Alexander the Great & Hellenistic Warfare

Question 1

When did Alexander rise to the throne?

Answer 1

At the age of 20, when his father, Philip II of Macedon, was assassinated in 336 BC

Question 2

What did Alexander do to solidify his power over Greece?

Answer 2

Crushed the Illyrians and Thebans, destroying Thebes in 335 BC

Question 3

How did Alexander organize the Companion Cavalry?

Answer 3

Those who crossed into Asia Minor were reorganized in a Royal ila (squadron) and seven other ilai on a territorial basis

Question 4

How many horsemen were in one Royal ile?

Answer 4

300 horsemen (regular ilai had 200 plus)

Question 5

How did Companions fight?

Answer 5

With their ilai in an embolos

Question 6

What was an embolos?

Answer 6

A delta shaped wedge formation that was invented by the Scythians and adopted by Philip II - this formation permitted rapid wheeling and withdrawal and was ideal for penetrating other cavalry formations

Question 7

What were Companions armed with?

Answer 7

a Syrissa, the characteristic weapon of Macedonian cavalry and infantry

Question 8

What importance did the phalanx play?

Answer 8

It was the iron core of the Macedon army

Question 9

What types of soldiers fought in a phalanx?

Answer 9

Pezhetairoi and infantrymen,

Question 10

Who were the pezhetairoi?

Answer 10

‘Foot companions’; tactical and political companions to the king

Question 11

Who were part of Alexander’s expeditionary force?

Answer 11

12,000 infantrymen, companion cavalry, 9000 pezhetairoi, 3000 Hypaspists (the elite guard; ‘shield bearers’)

Question 12

What was a taxis?

Answer 12

A basic tactical unit of the Pezhetairoi that was subdivided into smaller units

Question 13

What was an Alexandrine lochos?

Answer 13

256 men, six lochos per taxis

Question 14

How did Alexander have his order-of-battle organized?

Answer 14

Hypaspists and Pezhetairoi occupied the center, flanked by companion and Thessalian cavalry; they were all trained to cooperate in large-scale movements in oblique order

Question 15

What was the tactical goal of companions in a battle?

Answer 15

To punch a hole in the enemy battle line and the phalanx would then exploit it, while the cavalry was covered in the flank and rear

Question 16

What were phalangites armed with??

Answer 16

Heavy body armour, leather corselets, helmets, greaves, and knives as their secondary weapon

Question 17

What were the Thessalian cavalry?

Answer 17

1,800 Thessalians followed Alexandr as Archon of the Thessalian League; he secured the position in succession to his father; the Thessalians were the finest cavalry in the army

Question 18

What was the Prodromoi?

Answer 18

They were scouts, or Lancers (sarissophoroi), as they were armed with syrissas; they made up the light cavalry with two units of Alexander’s allies, the Paeonians and the Thracians; 600 strong Prodromoi fought in a small ilai of 150 horsemen

Question 19

Who were Alexander’s Greek and Balkan Allied troops?

Answer 19

The Thracians/Odrysians (3,000 infantry) and the Illyrians (3,000 infantry) joined in 334 BC. 335 BC there was the Triballians (1,000 infantry), Paeonia (500 Agrinian javelin men, + 500 from Issus), and the Greek allies (League of Corinth) (7,000 infantry and 600 cavalry)

Question 20

How many mercenary infantry soldiers did Alexander have?

Answer 20

5000 in the order-of-battle in 335 BC

Question 21

How large was Alexander’s expeditionary force in 334 BC?

Answer 21

32,000 infantry and 5,100 cavalry; by Gaugamela in 331 BC this had grown to 40,000 infantry and 7,000 cavalry

Question 22

How small did Alexander keep his core army?

Answer 22

Though his numbers rose to 120,000 men when he subjugated Persia, his core army totalled only 23,000 foot soldiers and 8,000 cavalry at the Hydaspes in 326 BC

Question 23

What was Alexander’s last great innovation?

Answer 23

He trained 30,000 young Persians in the use of the Macedonian equipment and tactics, and their incorporation into pre-existing Macedonian units

Question 24

What happened at the Battle of the Granicus?

Answer 24

Spring 334 BC he crossed into Asia Minor via the Hellespont; he was confronted by the Arsites, Spithridates, and Arsames, and the Greek mercenary commander Memnon of Rhodes; Alexander deployed his army immediately

Question 25

What was the outcome of the Battle of the Granicus?

Answer 25

Alexander had the advantage in numbers, and advanced with Socrates’ ile in the van to give the impression of a full scale attack, while the Persians charged chaotically into the river-bed - Alexander’s side broke through and gained victory; the mercenaries wanted to negotiate but Alexander said no and slaughtered all but 2,000 of them; Macedonians only lost 80 cavalry and 30 infantry, while the Persian numbers were about 5-6,000

Question 26

What did Alexander do at Miletus?

Answer 26

He de-mobilized his fleet as it was more of a liability than an asset before going north to Gordium then south east to Cilicia

Question 27

Who was the ultimate obstacle for Alexander?

Answer 27

Darius, who had been in Cilicia

Question 28

What happened at the Battle of Issus?

Answer 28

Alexander was confronted by the Persian army, led by Darius; both sides cancelled each other out, as Persia had stronger cavalry and Alexander had stronger heavy infantry; Darius’s plan to lead Alex’s army into the awful terrain was foiled by Alexander’s rapid reactions to the changing tactical situation, along with the moral + discipline of Macedonian soldiers; Macedon turned to sacking Darius’s camp, as they couldn’t pursue the enemy

Question 29

Why was the Battle of Issus almost a near defeat for Alexander?

Answer 29

Darius made full use of the excellent defensive position afforded by the Pinarus but his formations were lacking battle discipline and experience of large scale tactical movements

Question 30

Why was the Battle of Issus such a success for Alexander?

Answer 30

His tactics were executed by a veteran army that was accustomed to its leader’s methods and possessed a battle discipline which ensure co-operation, even where rapid movements and changes of battle-order were required

Question 31

What happened at the Siege of Tyre?

Answer 31

Alexander held the city under siege for six months before he finally took the resistant city

Question 32

What did Alexander construct at Tyre?

Answer 32

He dug a 60m wide mole, and two siege-towers armed with catapults; he also learned he could lash some of his ships together to make battering rams, but the Tyrians prevented this but having divers cut the cables, so he switched to chains; In August he finally broke part of the city walls and ordered a general assault on the breach

Question 33

What happened to Tyre after Alexander’s soldiers got inside?

Answer 33

It came to bitter street-fighting and Tyre was burnt down. The 2,000 surviving Tyrians were crucified to satisfy Alexander’s anger

Question 34

Where was Alexander welcomed as a liberator?

Answer 34

Egypt; he was also crowned Pharaoh at Memphis

Question 35

What happened at the Battle of Gaugamela?

Answer 35

Against Darius’s forces; he had crossed the Euphrates and wanted to take Babylon, so he attacked the Persians on October 1st, 331 BC; Darius retreated and Alexander lost his trail but had claimed some victory

Question 36

When did Alexander finally catch Darius?

Answer 36

In 329 BC after he’d fled north to Media

Question 37

What was the Battle of the Hydaspes?

Answer 37

Porus, the Indian king who wanted to stop the Macedonian advance, waiting on the banks of the Hydaspes; Porus had an elephant cavalry, and Alexander used a Forward Division and Rear Division to fight him; Macedonian discipline + tactical co-operation with the phalanx + light infantry was decisive for Alexander’s side

Question 38

When did Alexander’s soldiers refuse to march any farther?

Answer 38

When they reached the River Beas, the eastern frontier of the Persian empire; after a conquest down the Indus river, they turned back

Question 39

What was precipitated by Alexander’s death?

Answer 39

A series of civil wars in which his generals tested their skills against each other

Question 40

What was the Battle of Gaza?

Answer 40

In 312, Ptolemy I of Egypt fought against Demetrius Poliorcetes, son of Antigonus (one of Alexander’s generals)

Question 41

How did Alexander change the face of war?

Answer 41

His army defied logistics by living off the land, whatever the local conditions; the military system he established prevailed until the 2nd century BC

Question 42

Where did cavalry shields (Celtic) come from?

Answer 42

Possibly introduced by Italian or Galatian influence; they were round

Question 43

What were the Xystophoroi?

Answer 43

Light unarmed mercenary cavalry that carried a long lance (the xyston) to compensate for their lack of armour and enabled them to fulfill a battlefield role

Question 44

When did the empire disintegrate?

Answer 44

It was complete by the early 3rd century - the Ptolemies held Egypt, the Seleucids Syria + lands to the east, and the Antigonids Macedon, the Attalids the Kingdom of Pergamon

Question 45

What were torsion catapults?

Answer 45

Developed between 353-341 BC under Philip II of Macedon

Question 46

Why did cavalry settlers need to be provided with larger estates?

Answer 46

They were more expensive to maintain

Question 47

Why did cavalry decline in number and importance after Alexander’s death?

Answer 47

Local population became more attached to their own royal dynasties

Question 48

What two distinct types did the phalanx fall into?

Answer 48

The traditional hoplite and the peltasts

Question 49

What was a traditional hoplite?

Answer 49

They had hoplite equipment together with their Macedon equivalents (chalkaspides, ‘Bronze shields’)

Question 50

What was a peltast?

Answer 50

A cross between hoplites and light infantry equipped with small bronze shields, daggers, helmets, and short pikes

Question 51

What was an ‘articulated phalanx’?

Answer 51

Companies of pike-wielding phalangites were interspersed with ‘joints’ of lighter and more mobile infantry companies fighting in looser formation; may have been invented by Pyrrhus of Epirus

Question 52

What was a ‘double phalanx’?

Answer 52

A second reserve line of phalangites were frequently drawn up some distance behind the first line