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The White CouncilRe: Everything you really didn't want to know about shieldsTolkien and Inklings Discussion |
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The White CouncilRe: Everything you really didn't want to know about shieldsTolkien and Inklings Discussion |
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Posted by Martin Read on February 25, 2000 at 06:45:13 In Reply to: Re: Everything you really didn't want to know about shields posted by Neithan on February 23, 2000 at 12:48:29:
: : The circular formation is the universal formation of last-resort, once in such a formation manoevring becomes almost impossible. It is a formation tantamount to admitting defeat - after the circle comes the diminishing down to a single point, then nothing. Tolkien probably instinctively knew this when he gave this formation to the Host of the West. : No, the rout is the universial formation when the formation breaks down, which it almost always will, either to losses or breaking of moral- even the circular one. How many large battles in history have ended in a last stand-circular formation? I think very few. : However, they do speak to the heroic and romantic aspects of our nature (think of the pictures of Custer's last stand) and have sometimes been employed (Custer? Camerone? Alamo?), therefore they evoke powerful images and are thus used. : NT I can't think of any circular last-stands as such. Though there are plenty of square formations - such as that formed against cavalry in the 18th/19th centuries. At least with a square you have a better chance of some ability to maneouvre. Napoleon used huge square formations at the Battle of the Pyramids as a counter to the Mameluke cavalry - these seem to have been fairly mobile. One circular formation that does come to mind is that of the Late Mediaeval Scots, the "schilltron." This was a close array of long spears or pikes which is said to have been circular. It was a response to the fact that the English could field a massive superiority in heavy cavalry. Personally I think it was probably more of a crescent formation when attacking, with its vulnerable flanks refused by being curved back. Obviously such a formation could be easily closed to form a true circle if pushed onto the defensive. The emotive aspects of the circular "last stand" are as you say quite powerful.
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