The Psychology of the Palinx

The most common way a palinx was broken was by retreat from the rear. A deep line meant removing those back ranks from danger, and hence removing their desire to run away. The only way to live if you were in the front was to stick together and move forward. There was indeed a lot of psychology built into the phalinx. It was designed for and used on flat, open plains where the ranks could be deployed properly with no holes in the line. In a phalanx, a single gap meant death.