The Rise And Fall of the Alexandrian Empire
Demetrius Dionysus
Green Sea Publishng, Neo Daminoplis c) 1998 used with permission
Demetrius Dionysus
Green Sea Publishng, Neo Daminoplis c) 1998 used with permission
Chapter 8: The Philippian War
The civil war would start with another Illyrian uprising. The general Cronoas had put down a revolt there while Alexander was still traveling from India, and it was known to be quite a volatile area that harbored lots of discontent. Even in the older Alexander's time, there had been mass discontent harbored by the local populace. Now, rallying under the leadership of the courageous and charismatic Philip, they revolted yet again.
Alexander had already sent more teams of assassins out to search the mountains between the border of Macedonia and Illyria. He would gather 75, 000 men to start with, and have the same number arrive as reinforcements laterun under the command of Demetrius, Antigonus' son, who had helped put down the Greek revolt. But he had to act fast, because on April 9, the occupying Macedonian garrison had been surrounded and defeated so fast, it would seems highly insumoutable. On April 12, Alexander would move his forces north, and they expected to reach the Illyrian border in about a week because the rugged terrain helped make things difficult.
On April 17 would come his first action with Philip. The hilly terrain helped slow down Philip's forces, but he had managed to assemble around 150,000, many composing of ordinary farmers who normally didn't fight. Unfortunately, with them, you got the miscreants who were essentially shiftless losers. Some of them could get quite violent, and were known to help start the waves of violence that had plagued Illyria for years. Needless to say, they were difficult to control, and often got drunk. Philip, a fairly common drinker himself, didn't help matters, but at least he never got drunk before a battle. The same could not be said of his men. On the other hand, they were more aggressive after having had some alcohol, but Philip's charisma helped render that unneceassary
Regardless, Alexander narrowly avoided suffering the fate of the Macedonian garrison , and he was forced to retreat back south. Unfortunately, the area was hilly all the way down through Greece, so Alexander would head south to Epirus, which was still de jure indpendent and start building a fleet at Corcyra while awaiting for Demetrius to arrive. As it would turn out though, not everyone would want him there. These would include the current heir to the throne, Pyrrhus[1], who was then of twenty-three years of age. He had been among those that had met with Philip, and had believed Alexander's policies were only hurting his land, partly because his father, Aeacided had been forced to pay a tax to keep his land as still de jure independent He tried to persuade Aeacides to join Philip, who was at this time, besieging but he had declined, partly because he was certain it would be his immidiate death if he accepted. Needless to say, Pyrrhus was not pleased. He would send a courier to assassinate Aecides. After being proclaimed the new king of Epirus, he would attempt to convince the local army to side with Philip.
Most of them would go along with him, but about 35 percent, led by a man named Ptolemy, still insisted that they has no reason to revolt. Fighting would ensue in Enphyra, but in five days,from April 21 to April 26, Pyrrhus was able to surround Ptolemy, and annhilate him. Alexander, at this point, still trying to escape from Philip's army, barely got away when he heard Pyrrhus had won. Attacks by Pyrrhus would make him suffer 10,000 casualties, even though Pyrreas had only something like 32,000 himself. The pressure by Philip would also help Pyrrhus to be so successsful, but Pyrreas' own tactical skills could not be discounted here, especially when relating to the many other battles he would fight in the future.
Alexander was constructing strong fortfications on Corcyra. Thankfully, the drunk rioting in Philip's army would help slow it down. Pyrrhus, however, would remain hot on Alexander's tail, but the mounntains would slow him down. But still, they would arrive at Corcyra on May 7, while Philip would arrive on May 15. The channel, seperating would however, prove a great defense, as Pyrrhus was frustrated to figure out a way to make a succesful crossing, as the regular ferry boats had been removed to the other side. So hewent to Ephyra with about 25,000 , and uses the boats there for a naval assault on Corcyra They would come just in time, to help destroy a task force, sent by Alexander to deprive use of their ships. As one soldier, known as Pytheas would say
"It was sure a a close one. The local guard was attempting to destroy it, but they had been taken by surprise, and they weren't doing it fast enough, and the fire that was set was spreading, but slowly. But we were a much larger force, and quickly threw our units at the task force, which made their prospects at success quite limited. They have to be commended for trying to do their mission, as fifty of them were able to set some ships off in another area on fire. We thank the Gods that the winds were not blowing so much that night, and that we arrived when we did. Otherwise, the coming of Demetrius would have put us in a very hard place ndeed"
As it was, about a dozen were destroyed, and Pyrreus was barely able to fit his troops on the boat. On May 26, they would land on Corcyra, and succesfully tae Alexander by surprise. Some good tactical maneuvers by Alexander would manage to hold him off, but it wouldn't work forever as Philip was able, at this point, to get a number of his forces through the barricade.
Alexander would be saved on May 29, by Demetrius, who landed on Corcyra, and engaged Pyrreus in a fierce battle, in which it looked like he might be unsuccessful. Alexander, would though, wheel the main part of his phalanx forward to help Demetrius. This would end up in a rout of Pyrreus' forces, and around 12,000 got away in their ships, and headed for Italia, which was also said to be under insurrection in a surprisingly static front. They would attempt to set the ships that Alexander had built, and Demetrius' on fire to prevent hem from escaping from Philip, who had brought about half of his forces to bear at this moment, which were making good progress agaisnt the Macedonians, and coming close to smashing them at this point. Alexander and Demetrius were skillful generals, however, and they took advantage of the drunkeness of a large part of Philip's army to lure them into traps they would have otherwise spotted, including spiked barricades designed to run through the pursuing Illyrians. The Macedonians would suffer only about 10,000 casualties, while Philip's forces would lose more than 35,000.
Alexander and Demetrius would commence their invasion of Illyria on June 3, heading a little ways north to escape Philips' small ships. But the Illyrians would prove why they were so fierce. They would harry Alexander at every turn, and as Alexander would say himself "There was no way to tell who was friend and who was foe. They would camp outside one village and see the women working casually with the older people. And next thing, you know, at night, they were harried by these very same people who had looked like innocent peasants. Besides all the false directions they were given to the main roads. Philip would confront Alexander on June 11, and bolstered his fighting strength by about 50,000 by finding more people
For the nextsix months, fightingwould continue fiercely, as Alexander struggled to bring in reinforcements from areas under his control, because there were a number of small insurrections going on in regions like Bactria, and Aria, so the corps there loyal to Alexander was having to exert it's resources to put it down, which would take nearly two years. Philip would have a much easier time as reinforcements were streaming in from Italy, as Pyrrus, with his brillant generalship, had subdued the entire peninsula. At one point, Philip's strength would number at 300,000
Time would tell Philip that he was not using his superior numbers effectively. Much of his army was in the hills and Alexander was heavily dug in on the coastal plain. The situation was quite uncertain.
Alexander would not sit back forever. He still remembered Pytheas, the general who had nearly defeated him, and he was starting to hear rumors of a possible seaborne invasion. So in January 287 BC, he would sail with about 200,000 and leave about 100,000 to confront the new agressive strategy of Chosroes, who had joined Philip.
He landed at Tarentum about a week and a half later and took that city in slightly less time. The Greek aristocracy, who had a lot of it's wealth stripped away by Pyrrus in compliance with Philip, who had detested their behavior, welcomed Alexander. The poor people, on the other hand threw stones, which cause Alexander to order them to be beat.
After placing the rest of Magna Graecia under his control in two weeks, he would send a large navy north to confront Pyrruso had set sail by this time. It would succesfully establish control, and force Pyrrus to head back to Phlipia[1]. Both sides would wait out the winter, and then they would head through the Italian peninsula to confront each other.
For the next two years, Pyrrus would score a number of major
victor agaisnt Alexander. He would fail however, to make Alexander withdraw, despite getting a 100,000 man boost by Philip. This would prove to be one of Pyrrus' major flaws: he had a harder time controlling large numbers of men, and After a number of indecsive battles, Pyrrus would score a decisive victory against Alexander on December 2 287 BC at Lake Regulum, and cause Alexander to withdraw south.
But in February 286 BC, the Bactrian revolt would be declared crushed, and Nicomedes, the Hellene commander
e west to aid Alexander in the period of about fivemonths. Despite that Pyrrus had driven Alexander almsot into Campania at this time, Nicomedes would be able to attack from behind with about a quarter of a million men. He reconquered the Etruria area in about a month, and would quickly move to attack Pyrrus from behind. In about two and a half months, Pyrrus would fight desperately to keep himself from being closed in, but in the end he would fail. He managed to survive with about a thouand men for a while, but he would be captured by a Greek patrol on November 15, upon which Alexander woulld order his summary execution, despite professing admiration for his skills.
Alexander by this time, had around 350,000 men to face Philip's army of around 500,000. The conflict would drag for a good three and a half years years without any headway being made. Both sides were proving to be exausted. Philip was failing to break through Alexander's fortresses in Latium, and Alexander was unable to acheive a good victory against Philip's massive force.
Finally in December 283, Alexander would manage to keep and hold much of Etruria. He held much of the plains, and he would then have a message sent, which taunted Philip, calling him a coward, and saying that he was afraid of flat places. Philip, enraged, launched an immiadiate attack on Alexander, but he didn't outnumber Alexander by enough to totally drive him back. And Philip was completely unexpecting a charge of 250,000 to come right after him. Phlip, would in the end, lose about half of his men. Many of his best officers, including, Chosroes, an Egyptian known as Ahmosi, and Glaukias, an Illyrian, would be killed, thus severely limiting his ability to carry an effective defense agaisnt a force that now slightly outnumbered his own(about 270,000)
Fighting would continue bitterly for a year and a half. In the next six months, Alexander sent some troops to hold the route to Illyria. But when Philip was nearly defeated near Phlipia, he would take his remaining 130,000 man army to Gaul instead. It would prove to be hard, as much of the populace there supported Philip. Needless to say, reoccupying this large country would not be easy, and fightin would continue another year, before Alexander, in mid 281 BC, won his last battle agaisnt Philip's Gauls.
But victory was by no means a sure thing. If there hadn't been an attack over the Bloody River by a tribe calling thimselves something like the Tetones, Alexander would have had to settle for a peace with Philip controlling northern Gaul. As it was, Philip would escape to Prettanike, and attempt an unsuccesful invasion five years after this. But more immdiately, Alexander would be set upon by the Tetones, who would succeed in driving him back to the land of the Parisii. After the neighboring occupying garrisons came to aid him though, the Tetons were driven back, and annhilated in a battle in the same area they had attacked Alexander. Alexander, by this time, very tired of battle, headed back and arrived in Tyre on September 19, while leaving a large occupying garrison
[1]It was only twelve years after the POD, and I concluded the divergences were pretty minor, as Epirus would be left to govern thimselves. But seriously, I've found out people like OTL figures, and I may try to insert a few more of these or their analogues, depending on the events that unfold
[2]Located where Ravenna is
I recognised that I have some sympathy to Alexander IV, at least he seems have military skill.