Logistics and Sieges of Alexander the Great

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Alexander the Great inherited one of the most powerful armies in the ancient world from his father Philip. The army used a unique spear phalanx that was virtually unheard of outside of Macedonia, and the army was well trained and supported. Additionally Philip felt the use of siege weaponry was of great importance and invested in engineers to aid him. Philip even used siege weaponry on the field in battle some times. Philip set the stage for his son to dominate the known world, and even gave him a road map for conquering Asia minor, but an army and siege weapons are only a portion of an armies success. Especially when planning a long protracted campaign far from home. Alexander’s conquest of Asia was heavily influenced by two very important factors. The ability to logistically supply his army across vast areas and the ability of his engineers to allow him to take cities without long protracted sieges. This allowed Alexander to quickly expand his empire without having to worry about opponents being able to exploit his absence in other areas. Perhaps even more important than siege tactics and improved weaponry were the logistics that allowed Alexander to continue with his campaign without running out of food, water, and fodder for his army. An army is limited in how much food and water can be carried by personnel and animals and must forage or have some logistical support to supply it over a long period. An average ration for a grown man on campaign with a full load would have been three pounds of grain or something else similarly nutritional and two quarts of water. The animals also needed to be fed and an average for a horse was ten pounds of food and eight gallons of water.1 Alexander was known to disdain wagons and endeavo... ... middle of paper ... ...tics of the Macedonian Army. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1980. Fuller, J.F.C. The Generalship of Alexander the Great. New Jersey: Quinn & Boden Company, Inc., 1960. Hacker, Barton. "Greek Catapults and Catapult Technology: Science, Technology, and War in the Ancient World." Technology and Culture. no. 1 (1968): 34-50. http://uccshes.files.wordpress.com/ (accessed November 19, 2013). Kostas Kotsanas Museum of the Ancient Greek Technology, "The Siege Technology of the Ancient Greeks." http://www.kotsanas.com/ (accessed November 3, 2013). Marriner, Nick, Christophe Morhange, and Samuel Meulé. "Holocene Morphogenesis of Alexander the Great's Isthmus at Tyre in Lebanon." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. no. 22 (2007): 9218-9223. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25427834 (accessed November 3, 2013).

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