Phalange Mixte

[Paullus Scipio]

The Diadochoi were mainly fighting among eachother,all of them having phalanges as their main force. I would say it is obvious alexander didn't have to fear the oposition of any other phalanx than his,tus this new experiment was designed to face other kind of chalenges.

Good point, Giannis ! But what kind of enemy could such an arrangement be fruitful against? One clue might be that this was a return in many ways to the old Achaemenid style of Army used by Darius I and Xerxes i.e. a hard edge of spearmen designed to fend off cavalry charges, backed by lots of missile troops armed with bows ......the original Persian array was very effective against the Steppe nomads in particular. The line of spearmen with 'spara'/pavises was a good deterrent to cavalry charges, and the footman's bow behind outranged mounted bows, while the 'spara'/pavises also protected the foot archers from enemy arrows.This array worked well enough to build the Persian Empire, and one can imagine that a sarissa armed 'cutting edge'/front line would work even better, not to mention the morale advantage of having steady Macedonian veterans in front and behind.
Perhaps then, Alexander's runoured campaign in the West was just that - rumour - and the real target was those constant threats to Alexander's empire to the North, the steppe nomads, just as they had been in Achaemenid days.

Another reason might be the political one Paul B. referred to, but even more compelling would be the fact that Alexander could hardly take his Army either West or North and leave so many potential armed rebels behind - they had to be taken along for sound military reasons, and since they had to be brought along, some use needed to be found for them, hence the experimental formation.

Then again, Alexander had all but exhausted Macedonian manpower, and would have been acutely aware of the fact, so his experiment was a way to utilise the manpower of his new Persian Empire, but as Giannis has pointed out, the 'Diadochi'/Successors don't seem to have had any trouble training Asiatic 'sarissaphroi'.....so why the 'mixed order'? That brings me back to the first reason.....an army optimised against cavalry foes and mounted archers....... :evil: :twisted:

P.S. The 'Old Man' is fine, thank you Paralus!! D lol: