Defeating Alexander.

[The Duchess of Zeon]

It's 334 B.C., and you wake up one morning and realize you're now Darius III, the King of Kings of the Achaemenid Persian Empire, and, oh, this means that very soon Alexander the Great is going to be invading.

Alexander's invading army will consist of about 30,000 foot and 5,000 horse; your nearest defending force, 20,000 Greek Mercenaries and 20,000 satrapal levies.

Your naval forces on the Mediterranean are from 400 - 600 galleys drawn from five fleets of up to 120 galleys each (I'm afraid I can't be more exacting). Alexander only has sixty, but nominally commands allegiance of the League of Corinth, which includes the Athenian fleet of 200 fighting galleys, and the other states of the League with lesser numbers of galleys in turn totalling around 100; or about 360 altogether, but Alexander will not call upon the League in a diplomatic effort.

Your total fighting strength in the Empire is 50,000 Greek Mercenaries, the 2,000 elite "apple bearers" of the Royal Guard (Spearmen who's spears bear gilt apples or pomegranates on their spear butts), 2,000 elite royal horse guards (noble companions of the Shahanshah to guards his chariot in battle), the 10,000 Immortals, and 10,000 other elite cavalry, in terms of a standing force.

In theory your Empire, divided into a myriad of satrapies, or a loosely federal system of largely independent and sometimes semi-hereditary governorships, and with a population of seventy millions, may be able to field somewhat more than one million men and some of the best cavalry in the civilized world, those forces of course divided by satrapy and in fact under the command of the satraps.

However, the majority of your troops are poor-quality feudal levies, widely spread throughout the Empire. At the very upper limit, and with considerable expense, perhaps 400,000 of these can be concentrated in the Imperial heartlands, or modern day Iraq, Syria, south-eastern Turkey, and western Iran; of which perhaps 60,000 - 80,000 might be cavalry, considering the necessity of fodder.

Absolutely none of your native infantry whatsoever with the possible exception of the Immortals and the Apple Guards will last beyond first touch with Alexander's infantry; and he is not entirely without the possibility of reinforcement.

This levied infantry is a wildly diverse and eclectic mix of contigents based on satrapy: Archers and slingers, javelineers, spearmen, pavise-carriers, swordsmen, everything under the sun; but no heavy armour and limited at best to wicker shields.

Your cavalry includes armoured lancers, a diverse mix of bowmen, including armoured and unarmoured bowmen, and javelineers, cavalry with the sword - again, every type. The lack of the stirrup is a serious defect; but this is the strongest Persian point.

From the farthest east of the Empire, the Indian satrapies can provide 15 War Elephants to a levy. Finally, you also have in excess of two hundred scythed chariots, suitable for deployment on level terrain, and several normal ones to accompany your ceremonial command chariot.

You of course have all your current knowledge and capabilities, and all of the knowledge and abilities of Darius III as well, so you will be able to continue in the functions of the royal office without oddity.

But you do not have remotely enough time to invent decisive military technologies or "revelations" thereof. OTOH, the royal road system and the courier service is quite excellent...

Here is a map of your realm:

http://members.ozemail.com.au/~mjdrury/ ... epherd.gif

Note that the lands across the Borporus, and in Greece, that is, all the European territories, are under Alexander's sway, now. This is, after all, 334 B.C., and a rather severe time for your nation.

Oh Padishah, the Empire is at your command. Defend your patrimony!

[Vympel]

Wouldn't this have more to do with battle tactics than the more grandiose strategic scale information you have presented?

[The Duchess of Zeon]

Notations:

1. Alexander probably has closer to 6,000 cavalry at first.

2. Yes, when I say "native infantry", I don't include the Greek Mercenaries of course. And you can try to have your native infantry fling javelins, shoot bows, and hurtle sling-shot as you may devise. It's just at press-of-pike or hand-to-hand the levies will inevitably crumble; and I wouldn't trust your standing special infantry for long either.

3. You do have caltrops to toss about, and some concept of engineering, though not as refined as the Macedonians.

Good luck.

[The Duchess of Zeon]

Wouldn't this have more to do with battle tactics than the more grandiose strategic scale information you have presented?

Yes. I'm telling people what's available for them to work out their own tactics with. Though strategy obviously has something to do with it.

[paladin]

I would offer him one of my daughters in marriage to avoid a fighting and make him the next king. Also tell him of a raising power in the west: Rome.

[Vympel]

Also tell him of a raising power in the west: Rome.

Erm ... at this date that's VERY premature.

[HemlockGrey]

Yes...Rome didn't even fully take Italy until after Alexander.

Anyway, I'd forget about meeting him head on. That way lies lots of nasty sharp pointy things. Instead, raise my calvary levies and harass him, chip at his strength, lay traps and such and burn the land he crosses and then use my galleys to cut off the rivers and oceans. He'll be unable to resupply and with my calvary picking off his foragers and no farms to feast upon his army will slowly starve.

For any particular battle, the phalanx is not a particularly mobile formation. Engage with the Immortal or Apple Guards, supported by the mercs and native calvary, and then retreat, allowing my chariots to sycthe into him from the side.

This is all very amauterish and you're free to pick it apart as you choose.

[ArmorPierce]

I'd make legions

[The Duchess of Zeon]

Yes...Rome didn't even fully take Italy until after Alexander.

Anyway, I'd forget about meeting him head on. That way lies lots of nasty sharp pointy things. Instead, raise my calvary levies and harass him, chip at his strength, lay traps and such and burn the land he crosses and then use my galleys to cut off the rivers and oceans. He'll be unable to resupply and with my calvary picking off his foragers and no farms to feast upon his army will slowly starve.

For any particular battle, the phalanx is not a particularly mobile formation. Engage with the Immortal or Apple Guards, supported by the mercs and native calvary, and then retreat, allowing my chariots to sycthe into him from the side.

This is all very amauterish and you're free to pick it apart as you choose.

Once it's push of pike with Macedonian Phalangites you're not going to be able to extricate yourself again - IE, it's a win or lose situation for the formations committed. Those mercenaries are probably your only chance though on the open field. The Macedonians have two principle infantry formations:

The pezetairoi, or foot-companions, consisting of men armed with sixteen to eighteen foot long pikes weighing more than fifteen pounds, which would be held six feet from the butt and extend out twelve feet, and the typical secondary armament of a hacking sword. They had one or two small disk-shields, hung from the neck, and/or the shoulder, and light leather or composite breastplates only, though the usual helmet. A regiment was sixteen men deep and sixteen in frontage, and the sarissai of the first five ranks were levelled against the enemy; the rest were raised to entangle incoming missiles, and the men holding them would physically push against their comrades infront of them to add momentum to the formation.

There were also hypaspists ("Shield Bearers"), with more armour and shorter spears - The majority of the infantry comprising of the first two - and professional light infantry to round the complement out, mercenary slingers, javelineers, and archers, rounded out the force for infantry.

The cavalry, the "Companions", were heavily armoured on strong mounts, though their shock capability like that of the Persian lancers (And the companions were NOT lancers - probably smart) was hampered by the lack of stirrups.

Your mercenaries are similiar to the hypaspists - They carry a single hoplon, lighter armour, etc. One must remember, though, that at Chaeronea, Philip of Macedon with a roughly equal numerically force defeated the Greeks and established his rule of them with his superiour armaments; so the mercenaries, primarily because of the reach of the pezetairoi, have a disadvantage.

OTOH, at Chaeronea the Macedonians had the decisive cavalry advantage, while here, you can outnumber the Macedonian cavalry - though not necessarily provide qualitative superiourity without a considerable preponderence.

Note that Alexander left over 40,000 Macedonians in Greece to keep the peace; so the chance of revolt by the Greeks is slim at the moment. His stated goal is to liberate the Greek City States which you rule in Coastal Anatolia. We all know what he really ended up doing.

A scorched earth policy could work, but remember that your nation is decentralized - Look at the map, and remember that though each one of those rulers is subjected to you, he also has the ability to call up the territorial levies inside of his own Satrapy.

He may not want to take drastic measures like a scorched-earth policy, that make he lose the skim he gets in tax-farming it until its too late. One was actually considered, and rejected; and that led to the Battle of Granicus River.

[The Duchess of Zeon]

I'd make legions

The Battle of Granicus River happened in May or June of 334; to give you as much time as possible to prepare I'll say you've woken up on what would be January 1st of 334, or you have about five or six months at best to get ready.

On the plus side, you don't have a hangover when you're realizing all of this is on your shoulders, now; the Persian Empire uses a different calendar.

[Alyrium Denryle]

I would make HEAVY use of those conscripts. The greek Phalanx was weak against archers. The formation, and weapons they used(21 foot long spears, held with both hands with a shield strapped to the left arm) would make them vulnerable.

To raise their shields over their heads, they wouod have to raise their spears, My infantry, yould come inwith shortswords underneath the rain of death, and hack that the unprotected spearmen.

If they elected to not raise their shields, they would become pincussions. either way, I win

[The Duchess of Zeon]

I would make HEAVY use of those conscripts. The greek Phalanx was weak against archers. The formation, and weapons they used(21 foot long spears, held with both hands with a shield strapped to the left arm) would make them vulnerable.

The sarissai was sixteen-eighteen feet at this time; it was lengthened to twenty-one feet during the era of the Diadochai, Alexander's Successors.

To raise their shields over their heads, they wouod have to raise their spears, My infantry, yould come inwith shortswords underneath the rain of death, and hack that the unprotected spearmen.

Realize, however, that the way the formation is stacked, the rear eleven ranks always had their sarissai raised - and they doubled to entangle incoming missiles and slow their descent. So what works in theory would not work in practice. Angled slightly they provided coverage for the front five ranks.

Also, remember that the Macedonian Army was a combined arms formation: Light-armed infantry and cavalry covered the shield-bearers and the foot-companions, with the foot-companions themselves having much larger shields and smaller spears.

Don't forget, as well, the feat of "The Ten Thousand" (Actually somewhat more than thirteen thousand to begin with), the Greek Mercenaries who fought their way out of the Persian Empire from Cunaxa to the Black Sea Coast prior to this.

In suffering missile attack, they endured some casualties, but in using their formation to cover light-armed troops they were able to reply, and in most cases easily disperse such enemies.

[HemlockGrey]

Realize, of course, that Alexander's army is intristically superior to your own and unlike the Persian Empire his forces are centralized.

[Crom]

I won't fight Alexander. I'd continually retreat before his advances, scorching earth as I fell back. It was mentioned before that this policy would be difficult to manage, but it was how the Persians countered Alexander initially.

In the beginnings of the war Alexander was low on resources, he needed to start winning victories, otherwise he'd eventually lose his allies. I'd deny him the chance, and listen to my Spartan advisor.

[Skelron]

Okay first off I'll sue for peace offering him the Greek cities he is after. Then I'll offer to fully support him in his future campaigns, (I'll also keep my word on this front) I'll basically attempt to become his loyal ally, hay there is no way I'm ever going to be a better General/War time leader at all than Alaxander the Great, my troops are also inferior to his, so that leaves me but one option, admit to myself that I can't win and instead do whatever I can to ally with the guy! then when he dies young, and my troops have learned from the greek forces I might be able to rebuild my Empire, but at the very least I might survive in power.

[Crown]

Actually I would fight exactly like Darius did, except I would not runaway when my forces are on the cusp of victory. Alexander the Great is a brilliant tactician and stratigist, but ultimately Darius was neather and a coward. While I don't wish to take anything away from Alexander, at the end of the day Darius defeated himself. Twice!

[The Duchess of Zeon]

Actually I would fight exactly like Darius did, except I would not runaway when my forces are on the cusp of victory. Alexander the Great is a brilliant tactician and stratigist, but ultimately Darius was neather and a coward. While I don't wish to take anything away from Alexander, at the end of the day Darius defeated himself. Twice!

Darius did have some legitimate reasons to flee; if he was killed the Empire would be plunged into civil war. He was actually a pretty good tactician (and you are presumed to have at least the same abilities), when it came to deployment.

But you are correct in that he was definitely not a front-line General.


NOTE: To the comment that all your forces are inferior. That's "Generally Yes" - But the Greek Mercenaries you have can go head-to-head with Alexander's phalangites, and you can outnumber his cavalry quite potentially ten to one - The qualitative difference is not that great; General Parmenio, guarding Alexander's left flank at Arbela with a contigent of the Macedonian and Thessalian horse lords, was very nearly overwhelmed before Alexander turned back to relieve him. He was probably the second best commander in Alexander's army, excepting Alexander himself, but the sheer numbers coming at him were just too much.

[The Duchess of Zeon]

[quote="Skelron"][/quote]

He was going to build his Empire out of your Empire. And, he may not die young this time around.

You have to fight Alexander the Great. You know everything, of course, that you know; and you also have Darius III's tactical skills. He actually made pretty good deployments most of the time.

Also remember his brilliant strategic move of cutting Alexander's line of supply with his army at Issus. The battle of Issus was actually fought when Alexander thought that Darius III would deploy through the Syrian Gates; instead he rushed in forced march through the Amanic Gates and cut Alexander's line of supply, captured his hospital train, and deployed, actually blocking Alexander's retreat.

(Amanic and Syrian Gates are two narrow passes - defiles, really, that lead from the Cilician plain - around Adana in modern Turkey - into Syria. The Cilician Gates OTOH lead into the Cilician plain over the Tarsus Range, and are incredibly narrow; only four men can march abrest through them at a time. But other than the Gates, the main way from Anatolia into the Imperial heartland is the Royal Road. Alexander chose the gates to stay close to his line of supply, and simply because it was unexpected.)

Combined with your foreknowledge of what Alexander did, can you fight Alexandros Magnos, the fabled reincarnation of Achilles, "Son of Zeus", the man, "the golden haired youth", the demigod - The man who was born on the day the Temple of Artemis burned down, because it was said the Goddess was busy watching over his birth! - who is leading his small band of neigh-invincible Greeks on a march nine hundred leagues into your Empire and with the goal to drive a spear into your heart?

As for a scorched earth policy, it was in fact pursued by two of the Satraps, Memnon and Arsames. But Arsames abandoned it to muster with Darius III's army coming up from Babylon in the Syriac Plain and therefore let Alexander take Tarsus intact and without a fight.

[The Duchess of Zeon]

And yes, I did edit everything Skelron wrote out of that, sorry for the oddity there.

[The Duchess of Zeon]

Note: I will allow innovations if you can convince me you can find a way to get them introduced and mass-produced to the level you need within five months - Including any other technologies you need to build up to support their production, of course. Or you can find some strategic way to make more time.

[HemlockGrey]

Hmm...I don't know. Maybe pursue a scorched earth policy, then load up my galleys, launch an invasion of Macedonia, and force peace?

[The Yosemite Bear]

Take advantage of that nice little demonic, David Drake/S.M. Stirling time traveling bad guy's to bolster my forces.

Hey It is an Sci-Fi forum afterall.

[Alyrium Denryle]

If I can get them onto uneven ground, I can do what the romans did at Pydna. Take advangage of the phalanxes tight formation, and exploit gaps in the spear wall. Have my tros throw Javelins before they close and get in the midst of the formations.

Or I could use siege engines to attack the army directly. Ballistas would tear that formation apart.

Using archers to kepp the light troops and calvalry at bay.


Still, a strategy of arrow volly followed by falling back would wear down that phalanx, and the accompanying support troops

[The_Nice_Guy]

Alexander had one bad habit. He believed himself to be immortal, a result of reading too many Homeric epics. He also needed to prove his manhood often in front of his peers. It was something of a redneck thing carried to the extremes.

So he would often lead any charge at the fore of his Companions, a heavy shock cavalry mounted force that was simply the best in the world.

Alexander's army, to an extent not duplicated elsewhen in the world until Napoleon appeared, believed in him completely. However, it also meant that his death would crush their morale and their unity.

So... this is a critical weakness that could be exploited by a wily campaigner. Simply, just mass all the heaviest missile units, and get them to shoot at the Companions when they charge, protected by lines of pikemen. Have catapults with burning oil ready as well. Kill Alexander, and the rest is easy meat. Forget about shooting at the phalanxes, because they're just too well shielded.

So what would induce Alexander to charge? Well, my personal banner, of course! Because this is exactly what Alexander did to Darius!

Of course, the real emperor, me, would be sitting away from the banner, laughing my head off as Alexander charges at the Banner, only to find a fake imposter on a royal chariot, while pikemen close in on all sides with archers throwing everything but the kitchen sink at him. Can we say pincushioned Alexander?

Bye, bye, so-called Great Leader.

The Evil Guy

[The Duchess of Zeon]

The assumption behind the following plan is that even with the recall of the mercenaries from Anatolia, that Alexander will procede along roughly the historical route, and use the Gates. If he doesn't, then this same fight happens at Arbela (Guagemela) instead of in Syria (Because he'd take the Royal Road most likely if he didn't pass through the Gates), with the added problem that Alexander can decline battle if he wants to.

We have five or six months. In that time production would focus on one very simple innovation which could be easily produced by the industry of the Persian Empire in this period, a simple innovation indeed:

Stirrups.

The goal would be to produce and equip about 100,000 pairs in that time period, first going to the Guard Cavalry and secondly to the best cavalry levies of the Persian, Median, and Parthian heavy cavalry and lancers, and then in decently orders to the best cavalry archers and so on.

At the same time, as we do have the ability to produce armour for cavalrymen of a good quality, armour would be provided for the Immortals and the Apple Guards of that quality, and comparable designs, to save time; not of an ideal sort for ground troops, but good enough. They would also be outfitted with twenty-one foot pikes, good quality swords, grounding pinions for standing on the defensive, and two small disk-shields like the Macedonian phalangites.

Altogether they would be worthless and too heavily armoured and armed for an offensive thrust, but suited for holding a defensive position - especially with their advantage in reach over the Macedonian sarissai - against the advance of Alexander's Phalangites.

Those would be my only efforts to change the armament of the forces involved. To meet Alexander's invasion, assuming he continues to pass through the Gates; I would order my Eastern Cavalry, and the Indian Elephants, to muster at Babylon, while a general muster of the western Satrapies would be held in the Syriac Plain - Exactly, except the lack of the Eastern Infantry, what happened when King Darius went to meet Alexander at Issus.

Indeed, the campaign would be waged identically to the Issus campaign... Except that once the army was mustered on the Syriac plain and my Royal forces and levies had advanced from Babylon, a review would be conducted of the infantry levies of the west; and except for some select spearmen, pavise-bearers, and light infantry, all the other infantry would be dispersed.

When Alexander approaches the Syrian Gates, I would do nothing. I would simply wait on the Syriac Plain. And wait.

Alexander the Great was a genius, but he was quite aggressive. He wanted a battle to decide it; he would pass through the Syrian Gates and go to confront me, and then I could fight a cavalry battle.

Once he was through the Syrian Gates, I would fall back, and detail some spearmen, pavise-bearers, and light-infantry to seize the Amanic gates, and the same against the Syrian Gates, both in forced marches around Alexander's army while I manoeuvre deeper into the Syriac plain. If Alexander left a covering force on them I would send a contigent of Greek Mercenaries with them to force them out.

While advancing to the muster point, we would have chosen a site in advance to fall back upon, and halting there we'd prepare it for the defence. The 12,000 Persian pike would be anchored in the center, with 20,000 Greek mercenaries to either side. The remaining Greek Mercenaries (Around 9,500) would be in the reserve.

40,000 cavalry levies would be on each wing. In the reserve would be the 12,000 guard cavalry. Also on each wing would be 100 scythed chariots. In the center, the 15 Elephants would be positioned in front of the infantry, forcing Alexander to open his formation before meeting my infantry, to evade them.

Once Alexander concentrates against my infantry, as he will inevitably do, I can reinforce that point with my own infantry reserves. Likewise, whichever of Alexander's wings appears to be suffering more in the battle I can throw my cavalry reserve against; the Achaemenids had sufficient flag signalling for the task.

It was typical of Alexander to detail Parmenio on the left to hold, while he pivoted the center to the right and pressed home the attack against the enemy lines (their left-of-center), forcing them to devote more and more reinforcements to the left flank until the center was its weakest; then his companions would strike home in the center and to victory.

What this means is that the extremity of my infantry formation needs to be strong enough to last against his, so that I can retain sufficient reinforcements to meet the charge of the companions, without needing to use my cavalry reserve for that purpose; so that it can still be detailed to either flank, and thus envelope Alexander's formation.

Otherwise, it is not impossible the battle could end in a stalemate, as some combats of Greek and Macedonian phalanxes (which, considering the composition of my infantry, this basically is) did, out of mutual exhaustion of slaughter.

Either victory or stalemate I'll take it.

It's also entirely possible, however, that like at Chaeronea, Alexander's Phalangites will be sufficiently overpowering against my mercenaries on my left that he'll punch through there when I don't reinforce them sufficiently, holding back enough mercenaries to meet the charge of the Companions.

If that happens when I've already committed my Guard Cavalry to either flank, it will be Arbela all over again: Parmenio desperately holding on for more time as Alexander drives through the gap for victory, the Shah flees to try and regroup (I'm not a lunatic), and Alexander is forced to abandon the pursuit in favour of saving Parmenio, while the massive slaughter continues all about.

However, because I have stirrups on the flanks, and 50,000 Greek mercenaries instead of 2,000, along with the armoured men with twenty-one foot pike in the centre, as opposed to worthless levy infantry, I have a much, much better chance of victory than Darius III did at the historical Arbela.

Even if I didn't have the time, or failed in the effort, to reequip the Immortals and Apple Guards, and issue stirrups to the cavalry, my chance is still decent enough for me to risk this meeting engagement: I don't want Alexander consolidating his hold over the Ionian Cities and Anatolia and using that as a resource base for an army of 50,000-odd Phalangites; I need to defeat him now.