Armies and Tactics: Philip II and Macedonian Phalanx

[Music] the year is 359 BC and the kingdom of Macedonia lies on the brink of destruction its army defeated and people in despair yet all hope is not lost as the new king Philip is keen to revert his kingdoms fortunes he would embark on one of the most revolutionary all encompassing military reforms in antiquity this new sub series will take an in-depth look at these reforms starting with their origins and the revolutionary changes Philip made to his infantry our story first takes us outside of Macedonia contrary to what one might have expected Philip spent little time in his homeland during his youth due to the fragility of Macedonia he spent most of his adolescence as a hostage first at the court of the illyrians and then at Thebes it was while Philip was residing in Thebes that his ideas of military reform started forming in 371 BC the balance of power between the mainland Creek cities would be shaken to its core at leuctra the Thebans won a stunning victory against the Spartans becoming the dominant power on the Greek mainland the reason behind this unprecedented victory was the military innovation of a pammi nandus and Pella pitous most notable among the Theban innovations were those that radically improved the Theban infantry not only had a permanent Isis concentration of his Theban hoplite AIF Alex in deeper ranks shattered the opposing Spartans but the creation of an elite professional infantry body the sacred band provided Thebes with a force that proved equal to the famed Spartan warriors thanks to these reforms the military might of Sparta finally met its match Philip quickly concluded that's the secret of Phoebus newfound military supremacy lay in the constant practice constant experience and constant action of its army its professionalism was its key at the same time the reforms of the renowned athenian general affinities also greatly impressed the young macedonia efficacies reformed the equipment of the Athenian infantry the heavier bronze hoplite a armor was replaced with lighter linen caresses and the large hoplon shield with a lighter filter and new longer spears were used all this increased the reach of their weapons and provided the soldiers with increased mobility although these reforms did not stand the test of time with the Athenian infantry scholars assumed that this style of fighting was used by the hoplite ace fighting at sea as the increased spear length and improved flexibility proved useful when attacking adjacent enemy vessels military innovation was therefore a common theme among the mainland Greeks in the early 4th century BC and Philip was a quick learner in 365 BC Philip returned to Macedonia he had learnt a lot from the reforms of a permanent Asst palapa de Santa Fikret ease as would soon become evident the death of Philips elder brother per turkish in a battle against the illyrians in 359 BC brought Philip to an abrupt ascension to the Macedonian throne Macedonia was surrounded by enemies and had never been weaker another invasion looked imminent having secured his throne from rival claimants Philip set about reforming the Macedonian army putting into practice what he had learned from his time as a hostage arguably the army branch Philips revolutionized the most was the infantry limited evidence survives but it is likely that the foot soldiers that Philip inherited were mostly light info three recruited from a peasant class that lived in poverty they were usually ill-equipped had no training and were no match for the superior infantry of their neighbors most notably the illyrians it appears that the Macedonian infantry also included an elite unit armed in the Greek hoplite a fashion however these hoplite A's were few and were outclassed by their illyrian counterparts the Macedonian infantry was in dire need of a change remembering the Theban and athenian reforms Philip quickly recruited 4,000 Macedonian levies and equipped them for a radically new style of fighting for their armor Philip equipped his Macedonians with a blend of the heavy hoplite a and the lighter Greek peltasts panoply each soldier was fitted with a bronze helmet Greaves tall boots and a cloth tunic unlike the hotter days of their southern neighbors these recruits were not outfitted in heavy breastplates and had much lighter body armor the lighter protection was compensated by the new weapon this erisa their deadly new armament was a four to six meter long pike its shaft was made from cornell wood the best available in the Greek world at the time Macedonia was famed for such high quality timber and Philip acquired significant supplies of it to create his new weapon with ease at one end of this Arista was an iron tip it's streamlined head was designed specially to penetrate armor and continued through into the enemy's body at the opposite end of the pike was a heavy metal but made of either iron or bronze this but was designed to act as a counterweight offering the wielder more balance when holding the serosa 3/4 of the way down the shaft its shape could also anchor the pike into the ground when bracing for an enemy charge just as with the high quality carnal wood bronze and iron were also readily available in Macedonia providing Philip with easy accessibility to the materials required for making these new deadly offensive weapons unlike the shorter spheres of the holidays the sheer length and weight of this ERISA meant that each Macedonian soldier required both his hands to carry it carrying a heavy shield as well was impossible Philips men were thus equipped with a smaller lighter she loved cool a peltor the peltor was commonly used by the greek light infantry and by efficacies as new look athenians earlier in the 4th century it could be slung from the neck of the infantryman and strapped to his left arm these men were also equipped with a short spear and a slashing sword but the pike was the primary weapon thus ERISA was next to useless in a one-on-one fight so each man was intended to fight as part of a larger trained mass the Macedonian phalanx most of the surviving information on the structure of the Phalanx comes from later sources that described the phalanx of the Hellenistic period yet there are a few facts that we can deduce about the original Macedonian phalanx of Philip it consisted of basic units of ten men called a deck Asst although this number was soon increased to 16 multiple Decker's units or decades-- were then combined into larger groupings called la coy with the separate decades-- being deployed side by side the most experienced men in each dankus were placed nearer the front early on the Macedonian phalanx was to be formed sixteen men deep and eight men across the men being in very close order thanks to the small size of their shields this basic tactical unit consisted of one hundred and twenty eight men and was called a taxes each taxes was commanded by an officer who they logical to taxi as combined was called a Sintang man alongside the local gosh they were also certain other specialized soldiers that were attached to each taxes there was force Alpen Gettys who would relay messages with his bugle during the heat of there was also a signalmen called the semia for us who would give visual signals during the March with his standard as well as an army Herald a strata Couric's who would shout out orders there was also an aide a hyper eTI's who was to convey messages between units and do whatever be longer costs required and finally a file closer the aura goes who would collect any stragglers from the Phalanx as each taxi in their rectangular formation on the battlefield every man would carry their sirisha upright only just before they were to engage their enemy with the first five ranks lower their pikes horizontally creating a deadly wall of iron the lines just behind was lower their own pikes at a 45-degree angle to protect their comrades from enemy projectiles while the rose further Bank would keep their services upright thanks to the great length of the pike for deadly sirisha heads could protrude ahead of the first infantryman in the Phalanx this gave Philip and his infantry a great advantage over their neighbors not only could the sheer offensive power of multiple advancing service a steamroll any opponent but any opposing infantry force would struggle to get past the multiple rows of Pike's to even reach the holder from the elite hoplite a infantry of both the illyrians and the Greeks to the hardened warriors of Thrace and paeonia all would struggle to combat Phillips cerissa wielding phalanx with their shorter Spears Philips phalanx was virtually unstoppable from the front its cohesiveness and the weight of its offensive armament was unmatched in the contemporary world yet this new formation was not without its flaws the key to the phalanxes deadliness was its cohesiveness if the formation was shattered whether it be from fighting on uneven ground or from being attacked on either side or the rear then the poor individual fighting skill of these soldiers would soon be apparent the Phalanx was deadly just for so long as its order was made tained and so in 359 bc philip equipped and trained his 4,000 new Macedonian recruits in this new revolutionised system of warfare continuously he would train them in a variety of maneuvers to make sure they were ready for war he ensured the Phalanx formation had flexibility for example training his men to either double or half the usual 16 man depth of the Phalanx when necessary furthermore Philip also made his infantry march and run long distances with full equipment so that they were always fit and ready for battle when on campaign the majority of Philips reformed infantrymen originated from the Macedonian levy of the region farmers craftsmen and men from other citizen professions yet among his new look infantry Philip also had an elite corps the apes' hit high ROI or foot companions these men were picked for their size and strength to serve as the distinguished infantry guard of the King the pair's Hettie roy who were the Macedonian equivalent of the famed eben sacred band were Philips only full-time citizen soldiers far outclassing the rest of his infantry Philip placed his elite hesita boy on the furthest right wing of the infantry line the most prestigious place in the line it was the peasant I Roy for example that accompanied Philip the second on his right during his first major battle against the illyrians in 357 BC we hear that Philip and his elite phalanx shattered the opposing illyrians who proved no match for them for the first time in years the Macedonian inventory outclassed its neighbors scholars still debate the equipment of Philips as her tie Roy some other cue these men were armed as hot lattes wildung shorter Spears ass piss shields and heavy bronze armor trained to add versatility to Philips sarisa wielding infantry line yet evidence for this is sparse and many now argue that Philip equipped his peso tie Roy similarly to the rest of his reformed infantry it was their skill and expertise that singled these soldiers out not their equipment later during the reign of Alexander this elite force would undergo a significant change the entirety of his phallus was now called V PES her title and a new name was given to his elite infantry one that would remain down through to the Hellenistic period the high pass bests Philips infantry reforms were the first great step in transforming his kingdom into the dominant power in the central Mediterranean yet it was only the beginning and in the upcoming videos we will discuss other aspects of these reforms so subscribe and press the alarm bell to get notified our videos are made possible by our brilliant patrons over at patreon and our YouTube sponsors visit our patreon or press the sponsorships button to learn more about the perks this is the kings and Generals channel and we will catch you on the next one

Channel: Kings and Generals

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Keywords: alexander the great, ancient history, ancient greece, philip ii, roman empire, historia civilis, macedonian army, macedonian wars, macedonian phalanx, kingdom of macedon, ancient macedon, ancient rome, kings and generals, history lesson, documentary film, world history, extra credits history, full documentary, animated documentary, ancient battle, war - topic, armies and tactics, evolution of the armies, epaminondas, silver shields, phalanx, pezhetairoi, sarissa, hypaspists

Id: OdlKvZIHgMY

Length: 14min 15sec (855 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 05 2018