I wanted to ask why were pikes, after Macedonians and their succesor kingdoms, so rarely used throught history until later Middle Ages? They seem like a very good weapon while on defense, useful even in hands of relatively poorly trained troops and are perfect weapon for infantry to use against cavalry.
And they will not be used for more or less a thousand years until brought into service by Scots, Flemish and Swiss, which used it with great effect on the attack. They seem almost unstoppable on the battlefield, or at least they were until gunpowder field artillery appeared, and if the terrain was relatively flat and open only thing that could stop them would be another pike block.
So, could somebody answer this for me?