Weapons  and Tactics
Chapter 2

Columnist Brig (Retd) ZA KHAN gives an overview of the changing concepts over the years.

THE EARLY CIVILIZATIONS

1. The Egyptians (4,000 - 525 BC)

The Sumerians of Southern Mesopotamia are known as the first people to put warfare on an organised basis but the earliest recorded history is that of Egypt, going back to about 4000 BC; the earliest recorded military organization is of the period of Ramses II (1304-1237 BC).

King Ahmose I, the first Pharaoh of the New Kingdom (1570-1100 BC), in about 1570 BC organised his army in two ‘divisions’, one in the Nile Delta and one inland in the south, it was this standing army which first evolved the ‘line of battle’ consisting of  the centre and the wings. When the army moved forward in an extended line it became a  frontal attack and when the whole army or a portion of it  attacked a wing of the opposing army from the undefended side it became a flanking movement. This gave armies organisation, originated  the art of deploying armies on the battlefield and the tactics for employing an army on the battle- field.

The detailed organisation of the Egyptians is not known, however, the following is known:-

The Egyptians had a seven caste system society in which the warriors were second after the priests.

The warrior caste received land to support themselves and their families.

The country was divided into 36 military provinces.

Chariots formed the elite corps, each chariot had  a driver and an archer   and  had scythes on the axles to cut through infantry. There was a light chariot and a heavy one, the brunt of the fighting was borne by the charioteers and the king fought from one. 

The infantry was armed with an iron sword and a six foot spear, the heavy infantry carried a shield covering the soldier from head to foot.

The army  had a staff system, with nobles acting as couriers for conveying orders, an intelligence system based on  spies, scouting and prisoner interrogation.

A supply system of wagons, carts, animals and ships existed and records of pay, equipment etc was kept.

Troops received training.

Battlefields were  flat ground on which chariots and masses of infantry  could move.

The Battle of Kadesh

The earliest battle in history whose details are known is the battle of Kadesh, it was fought on banks of the river Orontes (now known as the Jordan River) Seti I (1318-1304 BC), fought two campaigns to recover Palestine, Syria and Lebanon but was checked by the Hittites; Ramses II who succeeded Seti I continued the war to restore his empire.

The Egyptians, in four divisions, named after the gods Re, Amon, Ptah and Sutekh, advanced across the desert keeping close to the Mediterranean coast, the force was  logistically maintained by the navy, 400 miles were covered in one month, the Orontes river was reached without contacting the Hittites and a camp was made south of the city of Kadesh.

The Hittite king   hid  his army north of the city of Kadesh and  sent agents to the Egyptians who gave a false location of the Hittite army and false information that the Hittite auxiliaries wished to desert to the Egyptians. The Egyptians advanced towards Kadesh and captured Hittite scouts  who revealed that the main Hittite army of infantry and chariots was concealed north of the city of Kadesh, Ramses on learning this tried to concentrate his army.  Ramses had an army of about 20,000, foot soldiers and chariots; Mutawallis, the Hittite king, had an army of about 16,000, including 2,500 chariots with three men in each.   

The Hittites circled the city eastwards and attacked the Egyptian Re division cutting it in two, one half of the division  ran and joined the Amon division and the other half fled to Ramses’ camp. The Hittites then attacked the Amon division and it fled to the north. Ramses noticing that a flank of the Hittites was open and weak attacked with his chariots, he controlled the Amon division and sent it to attack the Hittites who were looting the Egyptian camp, the Hittites having committed their chariots were helpless against the Egyptian chariots, they withdrew to Kadesh and prepared for a siege  but  Ramses II had to make peace with Hittites and return to Egypt to defend his kingdom against Libyan and European marauders.

The Battle of Kadesh, apart from being the earliest battle whose details are known, is unique because it was a battle fought between two moving forces, a thing that was not to re-occur for a long time. 

2.  Assyria

The Assyrians inhabited the upper Tigris, they were a warlike people who subjugated the area from the Mediterranean to the Persian Gulf, from about 911 BC to about 612 BC when they were defeated by the combined forces of Scythians, Medes and Babylonions.

The Assyrians maintained a well trained army, their rulers were good military  organisers and commanders. They replaced bronze weapons with iron weapons,  introduced cavalry and an accurate sling, improved the chariot  increasing its crew to three, they employed mailed archers, and developed siege craft with siege towers, battering rams and hand propelled vehicles with armour protection.

   The backbone of the Assyrian army was a regular cadre with a mass  levy of  agriculturists, hill men and nomads;   the civil service carried out a periodic census which enabled the population to be mobilised for communal work - building projects, canal clearing, police and military service.

Spearmen and charioteers formed the principal arm; the chariot was drawn by two horses; it originally had a crew of two, the driver and an archer,  later a third man was added to protect the rear and a spare horse was hitched at the rear. Chariots were employed for shock action with an  attack on the enemy’s centre or for an encircling manoeuvre.

Cavalry was introduced in the ninth century BC; horses were ridden bareback and the  horsemen were armed with a bow or a lance, they were employed  in rough terrain where chariots could not go, they were often used in pairs with one rider holding the reins of both horses while the other rider with a shield on his back used a bow or a lance; cavalry was used en-masse, the rider was unstable for archery and more vulnerable than chariots. Because cavalry could be used on uneven ground it started replacing the chariot in about 600 BC. Remount officers in provinces trained horses and military barracks where cavalry was trained to manoeuvre.

The principal weapon of the infantry was the bow, it was used in groups or individually, the bow man was protected by a shield bearer. The bow had a range of over 250 metres, a quiver held 50 arrows, a captain commanded 100 shield bearers which produced a formidable firepower. The other weapons used by infantry were the spear, the javelin and slings.

The Assyrian army had a defined chain of command, commands were of 50, 100, 200 and 1000. The army was fed from stores in provinces; communication was through messengers, smoke and fire signals.

3. The Persians

Persia was ruled by Media till 550 BC then Cyrus II, ‘the Great’, rebelled and created the Persian empire extending from the Indus in the east to the borders of Greece in the west.

To govern and control this large area, garrisons of Persians and Medes were maintained in the provinces which could be augmented with local levies and large armies could be raised; the army had the inherent differences of different national characteristics and training. The local commanders were under the direct control of the king and inspections were carried out  by the king’s representatives.

The Persian noble was the backbone of the army, the sons of nobles started their military training at the age of five and were enrolled at the age of fifteen for thirty five years of service.

The Persian infantry was organised in sections of ten men, companies of hundred, the next higher organisation was of one thousand and the highest of ten thousand; it had a guards division, called the ‘Immortals’ which was always kept at full strength from a waiting list of veteran volunteers. The infantry was armed with a short spear, a very short sword (almost a dagger) and carried a small round shield for protection, it had practically no body armour.

 The principal Persian weapon was the arrow fired by an archer from behind a line of protecting infantry.

 The Persian cavalry consisted of mounted archers, javelin throwers and men armed with slings.

The Persians, like the Assyrians and Medes before them, depended on firing arrows from a distance rather than closing with the enemy to fight with spears and swords. The infantry formed the centre of the battle formation, closed to the arrow range and halted, then the archers fired, protected by the shields of the infantry; after fixing the enemy from the front a  cavalry charge was made to rout the enemy.

The Battle of Thymbra

The Battle of Thymbra (550 BC) illustrates the  battles of this period.

The Persian king Cyrus ascended to the Persian throne in 558 B.C and proceeded to expand his domain which led to a war with Croesus king of the adjoining kingdom of Lyddia. Cyrus with a small army avoided a decisive engagement, when winter set in Croesus retired to his capital, disbanded his mercenaries but Cyrus anticipating this suddenly appeared at the Lyddian capital. Croesus quickly assembled his army and deployed it on the plains of Thymbra, the infantry in a long line, thirty deep, and cavalry on both wings.

Cyrus, inferior in infantry and cavalry, formed his army in five lines, the heavy infantry in the first, the javelin throwers in the second, the archers in the third, followed by another line of infantry and the fifth line consisted of towers carried on wagons. The front, the left and the right, where the Lyddian cavalry was expected to strike, was protected by chariots and  horsemen, with  archers mounted on baggage camels, protected the rear.

The Lyddians attacked the Persian centre and started enveloping both flanks with infantry, not trained for this manoeuvre the infantry fell into confusion, when the Lyddian cavalry appeared at the rear their horses got frightened by the camels forcing the cavalry to dismount to fight, the Persian cavalry and the camels corps charged the dismounted Lyddian cavalry while the Persian chariots charged the disorganised flanking Lyddian infantry, these charges destroyed the Lyddian army.

The Persian empire expanded to include the area from Egypt to the Oxus and the Indus and then it passed into Alexander’s hands.

4. The Greeks

Separated from the mainland of Asia, the Greek civilisation existed in the same period as the Egyptian and Persian civilisation. The Greeks developed three different political organisations; the first under absolute rulers called ‘tyrants’ in Asia Minor and Aegian islands, these came under Persian control; the second democracies in city states, sharply divided into franchised and dis-franchised citizens and slaves;  the third was the purely military state of Sparta where a free born Spartan had a life long military service liability, he was barred from labour, trade and manufacture and lived on allotted land tilled by serfs.

All Greek states required military service from its free citizens in the belief that war was a continuation of the state policy by the use of force and all citizens had to present themselves armed and equipped. The richest served in the cavalry, the next richest as archers, the average citizen in the heavy infantry (hoplites), the poorer as  auxiliaries and attendants to the hoplites.

The Greek battle formation was called the ‘phalanx’, at the time of Alexander the Great (356-323 B.C) it was organised as follows:

A section of 16 men in file with the section commander in front (Alexander often reduced the section to 8 men).

16 sections made a company of 256 men called ‘syntagma’.

4 companies made a battalion called ‘chiliarchia’.

4 battalions formed a ‘phalanx’ which was commanded by a ‘phalangiarch’.

2 phalanges made a division commanded by a ‘di-phalangiarch’.

2 double phalanges made a ‘grand phalanx’ commanded by a ‘tetra-phalangiarch’.

A light infantry called the ‘Hypaspists’ acted as the link between the phalanx and the cavalry which protected the flank  and maintained a continuous front.

An army usually consisted of one grand phalanx, with cavalry, light infantry, archers and slingers.

Alexander’s army had catapults which threw stones and javelins, it had engineers who could build battering rams, bridges etc and an organised staff.

After encountering elephants in India, Alexander added elephants to his army.

The principal weapon of the Greeks was a spear called the ‘sarissa’, in Alexander’s time it was  16 feet long,  later it was increased to 21 feet. This spear was held horizontally by the first five ranks  with the point slightly depressed making a barrier of spear points fifteen feet in front of the front rank and that of the fifth rank extended three feet in front of the front rank. Those behind the fifth rank rested their spears firmly on the shoulders of those in front, this locked the ranks together and pressed the foremost rank forward, moving an irresistible line of spear points.

The phalanx was trained to form a circle for defence, to advance one or both wings to envelop flanks, to defend the front and refuse flanks, to form a wedge for penetrating the enemy’s front, to form pincers to receive an enemy’s wedge formation, wheeling and marching to the flank. The phalanx was irresistible on its front on level ground, it lost cohesion on broken ground, it  cavalry and light infantry to protect the flanks.

BATTLE OF GUAGAMELA (331 BC)

The tactics and the employment of the phalanx are illustrated by the Battle of Gaugamela (331 BC) which was fought between Alexander the Great and the Persian king Darius, this was  one of the decisive battles of the world, its outcome destroyed the then Persian empire.

Alexander invaded Persia and defeated the Persian king, Darius, at Issus in 333 BC where Darius awed by the phalanx left the battle field. Darius raised another army, he equipped his men with a larger shield, swords and thrusting spears but his infantry remained weak and was not drilled like the Greek phalanx. Darius selected a battle field near Guagamela, 76 miles from a crossing of the Tigris river,  a large plain was levelled  into an immense  parade ground to suit his large force of cavalry and scythe chariots. The exact size of the Persian army is not known but is believed to have been 40,000 cavalry, 100,000 infantry, 200 scythe chariots and 15 war elephants. To make Alexander come to his chosen battlefield, Darius sent a force to the Euphrates which blocked the crossing and devastated the valley along which the alternate route lay leaving Alexander no alternative but to take the route leading to Guagamela. 

On his chosen battlefield Darius marshalled his troops as follows:

Ahead of the Persian line the ground was levelled for scythe chariots, an out moded form attack but due to levelled ground it posed a danger to the phalanx;  to avoid the chariots the phalanx would have to head for bumpy ground where it could not maintain its formation.

 In the centre Darius positioned himself by Persian tradition,  15 elephants were stationed in front of his position to scare off the Macedonian cavalry horses with their smell, trumpeting and tusking, ahead of the elephants stakes and snags had been hammered into the ground as a further protection against Greek cavalry.

The front rank consisted of 100 chariots on the left, then cavalry and 50 chariots, then elephants in front Darius and the royal squadron in the centre, on the right 50 chariots and then cavalry.

The centre rank consisted of cavalry on the left and right  with infantry in the middle

The rear rank was almost entirely of infantry.

Alexander’s army had not seen action for two years, based at Tyre, 700 miles from Babylon where Darius was based, on hearing that Darius had raised an army he marched 400 miles to the Euphrates, crossed it and then marched 300 miles to the Tigris and crossed it, the Greeks then made contact with the Persian screen and halted about seven miles from the battlefield prepared by  Darius,   a base camp, with a ditch and a palisade, was organised for the baggage and camp followers, the army  remained in the camp for four days, checking the fitness of horses and polished ‘sarissa’ blades, then, on the night between the fourth and fifth day, just before midnight,  Alexander lead his army in battle order, apparently to surprise Darius at dawn but  three miles short of the battle field he stopped and called his commanders to a council of war which advised him to march straight for the enemy but he took the advice of one of his generals to inspect the terrain to look for hidden obstacles, stakes and ditches. The men were ordered to encamp keeping  their battle order; accompanied by a group of ‘Companions’, Alexander galloped in a circle round the battlefield, he saw the snares and stakes driven in the ground to hold up a cavalry charge and ground levelled for the charge of two hundred scythe chariots. On returning from the reconnaissance  his commanders urged him to attack at night, Alexander is reputed to have refused saying ‘Alexander does not steal his victories’. Alexander ordered a march for the following morning, he spent the night till the the early hours of the morning sifting  information and planning, he went to sleep in the early hours of the morning and slept late till he was woken up by his generals. The approach march and the stopping for reconnaissace had kept the Persians under arms for two days. 

Faced by a much larger Persian army in the open plain and expecting to be enveloped he formed a hollow square so organised that his mobile columns could face any direction and could meet attacks from the front, flanks or the rear. He  discussed  what he had seen with his commanders and emphasised the importance of the immediate execution of his orders. With an army of 7,000 cavalry and 40,000 infantry he deployed as follows:

In the centre were 10,000 ‘Foot Companions’ with sarissas ready, their right flank protected by 3,000 shield bearers who linked up with the cavalry on the right.

On the right wing Alexander with his Companions and the Royal Squadron, these were preceeded by 2,000 archers, slingers and javelin men as skirmishing.

On the left wing the flank of the Foot Companions was protected by cavalry who refused the flank and were ordered to fight a defensive battle.

Against the threat of outflanking and encirclement each wing had cavalry and light infantry at an angle to the refused flank with orders to swing back to right angles  to the front.

To protect his rear from encirclement, Alexander placed 20,000 Greek and barbarian infantry with orders to  about face and face any enemy cavalry which appeared at the rear.

Before the battle Alexander rode up and down the line and exhorted each unit, when about a mile from the Persian line, Alexander sounded the advance and advanced obliquely thrusting his Companions forward to the right holding the left in position; as he came closer to the Persians he led the whole line briskly to the right in a sideways movement in a wedge formation with the object of reaching rough ground where the scythe chariots could not be used and away from the snares and stakes which prevented a cavalry charge.

To counter Alexander, Darius sent his cavalry who outflanked the Greeks before they reached the rough ground but when they tried to encircle a mobile Greek flank guard met them  and repulsed an attack by the Persians before the encirclement was complete. The Persian left moved to support the outflanking force, when the scythe chariots charged they were met by a planned counter by 2,000 javelin throwers who at long range knocked out the charioteers and attacked the horses with long knives. To be effective a chariot charge must be in straight line without interruption, the Persian charge was interrupted and then a passage was opened to allow them to pass through to the baggage camp where they were dealt with by the camp followers.

The Persian outflanking movement opened a gap where their left wing met their centre, Alexander formed his Companion cavalry in a wedge formation and followed by foot formations charged the Persian centre heading for Darius but avoiding the elephants; Darius reversed his chariot and left the battlefield. 3,000 Companion cavalry and 8,000 infantry decided the battle by concentrating at the vital point, the king.

From the Persian right, the Persian cavalry charged the Greek left flank guard but was repulsed, an outflanking force of about 3,000 got to the baggage camp but withdrew when they heard of Darius’s flight.

In the Greek centre a gap opened when the Alexander made the oblique march, the Persian poured through it and went to the baggage camp where they were attacked by Alexander’s reserve and routed.

Alexander on learning of Darius’s flight started in pursuit but returned because    the Persian right flank had surrounded the Greek left flank protection force, the commander sent a message to Alexander who lead his Companions to his relief and routed the Persians, this ended the battle.

5. The Romans

Rome is believed to have been founded in 753 BC, five hundred years later Rome ruled over Italy, two hundred and fifty years later, about the time of the birth of Christ, the Roman empire included western Europe, the region around the Mediterranean, Turkey, Mesopotamia and part of Persia. By 700 AD Rome had lost its European territories to the barbarians from central Europe and the African and Asian territories to Muslims from Arabia. The Eastern Roman Empire, known as the Byzantine Empire survived till Constantinople was besieged and taken in 1453 AD by the Turks.

Rome started as a monarchy which required military service, the population was divided into thirty parts, each called a ‘curia’, which provided ten horsemen and a hundred infantry men, making a total of 300 horsemen and 3000 infantry, later this was doubled. This armed force was called ‘legio’ meaning ‘the gathering of the clans’.

At the beginning of the sixth century BC, Rome became a republic and the military service was based on the ownership of property as follows:

The richest served in the cavalry and received ‘mounted pay’ as compensa-tion for maintaining horses and accoutrement.The rest of the population was divided into six property classes as follows:

The first class provided forty centuries with full armour, spear and sword.

The second and third classes, ten centuries each, with inferior armour but armed as the first class.

The fourth class, ten centuries of javelin throwers without armour.

The fifth class, fifteen centuries of slingers.

The sixth class was grouped in a single century and usually was not

called for service.

 About the beginning of the third century BC the class system was changed to a system based on length of service.

Originally the formation was similar to the Greek phalanx with the fourth and fifth class forming the light troops. The columnar formation of the phalanx gradually changed into a smaller tactical unit called a maniple (handful) and the long spear and the large round shield was abandoned in favour of a rectangular shield, a throwing javelin and a short, double edged thrusting sword; the rigidity of the phalanx was abandoned for speed and fluidity.

 The ‘legion’ with 4,500 men, a strong brigade or weak division in size, now formed behind 1,200 young men who served as light infantry skirmishers called ‘velites’. Behind the skirmishers the legion formed in three lines, the front line of ten companies (maniples) of 120 each, 1,200 of the youngest men called ‘hastati’ (spear men or in-experienced troops); the second line of ten companies (maniples) of 120 each, 1,200 more experienced men called ‘principes’; the third line of 600 veterans, the most experienced men called ‘triarii’, in companies of 60 men each.

 300 ‘equities’, knights who belonged to families of rank, acted as cavalry, they formed ten troops of thirty horsemen each, called ‘turmae’.

The velites were armed with a sword and seven darts, the hastati and the principes with a sword and two javelins and the triarii with a pike, a wooden spear. The cavalry of this time, unstable on a horse without a stirrup, carried several javelins and a long pole for thrusting or acted as mounted archers.

A maniple was commanded by a centurion (captain) who had a second in command, second-centurion (lieutenant), two sub-officers (sergeants) and a ‘decorus’ (corporal) commanded a section of ten men.

 The maniples of the ‘hastati’ left a gap between them which was covered by a maniple of the ‘principe’ in the second line; similarly the principe left a gap between maniples which was covered by the ‘triarii’; this created a chess board pattern which gave the legion the ability to maintain its formation over uneven ground.

The deployment in the chess board pattern gave the legion flexibility in attack and defence. In the attack the velites, the skirmishers, preceded the legion, hurled their javelins, moved away and then the hastati threw their javelins and rapidly closed with the enemy with their swords. As the men in the front rank fell or got tired the rear ranks replaced them. After the hastati spent themselves they were replaced by the principes who in turn were replaced by the triarii. In this way the legion organisation made it possible to attack in three waves with fresh troops in each wave, the youngest and most vigorous going into battle first and the most experienced committed last.

By the front rank holding their shield in front and the rear ranks over their heads, protection was gained against arrows, darts and javelins, this formation was called the ‘testudo’ (tortoise).

 In the last century BC, after a defeat by the Gauls the legion was re-organised into ‘cohorts’ of 600 men each and the division into ‘hastati’, ‘principes’ and ‘terarii’ was abolished, ten cohorts formed a legion of 6,000, besides the cavalry and the velites; the battle formation was changed to two lines of five cohorts each which was again changed by Julius Caesar to a front line of four cohorts and two depth lines of three cohorts each.

While on the march, at every stop, forts with palisades and ramparts were constructed at the expense of marching time. The legion always operated from a fortified camp and usually did not offer battle unless it had a fortified base (firm base) to retire to and for this reason rarely suffered a disastrous reverse.

For quick movement across the vast empire the famous Roman roads were built. For border security where no natural obstacle marked the border, ditches and walls with towers at every mile and forts at every four miles were built.

The Roman army was trained in the use of the sword, javelin, sling, archery and the throwing of darts. Proficiency tests were periodically held and those who

failed were placed on barley rations instead of wheat till they reached the required standard. When not on active service, trained soldiers were drilled once a day and recruits twice. Running, vaulting and marching with a sixty pound load, excluding weapons, was a part of training. The legion marched at the normal military step rate of 20 miles in five hours and a quick step rate of 24 miles in five hours.

After Rome became a republic the Roman armies were commanded by consuls appointed by the Roman Senate, in the second century BC, individuals, often not appointed by the Senate, assumed the commands, this produced the soldier statesmen like Julius Caesar, Pompeii and Mark Antony.

 After the defeat of Mark Antony in the naval battle of Actium and the subsequent suicides of Antony and Cleopatra in 30 BC, Rome ruled over, as believed then, the entire inhabited world, from the Atlantic to the Euphrates, from the North Sea to the Sahara Desert and the entire Asian coastal region of the Mediterranean. In the first century AD, it was decided to consolidate and defend the empire and stop expanding; the number of legions was halved and they were deployed in the border areas. Permanent stationing on the borders made military service unpopular and the recruitment system had to be changed; land was allotted for hereditary military service, each unit of land had to furnish a designated number of men, the allottees took turns to provide the men; this later became the basis of the feudal system.

During the consolidation and defence of the empire legions were commanded by six tribunes appointed by the emperor who divided the paying, quartering, provisioning etc and commanded the legion in turn for two months.

 The centurion was the backbone of the legion command, he was appointed by tribunes for his deep rooted spirit for facing superior numbers and withstanding overwhelming enemy pressure, the appointment was subject to the approval of the commander in chief; the rank had many grades from the junior centurion of the hastati to the senior centurion called ‘primipilus’.

 In the legion, subalterns were nominated by officers as their substitute lieutenants in case of sickness or absence; ensign bearers carried the ensign, appointed orderlies delivered orders and passwords, and a ‘campigneri’ ensured proper exercise and maintenance of discipline, accounts, buglers, trumpeters and other staff.

Centurions had disciplinary powers, strict discipline was maintained, slackness in weapon training and battle drill was punished by curtailing rations, stealing and physical unfitness were punished by flogging. For running away from a battlefield a legion could be disbanded, sold in to slavery or decimated by flogging every tenth man to death.

Victorious commanders were honoured by a triumphal procession in Rome, centurions accompanied their commanders or were awarded ‘civic crowns’ as decorations, other ranks were awarded a gold collar, a double or single allowance. Legions which distinguished themselves received ‘donatives’, a bonus on special occasions and on discharge.

The organisation, traditions and the discipline of the Romans influenced military organisation and thought in Europe for a long time. ‘Re De Militari’ the book on the military institutions of the Romans by Vegetius and the ‘Strategion’ of the Emperor Maurice (582-602 AD), a military manual embodying the principle that military instruction should begin at the top and radiate downwards covering the intelligent study of the enemy, laws governing military service, recruitment, organisation, administration, cavalry and infantry training and tactics, were the military bibles of the rulers of Europe up to the time of Napoleon.

‘Victory in war does not depend entirely on numbers or mere courage; only skill and discipline will ensure it’ - stated by Vegetius was the advice that Rome left and Europe followed.

The Battle of Pydna (168 BC)

 The Roman legions conquered most of Europe and the Mediterraneancoast of Africa and when they turned towards Greece the legion clashed with the Greek phalanx. The pattern for the defeat of the Greek phalanx by the Roman legion is considered to have set at the battle of Pydna (168 BC).

After the death of Alexander the Great, his empire split into five parts, Macedonia, the part nearest the expanding Roman empire, came into conflict with the Romans who were contending for the remains of Alexander’s empire. Rome fought the First Macedonian War (217-205 BC) and after defeating Hannibal started the Second Macedonian War in 198 BC by invading Greece.

 In 197 BC the Roman legions clashed with the Greek phalanx at Cynoscephalae, the ground was not favourable for manoeuvring the phalanx and King Philip of Macedonia tried to avoid battle but unfortunately for him the two armies met in a fog, the right wing of the phalanx drove back the Roman left but because of broken ground the left wing of the phalanx could not maintain its formation, it was charged by the Romans and routed; the Greek right wing was then attacked and defeated ending the battle; the war ended in 191 BC with Philip still in control in Macedonia.

Perseus succeeded Philip in 179 BC, he followed a hostile policy towards Rome which led to the Third Macedonian War in 172 BC. For four years there was no decisive engagement, in 168 BC the two armies faced each other across a stream from which both drew their water and to protect their watering parties both sides had detachments which had made a ‘gentlemen’s agreement’ not to interfere with each other.

On the day of the battle a Roman horse ran across the stream and was chased by three Roman soldiers, a clash followed in which a Macedonian was killed, next 800 Macedonians and two Roman cohorts skirmished, Perseus lead the Greeks out of their camp and formed up for battle on the bank of the stream; the Romans formed up on the opposite bank with rising ground behind them. Perseus, the Macedonian king attacked unexpectedly swiftly, the Roman commander is said to have been ‘smitten at once with astonishment and terror’ but without any head and body protection he organised his battle line.

The Macedonians attacked the Roman right which was forced back to the hills in the rear and the rest of the Roman front also fell back to the slope of the hills. As the ground became more and more unfavourable to the phalanx, it could not retain its cohesion, gaps opened due to the unevenness of the ground into which the Roman commander sent his cohorts to attack the Macedonians where their armour and their spears did not protect them, the phalanx broke up. This was decisive battle, 20,000 Macedonians were killed and 11,000 were captured, the remains of Alexander’s empire finished.

Hannibal’s Victories Against the Legions

The Roman legions lost battles where they met a superior tactician who understood the weakness of the legion and took advantage of it. Hannibal, considered one of the great ‘captains’ of war, defeated the Romans on the banks of the Trebia in 218 BC, he held the Romans in front, outflanked them, attacked the Roman rear and routed them. The next year, he deliberately placed his army between two Roman armies, on the bank of Lake Transimene, and ambushed a Roman army which was marching to join another.

Hannibal’s Cannae Manoeuvre

Hannibal, fought his most famous battle against the Romans at Cannae, in 216 BC. He deployed his army in a convex formation, the infantry in the centre with a powerful cavalry force on each wing. The Romans were deployed in the normal legion formation, Hannibal first routed the Roman cavalry, when the Roman infantry advanced, the Carthaginian centre fell back till the front became a concave and then the Carthaginian infantry on the flanks wheeled inwards, closed with the Romans on their flanks and engaged them, the Carthaginian cavalry which had chased the Roman cavalry off the field, returned and fell on the Roman rear surrounded the Romans and defeated them. This is a very famous manoeuvre and variations of it have been employed many times.

6. India - The Arthashastra (322 BC)

Twenty years after Alexander the Great defeated Poros, one of his generals, Seleukos Nikator, the Conqueror, invaded the Punjab in 303 BC and was defeated by Chandragupta, the first emperor of the Maurya line. Chandragupta’s minister, Kautilya (also known as Chanaka), wrote a guide on statecraft called ‘Athashastra’ similar to ‘The Prince’ which Machiavelli (1469-1527) wrote later; two volumes of the Arthashastra and parts of other volumes are devoted to the conduct of war.

The Arthashastra stated that the army should consist of  elephants, chariots, cavalry, infantry and have labourers, camels and bullocks for transport.

The elephant played an important role in Hindu mythology, in it the world is  supported on elephants. The elephant  was considered  of great military importance; like tanks  elephants frightened the enemy, they were the shock troops, the striking force in the attack and played an important role in the defence. They were  employed for standing in attendance, marching together, fighting with elephants, trampling and killing infantry, for assaulting towns and general fighting; they were prepared for battle with wine and opium, goaded with iron spikes during battle, they were equipped with bells and their  tusks were tipped with long dagger like blades, seven or more warriors rode on an elephant shot arrows and used  spears from its back.  Elephants were also useful in building earthworks, roads, forcing entrance into difficult places, they were useful in crossing rivers and above all they denoted the magnificence of the ruler.

The next in importance were the war chariots, they  were specially designed with arrangements for archers, striking weapons, armour and other accoutrements.

Cavalry came next, it was  trained to gallop, canter, trot and to carry out various other movement, it was also considered a means of attacking elephants. Foot soldiers were considered relatively un-important except when operations were to be conducted in water, or hilly ground; three foot guards were required for a horseman, fifteen for a chariot or an elephant. Each horseman carried two lances, an infantryman was armed with a sword and had either javelins or a bow  with arrows. The arrow was discharged with the bow resting on the ground. Chariots were drawn by teams of two or four horses, they carried a driver and a fighting crew of two; elephants carried a driver and archers.

The commander of the king’s armies was required to be trained in the science of all kinds of fighting and weapons, he was required to be renowned for riding elephants, horses and chariots, he had to be capable of directing all four types of troops, elephants, chariots, cavalry and foot soldiers and had to arrange signals with musical instruments, banners and flags for marching, halting and attacking.

On the battle field the commander in chief was required to arrange the army in battle array; the right, centre and left of the army had to be three rows of three chariot units of 45 chariots, 225 horses and 675 foot guards, this uniform ‘array’ could be increased as required to 21 chariot units or it could be of elephants at the centre, flanks of chariots and wings of horses. 

The army, to which Chandragupta owed his throne, was said to have numbered 80,000 horse, 200,000 foot, 8,000 chariots and 6,000 fighting elephants, these were organised, equipped and administered to attain a high degree of efficiency. The army was not a militia but a standing army drawing regular pay, supplied with government horses, equipment and other stores.

The army was controlled and administered by a ‘war office’ with 30 members in six boards of five members each, one each for the navy, transport and commissariat (this included drummers, grooms, grass cutters etc), infantry, cavalry, chariots and elephants.     

The Arthashastra  recommended that an army should engage in a fight after establishing a fortified place to retire to, it strongly recommended the use of spies and advocated  ‘open fights’ if overwhelmingly stronger than the enemy but recommended that ‘treacherous fights’ should more often be the object of an experienced general; ‘intrigue is better than power,’ Kautilya said. Success in ‘treacherous fights’ was to be based on reliable intelligence, with a good knowledge of what is going on in the enemy’s camp a variety of ruses could be adopted, bribes could be paid to commanders to change sides or to make rival factions in the enemy’s camp to fight one another; making a part of the enemy force to change  allegiance was an essential part of the concept of war.

For two thousand years the teachings of the Arthashastra, reliance on elephants and cavalry, contempt for infantry and an expectation of treachery on both sides, were the features of warfare in India.