Comments by "" (@neutronalchemist3241) on "Top 10 Most Effective Shields in History" video.

  1. It's very effective, but in a single specific situation and, even in that situation (frontal close formation fight) it had been finally made obsolete simply by a longer spear.
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  2.  @youtubevoice1050  The Macedonian phalanx did. It had been the end of the hoplities, and the difference was a longer spear and a smaller shield.
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  3. It's very effective, but in a single specific situation and, even in that situation (frontal close-formation fight) it had been finally made obsolete simply by a longer spear.
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  4. They'll settle the question with duel shields.
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  5.  @vonzuchter  Both those shileds were less specialised, and so useful in a much more ample range of situations. The hoplon instead was effective only in a single specific situation and, even in that situation (frontal close-formation fight) it had been finally made obsolete simply by a longer spear.
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  6.  @vonzuchter  The hoplite phalanx was effective in a single specific situation. Pitched battle in an absolutely flat battlefield (or guarding a narrow passage, without any risk of being outflanked). In the wars between the Greek city-states it was effective because in their battles there was a large "ceremonial" part (in the peloponnesiac wars you really don't see ambushes or encounter battels, only pitched battles on flat battlefields, or sieges). The Romans, quit using it as soon as they started to fight the Samnites, that lived mainly on broken terrains, and adopted more flexible tactics.
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  7.  @vonzuchter  Greek Hoplites "dominated" the local wars between the Greek city-states (where both the parties used the same tactics) and managed to win some defensive clash with the Persians.
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  8. Captain America's shield is a rotella, both for dimensions and placing of the straps. https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AqfKBHGH9D8/VwLnkq8ENDI/AAAAAAAAITM/-WRsWCMqKsAiALmatmn07_2pwrOF1WQLw/s1600/Marozzo_spear_and_shield.png
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  9. Italian cities started to forbid the use of rotelle and brocchieri (bucklers) into the city walls at the beginning of XVII century (in an effort to limit duels), so it was still in use in civilian context when it had already been abandoned in military one.
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  10. Captain America's shield is technically a rotella.
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  11. Maybe it had been used that way sometimes, but I don't think it was used like that most of the times. Mind that, if you have the shield on your back, and a projectile (arrow, dart) pierces the shield, it pins you to the shield, and there is no way to intervene. If there is a little space between you and the shield, you are mostly safe even if a projectile pierces it (because it loose speed anyway) .
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  12. Mind that the rotella and heater shield became popular when waraxes, warhammers, maces and similar weapons were at the peak of their popularity.
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  13.  @GasLei  so the other Greeks didn't know the horse?
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  14.  @GasLei  But none tried to revive the hoplites using more cavalry, even when it was possible, or when Alexander's tactics were well known. They had been replaced by a longer spear and a smaller shield.
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  15. Because it required organization and training.
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  16. The phalangites did. They had a small shield ("aspis") strapped to the arm.
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