ANCIENT BATTLE FORMATIONS
wanton here makes a careful study of the primary sources of the phalanx, and the Roman . Swanton re-evaluates the sources of these well-known formations in new ways to shed fresh light on how they were organized and how they worked, challenging many conventional notions. He reaches some surprising conclusions such as that such formations consisted of continuous lines in open order, with file spaces wide enough to allow embattled infantry to fall back after which those files closed up instantly against the enemy.
