Alexander : a history of the origin and growth of the art of war from ...

ORDERS OF BATTLE. 69the lines marched against each other, front to front, aimingto strike " all along the line " at the same moment. The advantageof this was an equal strength at every point; itsweakness that it was liable to be broken in some place byvalor or numbers, or by the occurrence ofgaps ; or that the shorter line could be ^outflanked by the longer. 2. The parallel,with one or other or both wings reinforced.The wing, strengthened by a line or columnin its front, made direct or obliquely for theenemy, and the rest of the line, less advancedParallelsaOrder,wing reinforcedthan the troops reinforcing the wing, was Lcovered by light troops. The object was Seither to crush or surround the enemy's wing,or drive it in upon the centre so as to ^take J^^^fOrder.^_advantage of the resulting confusion. Sometimesboth wings were reinforced and theScentre withheld insimilar manner, and other methods of strengthening one orboth wings were employed. The weakness of this formationwas the possible sundering of wings and centre, which wouldthen lie open to being beaten in detail. 3. Theoblique. This in its simple form was a mere ^variation from the parallel order due to accidentsof ground or tactical difficulties ;it was the invention of Epaminondas.in its best formOne wingwas materially strengthened, and fell first onthe enemy's wing opposite, in front or flank.Theother wing was refused (held back) or advancedmore slowly, and from the nature of things in a © osort of echeloned order, and thus the line becameoblique.As used by Epaminondas, this was theOblique Order,simple form.greatest advance in battle tactics ever made at one step.The advantage of this order was that the strengthened wing