Macedonian phalanx Roman phalanx and Macedonian phalanx

1. Why was the Macedonian phalanx that conquered the three ancient civilizations in the world finally defeated by Rome? 2. What is the Macedonian phalanx? 3. How did the Macedonian phalanx break? 4. How to break the Macedonian phalanx? 5. Why is the Macedonian phalanx so powerful? Why was the Macedonian phalanx, which conquered the three ancient civilizations in the world, finally defeated by Rome?

The Macedonian phalanx is indeed a great military achievement in the ancient world. Because before that, the so-called infantry fighting was just like the large-scale group fighting we saw in many costume dramas (in many novels of China, the so-called war was a general's one-on-one fight, after which his infantry rushed to the other side's position with a wave of his hand, and the opponent could only escape.

In fact, since ancient Greece, war has been a very accurate mathematical model. The so-called martial arts or one-on-one combat skills of individual soldiers have almost no influence on the whole war (the same is true in the East, so it is not that the ancients were incompetent, but that the players imagined a war model that does not exist in reality. In the late ancient Greece, an infantry phalanx model was widely spread in the Mediterranean basin, which made his enemies daunting and even spread that this phalanx was invincible.

This is the Macedonian phalanx.

Why?

First of all, the Macedonians gave the phalanx a huge advantage of spearmen. The core of Macedonian phalanx is a spear array composed of about 100 people, with different spear shapes. The former is shorter, and the rear spear is gradually lengthened (up to 10 meters). Therefore, once the enemy rushes to the front, it will never be a spear, but a three-dimensional attack of different lengths. In actual combat, the defeated Athenians described that every soldier who attacked Macedonia had to deal with at least ten spears at the same time. Obviously, no matter how capable a warrior is, he can't resist such figures.

Because of the need for high-density spears, Macedonians reduced shields in the first row. The Spartans' huge shield can cover the whole body, but the Centaur's shield is only 3 or 4 square feet. If the shield is small, soldiers can stand closer. In other words, the attack ability is stronger. As for defense, nature is slightly inferior, but relatively speaking, this value is!

So, what about long-range attacks? In fact, only one third of the lancers in the phalanx are archers, stone throwers and javelin throwers. On the battlefield, they are responsible for launching long-range attacks with arrows, stones and spears. Usually, the enemy will greet them before meeting Macedonian spears.

Coupled with the cover of cavalry on both wings, the combination of spear, long-range and assault is indeed an irresistible machine. At that time, Alexander used this to drive away the once awesome Persians.

Because of this, the early Romans were all good students in Macedonia.

But why did the Romans come up with new tricks later? Because Roman infantry met Gauls in the north, and Gauls discovered the shortcoming of this tactic, that is, the fighting capacity was concentrated on the front, and both sides could only rely on each other to protect them. Once the other side breaks through the flank (the flank cavalry generally does not have the defense ability, let alone the spearmen in the spear array, there is no chance to escape.

So Gauls used to attack the Roman flanks with their swords and shields, and then calmly killed Roman infantry and their allies. It is said that there were 30,000 people. It was this defeat that promoted Rome's military innovation, that is, the so-called small infantry phalanx tactics, that is, the Roman legion tactics. Fundamentally speaking, it is actually to break down the original phalanx into several infantry units.

Infantry units can form a defense mode without dead ends.

So what's the use of breaking it down into teams?

1, to prevent obstacles when waving weapons.

2. In order to move quickly, leave a space between detachments to accommodate an army.

3. It can replace troops with heavy casualties.

4, can cope with the enemy's movement.

This more flexible tactics, coupled with the progress of weapons (the bullets used by the Romans can kill the soldiers in the array by shooting arrows and throwing guns away from the square, and the iron javelin is enough to penetrate the Greek shield, which played a great role in the encounter between the Romans and the Greek world in the future.

(Relatively speaking, the Roman phalanx is excellent in attack and defense.

Because the key of the Greek infantry phalanx is a kind of intensive tactics, there is no room for activity, and the best posture is to stand up straight and not get down. This tactic is almost impossible to escape when you are defeated, because you can't run out unless you are willing to be trampled to death.

Therefore, under such circumstances, if the Macedonian phalanx encounters the Roman legion, it can only be completely annihilated.

What is Macedonian phalanx?

Macedonian infantry phalanx is the continuation of the traditional Greek infantry phalanx, and it is also more effective than the typical Greek phalanx.

Phalanx infantry use 4-5m spears, which can kill opponents when their spears can't reach them. The depth of the phalanx is 16 people, which is twice as deep as that of the ancient Greek phalanx, but the formation is not so dense, leaving gaps, so the mobility is better than that of the traditional phalanx. The first four or five rows of soldiers aim at the front, and the spears in the back row tilt forward vertically. Macedonia also attaches great importance to light infantry, because in general, phalanx heavy infantry is the basis of attack and the defense center, cavalry guard is the assault force, and the speed of cavalry must be faster than phalanx, so there must be a gap between them, and this weakness will be covered up by light infantry. Light infantry also has armor, only slightly lighter, shorter spear, but larger shield, which is deployed behind the right-wing cavalry guard in battle. When the cavalry charged, they dispersed between the cavalry and the phalanx to form a mobile hub.

Therefore, the Macedonian phalanx is not a single infantry unit, but a cooperative operation of stepping and riding. Because of the participation of the "accompanying cavalry", its combat effectiveness, maneuverability and impact are higher than those of the Greek phalanx.

How did the Macedonian phalanx break?

When the two armies are at war, if the number of troops on both sides is equal, then the key to winning or losing is the arrangement of generals. Speaking of formation, the Macedonian phalanx created by King Philip II of Macedonia on the basis of the Greek phalanx is quite famous.

Of course, although the Macedonian phalanx is strong, it is not perfect, and there are many ways to break it. There is an old saying in China, Know yourself and know yourself, and you will win every battle. To crack the Macedonian phalanx, the first thing we have to do is to understand the mystery of this phalanx.

The Macedonian phalanx consists of 16 people and 256 soldiers, each of whom is equipped with heavy armor. The soldiers outside are equipped with shields and shorter weapons. The longer a soldier's spear is, the more it looks like a giant hedgehog from a distance.

It is worth mentioning that there are cavalry and spears on the flank and rear of the phalanx to prevent the enemy from attacking. Because this formation is too insoluble, many people call it a human flesh tank. This phalanx has many advantages, both offensive and defensive, simple and easy to learn. However, this phalanx actually has many shortcomings.

First of all, this square matrix is only suitable for plains, and its effect will be greatly reduced if it is used in hilly terrain. As long as we try to put the battle site on those rugged terrain, the Macedonian phalanx will not work.

Secondly, the Macedonian phalanx is very afraid of long-range attacks. Although protected by shields, long-range attacks can still do great damage to the opponent's phalanx, because Macedonia's phalanx is very dense and can be said to be a living target. If the attack falls on the shield, it will be fine. If it falls on those cavalry or horses, it will make the formation chaotic. At this time, as long as you break your face and find a gap, you can quickly break up the formation. There are not too many requirements on the choice of long-range weapons, just ordinary crossbows. The ideal effect is to shoot the enemy directly. It doesn't matter if the target is almost the same. At least you can put some pressure on the soldiers in the war and make them confused. There is no problem.

Of course, the biggest problem of this phalanx is actually thinking on the bright side. Macedonian phalanx specially arranged cavalry to help, just to protect infantry. Although the Macedonian phalanx is invincible in frontal attack, once its flank and rear are breached, the whole phalanx will collapse in an instant. This is because it is difficult for soldiers with shields and spears to change direction, and a little carelessness may accidentally injure friendly troops.

In other words, if you want to fight against the Macedonian phalanx, you don't need to face powerful infantry at all. You just need to find a way to defeat the cavalry guard, and then the soldiers in the middle will become lambs to be slaughtered. Moreover, with the deepening of Macedonian phalanx, the combat effectiveness of soldiers is also decreasing step by step, because spears are absolute weapons in long-range attacks, but they are tasteless in melee, and may not be as good as hand-to-hand combat.

It is not surprising that the Macedonian phalanx is broken, because the powerful attack of Macedonian phalanx is at the expense of flexibility, and it can be easily cracked as long as it is aimed at its weaknesses. In fact, no formation in military history is absolutely perfect. As long as the enemy appears once, he may come up with a solution. The outstanding generals in history never used an invincible formation to laugh at the world, but adopted the most suitable battle formation according to the different war situations.

How to break the Macedonian phalanx?

To break the Macedonian phalanx, we only need to harass with cavalry, and then the heavy cavalry can cut in from the rear. The spearmen in Macedonia's phalanx were too long to turn around and defend against attacks from behind.

Why is the Macedonian phalanx so powerful?

The Macedonian phalanx is divided into two parts, one is an infantry formation from Greece. Marines are only protected by short round shields, and they are arranged in a heavy infantry phalanx. When possible, they try to lengthen the pike as the output of combat effectiveness.

The other part is the heavy partner cavalry waiting for a fatal blow at any time. When the enemy is busy with the central phalanx, they can flank.

The advantage of Macedonian phalanx lies in the separation of arms: riding, stepping and artillery (crossbows and bows) are arranged separately, giving full play to their respective advantages, requiring extremely high coordination ability, and the infantry has strong self-protection ability, which can maintain the integrity of the phalanx ahead. The density of the queue makes it look quite neat and spectacular.