‘Game of Thrones’: The actual historical roots of the enormous ‘Battle of the Bastards’ -

 



"To history buffs, much of this battle might feel familiar. Classics scholars probably did a double-take at that shield wall, which they would have correctly recognized as a Macedonian phalanx. Fully developed by Philip II of Macedon and used by his son Alexander the Great to conquer most of Persia, it refers in broad terms to a military arrangement formed by several rows of men bearing those large shields seen in Sunday’s episode. They use the spears to stab through the “wall,” which is essentially impenetrable.

Those history buffs might also have noticed the familiar strategy employed by Ramsay — pulling Jon’s entire army into a disoriented, bloody mass and encircling it with fresh, organized soldiers. Called the “pincer movement” or “double entrapment,” it is a tactic that has been used in many battles over the years, including the 1415 Battle of Agincourt, on which the scene was originally going to be based.

But “needs changed,” so Sapochnik chose to base it on what might be the most famous example of the strategy: the Battle of Cannae during the Second Punic War, in which a small army led by Hannibal defeated a tremendous Roman army in 216 B.C."

read article by Travis M. Andrews

‘Game of Thrones’: The actual historical roots of the enormous ‘Battle of the Bastards’ - The Washington Post: