Alexander the Great was antiquity\'s greatest commander

[Paullus Scipio]

One minor point......
Gregory wrote:-

Firstly, even his reorganization of the Macedonian army was largely based on the Theban model, which we can thank Epominondas and Pelopidas for.

This cannot be correct. The organisation of Thebes armies was based on part-time militia 'Hoplites', who purchased their own equipment, augmented by a cavalry force and supported, like other Greek armies, by 'peltast's and 'psilo'i light troops, used as skirmishers/light infantry.Theban organisation was no different to that of other Greek 'poleis'.

The problem for Philip was that he could NOT emulate the organisation of the armies of the Greek 'poleis', based on a mass of urban' wealthy' individuals who could afford the expensive heavy infantry equipment ('Hopla'). Macedonians were largely tribal agrarian peasants, and relatively poor, who thus could only afford the less expensive ( because it could be home-made, largely) gear of the 'peltast'. So how do you create an effective force of heavy infantry? What Philip's genius did was to take advantage of his position as absolute ruler ( not possible for the Greek 'poleis' such as Thebes) to carry out drastic reforms, drilling his tribal 'peltasts' as heavy, close-order Infantry ( like Hoplites) and giving them a 'sarissa'/pike to outreach 'Hoplites', and thus create an effective 'close order heavy Infantry' . This allowed him to have the first 'dual purpose' infantry - a major tactical innovation in itself - troops who with 'pelta' and 'longche' could fight in their traditional manner as 'peltasts', but who could, by taking up the 'sarissa' and thanks to long hours of drill, fight equally well as 'heavy infantry'.

What a remarkable achievement to create something out of nothing, so to speak - an act of genius!! Another difference in organisation is that 'Hoplites' provided their own gear, but Philip as King began by equipping his men, and as he got wealthier, their equipment got better, with the front ranks at least, and perhaps all by Alexander's day, having defensive body armour and greaves the equal of any hoplite's gear.

What, if anything, Philip learnt from Epaminondas and Pelopidas was that tactically it was not necessary to destroy the enemy as a whole, but simply to destroy the leadership - Epaminondas' famous analogy of "cutting off the snake's head" before Leuktra. This tactic was central to Alexander's tactics against the Persians - all designed to kill the leadership/Darius, in all three of his major victories, Granicus, Issus and Gaugemala......