The Beginnings
Macedonia’s golden age of conquest began with King Philip II, the father of Alexander who we later called “the Great”. Philip ruled from 359 B.C. to 336 B.C. During this time he made innovations to the war machine of Macedonia. This made his army unstoppable compared to the other armies that opposed him. But before he made his army strong, he needed to insure that his rear front, which were the Balkans, safe. Philip’s alliances with the Balkan states gave resources which were vital in his conquests.
Philip took over Macedonia after it was defeated by the Illyrians. It was in complete political and military turmoil. After defeating the Illyrians, Philip made alliances with his own empire by a series of marriages. Probably, the most important marriage resulted with a son called Alexander in 356 B.C. Soon after this date, Philip came out of a ravaged land and showed the world an army they have never seen before. This is why Greece was so easily conquered. Philip had really done a good job with the army that he was about to go on an expedition to conquer Persia. Unfortunately, he was murdered before he could start the campaign. This occasion was somehow beneficial because a military genius called Alexander came to the throne and made his father’s dream of conquering Asia come true.
Hoplite Warfare
Hoplite was another word for a foot soldier. The main equipment of a hoplite was usually body armor, a metal helmet and a round shield. Battles fought by hoplites would usually take place in open grasslands. Two armies would usually stand in front of each other in straight lines and a signal would be given and the hoplites would fiercely engage in a wild melee. Concept of reserves had not yet become a part of hoplite warfare so when two armies attacked each other, they fought with full force. This meant that the battle would be pretty quick judging on the fact that there were no extra waves of attacks because there were no extra men. Another weakness of hoplite warfare was that there was a lack of shock troops, which usually meant troops either used to surprise the enemy by attacking from the rear or flanks or troops which were extremely mobile such as light troops or cavalry. The famous heteiroi or Companion Cavalry of Philip was created for this reason. It was an element of surprise to the armies who were used to the hoplite warfare. The best introduction of the concept of cavalry was in the Battle of Delium in the Peloponnesian War when a small group of Theban cavalry unexpectedly appeared on the flank of the Athenian forces. This caused great panic in the Athenian ranks even thought Athenian superiorly outnumbered the attacking Theban Cavalry. Panic, of course was the key in this battle which caused the Thebans to decisively take the battlefield.
The Macedonian Warfare and Victories of Alexander
One of the concepts special to Macedonia was the concept of the Macedonian phalanx. A Greek phalanx was a formation of pikemen packed in a square shape. It usually was made of no more than eight ranks and eight files. The basic idea behind it was that the phalangists would hold their pikes straight forward and march into the enemy to break them up. Because of their closely packed formation, they were not highly mobile.
The Macedonian phalanx was the same concept except for a few exceptions. First of all, it consisted of sixteen ranks and files; therefore it was four times as large as a Greek phalanx. The phalangists were armed with sarissae, which is a type of pike except it’s sixteen feet long. Contrary to their large formation size, the phalangists were highly trained. With expert commanders, they were way faster than the traditional phalanx. The best example of the effectiveness of the Macedonian phalanx is the Battle of Granicus River. It was here when Alexander decided to attack an outnumbering Persian army. As the army climbed the hills from the riverbank, the Macedonian phalanx protected the rest of the army from being counter-attacked by the numerously superior enemy which was strategically located on high ground.
Another innovation just as previously mention was the Companion Cavalry. The heteiroi were the offensive power of the Macedonian army. Alexander always commanded them personally. This gave them extra morale in battle and maybe that’s why Companions never routed in battle. Because routing would mean letting Alexander down and since they were his personal soldiers, they would never let him down if it meant their own death. Aside from those reasons, the companions were superbly trained. If the army had no other choice of winning a battle, Alexander would lead them to directly attack the enemy commander. This would usually cause the enemy leader to run from battle bringing the entire army’s self-confidence down causing the entire army to rout. One of the most famous accounts of this was in the Battle of Issus against King Darius III of Persia. After a few weeks pursuit of the Persian army which was actually numerously superior to him (Alexander didn’t judge the strength of an army by the number of men it consisted of), the two armies met at the seaside plain of Issus. The plain was bordered by the sea and mountains on its sides. Seeing that Darius placed himself and his bodyguards by the mountain, Alexander led his Companions to directly attack Darius which was Persians’ left flank. Since their right flank was covered with the sea, Alexander saw his opportunity to surround the enemy by folding the mountainside flan towards the sea. As the Companions charged at Darius’ personal unit, Darius fled from battle exposing the left flank of the Persian army. This catastrophically resulted in the folding of the flanks just like Alexander had predicted. This resulted in heavy casualties for the Persians and another victory for Alexander.
The Greatest Battle of Alexander
After the battle of Issus, Darius III sent two letters to Alexander offering a truce. Both of them were rejected. Darius seeing there is no way out prepared for total war. He gathered troops from all over his empire. Numbering more that a hundred thousand in all, Darius picked a battlefield, which was north of present day Baghdad, and cleared it of scrubs, hills and anything that might entangle his ultimate plan. Darius was planning to break Alexander’s troops by attacking with scythed chariots.
When Alexander arrived at the field with merely forty-six thousand men, he examined the battlefield and after a pep talk with his generals, he went to bed. The next morning his generals were surprised to find him not awake at the time of battle. When he woke up, he examined the Persian dispositions and made a plan. He noticed that the Persians were spread out in a straight line like usual. Persian cavalry was in the flanks while there were chariots in the center. The infantry was in a line throughout the Persian line. Darius was in the center. That’s all that mattered to Alexander. Since he was used to fighting Persians in straight lines, the only thing that changed battle after battle was the position of the general. He decided to arrange his troops in a rectangle swung backwards so that the lower left corner was the extreme front. This is where he decided to place his heteiroi. The short sides of the rectangle were the flanks and it consisted of cavalry supported by columns of infantry. The front side of the rectangle would consist of tightly packed phalanx and the rear side of the rectangle would consist of reserves which were mostly phalanxes.
The battle started when Alexander slowly advance his army in order to protect the shape of the formation. The Persian flanks, which were cavalry, attacked the Macedonian flanks. Here fierce cavalry battles started between the numerously superior Persians and inferior Macedonians. The chariots Darius stationed attacked the Macedonian center. The phalanxes in the center opened gaps in their ranks just as Alexander previously ordered after foreseeing Darius’ plan. The chariots went through the gaps and met the unexpected phalanx in the rear. All of the chariots units were annihilated here. After getting reports from the flanks that they were not going to be able to hold for long from the overwhelming Persian cavalry, Alexander decided to execute the killing blow. He saw that the Persian center was left with holes after the chariots had been destroyed. He also remembered that Darius was right behind the center. This was enough evidence to commence what he was been waiting for. He ordered his Companion Cavalry to attack Darius. Darius, being overwhelmed by the fierce Companions, ran from battle. Soon, the entire Persian army started running. The battle of Gaugamela was won.
Conclusion
After the horrible defeat of the Persians at Gaugamela, Darius no longer could resist. Soon, Alexander conquered Persia. This opened way for Alexander’s further plans for conquest. Alexander the Great conquered all of what was known as Asia at that time. Soon after many years of campaigning, his men grew tired and they mutinied. He decided to go back to Macedonia but died on the way in Babylon in 323 B.C. after about ten years of conquest. It is said that, before retiring from conquest, Alexander had erected a large monument. On it, it read “Alexander stopped here”.
Bibliography
Davis, Paul. 100 Decisive Battles from Ancient Times to the Present. Oxford: Oxford University Press 1999
Alexander, CarolineAlexander the Conqueror National Geographic Vol. 193 No. 3
Philip II
Glossary of Ancient Macedonia
Map of Battle of Issus
Map of Battle of Gaugamela