Why Do Soldiers March?

[Michelle]

I found myself spontaneously marching this morning in the forest instead of jogging. This brought me to wonder why soldiers march.

I am having a hard time finding the answer to that question. All I know is that lately my lifestyle has been much more disciplined than ever before and that I find pleasure in that discipline.

[Chet]

The rhythm of a march is very similar to a chant, it induces a mild form of Hypnosis.

[Asmoday]

Its one of those questions that has a long answer:

First, its partly historical. Soldiers learned how to march based on tactics that required one army to find a big, open space, and go against another army directly. This meant large blocks of people needed to be able to move quickly and as one, as fluidly as possible. You can't, for example, have your calvalry charge until the archers "step to the side" to give them a hole to move through.

Now, while formations developed with phalanx and early egyptian tactics that required, at minimum that a unit stand side-by-side and move forward (yes, as seen in Sparta), true marching as a movement style was pioneered by the Romans. They used it to formalize movement along the roads, and on the battlefield itself.

Modern tactics don't *require* marching. True, modern sodliers do sometimes march from point a to point b, its more of a relaxed, diciplined walk -- with marching as we know it relegated to ceremony.

Its modern use is purely as a training tool to develop teamwork, unit cohesion, and individual dicipline.

Plus, it leads to a personal walking style, that is, at minimum, highly intimidating

[Michelle]

Tee hee. Thanks for your answers.

Yes, I imagine it could be slightly intimidating if done in public. The forest is a private space, so I felt okay being weird :-).