Lecture 11: In May 334 B.C., Alexander invaded Asia Minor with a strong army, who’s core was comprised veteran Macedonians devoted to their king. Alexander possessed talented senior commanders of Philip, notably his second in command Parmenio and his son Philotas; Antigonus Monophthalmos, and Antipater. Alexander’s boyhood friends also proved superb commanders: Hephaestion, Craterus, Leonnatus, Ptolemy, and Lysimachus. This Macedonian army was unmatched until the legions of Julius Caesar.
The hetairoi and Thessalians, totaling 3,600, were the heavy cavalry decisive in shock action. The infantry included six regiments of the Macedonian phalanx and the elite hypaspists who represented half the national levy. The remaining units consisted of professional specialists, notably archers, slingers, and the Agrianian javelin men as well as hoplites provided by the Greek cities.
Alexander stood against the arrayed ancient Near East’s mightiest empire whose Great King could mobilize huge armies of Iranian cavalry and Greek mercenary hoplites, and an imperial fleet. Alexander’s expedition looked like sheer folly. Many Greeks shared Demosthenes’ hopes that Alexander’s army would be swallowed up in the depths of Asia. Yet, Alexander’s genius defied contemporary expectations.
Alexander pursued a strategy to overthrow. He aimed to smash Persian field armies in decisive battles, and then to capture the ports of the eastern Mediterranean so that Darius’ subject fleets would defect.
The Achaemenid court, surprised by Alexander’s invasion, was strategically at a disadvantage.
Furthermore, a lurid palace revolution had put on the throne Darius III Codomannus, who faced rivals and, while personally brave, could not compare to Alexander in generalship. Therefore, when Alexander crossed the Hellespont, Darius III was preoccupied at Susa so that the satraps of Asia Minor alone took the field against the youthful Macedonian invader.
Suggested Reading:
Bosworth, Conquest and Empire.
Engels, Alexander the Great and the Logistics of the Macedonian Army.
Heckel, The Conquest of Alexander the Great.
———, The Marshals of Alexander’s Empire.
Mørkholm, Early Hellenistic Coiange from the Accession of Alexander to the Peace of Apamea.
Parke, Greek Mercenary Soldiers From the Earliest Times to the Battle of Ipsus.
Lecture 12: https://www.bitchute.com/video/6d0Adc6IjuPN/
