In the field of early modern military history, a similar debate has been raging over the fighting methods of the pike formations of the day, and in particular the correct interpretation of the term ‘push of pike’, which was used frequently by contemporary observers. This debate is of particular importance to the historical reenactment community; there are many groups in the UK that recreate the battles of the seventeenth century, especially those of the English Civil War. Such groups need a historically plausible way to fight with pikes that provides a spectacle for observers, while not falling foul of health and safety legislation, and many have adopted a very literal ‘push’ that is closely analogous to the scrum theory of hoplite combat. Holding their pikes vertically so as to keep the points safely out of the way, opposing bodies of pikemen close up into a single huddle then push bodily against their opponents, aiming (in competitions) to push them out of a defined area, like multi-person sumo wrestling. Whether such a manner of fighting represents the historical reality of ‘push of pike’, or whether it is purely for show, is a matter of some debate within the reenactment community, though it is surely unlikely that pikes were carried but not actually used for fighting.
Related formations
The hoplite scrum and the reenactors’ ‘push of pike’ both have much in common with another form of fighting, which could be up to six or seven metres long and was wielded in both hands, just like the pike of the later medieval and early modern periods. This or pike gave the phalangites greater reach than the spear of the hoplites and allowed the pike points of subsequent ranks to project beyond the front of the formation. It also allowed the men to crowd together in closer formation, because there was no need for individual duelling. Although precise details of file intervals in the Greek phalanx are unknown, it seems that the Macedonian phalanx was a more close-order formation than the Greek hoplite version, with file intervals in the closest formation of just half a metre (one cubit in ancient measurements). It was a phalanx of this kind that was used by Philip’s son Alexander the Great to conquer the Persian Empire, and similar formations formed the central component of all the Hellenistic states (notably the Antigonids in Macedon, Seleucids in Syria, and Ptolemies in Egypt) that succeeded Alexander, dominating battlefields for the next century and a half before eventually falling to the legions of Rome.
