Alexander : a history of the origin and growth of the art of war from ...

PHILIP'S SOLDIERS. 135the quartermaster's and commissary departments were very skillfnlly organizedand manag'ed. The Greek camp was round or elliptical, and picket-duty wasregularly performed. There was military music, and insignia were carried inlieu of colors. On the march, which was usually right in front, a van and rearguard and flankers were employed. Minor tactics was highly developed, butbattles were wont to be decided by a single shock. One line of battle wasusual, but Alexander constantly made use of reserves. Level ground wasessential to the phalanx, and therefore always chosen for battle ; but Alexandergot exceptional work out of his phalanx on any ground. Philip organizeda corps of pages, young men of family who lived near the king's person,and learned the profession of arms in camp. This was practically a militaryschool, — a movable West Point. The word of the king was supreme lawbut the Macedonians had apparently the right to demand that they should beconsulted with regard to many matters ; and councils of war were common.The heritage of Alexander the Great from his father,Philip of Maeedon, was the same which came to Frederickthe Great from his father Frederick William, to wit : an armyorganized, armed, equipped and disciplined in a better fashionthan any which existed at that day.It was Philip who first gave shape to the army, transformingwhat was a mere manhood duty of service, or obligatorymilitia system, into a standing army, which rose under himto number forty thousand men. This was the first instancein which a free people subordinated itself to a military autocracywhose head was the king. It was this which madeMacedonia the superior of Greece, which had lost its oldhabits of personal service, and now depended largely uponmercenary soldiers, or upon volunteer service and substitutes.Personal service, unless coupled with the discipline andmethods of a standing force, makes an army of volunteersrather than of regulars. In former days the Greeks had hadwhat came very close to the best discipline attained by astanding army.But the phalanx had gradually lost its cohesion.One might compare the Greek troops of the days ofPhilip to our own volunteers in the early stages of the Civil