![]() ![]() However, this left Darius himself exposed, and Alexander took his hetairoi in a charge aimed directly at the king himself. Darius noticed that Alexander's right was drifting away from the center, leaving a gap which Darius sent his infantry to exploit. Darius then ordered another cavalry attack on the left wing, which was much more successful that the previous, but still the Macedonians held. Darius then sent in his chariots, but the pikemen opened their ranks, allowing the chariots to pass through and be surrounded. The hetairoi drove the Persians off, but suffered severe losses. Darius had cleared the battlefield beforehand to clear the way for his chariots, and wanted to prevent Alexander from leaving this favorable area, so he acted first and attacked Alexander's right wing with his elite cavalry. In the decisive battle of the Macedonian-Persian War, Alexander's fifty-thousand man army met King Darius III's army, which was about twice the size and made up of a wide variety of troops, including chariots, Greek mercenaries, and war elephants. Instead of trying (and failing) to give a concise overview of the tactics that Alexander and Attila used, we're going to present you with overviews of a few battles that they participated in, and let you decide for yourself how they measure up. We're going to be trying something a little different when analyzing these two warriors' tactics this time. ![]() The Huns themselves are an exception, as they were trained to fight from horseback from birth. Despite coming from cultures that highly valued warriors, they only began active duty when their Hunnic overlords called them to. Their level of discipline was well-demonstrated in Alexander's wars, where they showed they could preformed complex maneuvers with only minimal instruction. Instead of levying troops during wartime and then dismissing them once peace was achieved, Macedon had a military force that was constantly training and always ready for action. Philip's military reforms created something that the Greek peninsula had not seen before: a professional standing army. Archaeological evidence shows that most weapons used by the Migration Era tribes were made of iron with small amounts of carbon. Attila lived in an era with access to carbon steel, but highly quality steel would not become common until the end of the Dark Ages. However, Attila's men stayed loyal to him throughout his many raids, even after he murdered his brother Bleda and suffered a defeat at the hands of Aetius.Īrchaeological evidence shows that Alexander's Macedonian troops used both bronze and iron in their weapons and armor, with weapons tending to be made out of iron, and armor tending to be made of bronze. Surely many of the newer additions to the allied army would've followed him out of little more than fear. Attila is considered to have been a just leader to his own people, but brutal to his enemies. Alexander also had many experienced and loyal sub-commanders, such as Parmenion, Antigonus, Ptolemy, and Seleucus, all of which would go on to achieve great victories in the succession wars that followed Alexander's death. Even the people he conquered came to revere him, with the Egyptians considering him to be the son of the god Amun. Many believed him to be the son of Zeus himself, and they were willing to follow him into unknown territory and fight strange foes in a campaign that went further east than any European army. To his men, Alexander was nothing short of a demigod. Before that, Attila likely fought in his predecessors' battles, but it is unknown if he had a leadership role. Not all of these campaigns were successful. Attila was king of the Huns for nineteen years, during which he three raids in Germany, the Balkans, northern Italy, Iran, Persia, and Gaul. Alexander often fought personally in these battles, serving as the leader of the hetairoi. He never lost a single battle in all of his wars. His campaigns in the east had him fight against the armies of Egypt, India, and of course, the massive Persian Empire. He fought in his father's campaigns against Greece, and finished the job after Philip died. They wielded heavy spears, which might be two-handed, or might be short enough to use with a shield.Īlexander had an active role in military leadership from the time he was eighteen to his death at thirty-two. They wore the best armor available to them: mail shirts, ridge helmets, and if a cavalryman was particularly well-off, lamellar armor on top of the mail. Like most cavalry forces of the ancient world, they were made up of only the wealthiest of the Migration Era tribes. Allied Heavy Cavalry: While perhaps not having a culture as tied to their horses as the Huns did, the other tribes of the Hunnic Empire used heavy cavalry as one of their main troop types, and they were certainly skilled horsemen. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |