Macedonian Phalanx a tribute to my Military Unit
nikolaosnikolaosnikolaos
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 developed into more protracted operations generally involving sieges and naval combat as much as field battles, until they were finally displaced by the Roman legions.
Development
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.
Equipment
Each phalangite carried as his primary weapon a sarissa, a double-pointed pike over 6 m (18 ft) in length. 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 called a kopis, which had a heavy curved section at the end.
Formation
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.
Ancient depiction of Macedonian infantry.
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.
Drawbacks
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 frontal assault, phalanxes were susceptible to flanking, and tended to break formation 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 in close quarters.
Advantage
The Macedonian phalanx was not very different from the Hoplite phalanx of other Greeks states, save it was better trained, armed with the sarissa enabling it to outreach its competitors and stave off enemy cavalry, and wore far lighter armor enabling longer endurance and long fast forced marches, including the ability to sprint to close and overwhelm opposing positions and archers. In essence, the range of their counter-weighted sarissa, allowed them superior mobility as well as superior defense and attack abilities despite the encumbrance disadvantages of the longer weapon once trained up to handling it in formation. Centuries later, the organized militia of Swiss pikemen enjoyed similar advantages over less well trained contemporary militaries which were identically equipped, which emphasizes the importance of training and unit cohesion in the scheme. In Phillip's and Alexander's time, the Macedonian phalanx had clear technical superiority.
Comments
voted!
\o/ HAIL MACEDONIAN PHALANX \o/
!==V==!
HAIL MACEDONIAN PHALANX
v
v+s
voted & sub
keep up the good work
v+s
V+S
- Μακεδονική Φάλαγγα - Έπος
και
Καλώδιος φυσικά
ton kalodio kai ton makedonissa tous vazoume pisw mazi me ta alla ta gerontia(karavia,perdiko,k0llht0) gia na mhn pernoun 8aros oi antipaloi 😛
Αιώνιος Έφηβος ο Καλώδιος. Προπονήσεις με μπυρίτσες και ουισκάκια, αλλά πάντα στις επάλξεις. Και ο Μακεδόνισσα απ' ότι μαθαίνω, ίδια ψυχικά αποθέματα έχει
Τι εννοείς "τους βάζουμε"????
Ντρέπεσαι να πεις "μπαίνουμε"?
V sub, wraia douleia😃
xaxaxa
V
wraios o neos!
-v-
Για τον Καλώδιο μιλάς;
panta!
einai to eggonaki mou,yios tou yiou mou.alla tautoxrona einai kai aderfos tou ara kai yios mou..
palia sth falagga kaname trela orgia 😁
HAIL MACEDONIAN PHALANX
-v- +sub
Macedonia is Greek
voted!
v+s
Voted + Sub.
Hail MACEDONIAN PHALANX
v + s
v+s
v+s
v+s
v92 s135 καλη αρχη νικολη!!!
vote
o7
v+s kali arxi file , bravo
-V-
v+s
lol
how can greeks be happy for this ?
MACEDONIAN PHALANX and they are writting HAIL MACEDONIAN PHALANX hahahahahhahahahahahahahaahahhahahahahahhahahahhahaahhahahahahahahahahaah
fail greeks,you are just making Philip ll and Alexander the Great more famous 🙂
[removed]
how can you trust that you come from guy who was living over 3000 years ago ?
he was fighting in Egypt,and he never came back to Macedonia..
he is NOT Greek,he is MACEDONIAN.. and he says that.. he never said that he is Greek stop rechanging the history.. !
[removed]
[removed]
[removed]
[removed]
[removed]
Read some history. Wtf are you proud to be brain washed? Get educated!
I am very proud for my greek lunguage and culture that someone who considered himself Greek and speaking greek: Alexander The Great, is still admired by other nations with different languages and cultures that much, that even consider him to be their great ancenstor!
But this makes them more Greek rather than "Ancient Macedonians".
http://macedonia-evidence.org/obama-letter-fyrom.html
vote και shout αν μπορουσα αλλα εχε το νου σου, τα διαγεγραμενα πανω τα εκανε ο πλατωνας , οχι εγω.. πολυ καλη πηγη
How do you call Bucephalus in our language?
your*
If you never heard before crowdysomethingII, Phillip II and Alexander the Great, were famous Greek men from true Macedonia (that was and is always Greek) not only for their achievements but also because a bunch of slavs are trying to convince the world that they are their ancestors... Trully sad, trully pathetic... Get a life, a name and a history and come again to answer...
Δεν το μεταφραζης και μια στα ελληνικα τωρα ???
θα γίνει κάποια στιγμή αλλά όχι ακόμα γιατί επόμενο θα είναι ενα άρθο irc για αρχάριους που επείγει.
επειδή είσαι Πειραιώτης θα σου πω με λίγα λόγια πως 200 χρόνια κυριαρχία της Σπαρτιατικής φάλαγγας οδήγησαν τον Θηβαίο Επαμεινώνδα σε 3 απλά τεχνάσματα για να κερδίσει τους Σπαρτιάτες στα Λεύκτρα (371 πχ) :
1. επιμήκυνε το δόρυ από 2,5 μέτρα σε 3,6
2. ανάρτησε τις ασπίδες από τους ώμους στους στρατιώτες του έτσι ώστε να κρατάνε το δόρυ με τα δύο χέρια και
3. και σημαντικότερο , παρέταξε την φάλαγγα κάπως λοξά, βάζοντας τους καλύτερους του αριστερά κι όχι δεξιά όπως γινόταν μέχρι τότε και τους χειρότερους δεξιά οπότε η φάλαγγα προέλαυνε μονόπαντα στην μάχη και γινόταν λοξή αποσυντονίζοντας την αντίπαλη φάλαγγα
Τί σχέση έχουν όλα αυτά με την μακεδονική φάλαγγα;
έχοντας κατακτήσει την Μακεδονία και για να μην έχουν αντιδράσεις οι Θηβαίοι κρατούσαν βασιλικούς παίδες ως ομήρους. Τέτοιος ήταν ο Αλογομούρης ( Φίλιππος ) . Υιοθέτησε όλα τα παραπάνω αυξάνοντας το μήκος του δόρατος σε 6 και βάλε μέτρα . Επειδή ήταν και αλογομούρης έδωσε βάση στο ιππικό .
μετά ο Άλεξ ( όχι ο Βαλέριον ) έδωσε νέα υπόσταση στις μάχες συνδυάζοντας άλογα , πεζικό, ψιλά οπλισμένους ( ελαφρύ οπλισμό ) κι εκηβόλα όπλα
αυτά εν τάχει
Σ'ευχαριστω Dihenekis
v&s o7
Μακεδονία ξακουστή
του Αλεξάνδρου η χώρα
που έδιωξες τους τύρρανους
κι ελεύθερ’ είσαι τώρα.
Είσαι και θα `σαι ελληνική
Ελλήνων το καμάρι
κι εμείς θα σ’ αντικρίζουμε
περήφανα και πάλι.
Οι Μακεδόνες δεν μπορούν
να ζούνε σκλαβωμένοι
όλα και αν τα χάσανε
η λευτεριά τους μένει.
Μακεδονόπουλα μικρά
χορέψτε και χαρείτε
προτού κι εσείς στα βάσανα
του κόσμου τούτου μπείτε