The history of Alexander the Great's crusade to India can be said to be widely known, but for a long time on the Chinese Internet, there has been such a saying: "Alexander fortunately did not meet the Qin state", "the Macedonian phalanx is vulnerable in front of the Qin army", "the seven heroes of the Warring States can wrestle with Macedonia in any country", so what does the historical fact look like? Was Alexander the Great and the Macedonian army really so vulnerable? Today I will take a look at what the truth of history is.
1. Correcting various historical misconceptions (military)
First, is the Macedonian phalanx very dull?
This realization really does not know anything about Alexander's military configuration, and I will first post about Alexander's army when he went to Asia:
cavalry
infantry
Total: 30,000 infantry, 5,200 cavalry, 35,200 in the whole army. Alexander left Antipater 12,000 infantry and 1,500 cavalry to defend Greece, fend off the Persian fleet, prevent others from usurping the Macedonian throne, and suppress discontent. Soldiers operating siege equipment were not considered part of the army organization at the time, so they were not counted in the total strength. It can be seen that Macedonia's military configuration from infantry to cavalry and various siege equipment is very complete.
Phalanx formation during battle
And the two classic thesis circulating today is to use cavalry and crossbowmen to deal with the Macedonian phalanx, and it feels that the Macedonian phalanx is a phalanx, completely ignoring the heavy cavalry and various light infantry on both sides, so idle is obviously a big mistake and does not hold up at all.
In actual battles, the formation will also be adjusted, such as the following battles
Similarly, Alexander's command system is also very perfect
As a summary, the formation and rank sequence of a large phalanx are listed here: row (squad), 16 heavy infantry, commanded by the commander (non-commissioned officer); Four-line squad (platoon), 64 heavy infantry, commanded by the four-line captain (platoon leader); Company, 128 heavy infantry, commanded by a company commander; Battalion, 256 heavy infantry, commanded by a battalion commander; regiment, 1024 heavy infantry, commanded by the regiment commander; Phalanx (brigade), 4096 heavy infantry, commanded by the commander (brigade commander) of the phalanx; Double Phalanx (division), 8192 heavy infantry, commanded by the commander (division commander) of Double Phalanx; quadruple phalanx / large phalanx (corps), 16,384 heavy infantry, commanded by the commander (commander) of quadruple phalanx; Supplemented by cavalry and light infantry, it constituted an army totaling 28,672 soldiers, with the king or a specially appointed commander (usually an aide-de-camp) as its overall commander.
The infantry can be divided into four classes: the first class is the walking partner, that is, the phalanx infantry using the sarisha spear; The second class is shield-wielding soldiers with one-handed spears; The third class is the light shield soldiers, who can be counted as well-organized and well-equipped light infantry; The fourth class is skirmishers, including archers, stone throwers and javeliners. Among the cavalry, the first class was the companion cavalry, the Thessaly cavalry, and a part of the Greek heavy cavalry; The second class was light cavalry and well-equipped mercenary cavalry; The third class was the Lancers and Dragoons; The fourth class is the irregular nomadic cavalry, which is equipped with a wide variety of equipment.
There are also different formations inside the phalanx
Philip and Alexander's phalanx was able to rotate 90 or 45 degrees to the left and right, or even turn completely backward. Whether advancing horizontally or vertically, you can change direction at any time. If you want to double the number of people in the front row, the even-numbered rows of soldiers in each column stand one step forward to the left of the soldiers in the front row. The phalanx infantry can also provide cover for both sides of the front row during the advance, at which time the soldiers in the second half of each row will no longer follow the front row of soldiers, but will divide into small teams to fill the empty space on the left and right sides. Phalanx infantry are also trained to use different weapons and move at different speeds to the left and right flanks and even behind. In addition, the Macedonians will train many other formations or maneuvers in training.
Under the usual battle formation, a row is 48 feet deep. With each occupying 3 feet square space, one company is 24 feet wide and one battalion is 48 to 50 feet wide. Without taking into account the gaps between each battalion (historical records often contradict each other and cannot be accurately estimated), the width of each phalanx infantry regiment is 200 feet. Thus, with the light infantry and light shield soldiers placed in front of and behind the phalanx, one phalanx would occupy a frontal 800 feet wide and a quadruple phalanx would occupy a frontal position of 3,200 feet, or about 0.6 miles.
The commander's password, trumpet, military insignia, short sword, or spear can be used as a means of giving orders to the phalanx infantry. A military emblem held high represents advance, a flat emblem represents retreat, and raising a spear upright and standing in place means asking for negotiations.
The cavalry also has it
Alexander's drastic improvement of the cavalry made them far superior to any previous cavalry. These cavalry marched in columns of four horses, and when making small-scale charges, they formed a square formation of eight horses in width and depth. They can also form wedge or triangular formations, charging at the top corner with the least number of people or the bottom side with the largest number of people, depending on the situation. Sometimes they also charge in a diamond formation so that they can turn to either side at any time. In the face of a larger number of enemies, the Macedonian cavalry is often described in historical sources as charging "squadron after squadron", the specific tactical significance of which is not known accurately. Perhaps this represents some kind of oblique sequence. Usually, cavalry was deployed on both flanks of the phalanx to protect its fragile flanks
It can be seen that the Macedonian phalanx not only has a variety of formations, but can even be very flexible and mobile.
Second, can you really defeat the Macedonian phalanx with chariots?
This is a question that you will know if you look at Alexander's battle examples, Darius III of Persia once used the sickle chariot at the Battle of Gaugamela.
While the cavalry units on the right flank bravely resisted the superior enemy attack, the Persians began to charge in chariots, which they had high hopes for and feared by the Macedonians. However, like the elephants or other abnormal actions in many battles, this charge was also a failure. As chariots quickly crossed the flat ground and rushed towards the phalanx, the heavy infantry struck their shields with their spears to startle the horses, and the Aguirians, archers, and javelinists also attacked them with dense javelins. Under the attack of these light infantry, some of the horses stopped just because of fear, while others were injured. Due to their long accompaniment to cavalry movements, these light infantry were very fast. They jumped on the back of the horse pulling the chariot, pulled the reins and cut the rope, killing the groom and the soldiers. Other chariots either passed through passages given by the Macedonian army, crashed into the sarisha spears, killed or turned around and fled. Almost all of those vehicles that crossed the rear of the line were captured by non-combatants, and the light shields of the second line also destroyed some of them. In the end, these prestigious chariots did not achieve any of the results expected by the Persians or feared by the Macedonians, and many even rushed back to the Persian front. Because the Persian front was more deep, these chariots caused far more damage to their side than they did to the Macedonians. In contrast, there was only minor chaos on the Macedonian front, and they quickly re-established order with good discipline.
It can be seen that the chariot did not have a slight impact, and even rushed back to the Persian line, so it is a pity that the example of the chariot Darius told us from personal experience that it does not work.
Third, the question of the number of troops
There is also a widespread misconception that the Macedonian army is very small in number, and the Warring States countries mobilize hundreds of thousands of people at every turn, and the Macedonian army can be defeated by numbers. This is another mistake.
First, let's take a look at the Battle of Salhu
In the Battle of Salhu, the Ming army gathered 200,000 elite troops from all over the country and Korean troops, claiming to be 470,000 troops, launched an attack on Liaodong, and marched in four ways, with Juniper on the left side leading 60,000 troops, Li Rubai leading 60,000 troops on the right middle road, Marin leading 40,000 troops on the left north road, Heyehe soldiers, and Liu Liang leading 40,000 troops on the right south road, and North Korean soldiers. On the Houjin side, Nur Hachi "came all the way by Er, I only went all the way", that is, concentrated his forces to attack all the way, mainly to destroy the enemy's living forces. Within 5 days, the Ming army broke through three routes, annihilated about 50,000 Ming troops, captured a large amount of military materials, and the Ming army was completely annihilated by Houjin except for Li Rubai, who was slow to move and survived all the way. After the Battle of Salhu, Jin Quan's victory and the defeat of the Ming army ended.
Well, why, in the Ming and Qing dynasties, the number of troops sent was not as good as that of the Warring States? Has history gone backwards? In fact, this involves a large gap between the claimed and actual numbers of the army.
"Shiji Xiangyu Benji" records the battle of Pengcheng, Liu Bang had an army of 560,000, which seems to be a foregone conclusion, but it is not known that when Liu Bang set out, he only "marched 50,000 people and rode 5,000", and this number is also from the "History of Qibu Lie".
(Note) Shiji Bu Lie's Biography: Xiang Guo died... What is the merit of the upper fold, what is the corrupt Confucianism... He knelt down and said: "His Majesty led troops to attack Pengcheng, but the king of Chu did not go to Qiye, His Majesty sent 50,000 pawns and 5,000 horses, can he take Huainan Hu?" "No." "His Majesty made He and twenty men make Huainan, and as His Majesty intended, He Zhixian rode 5,000 people on foot." However, what does His Majesty call corrupt, and why use corrupt for the world? ”
There are many similar examples: in the battle of Kunyang, Wang Mang had 420,000 people on his account, but it was only one month to mobilize, and it was actually less than 100,000; In the Battle of Shuishui, it took only 110 days from mobilization to defeat, and the Qin army on the front line did not exceed 200,000.
Let's look at how the moisture of the ancient decapitation figures is recorded:
(Note) Three Kingdoms Zhi Guoyuan Biography: Thief documents, the old one is ten, and the first level of the yuan, such as the actual number. Taizu asked him why, and he said: The husband conscripted foreign invaders, and those who gained more than one wanted to use great martial arts, and showed the people to listen.
The winning documents are all at least "one for ten", exaggerating the number of beheadings by more than 10 times. Look at the historical record, an interesting battle in the Warring States, the number of troops and beheadings is finely divided into scenes:
In the seventh year (330 BC), Gongzi Ang fought against Wei and captured his general Long Jia and beheaded 80,000 people.
Shiji Wei Shijia: In the fifth year (330 BC), Qin defeated the Longjia army of 45,000 Yu Diao Yin.
In the battle of Qin and Wei Diao Yin, the number of people recorded by the two sides was different, and the Wei family recorded that the Wei army was only 45,000 people, while Qin Benji beheaded 80,000 by the Qin army.
Of course, not only ancient China had this problem, but also the West:
Classical historians differ on the number of Persian troops fought at the Battle of Gaugamera, with Arian believing that there were 40,000 cavalry, 1 million infantry, and 200 chariots; Diodorus believed that the Persian cavalry numbered 200,000, the infantry 800,000, and the chariots 200; The most conservative of the Persian Cyclus considered the Persian infantry combat force to be 200,000 men, cavalry 45,000 men, and 200 chariots. Most later historians agree that the figures provided by Kochus are reasonable, because in classical times an army of one million people could not be supplied. However, contemporary opinion is that the actual number of Darius soldiers is only about 100,000.
The most exaggerated is this
Is this to deal with the Trisolarans?
Therefore, the more than 30,000 people that Alexander brought with him when he went to Asia were actually a relatively large army, and 47,000 people participated in the battle of Macedon in the battle of Gaugamela, and the total number of troops on both sides was close to 200,000. It's already a very staggering number.
2. What kind of empire was the Persian Empire? What kind of feat was Alexander's conquest of Persia?
Let me start with the conclusion, before Alexander's conquest, the Persian Empire was probably the most powerful empire in the world at that time.
When the Persian Empire was founded in 553 BC, its territory was limited to the southwestern part of the Persian plateau. With the crusades of Cyrus II and Cambyses II, the territory of the Persian Empire expanded. By the reign of Darius I, the Persian Empire stretched from Thrace, Asia Minor and the Nile Valley in the west, the Pamir Plateau and the Indus Plain in the east, and the Black Sea, the Caucasus Mountains, the Caspian Sea, the Aral Sea and the Syr Darya River in the north, making it the first large empire in world history to span three continents: Asia, Africa and Europe. When the Persian Empire was founded, its capital was at Pasargard, followed by Ekbatana, Susa and Babylon. In 522 BC, after Darius I came to power, he built the new capital Persepolis. During the reign of King Darius I, the Persian Empire reached its heyday, stretching from the Indus Valley in the east, the Balkans in the west, Armenia in the north, and Ethiopia in the south. Including 70 ethnic groups, 50 million people, nearly 7 million square kilometers of land, it became the world's first empire spanning three continents: Asia, Africa and Europe.
Persia's national strength at that time crushed the warring countries, the population of Persia was similar to that of the Qin Dynasty, and Darius III can be said to be the lord of Zhongxing, and the reason why he became the king of the dead country was because he met Alexander.
Alexander's conquests ranged from Greece to India, what was the concept? Athens to Mumbai is 5178 kilometers, and the range of engagement of the warring countries is obviously much smaller than this, and its logistical difficulty and military organization ability are not at all on the same level.
Here is a record of Alexander's march that later generations counted:
Pella to Corinth, Greece 240 miles Corinth to Pera 240 miles Pera to Danube 350 miles Pus to Pellium 300 miles Pellium to Thebes 300 miles Thebes to Pera 180 miles Pera to Hellespont Strait 300 miles
Subtotal 1910 miles
Asia Minor Hellespont Strait to Granicas River 50 miles Granicas River to Sadis 180 miles Saddeus to Smyrna 100 miles Thaddeus to Ephesus 50 miles Ephesus to Miletus 60 miles Miletus to Halicarnassus 60 miles Halicarnassus to Termeus 160 miles Termeus to Faceres 160 miles Fartheris to Side 85 miles Side to Termeus 85 miles Termesos to Sacharassos 70 miles Sacharassus to Cherana 60 miles Cheranna to Gordium 170 miles Gordium to Ankara 80 miles Ankara to Tarsus 320 miles Tarsus to and from Silesian Crushlands 160 miles Tarsus to Mariandros 100 miles Mariandros to Issus 25 miles
Subtotal 1955 miles
Phoenician Issus to Tell 300 miles Battle of Sidon and Mount Lebanon 100 miles Tyre to Jerusalem 120 miles Jerusalem to Gaza 60 miles Gaza to Pelucium 140 miles Subtotal 720 miles Egypt Pelucium to Memphis 120 miles Memphis to Alexandria 150 miles Around Lake Mareotis 120 miles Alexandria to Palatony um 140 miles Palatonium to Amun Temple 170 miles Amun Temple to Memphis 340 miles
Subtotal 1040 miles
Egypt to Persepolis, Memphis to Gaza 260 miles Gaza to Tyre 135 miles Tyre to Tapshakas 380 miles Tapshakas to Bezabud 290 miles Bezabud to Abela 125 miles Abella to Opis 180 miles Opis to Babylon 90 miles Babylon to Sousa 230 miles Susa to Uksya City 130 miles Uksya City to Kay E. Sefi 190 miles Kay E. Sefi to Persepolis 85 miles
Subtotal 2095 miles
Medes and Caspian coasts Persepolis to Ekbatana 480 miles Ekbatana to Caspian Gate 285 miles Caspian Gate to Hekadongbiru 215 miles Hekadongbiru to Zadrakata 115 miles Battle of Madia 600 miles
Subtotal 1695 miles
From the Caspian Sea to the Caucasus Zadra Kata to Susiya 550 miles Sucia to Atakoyana 130 miles Atacoyana to Profasia 200 miles Profasia to Alexandria in Alachosia 450 miles Alexandria to Nicia 200 miles from Nicaucia to Alexandria in the Caucasus 35 miles
Subtotal 1565 miles
Bactria, and Sogdiana Alexandria in the Caucasus to Delapsaka 110 miles Derapesaka to Zareiasa 220 miles Zalyaspar to Nawtaka 205 miles Nawtaka to Malakanda 120 miles Malakanda to Chakosati River 170 miles Battle of Sixua and the Seven Cities 100 miles Chakosati River to Malakanda 170 miles Battle of Polytimitus River 150 miles Malakanda to Zareiaspar 325 miles Battle of the Five Columns 450 miles The Last Battle of Sogdiana 200 miles Battle of Xenipa 150 miles Between the Rock of Hisemitris 250 miles to the Rock of Sogdia and the Rock of Corenis 700 miles to Zariaspa 200 miles to Alexandria in the Caucasus 330 miles
Subtotal 3900 miles
Alexandria to Nicaea in the Caucasus in the Corfin Valley 35 miles Nicaea to Euler 400 miles Euler to Fortress of Astis 100 miles Fortress of Astis to Arnos 75 miles Arnos to Deta 180 miles Deta to Indus 40 miles Indus River to Bridge River crossing point 175 miles
Subtotal 1005 miles
Land of the Five Rivers, Indus to Taxila 50 miles Taxila to Hydaspee 100 miles Battle of the Hydaspe River 30 miles Hydaspey to Grausia 170 miles Grausia to Acesines River Crossing 70 miles Acesines to beyond the Hydrotis River 60 miles to Pimprama and Sangara 100 miles to the territory of King Sopesis and King Fegaeus 250 miles to the River Hyphasis 60 miles to Nicaea 180 miles
Subtotal 1070 miles
Action along the Indus to the confluence of the Indus and Asesines 250 miles Battle of Mali 210 miles Battle and exploration of the Lower Indus 800 miles
Subtotal 1260 miles
Return to Susa Indus to Arabius 85 miles Arabius to Paula 450 miles Paula to Passagadi 400 miles Passagadi to Susa 420 miles
Subtotal 1355 miles
Last Expedition to Susa to the Coast 220 miles Coast to Opis 450 miles Oepis to Exbatana 330 miles Battle of Cosaya (return to Susa in forty days) 400 miles Susa to Babylon 230 miles Babylon to the coast 350 miles Back to Babylon 350 miles
Subtotal 2330 miles
Total 21,900 miles (amazing)
Casualties of the Macedonian army
Judging by the number of casualties, Macedonia's combat effectiveness is also very strong.
Iron problems
To be honest, I really don't want to say anything more on this issue, the time when Chinese iron was popularized was in the Han Dynasty, and during the Warring States period, countries still used copper and iron together, and the gap with Macedonia was not very large.
3. Macedonia's system of military merit and rewards and punishments
There is also a saying that taking the State of Qin as an example, saying that the soldiers of the State of Qin have a system of military merit, so they have high enthusiasm and strong combat effectiveness, then I will list the situation in Macedonia at the same time:
At that time, there was no strict so-called "wage standard". Cyrus the Younger paid 1 daric per month, or about $4, to each of the heavy infantry of Cyrillus (11). In his essay "Rebuke Philip," Demosthenes mentioned that an infantryman was paid 10 drachs a month, about two dollars. There was an agreement between Athens and Argives to pay 1 drachma per day for each cavalryman, and 3 Opolis for infantry, the former for 27 cents and the latter for 13 cents. A soldier who loses a limb in war receives 1 opolius (a little over 4 cents) a day. Sinope and Heracéa offered Xenophon's soldiers 1 Cyzicus per person per month. Seuthes offered them the same price, which was equivalent to $5.50. The rest who wanted to hire them offered 1 daric ($4) per person per month.
Droysen had made a very meticulous estimate that the salary of the Macedonian cavalry was 300 drachmas per person per month, about $60; Confederate cavalry 250 drachma, about $50; Phalanx infantry 84 drachma, about $17; In addition, each person receives a similar amount of subsidies to buy food.
There are also very generous bonuses
According to Curtis and Theodoras, Alexander also generously distributed the goods captured in the city (Babylon) to the soldiers. Each Macedonian cavalry received 6 minae or 600 drachmas (equivalent to $120), Greek cavalry and light cavalry received 5 minae ($100) each, Macedonian infantry received about $40 each, and Confederate infantry and light shield soldiers received an additional salary for two months. The purchasing power of these currencies was much greater then than it is now.
After arriving at Ekbatana, Alexander disbanded his Thessaly cavalry and the Greek cavalry, as the service of these units had expired. In addition to the full salary, they were also rewarded with an additional 2,000 luns of gold. In distributing this gold, the best cavalry received the equivalent of $1,100, even the lowest infantry received $400 worth of gold, and the rest of the arms in between received the corresponding bounty. In addition, Alexander arranged for them to return home from the Black Sea and assigned Mines to be in charge of the details. The horses of the Thessaly cavalry seemed to belong to themselves, so they also sold their horses before leaving the army. However, a large number of these soldiers have voluntarily extended their service to remain in the army. The rewards received by this group may also include the previously mentioned military salaries and bounties, as much as $3,300 each.
So the motivation of the Macedonian army is also very high.
summary
Having written so much, I will summarize that this article is mainly aimed at some historical errors widely circulated on the Internet, and the so-called Warring States countries or Qin State can easily defeat Alexander can be said to be a complete mistake. Although there were no shortage of large countries like the State of Qin and the State of Chu in the Warring States countries at that time, their strength was still somewhat dwarfed by the Alexander Empire that straddled Europe, Asia and Africa.
History does not assume that even the farthest reaches of the Indus Valley and Central Asia is thousands of kilometers away from the Central Plains, separated by the Pamirs, the Gobi Desert and the tropical rainforests of Southeast Asia, so Alexander is basically unable to continue and reach the Central Plains. Today, when we imagine the story of Alexander and the seven heroes of the Warring States, we not only sigh, but what kind of sparks will be produced if the respective civilizational powerhouses of the East and the West collide with each other in human history?