Tactics and Weaponry
If you're wondering how the
heck Alexander the Great was able to take
over most of the known world, if not all of it, you have come
to the right place.
Alexander was a great military mind. He devised
ways to lay waste to enemies with more men and resources. Although
consider myself to be reasonably well versed on tactics, I doubt
that I can bring Alexander's full intellectual strength to paper.
But here goes...
When Alexander's father was killed he had to take
over. His enemies thought "Hey, here's a great moment to
go waste this weak empire with this inexperienced kid in charge."
Little did they know that Alexander had been well taught by military
minds and had already taken part in numerous battles with his
father.
Alexander developed the phalanx, a box formation
for infantry soldiers. The men in the front carried spears of
about four to six meters (12 to 18 feet), with another wave of
spear carriers a few rows back in the formation. When held vertically,
the wall of spears helped hide what was going on with the units
behind the formation. When held horizontally, enemies could be
killed at a safe range from the formation. The phalanx was revolutionary
for its time and was a very potent weapon. It was only surpassed
when the Romans developed the legion, another infantry formation
with different weapons and armor.
Even though there wasn't much in the way of technological
know how compared to modern warfare, Alexander was able to put
together a very impressive army. The weapons of the time consisted
of spears, bows and arrows, swords, cavalry, chariots and some
light and heavy armor. This may not seem very impressive today,
but it won many wars for Alexander.
His order of battle was also impressive. He was
an expert at organizing his units for complex battle maneuvers,
hiding the true numbers and make up of his forces, and managing
his army during the flow of the battle.
The soldiers life was similar to today's in some
ways and very different in others. These soldiers did not have
had the variety of uniforms of today, they had only one. There
weren't many different jobs for them, but the ones they did have
they were very well drilled in. Alexander had his men drill constantly
and the morale and discipline was always very high. Alexander
had mercenaries come and drill his men along with their regular
officers so you get the idea they did know what they were doing.
I have heard many times a saying that applies almost
anywhere, " It's the man not the machine." Now, think
of this: ten soldiers on one side with shields and swords but
they don't really want to be there and haven't been trained very
much, so on the whole they don't really want to fight anyone.
On the other side one veteran of 5 major battles, hard bitten,
well trained and with the same weapons.
In a regular battle, I would bet on the side with
the experience rather then side with numerical superiority, wouldn't
you? In a few of Alexander's battles this general idea of him
being out numbered but with better men could explain his victories.
But in most of his battles he fought hard bitten, well trained
enemies. This is where tactics and strategy come into play.
For those of you that are military illiterates an
explanation is in order. Tactics refers to movements you do every
five minutes or so. Strategy is your overall plan. Usually tactics
win a battle not strategy. But you have to have a good strategy,
or plan of battle, before you can make can make good decisions
on the fly. Alexander had brilliant strategies that were used
later by other generals like Napoleon.
But a good strategy only worked if your enemies
did exactly what you had thought he would do. This was almost
never the case, and that's when tactics came into play. You may
have a bad plan of battle, but if you have killer tactics, you
can still carry the day. (For any of you serious game players
out there you know what I mean.) Tactics are developed on the
fly as the battle progresses and sometimes they might decide the
entire battle.
In Alexander's time many battles were fought with
the general off somewhere in a tent or on a distant hill watching
the battle progress and giving an occasional order. In contrast,
when Alexander wasn't at the front fighting with his men he was
on a close hill watching the battle and giving orders. Alexander
was very good on the fly, developing tactics to overcome the odds.
For many years battles proceeded like this. Today, many battles
are fought with just low grade officers giving critical orders.
If anyone is wondering where training or discipline comes in, well, its in all the time. A well drilled solider with good discipline, which means he will do what his superior tells him to without question, will stand his ground with just a spear against a charge of cavalry. In Alexander's battles in India discipline and training was very important. Alexander's men had never seen elephants before they entered those battles. When faced with fighting a man up on top of an elephant untrained and undisciplined soldiers would most likely have run, but Alexander's well trained veterans stood their ground. They were confident in their superiors abilities to tell them what to do. They didn't run, even when faced with these bigger enemies.
If you would like more hands on experience learning
about tactics and strategy look into the huge selection of strategy
and real-time games. I personally suggest any Warcraft game,
or Command and Conquer game. I have personally played them and
they are big on strategy, tactics, and weapons. For games that
have more things to worry about like towns or empires I suggest
any Lords of the Realm game.
If you have played these games and don't like them
or would like different choices look for any game with a real-time
strategy feel. Even 3-d "shot em ups" have a great deal
of tactics involved.
There is also an Alexander the Great game available,
but I haven't played it personally, so I can't give you a review.