(Copy) The Macedonian Sarissa and Phalanx:

Macedonia.

 Macedonia was a kingdom in northern ancient Greece founded around C. 7th Century BCE. This kingdom was not held in high regard by their southern neighbors, and did not associate with the rest of the Greek city-states due to language and cultural barriers. Macedonia is primarily known today for being the home of Alexander III, or Alexander the Great. Alexander led one of the biggest military campaigns in the history of the world.

The Persian Empire.

During this period of time, Persia was the most powerful empire in the world. Persia had previously invaded Greece twice, narrowly failing each time. Because of this, much of Greece, including Macedon, either despised Persia or saw them as a threat. The thought of defending against a Persian invasion was so terrifying that no one even considered that a successful invasion of Persia was possible.

King Philip II.

 However, this changed when King Philip II came into power in 359 BCE. and solely aimed to one day be able to conquer Persia in its entirety. Led by King Darius III, Persia was a powerhouse both economically and militarily. Macedon, at this time, was nowhere near capable of taking on Persia, so Philip II set his eyes on Greek city-states to his south, like Athens and Sparta. He needed these city-states in order to get enough resources to invade Persia. He did not have the sheer manpower to take Greece, so he decided to use the resources in his region and integrate technology in unconventional ways to accomplish his goals on the battlefield.  Philip II and the Macedonians were one of the first and most iconic examples of military progression. Philip II did what no other city-states had done, used technology to adapt to and counter his enemy.

Alexander II of Macedon.

Alexander II, from a young age, was devoted to one goal: conquering Persia. Philip II knew the Macedonians could not simply fight the Persians in an orthodox way, and had been perfecting and training his troops using a new weapon that was an immense technological advantage over their opponent. This technology, mixed with the tactics of Alexander II, created the perfect army and enabled him to conquer Persia.

Alexander's conquering of Persia was no small accomplishment and is crucial to the world to this day. This is not because of how powerful Persia was nor how wealthy the Persians were as a whole. It was because, for the first time in history, it was evident that the integration of new technologies and styles in the military could be immensely effective on the battlefield.

The Macedonian Sarissa:

The Macedonia Sarissa, to modern day, might simply be seen as an oversized spear, but that is a misconception. The culmination of such a disruptive technology was not widely acknowledged during its time and Alexander III retained most of the credit for its vast success on the battlefield. When in reality the culmination of this spear was vastly more complex and impressive than society recognizes. Things such as the flexibility of the wood, the distribution of weight, and the type of metal used for the tip all had to be taken into account by the Macedonians. The shaft of Sarissa is believed by the majority of historians to be  made of cornel wood, a tough and resilient wood that had a lot of stiffness to it and was also abundant in their region. This wood enabled them to craft these spears anywhere from 15 to 18 feet, without modern machinery and by hand, these were crafted and also weighed around 15 pounds. The weapon was equipped with an iron spearhead along with a bronze spike at the butt of the spear. This enabled the Sarissa to not only be more balanced, but also to be planted in the ground to repel enemy charges. The experimentation that King Philip I and the Macedonians put into developing this was substantial, to say the least, and is definitely one of the reasons it was so successful

The Macedonian Phalanx and Sarissa.

The Macedonian Phalanx itself was a technological advancement made because of the invention of the Sarissa and is ultimately why it was so effective. This military formation consists of sixteen rows of eight men. The first row held their Sarissa’s completely level, the second row of the Phalanx would position them slightly above the first rows. This same theme would continue throughout the formation until the last two rows that were held straight up. This formation created essentially a seemingly never-ending wall of Sarissa’s that were immensely longer than the Greek and Persian speers. As a result, none of the Macedonian’s enemies could reach them without being impaled, and even if they manage to breach the first row the seconds Sarrisa’s would immediately fall down. 

Using these two technological inventions combined, the Macedonians were able to never lose a battle under Alexander, defeat impossible odds and ultimately take over the ancient world.

Effectiveness of The Sarissa and Phalanx.

Alexander III and the Macedonians’ siege of Persia is idolized throughout the modern world today. In part, because of the overwhelming odds the Macedon’s faced invading a country of such vast wealth and size with only 30,000 men. On one occasion Alexander stood against an estimated army of 250,000 that trumped his 50,000 men five to one nevertheless Alexander fought and won this battle through his unique tactics on the battlefield. There are multiple examples of Alexander III doing this throughout his invasion, but those who studied his victories like the Mongols, the Third Reich, and Rome realized how he obtained such success. Through the integration of new and unorthodox technologies in the military with the specific goal of conquering territory quickly and effectively and progressing over your enemies. 

The Mongol Empire.

The Mongolian Empire was Founded in 1206 by Genghis Khan, and Mongolians are known as some of the most fearsome and successful warriors ever. They terrorized the continent of Asia with no one standing in their way. Such military power was because the Mongols like Alexander III integrated technology into the military to counter and conquer their enemies. Mongols enemies in this time were mainly on foot or had few horses. Because of these innovations, and knowing Alexander III was so successful with the integration of technology into the military. The Mongols devised their version of the Sarissa; Archers mounted on horses. Before this time archers were considered non-mobile and distance troops no one thought they were capable of conquering territory so quickly. However, Chinggis Khan's new technological advancement made archers a superweapon. While on horseback archers completely countered their enemy and through complex signals and messages passed between ranks the Mongols were able to move very disciplined on the battlefield and easily encircle their opponents.

The Mongols essentially adopted and used new unorthodox technology to progress as a society on the battlefield. As ingenious as the Mongols military accomplishments and use of technology where they would not have existed without Alexander III. Using Philip II’s technological breakthrough Alexander honed it into an unstoppable war machine that’s success was overwhelming on the battlefield and forced others to do the same to compete. This culture Alexander created is the reason the Mongols were so vastly successful.

Hitler and the Third Reich. (is this okay?)

The Third Riech was a political party that controlled Germany from 1933 to 1945, and the leader of this party was Adolf Hitler. Hitler and the Third Reich were the main reason behind World War II and managed to conquer  Poland, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, and France in only about 9 months. Hitler, like the Macedonians, integrated technology. He combined new tank technology with busses of infantry and airplanes that bombed from above simultaneously in a tactic that was known as the Blitzkrieg. 

Like the Mongols, Hitler had the ability to do this because Alexander armed with the sarissa and Phalanx showed that The integration of technology on the battlefield in unorthodox ways could be vastly disruptive on the battlefield. Regardless of if it’s men armed with eighteen-foot long spears in an expert formation combined with cavalry, or tanks, infantry, and aircrafts attacking simultaneously. It is the same principle that the Sarissa and Phalanx set, that new technology applied on the battlefield can result in immense success. 

Downfall of the Sarissa and Macedonian Phalanx.

The saris and Phalanx, for years after Alexander's death, were still a military technology way beyond its time. Ancient civilizations could not compete with this technology unless they too integrated new technology into their military to defeat the Phalanx.  It was not until 168 BC that a civilization managed to use superior technology to defeat the Macedonian Sarissa and Phalanx. This was the first time the Sarissa and Phalanx of Macedon were decisively defeated. The sarissa and Phalanx was defeated because after the death of Alexander III the Macedon made the poor choice to stop making technological advancements towards their military due to  the fact it had never been decisively defeated. In doing this the Macedon’s allowed other countries like Rome a chance to compete with them technologically on the battlefield. Rome took this advantage and implemented new technologies to counter the technology of Macedonia. The Romans noticed that once you were able to get up close to the Phalanx of Macedon that their sarissas were essentially useless due to them being long-ranged melee weapons. The Romans utilized the Pilum, Gladius, and Scutum to defeat Macedonia. The pilum was a lightweight spear around seven feet long that could be thrown from line infantry from a distance to weaken the Phalanx. After Rome would use their Pilum’s they would charge with their shield called a Scutum that helped block the Sarissas while they got close enough to use the famous roman Gladius, a short sword for quick and very close warfare. These three technologies applied on the battlefield were able to defeat an older technology that had been dominant and almost unbeatable till this point.

At the Battle of Pydna when the Romans defeated the Macedonian Sarissa and Phalanx it further exaggerated what the Macedonians had proved with the Sarissa. That new technologies integrated into the military can be vastly effective even against the most daunting opponent. Which is precisely the reason the fall of the Sarissa and Phalanx is equally as important as the culmination of these technologies. The Macedonians and Romans are some of the most revered civilizations militarily to this day and this is for no other reason than the technologies on the battlefield they pioneered. If it was not for the Legions of Rome's innovations like the Pilum, Scutum, and Gladius what would Romans be seen as today, irrelevant. Because Rome learned from the Macedonians how to integrate new technologies in the military could equal immense success so it is something they strived for. The Macedonians through these innovations created a domino effect and almost a whole culture of arms races, using unorthodox and new technologies amongst those who crave power and to conquer the land.

Bibliography.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/504637?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents

https://www.jstor.org/stable/503007?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents

https://greek-history.org/warfare/phalanx.php

https://sites.psu.edu/successoftheromans/roman-campaigns/the-battle-of-pydna-168-bc/

https://video.search.yahoo.com/search/video?p=the+battle+of+pydna+history.org&fr=yhs-invalid#id=1&vid=6ef8d1890533cd51dc9235937c7d5b1a&action=view

https://www.worldhistory.org/Mongol_Empire/

https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/blitzkrieg-lightning-war

https://www.worldhistory.org/macedon/