03-25-2009, 01:03 AM
The battle with Bardylis, King of Illyria, occurred quite early in Philip's reign ( he was just 24) and is recorded by Diodorus, almost certainly relying on the lost history of the contemporary Theopompus. The relevant passage is Book XVI.4-7 (translation courtesy of Lacus Curtius site)
"4 When Eucharistus was archon at Athens, the Romans elected as consuls Quintus Servilius and Quintus Genucius. During their term of office Philip sent ambassadors to Athens and persuaded the assembly to make peace with him on the ground that he abandoned for all time any claim to Amphipolis.
2 Now that he was relieved of the war with the Athenians and had information that the king of the Paeonians, Agis, was dead, he conceived that he had the opportunity to attack the Paeonians. Accordingly, having conducted an expedition into Paeonia and defeated the barbarians in a battle, he compelled the tribe to acknowledge allegiance to the Macedonians.
3 And since the Illyrians were still left as enemies, he was ambitious to defeat them in war also. So, having quickly called an assembly and exhorted his soldiers for the war in a fitting speech, he led an expedition into the Illyrian territory, having no less than ten thousand foot-soldiers and six hundred horsemen.
4 Bardylis, the king of the Illyrians, having learned of the presence of the enemy, first dispatched envoys to arrange for a cessation of hostilities on the condition that both sides remained possessed of the cities which they then controlled.
But when Philip said that he indeed desired peace but would not, however, concur in that proposal unless the Illyrians should withdraw from all the Macedonian cities, the envoys returned without having accomplished their purpose, and Bardylis, relying upon his previous victories and the gallant conduct of the Illyrians, came out to meet the enemy with his army; and he had ten thousand picked infantry soldiers and about five hundred cavalry.
5 When the armies approached each other and with a great outcry clashed in the battle, Philip, commanding the right wing, which consisted of the flower of the Macedonians serving under him, ordered his cavalry to ride past the ranks of the barbarians and attack them on the flank, while he himself falling on the enemy in a frontal assault began bitter combat.
6 But the Illyrians, forming themselves into a square, courageously entered the fray. And at first for a long while the battle was evenly poised because of the exceeding gallantry displayed on both sides, and as many were slain and still more wounded, the fortune of battle vacillated first one way then the other, being constantly swayed by the valorous deeds of the combatants; but later as the horsemen pressed on from the flank and rear and Philip with the flower of his troops fought with true heroism, the mass of the Illyrians was compelled to take hastily to flight.
7 When the pursuit had been kept up for a considerable distance and many had been slain in their flight, Philip recalled the Macedonians with the trumpet and erecting a trophy of victory buried his own dead, while the Illyrians, having sent ambassadors and withdrawn from all the Macedonian cities, obtained peace. But more than seven thousand Illyrians were slain in this battle. "
Whilst it may be true that Philip learned of Epaminondas' echeloned attacks at Thebes, he does not seem to have used them on this occasion, his first major battle. Instead, as can be seen above he launches the usual frontal assault by the Phalanx, and launches a 'right hook' with his cavalry ( what were the almost as numerous Illyrian cavalry doing, one wonders? - they are not mentioned).The Illyrians counter the cavalry flank attack by forming square and a long drawn out Infantry 'slog' ensues. Eventually the Macedonians prevail. The reference to the 'flower of the Macedonians' almost certainly means Philip's bodyguard. Forming up the Phalanx with the strongest/Guard unit on the right, around the King/General had long been something of a 'standard' formation in Hoplite warfare generally, and was not something Theban.
We do not know when Philip brought in the 'new' formation depth of 16 in open order - probably at the same time the sarissa was introduced by him, if the weapon itself had not been introduced earlier and Philip's reforms confined to drill and discipline and equipment, and we don't know when that was either. That earlier Macedonian infantry had formed up 10 deep is surmise from the reference to a file-leader as a 'Dekarch'(lit:leader of ten ). One may speculate that this first battle was fought before Philip's 'new model army' reforms, since the long, even struggle with the Illyrian infantry, who were largely armed as peltasts - light round shields and longche ( the short dual purpose throwing/thrusting spear) implies that the Macedonian Infantry were similarly armed.
Macedonian infantry were apparently using 'javelins' against Onomarchos in 353 BC, and sarissa heads have not been found among the detritus of the siege of Olynthus (349 BC), but apparently several come from the battlefield of Chaeroneia (against Thebes and Athens in 338 BC), but again I emphasise that we simply don't know when these reforms were introduced.
However, if the main thing Philip learnt militarily was Epaminondas' 'oblique attack' to bring pressure to bear on part of the enemy line only ( and I don't believe that this was a 'brilliant tactic' invented by him, rather it came about accidently through force of circumstances - but that is another topic!) I would agree with you that he may have observed and learnt from Theban diplomacy and 'international relations'. Philip was very patient, and achieved more by this means than through warfare. Indeed he was apparently prouder of his cleverness as Strategist/Diplomat than his bravery in battle ( see Diodorus' obituary). Examples are his giving up of the city of Amphipolis to Athens, so as to obtain peace when he first came to the throne ( he re-took it several years later), his clever alliance with the Chalkidean league, the way in which he outmanouevred Athens diplomatically, and countless other examples. Philip's true genius lay in the way he combined warfare and diplomacy to achive his strategic aims.
"4 When Eucharistus was archon at Athens, the Romans elected as consuls Quintus Servilius and Quintus Genucius. During their term of office Philip sent ambassadors to Athens and persuaded the assembly to make peace with him on the ground that he abandoned for all time any claim to Amphipolis.
2 Now that he was relieved of the war with the Athenians and had information that the king of the Paeonians, Agis, was dead, he conceived that he had the opportunity to attack the Paeonians. Accordingly, having conducted an expedition into Paeonia and defeated the barbarians in a battle, he compelled the tribe to acknowledge allegiance to the Macedonians.
3 And since the Illyrians were still left as enemies, he was ambitious to defeat them in war also. So, having quickly called an assembly and exhorted his soldiers for the war in a fitting speech, he led an expedition into the Illyrian territory, having no less than ten thousand foot-soldiers and six hundred horsemen.
4 Bardylis, the king of the Illyrians, having learned of the presence of the enemy, first dispatched envoys to arrange for a cessation of hostilities on the condition that both sides remained possessed of the cities which they then controlled.
But when Philip said that he indeed desired peace but would not, however, concur in that proposal unless the Illyrians should withdraw from all the Macedonian cities, the envoys returned without having accomplished their purpose, and Bardylis, relying upon his previous victories and the gallant conduct of the Illyrians, came out to meet the enemy with his army; and he had ten thousand picked infantry soldiers and about five hundred cavalry.
5 When the armies approached each other and with a great outcry clashed in the battle, Philip, commanding the right wing, which consisted of the flower of the Macedonians serving under him, ordered his cavalry to ride past the ranks of the barbarians and attack them on the flank, while he himself falling on the enemy in a frontal assault began bitter combat.
6 But the Illyrians, forming themselves into a square, courageously entered the fray. And at first for a long while the battle was evenly poised because of the exceeding gallantry displayed on both sides, and as many were slain and still more wounded, the fortune of battle vacillated first one way then the other, being constantly swayed by the valorous deeds of the combatants; but later as the horsemen pressed on from the flank and rear and Philip with the flower of his troops fought with true heroism, the mass of the Illyrians was compelled to take hastily to flight.
7 When the pursuit had been kept up for a considerable distance and many had been slain in their flight, Philip recalled the Macedonians with the trumpet and erecting a trophy of victory buried his own dead, while the Illyrians, having sent ambassadors and withdrawn from all the Macedonian cities, obtained peace. But more than seven thousand Illyrians were slain in this battle. "
Whilst it may be true that Philip learned of Epaminondas' echeloned attacks at Thebes, he does not seem to have used them on this occasion, his first major battle. Instead, as can be seen above he launches the usual frontal assault by the Phalanx, and launches a 'right hook' with his cavalry ( what were the almost as numerous Illyrian cavalry doing, one wonders? - they are not mentioned).The Illyrians counter the cavalry flank attack by forming square and a long drawn out Infantry 'slog' ensues. Eventually the Macedonians prevail. The reference to the 'flower of the Macedonians' almost certainly means Philip's bodyguard. Forming up the Phalanx with the strongest/Guard unit on the right, around the King/General had long been something of a 'standard' formation in Hoplite warfare generally, and was not something Theban.
We do not know when Philip brought in the 'new' formation depth of 16 in open order - probably at the same time the sarissa was introduced by him, if the weapon itself had not been introduced earlier and Philip's reforms confined to drill and discipline and equipment, and we don't know when that was either. That earlier Macedonian infantry had formed up 10 deep is surmise from the reference to a file-leader as a 'Dekarch'(lit:leader of ten ). One may speculate that this first battle was fought before Philip's 'new model army' reforms, since the long, even struggle with the Illyrian infantry, who were largely armed as peltasts - light round shields and longche ( the short dual purpose throwing/thrusting spear) implies that the Macedonian Infantry were similarly armed.
Macedonian infantry were apparently using 'javelins' against Onomarchos in 353 BC, and sarissa heads have not been found among the detritus of the siege of Olynthus (349 BC), but apparently several come from the battlefield of Chaeroneia (against Thebes and Athens in 338 BC), but again I emphasise that we simply don't know when these reforms were introduced.
However, if the main thing Philip learnt militarily was Epaminondas' 'oblique attack' to bring pressure to bear on part of the enemy line only ( and I don't believe that this was a 'brilliant tactic' invented by him, rather it came about accidently through force of circumstances - but that is another topic!) I would agree with you that he may have observed and learnt from Theban diplomacy and 'international relations'. Philip was very patient, and achieved more by this means than through warfare. Indeed he was apparently prouder of his cleverness as Strategist/Diplomat than his bravery in battle ( see Diodorus' obituary). Examples are his giving up of the city of Amphipolis to Athens, so as to obtain peace when he first came to the throne ( he re-took it several years later), his clever alliance with the Chalkidean league, the way in which he outmanouevred Athens diplomatically, and countless other examples. Philip's true genius lay in the way he combined warfare and diplomacy to achive his strategic aims.
"dulce et decorum est pro patria mori " - Horace
(It is a sweet and proper thing to die for ones country)
"No son-of-a-bitch ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country" - George C Scott as General George S. Patton
Paul McDonnell-Staff
(It is a sweet and proper thing to die for ones country)
"No son-of-a-bitch ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country" - George C Scott as General George S. Patton
Paul McDonnell-Staff
