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During the time when the Macedonian Phalanx faced Rome's Legions, it was not employed properly the way Alexander would employ it. Generals at this time period thought that the Phalanx was the end all weapon and concentrated solely on it. They failed to realized that it needed a superb cavalry to be truly effective. Hence, the hammer and anvil tactics. That was why they lost to the Legions in actual conflict.
Having said that, the Phalanx itself was impregnable from the front, assuming a smooth even surface. It needed unit cohesion and an even terrain to be effective. In this formation, an individual soldier is just one part of the weapon. In contrast, the maniple was both a unit and an individual. It is true that each legionaire is a part of a greater whole, however, each legionaire is his own individual weapon. That is to say, a Phalanx infantry needed his comrades more to support him than the Legionaire. A phalanx need some one to protect his flanks, while a legionaire can just turn and faced the threat. Furthermore, a legionaire cohort can be subdivided as the situation calls for it. The Phalanx, however, you cannot. It needs the whole unit to be effective. There lays its true weakness.
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