Research Paper on Ancient Macedonians: World's Most Innovative Military Force

Introduction

In the ancient world, there existed the Army of the Macedonians Kingdom as the most innovative military force. The military was founded and made that strong by the king of Macedon by the time, King Phillip II. Before King Phillip II, the army of the Macedon was rated as the second-rate power as it was more into politics of the Greek world than it was in military actions. On his rise to power, Philip brought the latest innovation weapons and moderate tactics that enabled him to create a unique, effective, and flexible army (Vacante, 2012). The operations was done by introducing military operations and serve as full-time operations and occupations. Such creativeness enabled him to monitor his military men regularly. Thus, he was able to create an integrative and supportive army and develop unity and cohesiveness between the army men through military ranks. Such activities led to the creation of the best refined and formidable military in the ancient world.

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Phillip invested in modern tactical developments, and he employed the traditional Greeks phalanx that was made by people such as the Iphicrates of Athens and Epimonandas of Thebes. Philip combined these tactics to develop something very new and different form of other military tactics. Here, he improved the firearms employed by these two tribes, such as the long spear, and the lighter shied to form a combination of the two that was very much indomitable. He also introduced the use of long-handled spear and a two-handed pike. These weapons, the Macedonian Pike and the sarrisa, provided for the broader offensive and defensive tactical advantage to the military men. It is during his time that cavalry became the decisive arm in military action in Macedonia.

He also oriented his army to a combination of several troops' types for combined military tactics. Such tactics included the heavy infantry phalanx, light, and heavy cavalry, archers, sieging engines, and skirmish infantry tactics in a single battle (Bogatinov, Angelevski, & Trajkovik, 2012). The combination and coordination of tactics gave the Macedonian army a battle advantage as the enemy could not predict what they could do next or the next move or tactic they would take while fighting. The troop was used for a single advantage and reinforcement support and created a synergy for winning battles.

The newly formed Macedonian military was a combination of different tactics and forces that were hard for any military to predict and defeat in an open playground. King Philip II founded the strongest army in the ancient world for the Macedonians that lasted for centuries and helped his predecessors like Alexander III in conquering nations. Some researchers have reasoned that if Philip II was not the father of Alexander the third, he would have been the first-rate military man and a strategist, tactician, an innovator, and a perfect politician. Alexander would not have been able to conquer the Achaemenid without the help of the army his father had created.

At around 1331 BC, Alexander III, as the new King of Macedon, was able to defeat King Darius III of the army of Achaemenid during the battle of Gaugamela. The action signaled near-completion of the Macedonians conquest of the entire Achaemenid Kingdom (Van Mieghem, 1998). The battle helped King Alexander in conquering Persian Empire, a stretch from Mesopotamia to Afghanistan.

Alexander the third died at around 323 BC and left the Macedonian Empire and control running from Northern Greece to the Southern part of Egypt and the North-eastern part of India.

Examining the history of the Macedon in the 4th century BC is a fascinating thing that enables one to explore more about the military formation and the earliest tactics. Some researchers have reasoned that the Macedonian history of this period was dominated by tribal conquest to the people in the North and the East. It was also characterized by the regular interference of the Greeks to the south. On the other hand, others have reasoned that the examination of the Macedonian history prior to the reign of Philip the second can only be described as the study in survival for the Macedonians. The crisis in Macedonia that threatened the nation's rising and power was reigning heightened during the assassination of Philip II. Three decades before the battle of the Gaugamela, Perdicass III, who was Philip's brother leading in the North of Macedonia, was killed together with his 4000 military men by King Bardylis of Illyrian during the battle of Diodorus.

This paper strives to explore King Alexander III was able to conquer Asia with the help of his father's military organization and tactics. The paper also seeks to discuss the significant attributes of King Phillip II that enabled him to dominate the entire Greek Peninsula in less than three decades, leaving his son with the most innovative military to exploit and conquer the whole Asia region. There is a consummate discussion of King Philip's attribution to the military revolution, restructure, and renovation that was inherited by his son Alexander.

Major Military Reforms and Innovations

In this section, we analyze the military reforms that were instigated by King Philip II in Macedonia to bring military innovation and the necessary change that the Macedonians most needed to defeat their neighboring enemies. Some of these reforms were discussed in the introduction section. In this section, such reforms are divided in three categories, namely military training, military tactics, and weaponry use.

Philip introduced the most innovative weaponry sue in his error, and he utilized a combination of traditional war equipment to form one dangerous weapon. Such a combination of tribal war equipment was Sarissa spear that became one of the useful Macedonian weapons for years (Koulakiotis, 2013). The sarissa spear founded the Macedonian weapon infantry for centuries and helped the Macedonians conquer nations to the south and the north. The spear was differentiated from its original form by its length, and it was the longest in Macedonia with twelve cubits that translates to 18 feet.

Macedonian army employed the sarissa for its varying lengths when dealing with the enemy, and it enabled them to attack enemies at a closer distance less than ten feet and those at fifteen feet distance. The Macedonians used the sarissa spear with the combination of hoplite spears. The sarissa spear also had some unique features that made it likable among the Macedonian army, among them is that it had an iron counter-balance on the other edge. The sarissa shaft was made from the cornel wood taken from the Macedonia native tree (van de Ven, 2017). The wood was lighter and strong. Thus, it was the best material for a spear.

Anyone would think that such a spear of that size with a metal material on the other edge would be burdensome for the soldiers and that they would become fatigued for carrying the object. However, the soldiers expressed their satisfaction with the spear and that they were very much comfortable using sarissa spear than their ordinary tribal spears. As many researchers put it, sarissa was an active war weapon that was of very much help to the Macedonians when used in a phalanx war strategy.

The phalanx war formation meant that five spear points would display in front of each military man hence creating a wall of spear tips (Rogers, 2019). The metal edge on the opposite side was systematically put for an in case situation where the tip would break, requiring the soldiers' attention to utilize the opposite edge. It was such an offensive weapon that was created by Philip II. Here we can see that Philip improvised the compact order and the strategic war formation of the phalanx to something more useful that was combating enemies without making soldiers harm themselves more (Vacante, 2012).

Macedonians frequent defeats by their neighboring communities motivated their strategic innovation and combination of weapons by King Philip to produce something productive that would instill their confidence when fighting against neighbors who had a high number of soldiers. In the same year that the Illyrian Philip killed, Perdiccas III defeated the same army and made them retreat and surrender after losing more than seven thousand military men.

The attribute of defeating two armies in less than a year after his ascension to power displays his extraordinary skills of managing and organizing the army. Researchers have argued that given the financial situation of Macedonia, sarissa seemed very cheap and easy to make an object, unlike other expensive spears.

The Macedonians also used a metal shied, and archeological artifacts prove that by the pieces of the ore available in the country. The shield was made of wicker and supported by metal linen. The idea of the shield is supported by the archeological of Macedonian bronze surfaces cover for a wooden shied surface at Lynkos (Watson, 2016). The military men were also covered with war helmets and the greaves that were made from the bronze. Such an example of the helmet was found at the archeological of the Tomb at Vergina, even though it is made of iron and looks heavier like not the one that was worn by the Macedonian soldiers.

The introduction of the leather jackets while facing the enemies among the Macedonian soldiers was another crucial that Philip reformed in the army. The jackets were light like pelta, and so they allowed the soldiers for the rooms for flexibility and quick reactions. It also notable that despite the development of the improved sarissa spear and other equipment, Philip also introduced the traditional hoplite. The hoplites were short, and they were an essential tool of war during Alexander's reign. The hoplites were very useful at around 325-300BC, the period when Alexander the great was very much determined to take on Asia after his father's assassination (Watson, 2016).

Philip had a final innovation to reform his military weapons, and such a tool was the siege technology. Siege technology was the use of long trains to attack cities. Philip saw wise to introduce such a facility that would take other towns at their unexpected moments and attack them. To facilitate this and make sure the trains were developed, Philip sponsored a group of engineers led by Polyidos, who started operating around 350BC. The new war technologies employed the use of twisted skeins of snew ropes that provided a potent force on launching projectiles when composed of arrows and stones.

Siege technology was also comprised of other offensive tools such as rams and a defensive tool such as the enhanced fortification (van de Ven, 2017). These war weaponry required massive financing, so they came later on Philip's reign. The weapons existence during the reign of the Philip is supported by the bolt heads found in the siege of Olynthus at around 348BC with the name of Philip written on it. At around 340BC, there was widespread use of rams and catapults (Vacante, 2012). There was the use of the full range of artillery and bows in the siege of Perinthus that we can attribute to the works of engineer Polyidos (Rogers, 2019).

Another innovation that was instilled in the military and contributed to the conquest of Asia by Alexander the second was the renovation of the torsion catapults. The catapults existed before Philip, and they were used widely by many forces in the Asia region. However, Philip modified them to be a more powerful war weapon. The siege technology saw the action of incorporating the catapults in suing stones to attack the enemies in all directions. Wh...