Alexander the Great: What Made Him So Great

The Spartans fought in a formation called the Hoplite Phalanx. The Hoplite Phalanx is a highly organized fighting formation where Spartans are lined up side by side with overlapping shields. The goal of the Hoplite Phalanx is to protect the person to your left and right. When one person in the front line of the Phalanx is injured or killed someone behind them takes their place. The Hoplite Phalanx was very effective and it helped Spartans win battles where they were heavily outnumbered. The fighting formation that the Spartans used in the film included a variation of unorganized infantry lines, chaotic hand-to-hand combat, and a technique that they used which consisted of them laying down on the ground to let Persian horses jump over them as they approached. The hand-to-hand combat showed Spartans fighting by themselves with no teamwork from their fellow soldiers to help them battle the Persians. This fighting style would have never happened. The reason that Spartans were so successful in battle was because they fought as a team and kept to the Hoplite Phalanx. In “Herodotus, The Histories” Demaratus says, “so it is with the Spartans; fighting singly, they

All soldiers had shields and long spears. They would stab an enemy from a distance, and would avoid direct contact with the enemies weapon. Using this tactic the Greeks crushed many different forces, big and small. The Greeks usually had shields that were about 3 to 3.5 feet in diameter, and spears that were 7 to 9 feet long. Ancient Greek weapons consisted of the infamous long spears, swords, bows and arrows, javelins, and other tools.

One reason that Alexander the Great was such a Great, was because he was a really good military leader. Alexander knew how to give a motivation speech to his army and could take over any city, he had good strategies and was a good political leader. Alexander the great was born on July 20, 356 B.C., to his parents King Phillip the second and Queen Olympia. “In 336 B.C., Alexander’s father Philip was assassinated. Just 20 years old, Alexander claimed the Macedonian throne and killed his rivals before they could challenge his sovereignty. He also quashed rebellions for independence in northern Greece. Once he’d cleaned house, Alexander left to follow in his father’s footsteps and continue Macedonia’s world domination” (History, n.pg.). Alexander wanted the throne right from the start, some say that Alexander hired someone to assassinate his dad and others say he did it himself. Anyways though we know that Alexander wanted the throne right away, and he was not afraid to kill and fight people for the throne by, he killed his rivals and he

Alexander went to Corinth for the assembly of the Greek league and was named the supreme commander of all Greece. At that time the Thebans’ revolted; he destroyed everything in their city except the temples. This served as a reminder to the other communities and tribes in Macedonia respected and honored Alexander. He proceeded to conquer the Asia Minor, and used his knowledge to plan and organize the army. During the Persian expedition Alexander had in his army more than 100 000 but only a few fought. Alexander honored veterans; he left them in charge of cities. He was a military genius and could change his army within seconds and used to make decisions as fast as possible. He could even change his plan of action if the enemy changed plans. To him it was not about numbers but leadership and plan in battle. The first commander to have backup reserves was Alexander; this affected the way wars were staged and fought in the coming years. Alexander defeated the Persians; he was an unwavering fighter and fought with his soldiers. He conquered the Phoenician coast, Syria and Egypt (Louis, W. R, 1984).

The great Athenian general Miltiades came up with a shrewd battle plan. He decided to thin out the ranks in the center of the phalanx to strengthen the wings. During the battle, the Greek wings crushed the Persian wings and forced them to retreat. At the same time, the Persians in the middle managed to break through the weakened center of the phalanx. Instead of pursuing the retreating Persian wings, the Greek wings moved backward to attack the Persians that had broken through the Greek defenses. The Greek center then turned around so that they had the Persians surrounded. The Persians were slaughtered (5). According to the Greek historian Herodotus, the Persians lost 6400 men while te Greeks lost only 192 (4).

The soldiers would enter the battle in chariots, launching javelins into the enemy formations, then dismount for hand-to-hand combat with more javelin throwing, rock throwing, and hand to hand sword and shield fighting. In the Iliad Homer also mentions the use of the phalanx formation being used by the Greeks. The phalanx is a rectangular mass military formation, usually composed entirely of heavy infantry armed with spears, pikes, or similar weapons . Scholars suggest that the Greeks would have used this tactic because the alignment of shields minimises the chances of projectiles hitting the men, and the men can move as one, strong unit.

For centuries, Alexander the Great has held an eminent place in history. Arguably one of the greatest men the world has ever known, the Macedonian King accomplished many great feats in his short, but glorious life. During his reign, Alexander played several roles in the process of conquering the Persian empire, and in the assessment of his character, aspects of Alexander's capabilities of both strengths and weaknesses must be explored in him as a person, a statesman and a leader.

Alexander the Great was able to defeat King Darius III at the Battle of Gaugamela because of his advanced battle strategies. These included upgrading the phalanx position. Instead of the spears either being straight forward or directly up, he had the back rows' spears point at a 75º angle to deflect arrows and javelins while the front row has their spears straight forward. On both sides of his phalanx, Alexander had set up cavalry. Alexander also had a second phalanx to prevent defeat. Alex first decided to lead the Persians away from the middle ground where the king was. After King Darius III had noticed what was happening, he ordered part of his cavalry to attack from the side. To avoid being surrounded, Alexandre charged straight into the

Porus’s elephants got scared and started to trample their own men. Alexander had his cavalry circled around Porus and then he sent in troops in the form of a phalanx and killed Porus’s men and won. In The Legend of the Helmet Alexander shows how much he cares about his men by doing these actions. He and his men are walking across the desert and they have no water so, Alexander sends off some of his men to look for water.

Think about being forced to join the military and suffer intense training, only because you were a boy born in Sparta: no one would like that idea. However, this was true in the 5th century BCE, in Sparta. Sparta was famous for its army standing up against opposing armies of more than a hundred times greater. They were especially known for the phalanx, a battle formation consisting of a group of soldiers tightly packed, each holding a shield which interlaced with others’. You may have seen this kind of battle formations in many movies, such as The Lord of the Rings and Black Panther.

Near a small village of Gaugamela in present day Iraq, two powerful empires engaged in a battle; Persia and Macedon. The Macedonian army was one-fifth the size of Persia's. Alexander risked everything on this one battle, if he wins the richest empire on the planet is his and if he loses 45,000 men will be slaughtered and Greece would be open to invasion. Alexander the Great was confident and he did not care less. With his war tactics and strategies he knew he could pull out one of the most fascinating victories of all time. Darius II had laid out his battle line in a tremendous challenge for his opponents; two and half mile long. Alexander the Great was overlapped by a half a mile from each side which made it possible for Darius’s cavalry to go from both sides. Alexander the Great thought of it as hard challenge but his complex tactics could not let him down. The Macedonian Phalanx was probably the most potent weapon of war in the ancient world; 256 men arranged 16 across by 16 deep. The spears were around 15 to 18 feet long. The Phalanx formation was deadly and overwhelming. The Phalanx was arranged with the left side facing outward away from the battle expecting an attack from the side. Running on foot are the cultists; Alexander the Great’s light infantry. Cultists would be all over the battlefield, they would have a variety of weapons. They used short range arrows, javelins and sling shots. These weapons were important as they would hit high-value targets such as the chariot groups. The cultists was one of Alexander’s key strategies to win the battle. Darius II released his powerful weapon; the chariots. Alexander the Great knew it was coming, he taught his phalanx army a brilliant tactic to defeat them. He taught his men to trap the chariot, it is called; the mousetrap. A horse would never go towards a line of men holding sharp spears, so if you open

In the Archaic Age, Hoplites were men armed with Hoplon shields and a single spear, and fought in combat shoulder to shoulder in a formation called a phalanx. For this formation to be successful, for the weaker left side not to break, staying in line and working as a group was a necessity. Most of these men were ordinary citizens, mostly farmers and peasants, and therefore the protection of territories relied on their will, in contrast to the Bronze Age where the upper class did most of the fighting. This change gave more power to regular people, and the ideas of democracy and assembly began to spread, it gave rise to the creation of the Polis, city-state. The issues and opinions of the individual soldiers became the new focused, they took

The Persian army waited four days after their arrival on the Greek shore before actually engaging the Spartans in combat. On the fifth day Xerxes launched an assault on Leonidas’ position. To begin the attack the Persians fired a huge barrage of arrows at the Spartans. About 5,000 arrows were launched at the Spartans with no effect. The large bronze shields and helmets used by the Spartans proved to be too much for the Persian arrows. King Xerxes then ordered 10,000 troops forward to take the Spartans prisoners (Robinson). The wave of Persians moved forward and soon found themselves in a full frontal assault with a wall of spears and shields. The Spartan phalanx stretched from each side of the pass. The phalanx formation put each man shoulder to shoulder with their large shields forming a wall of bronze. Each man was armed with a spear that would protrude from the wall making it almost impossible for the Persian soldiers, with much smaller and weaker swards and shields, to penetrate their defense. The Spartan phalanx was positioned right behind the stone wall they had constructed as well.

The phalanx was used as a holding force while the companion Calvary would deliver to hurt the enemy. Sarrissa: each person in Alexander army held a 6.5 metre sarrissa and a “cuirass” (breastplate) and a shield around their neck

The arrangements ended up being parallel to that of the battle of Issus. However, realizing that the Persian cavalry was moderately powerful, Alexander reinforced his wings and ordered them to lengthen if there was any risk of being out-flanked. These well designed decisions would have made a huge impact on the final outcome of the battle, this shows Alexander’s ability to adapt his tactics to suit different situations and develop ways to overcome problems that may occur.