Military Reforms of Alexander the Great

[Music] it is 336 BC and philip ii of macedon is dead in his lifetime he had completely overhauled the Macedonian army transforming it into the greatest force the Hellenic world had yet seen in this episode we shall cover the evolution and reorganization of the Macedonian army during the reign and conquest of Philips son Alexander the Great arguably the element of the Macedonian army that evolved the most during Alexander's conquests was his siege machinery just as his father had before him Alexander quickly embraced the great potential of siege warfare for his campaign ladders remained the most cost effective way to capture a settlement and we know Alexander took many smaller towns using them yet to conquer the more formidable defenses of the larger a commended fortresses Alexander required more complex or inspiring engines just as Polly itis was for Philip one engineer was crucial to the evolution of siege machinery during Alexander's infamous campaign his name was deities a resident of Pella deities had been a student of Pali Ida's and succeeded him as chief engineer at the time of Alexander's accession deities would create several new siege engines during Alexander's reign arguably one of the greatest was the troponin the Bora designed to ran down a settlements walls simple borers had been in existence before deities yes it was he who radically improved its design like the RAM daya DZ's Bora consisted of a wooden beam with a metal head it would be attached with ropes that were connected to pulleys and winches so when the mechanics pulled the ropes it would exert a powerful force on the RAM and caused a large breach in the wall deities not only increased the borås power but also its protection the beam was placed inside a mobile wooden shield called a Kelowna or tortoise alongside the Borah deities invented many other formidable siege engines this included a grappling machine designed for pulling down defenses and a much improved drawbridge called canopy bathra this drawbridge acted as a gangway which soldiers could use to cross over from either a siege tower or ship although the drawbridge had been in use before Alexander's time it was deities who dramatically increased its effectiveness deities would also make modifications to many existing siege engines such as the RAM protected with a tortoise and the siege tower increased mobility and better drawbridge many of these engines would be used during Alexander's successful siege of Tyre arguably Alexander's greatest military feat consequently deities became known as the man who took time there were other engineers that accompanied Alexander the talented engineer Carius was essential in the creation of various siege machines designed to counter specific defenses at halicarnassus for example we hear the Macedonians employed ditch filling tortoises to aid an assault on the city another prominent engineer Jose dounia's would design a modified siege tower of Alexander it's wheels were mounted on a sturdy timber chassis which provided a strong base for the tower inside the chassis 150 men would man the contraption that would push the engines wheels towards the enemy wall as well as containing other levels for stone throwing torsion catapult or litter below the tower had two main floors one floor was placed at a level that would be the same height as the opposing battlements the other level was placed higher up level with the top of a defending tower a drawbridge would be lowered when the tower reached the all through which the attackers would cross over onto the defense's facing such a complex and deadly mobile machine must have been terrifying for any defending force significant developments would also be made to Alexander's artillery throughout his campaign Polly itis his creation of the torsion catapult under Philip was revolutionary for siege warfare and deities and his fellow engineers continued to improve upon his initial design by the start of Alexander's Persian conquest no longer were these torsion catapult used to primarily fire arrows at the defenders themselves thanks to further advancements they were now able to also fire stones with enough power to smash down enemy walls they were called Liverpool oi or stones rowers very quickly deities Carius and the rest of the Macedonian engineers made further improvements to these lifts of the light at the sieges of Halicarnassus and tyre for example we hear of highly destructive torsion stone throwers called Petra Burrill Oy being used in Alexander's army these devastating machines could either be wheeled or Wheeless and could be placed on land on siege towers and on ships Alexander continued to use other types of artillery such as the arrow firing torsion catapult the successor to the non torsion Aqsa Bellus used by his father each of these machines provided covering fire for his troops and were manned by teams of specialised artilleryman what made these great engines even more fascinating was their portability it was Alexander who truly embraced the concept of designing siege equipment that could be dismantled and reused elsewhere throughout his campaign both by sea and land his Army's great siege engines were dismantled transported and then reconstructed at locations during the siege of Gaza for example Alexander ordered died eases siege engines used at tire to be dismantled and transported by sea to be quickly reconstructed the Macedonian infantry and cavalry would also evolve during Alexander's reign upon his accession Alexander inherited the most revered infantry force of the time yet he would quickly instigates changes to it perhaps to ensure their loyalty Alexander quickly extended the name hesita boy or footprint onions to include the entirety of his balance while the elite infantry of philip ii became known as the high-pass fists whether the peasant idroid of philip were the same soldiers who formed the high-pass fists of Alexander is unknown the parathyroid of Alexander's army experienced no significant changes for much of Alexander's conquest its soldiers remained in basic units of sixteen men called a Decker's which could be combined to form a locus of 128 men 12 of these loko a combined formed a battalion of 1536 men small changes in structure however do appear to have occurred for the high pacifists new sub commanders appointed by merit were introduced into the elite unit companies of 500 men were commanded by a pentecostal while units of 1000 were commanded by a kill yak the high pacifists consisted of 3,000 men in total so the unit had six Pentecost yaks and three chili ox altogether later following Alexander's death his high-pass fists would receive a new name to reflect their high quality the Agora spa days or silver shields used most notably by human ease during his great campaign against Antigonus from the Granicus in 334 BC to the high dispise in 326 BC the Macedonian phalanx was the nucleus of Alexander's army yet as Alexander's campaign went on reinforcements from Macedon ended and the number of his foot companions slowly dwindled Alexander lost many of his Macedonians due to death injury old age or being settled somewhere in his empire and by 324 BC less than 10,000 remained Alexander had no option but to radically reorganize his macedonian phallanx incorporating iranian infantry into the battalions in each deckers only four of the 16 men remained Macedonians stationed at the front and rear in the formation the rest were Persian levies not trained with this erisa and instead using their native armaments the bow and javelins this mixed phalanx lacked the cutting edge and flexibility of the original and thus did not stand the test of time following the death of Alexander Alexander had seen this as a temporary measure yet he still needed to bridge the divide between the Concord and the conquerors in his army if he were to be a legitimate king of Asia one way he realized he could do this was by removing his reliance on his Macedonian infantry and improving the quality of his Asian footman in 327 BC Alexander ordered 30,000 Asians to be recruited and trained in the Macedonian manner trained by Macedonian veterans these oriental youth would undergo constant practice in the use of Macedonian arms and discipline for the next two years separate from their Macedonian counterparts at the beginning of 324 BC they were presented to Alexander at Sousa dressed in Macedonian attire well trained in the sirisha phalanx and a rival to the Macedonians themselves so much so that Alexander labelled them as his epic Oni or successors by the end of 324 BC Alexander's powerful Macedonians erisa phalanx was longer the undisputed key infantry force in his army now there was a rival equally prestigious formation in Alexander's force the Macedonian cavalry - evolved during Alexander's brain most notably with the companions Philip had arranged his companions into la squadrons based on the regions where they owned their land each squadron 200 men strong was commanded by a squadron leader called an iliac who wielded great power in the field Alexander altered this in 331 BC perhaps to curb each squadron commanders power Alexander began to reform the command structure he divided each la into two smaller units called la coy in charge of each of these he appointed new sub commanders called Luca [ __ ] these appointments were based on merit and not the region associated with each squadron these Locka GUI owed their newfound power to Alexander and their loyalty became unquestionable the power of the original illy Ark was curbed significantly as was the regional affiliation of each of the squadrons in 330 BC Alexander made a crucial decision that would forever change the organization of his companions Philotas the son of Alexander's second-in-command Parmenion and the overall calm of the entire companion cavalry body was accused of being involved in a conspiracy against the king and Julie executed along with his father Alexander then divided the command over his companions between two of his closest friends Claire 'test the black and hephaestia never again would he allow one man total control of his elite cavalry unit furthermore Alexander changed the name for the basic unit of the cavalry from 330 BC onwards he no longer labeled his companion regiments as la squadrons but he bikies the term la continued to be used as a subdivision of each hipper key with two la squadrons together forming one HIPPA key as for the Royal squadron or basilique ala this too appears to have had its name changed at this time to the a gamer consequently Cletus and hephaestan also received a new title and were called hip arcs by 3 27 BC Alexander increased the number of hip arcs commanding the companions to eight including men such as Perdiccas and cratis who would later become the diadochi Alexander would also introduce oriental horsemen into his companion cavalry by 324 BC for HIPPA keys of the companions consisted solely of pict Iranian cavalry men and a fifth contained a mixture of Oriental and Macedonian horsemen we also know that certain Asian Nobles were incorporated into the royal a gamer consequently the companions were no longer a select Macedonian unit from the region's nobility with the creation of the four inhibit keys of the companions and the epigonion oriental units had become just as prestigious as his Macedonians by the end of Alexander's reign it was not just the companions that Alexander greatly reorganized however great change also appears probable to the Macedonian light cavalry the prodrome I following 329 BC any reference to the Macedonian light cavalry disappears completely from our sources what happens to the prodrome eye is unknown although many now suspect Alexander merged them with his reorganized companions and placed them within the new-look HIPPA keys from then on Alexander's light cavalry came mostly from his Asian units such as his horse archers from da hai by the end of Alexander's reign the Macedonian army had significantly evolved from that of his father Philip we will cover other critical parts of his army in the next episodes so make sure that you are subscribed to our channel and have pressed the bell icon to be notified of our videos we would like to express our gratitude to our patreon supporters and YouTube sponsors who make the creation of our videos possible this is the kings and Generals channel and we will catch you on the next one

Channel: Kings and Generals

Views: 398,629

Keywords: alexander the great, ancient history, historia civilis, persian empire, ancient greece, world history, kings and generals, full documentary, history lesson, documentary film, extra credits history, animated documentary, ancient battle, battle of gaugamela, king darius, history documentary, alexander of macedon, ancient warfare, military history, war - topic, roman empire, decisive battles, armies and tactics, phalanx, companion cavalry, agema, hypaspists

Id: C8DzzseqBMw

Length: 15min 39sec (939 seconds)

Published: Thu Aug 02 2018