NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Ancient Macedonian military

The military of ancient Macedon is considered to be among the greatest military forces of the ancient world. It became the formidable force known from history first under the rule of King Philip II of Macedon and then his son, Alexander the Great. Image File history File links Battleofissus333BC-mosaic. ... Image File history File links Battleofissus333BC-mosaic. ... Macedons regions and towns Macedon or Macedonia (from Greek ; see also List of traditional Greek place names) was the name of an ancient kingdom in the northern-most part of ancient Greece, bordering the kingdom of Epirus on the west and the region of Thrace to the east. ... Philip II of Macedon: victory medal (niketerion) struck in Tarsus, 2nd c. ... Alexander the Great (Greek: ,[1] Megas Alexandros; July 356 BCâ€“June 11, 323 BC), also known as Alexander III, king of Macedon (336â€“323 BC), was one of, if not the most successful military commanders in history. ...

The military innovations, both in weapons and tactics, brought forth by Philip II of Macedonia were what truly forged the army that conquered an empire. He turned warfare and combat into a way of life for the Macedonians, who until then had treated the military as a part-time occupation to be pursued during the off-season from farming. By introducing the military as a full-time occupation, Philip II of Macedonia was able to drill his men regularly, building unity and cohesion. This created one of the finest military machines that Asia or Greece had ever seen, thanks to the amount of time and effort spent on maneuvers as well as military innovations. World map showing the location of Asia. ...

Tactical innovations included the effective use of the phalanx, as well as coordinated attacks and tactics between his phalanx infantry units, cavalry, archers, and siege engines. Weapons introduced included the sarissa, or long pike, which created many advantages, both offensively and defensively, for the Macedonian military. A modern reconstruction of Greek hoplites forming a phalanx formation. ... Military tactics (Greek: TaktikÄ“, the art of organizing an army) is the collective name for methods of engaging and defeating an enemy in battle. ... Infantry of the Royal Irish Rifles during the Battle of the Somme in World War I. Infantry are soldiers who fight primarily on foot with small arms in organized military units, though they may be transported to the battlefield by horses, ships, automobiles, skis, or other means. ... Kircholm, a 1925 painting by Wojciech Kossak. ... Archers in Competition Archery is the practice of using a bow to shoot arrows. ... A siege engine is a device that is designed to break or circumvent city walls and other fortifications in siege warfare. ... The sarissa (or sarisa) was a 3 to 7 meter (13-21 feet) long double pointed pike used in the Macedonian phalanx. ... A modern recreation of a company of pikemen. ...

Macedonian cavalry

The heavy cavalry included the Companion cavalry, raised from the Macedonian nobility, and the Thessalian cavalry. The Companions were Alexander the Greats elite cavalry, the offensive arm of his army and also his elite guard. ...

The Companion cavalry (hetairoi, mounted noble 'companions'; like philoi (basilikoi) '(royal) friends', the term became an aulic title in the diadochi period) was divided into eight squadrons called ile, 200 strong, except the Royal Squadron of 300. They were equipped with a 12 - 14 foot lance, the xyston, and heavy body armor. During the reign of Alexander the Great, cavalrymen carried no shields. However, the Companion cavalry of the Antigonid dynasty did carry large, round bossed shields of Celtic origin. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1555x1059, 346 KB) Alexander on horse at the battle of Issos (Alexander Sarcophagus, Istanbul Archaeological Museum). ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1555x1059, 346 KB) Alexander on horse at the battle of Issos (Alexander Sarcophagus, Istanbul Archaeological Museum). ... The Companions (Greek: Hetairoi) were Alexander the Greats elite cavalry, the offensive arm of his army and also his elite guard. ... Aulic titulature is a term, derived from the Greek AulÃ¨ and Latin Aula (in the meaning palace) for hierarchic systems of titles specifically in use for court protocol. ... In general Diadochi (in Greek Î”Î¹Î¬Î´Î¿Ï‡Î¿Î¹, transcripted Diadochoi) means successors, such that the neoplatonic refounders of Platos Academy in Late Antiquity referred to themselves as diadochi (of Plato). ... The Antigonid dynasty was a dynasty of Macedonian kings descended from Alexander the Greats general Antigonus I Monophthalmus (the One-eyed). Antigonus himself ruled mostly over Asia Minor and northern Syria. ...

The organization of the Thessalian cavalry was similar to the Companion Cavalry, but they had a shorter spear and fought in a looser formation.

Of light cavalry, the prodromoi (runners) secured the wings of the army during battle and went on reconnaissance missions. Several hundred allied horses rounded out the cavalry, but were inferior to the rest. The Prodromoi (singular Prodromos) were the Greek skirmisher light cavalry. ... Mixed reconnaissance patrol of the Polish Home Army and the Soviet Red Army during Operation Tempest, 1944 Reconnaissance is the military term for the active gathering of information about an enemy, or other conditions, by physical observation. ...

Macedonian phalanx

The Macedonian phalanx is an infantry formation developed by Philip II and used by his son Alexander the Great to conquer the Persian Empire and other armies. Phalanxes remained dominant on battlefields throughout the Hellenistic period, although wars had evolved into more protracted operations generally involving sieges and naval combat as much as field battles, until they were finally displaced by the Roman legions. Image File history File links Macedonian_battle_formation. ... Image File history File links Macedonian_battle_formation. ... Infantry of the Royal Irish Rifles during the Battle of the Somme in World War I. Infantry are soldiers who fight primarily on foot with small arms in organized military units, though they may be transported to the battlefield by horses, ships, automobiles, skis, or other means. ... This article is about the military unit. ... Philip II of Macedon: victory medal (niketerion) struck in Tarsus, 2nd c. ... Alexander the Great (Greek: ,[1] Megas Alexandros; July 356 BCâ€“June 11, 323 BC), also known as Alexander III, king of Macedon (336â€“323 BC), was one of, if not the most successful military commanders in history. ... The Persian Empire was a series of historical empires that ruled over the Iranian plateau (IrÄn - Land of the Aryans) and beyond. ... A modern reconstruction of Greek hoplites forming a phalanx formation. ... The term Hellenistic (established by the German historian Johann Gustav Droysen) in the history of the ancient world is used to refer to the shift from a culture dominated by ethnic Greeks, however scattered geographically, to a culture dominated by Greek-speakers of whatever ethnicity, and from the political dominance... A siege is a military blockade and assault of a city or fortress with the intent of conquering by force or attrition. ... Navy is also:- shorthand for Navy Blue the nickname of the United States Naval Academy A navy is the branch of the armed forces of a nation that operates primarily on water. ... Generally, a battle is an instance of combat in warfare between two or more parties wherein each group will seek to defeat the others. ... The Roman Forum was the central area around which ancient Rome developed. ... A modern reconstruction of a Roman centurion around 70 A modern reconstruction of a Roman miles, (10-240) The Roman legion (from Latin , from lego, legere, legi, lectus â€” to collect) was the basic military unit of the ancient Roman army. ...

Philip II spent much of his youth as a hostage at Thebes, where he studied under the renowned general Epaminondas, whose reforms were the basis for the phalanx. Phalangites were professional soldiers, and were among the first troops ever to be drilled, thereby allowing them to execute complex maneuvers well beyond the reach of most other armies. They fought packed in a close rectangular formation, typically eight men deep, with a leader at the head of each column and a secondary leader in the middle, so that the back rows could move off to the sides if more frontage was needed. Thebes (in Demotic Greek: Î˜Î®Î²Î± â€” ThÃva, Katharevousa: â€” ThÄ“bai or ThÃvai) is a city in Greece, situated to the north of the Cithaeron range, which divides Boeotia from Attica, and on the southern edge of the Boeotian plain. ... For information about the modern board game of the same name, see Epaminondas (game). ... Phalangite is the Greek name for an infantryman deployed in a phalanx (massive rectangular (or square) closed formation ) of Classical and hellenistic antiquity. ...

Each phalangite carried as his primary weapon a sarissa, a double-pointed pike over 6 m (18 ft) in length. It is the belief of some that these pikes were so large and heavy that they had to be wielded with two hands in battle, but this would contradict statues and reports contemporary to phalangist troops that showed these soldiers wearing large and heavy shields over one arm; regardless, it is likely that phalangite training was sufficient to permit proper use of the shield and sarissa. Before a battle the sarissa were carried in two pieces and then slid together when they were being used. At close range such large weapons were of little use, but an intact phalanx could easily keep its enemies at a distance; the weapons of the first five rows of men all projected beyond the front of the formation, so that there were more spearpoints than available targets at any given time. The secondary weapon was a shortsword. The sarissa (or sarisa) was a 3 to 7 meter (13-21 feet) long double pointed pike used in the Macedonian phalanx. ... A modern recreation of a company of pikemen. ... The metre, or meter (US), is a measure of length. ... A foot (plural: feet) is any of several old units of distance or length, measuring around a quarter to a third of a meter. ...

Neither Philip nor Alexander actually used the phalanx as their arm of choice, but instead used it to hold the enemy in place while their heavy cavalry broke through their ranks. The Macedonian cavalry fought in wedge formation and was stationed on the far right; after these broke through the enemy lines they were followed by the hypaspists, elite infantrymen who served as the king's bodyguard, and then the phalanx proper. The left flank was generally covered by allied cavalry supplied by the Thessalians, which fought in rhomboid formation and served mainly in a defensive role. Kircholm, a 1925 painting by Wojciech Kossak. ... A flying wedge or flying V is a charging technique in which troops are arrayed to form a V- shaped wedge formation or boars head. ... Hypaspistai, or hypaspists elite foot guardsmen as used by Alexander the Greats Macedonian army. ... Look up monarch in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Map showing Thessaly periphery in Greece Thessaly (Î˜ÎµÏƒÏƒÎ±Î»Î¹Î±; modern Greek ThessalÃa; see also List of traditional Greek place names) is one of the 13 peripheries of Greece, and is further sub-divided into 4 prefectures. ... These shapes are Rhomboids In geometry, a rhomboid is a parallelogram in which adjacent sides are of unequal lengths and angles are oblique. ...

Other forces — skirmishers, range troops, reserves of allied hoplites, archers, and artillery — were also employed. The phalanx carried with it a fairly minimal baggage train, with only one servant for every few men. This gave it a marching speed that contemporary armies could not hope to match — on occasion forces surrendered to Alexander simply because they were not expecting him to show up for several more days. Phalangites were drilled to perform short forced marches if required. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1187x1412, 1062 KB) Macedonian Foot Companion File links The following pages link to this file: Ancient Macedonian military ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1187x1412, 1062 KB) Macedonian Foot Companion File links The following pages link to this file: Ancient Macedonian military ... Skirmishers are infantry soldiers who are stationed ahead or to the sides of a larger body of friendly troops. ... Archers in Competition Archery is the practice of using a bow to shoot arrows. ... Historically, artillery (from French artillerie) refers to any engine used for the discharge of projectiles during war. ... A servant is a person who is hired to provide regular household or other duties, and receives compensation. ... A man is a male human. ... Marching (drill) refers to the organised and uniformed rhythmic walk to march (music), often associated with military troops and parades. ... Speed is the rate of motion, or equivalently the rate of change of position, many times expressed as distance d moved per unit of time t. ... Army (From Latin armata (act of arming) via Old French armÃ©e) can, in some countries, refer to any armed force. ...

The armies of the early Hellenistic period were equipped and fought mainly in the same style as Alexander's. Towards the end, however, there was a general slide away from the combined arms approach back to using the phalanx itself as the arm of decision, having it charge into the enemy lines much like earlier hoplites had. This left the formation fairly vulnerable — though near invincible to forwards assault, phalanxes like other infantry formations were fairly prone to flanking, and worse still tending to break up when advancing quickly over rough ground. So long as everyone was using the same tactics these weaknesses were not immediately apparent, but with the advent of the Roman legion they proved fatal in every major engagement, the most famous being the Battle of Pydna, as the Romans were able to advance through gaps in the line and easily defeat the phalangites once in close. Flank is a word which might mean any of several different things: A flank is the side of either a horse or a military unit. ... A modern reconstruction of a Roman centurion around 70 A modern reconstruction of a Roman miles, (10-240) The Roman legion (from Latin , from lego, legere, legi, lectus â€” to collect) was the basic military unit of the ancient Roman army. ... Combatants Macedon Roman Republic Commanders Perseus of Macedon Lucius Aemilius Paulus Macedonicus Strength 44,000 38,000 Casualties 25,000 killed and wounded Less than a hundred dead. ...

Macedonian cavalry GA_googleFillSlot("encyclopedia_square");

Macedonian phalanx

See also

Macedonian cavalry