Gabriele Esposito - The Macedonian Army of Philip II and Alexander the Great, 359–323 BC

The Macedonian Army of Philip II and Alexander the Great, 359323 BC

History, organization and equipment

Gabriele Esposito

First published in Great Britain in 2022

by Pen & Sword Military

An imprint of Pen & Sword Books Limited

47 Church Street

Barnsley

South Yorkshire

S70 2AS

Copyright Gabriele Esposito 2022

ISBN 978 1 52678 735 4

eISBN 978 1 52678 736 1

Mobi ISBN 978 1 52678 736 1

The right of Gabriele Esposito to be identified as Author of this Work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

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Gabriele Esposito is a military historian who works as a freelance author and researcher for some of the most important publishing houses in the military history sector. In particular, he is an expert specializing in uniformology: his interests and expertise range from the ancient civilizations to modern post-colonial conflicts. During recent years, he has conducted and published several researches on the military history of the Latin American countries, with special attention on the War of the Triple Alliance and the War of the Pacific. He is among the leading experts on the military history of the Italian Wars of Unification and the Spanish Carlist Wars. His books and essays are published on a regular basis by Osprey Publishing, Winged Hussar Publishing and Libreria Editrice Goriziana; he is also the author of numerous military history articles appearing in specialized magazines like Ancient Warfare Magazine , Medieval Warfare Magazine , The Armourer , History of War , Guerres et Histoire , Focus Storia and Focus Storia Wars .

T his book is dedicated to my beloved parents, Maria Rosaria and Benedetto, for their immense love and great support in every phase of my life. Thanks to their precious advice, the present publication is a much better product: their great intelligence is always a secure guide for me. A very special mention goes to the German re-enactment group and living history association Hetairoi, for providing me the magnificent and detailed photographs that illustrate this book. In particular, I want to express my deep gratitude to Thorsten Schillo: he enjoyed and supported the idea of this book from the beginnings and has helped me in every phase of its production with great generosity. I want to express my gratitude also to the other two groups that collaborated with me for this title: Athenea Prmakhos from Spain, in the person of Jonatan Prieto, and Ancient Thrace from Bulgaria, in the person of Petar Chapkanov. Without their incredible work of research and re-enactment, the present work would have not been the same. A very special thanks goes to Philip Sidnell, the commissioning editor of my books for Pen & Sword: his love for history and his passion for publishing are the key factors behind the success of our publications. Last but not least, a special mention goes to the production manager of this title, Matt Jones, for his great competence and patience, and many thanks also to Tony Walton for his usual incredible work on my manuscripts.

T he main aim of this book is to present a detailed analysis of the organization, combat experiences, tactics and equipment of Alexander the Greats Macedonian Army. Alexanders army is one of the most famous military forces of Antiquity, well known because of its most important component: the iconic heavy infantry phalanx, a tactical formation that gave victory to Alexander in several pitched battles. To understand the reasons behind the great conquerors military successes, we will follow the history of the Kingdom of Macedonia since its first significant political experiences up to the rise of Philip II, Alexanders brilliant father and one of the greatest military reformers of the ancient world. We will see how the Macedonians played an important role in the history of Greece before the ascendancy of Philip, and will examine how the latter was able to subdue most of the southern Balkans in just a few years. A lot of space will be devoted to the military reforms carried out by Alexanders father, in order to describe the structure and organization of Macedonias most iconic military units: the foot companions, the horse companions and the hypaspists. The book will then provide an analysis of Alexanders early military campaigns and of his subsequent great victories in Asia: at the River Granicus, Issus, Tyre, Gaza, Gaugamela, the Persian Gate, Sogdian Rock and River Hydaspes. By describing the various campaigns and battles, we will also follow the internal evolution of the Macedonian Army, with an analysis of its lesser-known troop types such as the light infantry/cavalry and the allied/mercenary forces provided by the Greeks. The tactics employed by Alexanders soldiers will be explained in great detail across the whole text, and there will be a final chapter entirely devoted to a description of the panoply used by the various components of the Macedonian Army, from the long pikes of the phalangites to the light javelins of the tribal peltasts.

F or a very long time, the Kingdom of Macedonia was not considered as part of the Greek world because it was located on the northern edge of the Hellenic kingdoms and its inhabitants were quite different from those of the great Greek urban centres like Athens or Sparta. Although the Macedonians spoke Greek and practised the same religion as the southern Greeks, they had a completely different lifestyle. Primarily, they did not live in large cities like the rest of the Greeks, their settlements instead being dispersed across a vast countryside and consisting of small rural villages. In addition, the Macedonian economy and society were completely different from those of the other Greeks: commerce and craftsmanship were quite underdeveloped in Macedonia, with the local economy instead based on agriculture and horse breeding. Agriculture was the main occupation of the Macedonians, the majority of whom were free men who owned a small farm, sustaining their families with the products of their land and having large flocks of sheep or goats. The breeding of horses was particularly important for the economy of Macedonia, since these animals were used in war and could also be sold to the southern Greeks in exchange for significant sums of money. Macedonian society retained a very tribal nature for a long time, with the development of a centralized state being extremely slow. Each village was dominated by its own noble warlord, who was at the head of a personal retinue of warriors. No form of democracy existed and the king exerted only nominal power over the states many nobles. These nobles, with their warriors, fought as horsemen and were extremely warlike: pillaging and raiding were common activities. The most important cities of Greece were characterized by the presence of a strong middle class, whose members made up the bulk of the armies assembled by the various urban centres. Indeed, it was from these merchants and craftsmen that the heavy infantry of the hoplites were recruited. Macedonia had very few slaves; all the subjects of the king were free men, but between them and the aristocracy there was no middle class. Macedonian armies mostly consisted of cavalry, which comprised the nobles and their personal retinues; the great majority of the population was excluded from military life, which meant the kingdom was quite weak from a military point of view. Neither could the Macedonians be compared with the other Greeks from a cultural point of view: they spoke Greek with a very distinctive rural accent and did not practise philosophy like the Athenians. Macedonian civilization was thus a simplified version of the Greek culture, to the point that the Greeks considered the Macedonians to be semi-barbarians who had very little in common with them. This was partly true, the Kingdom of Macedonia being located in the heart of the Balkans and thus heavily influenced by several different civilizations.