“…after they have given their first thrust with their pikes and being come to j

“…after they have given their first thrust with their pikes and being come to join with their enemies front to front and face to face, and therefore the use and execution of the pikes of the foremost ranks being past, they must presently betake themselves to the use of their swords and daggers …the nearness and press being so great.” - Sir John Smythe, Certain Discourses Military, 1590
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In a ‘push of pike’, pike divisions could be up to six deep and each man pressed on the one in front, so sometimes the formations would crush against each other and many pikemen would have to fight in close melee combat. The Italians referred to this as 'Bad War’ but, by the time of the English Civil Wars, pike pushes were relatively rare as the musket came to dominate the battlefield.
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