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The military of ancient Macedon is considered to be among the greatest military forces of the ancient world. It became the formidable force known from history first under the rule of King Philip II of Macedon and then his son, Alexander the Great.

The military innovations, both in weapons and tactics, brought forth by Philip II of Macedonia were what truly forged the army that conquered an empire. He turned warfare and combat into a way of life for the Macedonians, who until then had treated the military as a part-time occupation to be pursued during the off-season from farming. By introducing the military as a full-time occupation, Philip II of Macedonia was able to drill his men regularly, building unity and cohesion. This created the finest military machine that Asia or Greece had ever seen, thanks to the amount of time and effort spent on maneuvers as well as military innovations.

Tactical innovations included the effective use of the phalanx, as well as coordinated attacks and tactics between his phalanx infantry units, cavalry, archers, and siege engines. Weapons introduced included the sarissa, or long pike, which created many advantages, both offensively and defensively, for the Macedonian military.

Macedonian cavalry

The heavy cavalry included the Companion cavalry raised from the Macedonian nobility, and the Thessalian cavalry. The Companion cavalry (hetairoi, friends) was divided into eight squadrons called ile, 200 strong, except the Royal Squadron of 300. They were equipped with a 12 - 14 foot lance, the xyston, and heavy body armor. The horses were partially clad in armor as well. The riders did not carry shields. The organization of the Thessalian cavalry was similar to the Companion Cavalry, but they had a shorter spear and fought in a looser formation.

Of light cavalry, the prodomoi (runners) secured the wings of the army during battle and went on reconnaissance missions. Several hundred allied horses rounded out the cavalry, but were inferior to the rest.

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Macedonian phalanx

The Macedonian phalanx is an infantry formation developed by Philip II and used by his son Alexander the Great to conquer the Persian Empire and other armies. Phalanxes remained dominant on battlefields throughout the Hellenistic period, although wars had evolved into more protracted operations generally involving sieges and naval combat as much as field battles, until they were finally displaced by the Roman legions.

Philip II spent much of his youth as a hostage at Thebes, where he studied under the renowned general Epaminondas, whose reforms were the basis for the phalanx. Phalangites were professional soldiers, and were among the first troops ever to be drilled, thereby allowing them to execute complex maneuvers well beyond the reach of most other armies. They fought packed in a close rectangular formation, typically eight men deep, with a leader at the head of each column and a secondary leader in the middle, so that the back rows could move off to the sides if more frontage was needed.

Each phalangite carried as his primary weapon a sarissa, a double-pointed pike over 6 m (18 ft) in length. These were carried in two pieces, slid together just before battle, and had to be wielded with two hands. At close range such large weapons were useless, but an intact phalanx could easily keep its enemies at a distance; the weapons of the first five rows of men all projected beyond the front of the formation, so that there were more spearpoints than available targets at any given time. The secondary weapon was a shortsword.

Neither Philip nor Alexander actually used the phalanx as their arm of choice, but instead used it to hold the enemy in place while their heavy cavalry broke through their ranks. The Macedonian cavalry fought in wedge formation and was stationed on the far right; after these broke through the enemy lines they were followed by the hypaspists, elite infantrymen who served as the king's bodyguard, and then the phalanx proper. The left flank was generally covered by allied cavalry supplied by the Thessalians, which fought in rhomboid formation and served mainly in a defensive role.

Other forces — skirmishers, range troops, reserves of allied hoplites, archers, and artillery — were also employed. The phalanx carried with it a fairly minimal baggage train, with only one servant for every few men. This gave it a marching speed that contemporary armies could not hope to match — on occasion forces surrendered to Alexander simply because they were not expecting him to show up for several more days. Phalangites were drilled to perform short forced marches if required.

The armies of the early Hellenistic period were equipped and fought mainly in the same style as Alexander's. Towards the end, however, there was a general slide away from the combined arms approach back to using the phalanx itself as the arm of decision, having it charge into the enemy lines much like earlier hoplites had. This left the formation fairly vulnerable — though near invincible to forwards assault, phalanxes like other infantry formations were fairly prone to flanking, and worse still tending to break up when advancing quickly over rough ground. So long as everyone was using the same tactics these weaknesses were not immediately apparent, but with the advent of the Roman legion they proved fatal in every major engagement, the most famous being the Battle of Pydna, as the Romans were able to advance through gaps in the line and easily defeat the phalangites once in close.

See also

• Military technology and equipment
• Military history
• Phalanx
• Cavalry
• Pole weapon
• Battle of Pydna
• Battle of Cynoscephalae
• Hoplite
• Aelianus Tacticus

• Ancient warfare
• Ancient military unit types
• Infantry
• Ancient Macedon
• Alexander the Great