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

THE IDEAL OF SHOCK TACTICS. 137came the Grecian phalanx. At the battle of ChaBronsDa thefront rank of the Theban hoplites fell to the last man.Withhis phalanx thus armed, Philip brought Greece to his feet,and enabled his son Alexander to reap from the start thefruit ofhis wonderful military genius.The army for war was raised : first, from the Macedonianpeople, as a kernel ;second, from tributary tribes, — Thessalians,Thracians, Paeonians, Triballians, Odryssians, lUyriansand others ; third, from allied nations, such as the Greeks ;fourth, from mercenary troops, Greeks and others. TheThessalians were really allies ;but they were under a Macedonianchief, as were also the Greek allies.We have no details as to the formation of the Greek phalanxuntil Thucydides and Xenophon, the latter of whom firstdescribes it with satisfactory accuracy.There was considerabledifferencebetween the phalanx of Xenophon and thatof Alexander. In fact, at all periods there were materialvariations in the formation, arms and drill of the phalanx,but a detailed description of the Macedonian phalanx willsuffice to explain that ofTo Philip is due the credit ofthe other states.organizing the whole Macedonianmilitary establishment ; Alexander in no materialmanner changed what he inherited,but only expanded thesystem, so as to make room for the introduction of new elementsin the East, and to create cadres of sufficient size totreble the strength of the army. He was wise enough to recognizethat he could not better the results of his father'swonderful capacity for organization. But he used the armyin a fashion his father had never dreamed ofdoing:.The Spartan and the Athenian phalanxes have alreadybeen described in a partial way ; they were superb of theirkind ; but the Macedonian phalanx will always remain inhistory as the ideal of shock tactics. It was numerically