall tactic later made famous as the classical Greek phalanx and the Roman "testudo formation". It is unknown who first develop ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shield Wall
Warfare of the Middle Ages
Tactical formations
Wall
A wall is a structure and a surface that defines an area; carries a load; provides security, shelter, or soundproofing; or, is decorative. There are many kinds of walls, including:
* Walls in buildings that form a fundamental part of the supe ...