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Message: <blockquote data-quote="mmadsen" data-source="post: 337553" data-attributes="member: 1645">Chapter XI -- The Battle of Pharsalus (continued)Now Caesar issued another order.  His red banner dropped.  The trumpets of the first and second infantry lines sounded "Charge."I still love the imagery.Ahead, to the surprise of Crastinus and his comrades, Pompey's front line didn't budge.  Pompey's men were under orders to stand still and receive Caesar's infantry charge, instead of themselves charging at Caesar's running men, as was the norm in battles of the day.  According to Caesar, this tactic had been suggested to Pompey by Gaius Triarius, one of his naval commanders.  Pompey, lacking confidence in his infantry and anxious to give them an edge in the contest, had grabbed at the idea, which was intended to make Caesar's troops run twice as far as usual and so arrive out of breath at the Pompeian line.It sounds pretty clever, frankly -- the kind of thing I'd expect Caesar to come up with.  On the other hand...Caesar was later scathing of the tactic.  He was to write that the running charge fired men's enthusiasm for battle, and that general ought to encourage this, not repress it.It may fire enthusiasm, but is there a strong advantage to charging on foot?  Against archers and slingers it makes good sense -- you don't want to remain in their kill zone for long -- but infantry vs. infantry?  There must be, since they always do charge...In fact, Pompey's tactic did have something going for it, as his troops would present a solid barrier of interlocked shield against Caesar's puffing, disorderly men, who had to break formation to run to the attack.  It may have been effective against inexperienced troops, but in the middle of the battlefield Centurion Crastinus and his fellow centurions of the first rank drew their charging cohorts to a halt.  The entire charge came to a stop.  For perhaps a minute the Caesarian troops paused in the middle of the wheat field, catching their breath; then, led by Crastinus, they resumed the charge with a mighty roar.It seems that Pompey should have added one more element to his plan.  Either time his own counter-charge to hit Caesar's men just as they run out of breath, or have sufficient archers and slingers on hand to barrage them as they try to cover twice the normal distance.Maybe the archers and slingers would've pulled through for him if they hadn't been cut down moments earlier...</blockquote>

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