Editing Shield (section)

== Shields in Warfare ==

While swords and axes gets all the glory in fantasy literature, the humble shield is probably the most ubiquitous piece of equipment that could be found on the battlefield. If you look at any ancient depiction of a battle you will see plenty of different weapons around, but nearly everybody that was not using 2-handed weapons would carry a shield, from the knight in shining armour to the lowly peasant.

The first well-attested military formation to make good use of the shield was the Greek [[Phalanx]], a square formation of heavy infantry. The soldiers, standing shoulder to shoulder, locked their shields together forming a wall, then pointed their spears forward and started marching. With a judicious use of the Phalanx Alexander The Great steamrolled half of Asia, creating one of the greatest empires of the ancient world.

Similar to this formation - albeit armed with swords and javelins, not with 8-9 foot long pikes - was the famous and equally effective Roman ''testudo''. The testudo, along with a couple of innovations like 'squads' and more flexible battle-lines, were used to steamroll Europe and create another big-ass Empire. If you're starting to see a pattern here, congratulations: you've just passed Ancient History 101. Every culture in ancient to medieval warfare used a form or another of the shield wall for their infantry, the alternative being quickly and mercilessly butchered and forgotten. They stopped only with the introduction of artillery, that made tight formations nothing but a huge target and hence highly inadvisable.

Outside of strictly military use police forces everywhere still use riot shields when they need to quell any particularly violent revolt or need to get up close and personal with some protesters.

In addition to defense, shields can also be used offensively. A good solid shield is a broad heavy object, and it can be used to bash people. A blow to the head would cause great damage even to an armoured enemy, and could kill or at least disorient the opposition. The Romans were very fond of this. Some forms of shield had spikes added to them in order to make the most out of bashing attacks.

Another way to use a shield is not to use a shield, carry only a weapon leaving the shield work and defense to another guy you had trained with, namely the Shield Bearer. The shield bearer is often talked about in ancient texts and while he may have just been slave who carried the heaviest chunk of gear, he could also have been a highly trained solider who fought with and defended the swordsmen. Evidence for trained shield bearers comes from various Middle Eastern Bronze Age sources, such the Old testament where Jonathan and his shield bearer routed a philistine advance guard unit of maybe 20 guys, and from the Egyptian New Kingdom, in which chariots were often described as being crewed by a warrior/driver and shield-bearer. The (extremely biased and propagandist) poem describing the Battle of Qadesh on the walls at Karnak has Ramesses II giving a speech to inspire his wavering shield bearer. There's also the relevant argument that "Would a sane mind trust his life to a slave, given the history of [[slavery]]?"