Push of pike
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Push of pike, or "bad war", in an early 16th-century engraving by Hans Holbein.
The push of pike was a particular feature of late medieval and Early Modern warfare that occurred when two opposing columns of pikemen (often Swiss mercenaries or landsknechts) collided and became locked in position along a front of interleaved pikes. The push of pike would continue until one of the opposing formations collapsed, which would generally lead to massive casualties.
The feature was present in many of the larger battles of the Italian Wars, including:
References
- Oman, Charles (1999). A History of the Art of War in the Sixteenth Century. ISBN 9781853673849.
External links
- "The ECW Pages - Infantry". Retrieved 3 December 2011.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike; additional terms may apply for the media files.