Читать книгу A Companion to Greek Warfare - Группа авторов - Страница 45

Edward M. Anson

Usually seen as beginning with the conquests of Alexander the Great, Hellenistic warfare in terms of armament and tactics actually began with the innovations of the conqueror’s father, Philip II. He brought changes to land warfare that were to dominate until supplanted by the Roman legions in the second century. Siegecraft, which prior to Philip barely existed in the Hellenic world, also became a serious component of warfare during the reign of that monarch and especially in that of his son. Hellenistic naval warfare might be seen as beginning with the Carthaginians and the creation of the quadrireme, as claimed by Aristotle (Pliny NH 7. 207), or perhaps with Alexander in his siege of Tyre (Curt. 4.3.14), bringing to a close the centuries of domination of the trireme. But it is in infantry warfare that Philip’s and Alexander’s contributions are most noted. Philip introduced a whole new heavy infantryman equipped with a pike instead of the stabbing spear that had dominated land warfare in the Western world for more than two centuries. Along with his son Alexander, he enhanced what is today commonly called “Combined Arms,” the integration of differently equipped military units, into a complementary force. Where, prior to these commanders, it was the heavy infantry that principally fought with light-armed troops most often engaging one another as skirmishers and cavalry either to defend the vulnerable flanks of these heavy infantry units or to hunt down fleeing infantrymen. The two Macedonian kings and especially the latter coordinated many different arms representing the flower of land forces both from the Greek world and, with Alexander, that of Asia. After Alexander’s death, changes emerged over time that diminished the skillful use of combined arms. Much of this was due not so much to deliberate changes in tactics but to the political changes that saw the breakup of Alexander’s empire and the emergence of a number of competing states.