Part 1: The Lions of Makedon
Chapter 1: Philippos II and the Second Persian War.
By the month of Dios, in the twenty-third year of his reign[1], the warrior-king Philippos the Second of Makedon had brought his kingdom to its greatest extent in its history, and was poised to expand it even further. Following shattering victories against the city-state of Thebai that had previously held hegemony in Hellas, and Illyrian and Thrakoi tribes through Haemus[2], he had secured Makedon as the premier regional power. After forming the Hellenic League[3] the year before in Korinthos, uniting all the Hellenic peoples under a single Hegemon for the first time in a century, he clearly signalled his next intention; a retributive expedition against Persis; vengeance for the invasions of Dareios and Xerxis generations ago. But even with the united forces of Hellas standing with him, and the Achaemenids suffering under a weak leader, Philippos knew that to underestimate them was folly.
Any study of his previous campaigns shows that his approach against Persis was the same, but scaled up. His immediate first concern was to ensure there would be no trouble in Hellas or Haemus whilst he was campaigning elsewhere. Though Demosthenes’ support base had fallen silent after the loss at Chaironeia, what would stop them from advocating war once again whilst he were occupied in Asia? Particularly with Persian gold and Persian promises poisoning their hearts...
His solution was to leave a sizeable force in Makedon proper - six thousand Pezhetairoi and half the Companion Cavalry under General Antipatros, whilst offering bold overtures to the pro-Makedonian party in Athenai, promising them the island of Samos the city coveted. Thus was his situation in Hellas secured for the time being.
He sought allies among the dissenters and dissatisfied in Persis – engaging his second son Arrhidaios to the daughter of the Satrap of Karia, bringing a not inconsiderable number of Anatole satraps over to the idea of trading their weak Shahanshah Dareios III in Persepolis for a strong Basileos in Pella. The most perilous component of his invasion would be the initial landing and securing of supply routes, and by guaranteeing the cooperation of so many of the satraps in this area, he assured both.
But it was almost all for naught, due to rivalries within his dynasty. Though his son Alexandros was indisputably his heir, groomed for military and political command, relations between Philippos and the boy’s mother Olympias had been frosty, and when Philippos took the noblewoman Kleopatra Eurydike as his latest wife, his relationships with both Alexandros and Olympias chilled further, as both feared that he meant to put aside Alexandros – half Epeirote due to his mother – in favour of a purely Makedonian son. Public squabbles with Alexandros and Olympias culminated in both leaving court, to take refuge in Epeiros. Though Alexandros eventually returned, Olympias never again left her homeland.
Philippos married Kleopatra in Hyperberetaois, on the eve of his greatest military campaign, and had his glory almost cut short. The theories as to why Pausanios attempted to murder the king are manifold. Some say it was the vengeance of a spurned lover, desperate to avenge himself against the man who had abandoned him. Others claim that Pausanios was merely a catspaw – that his orders came from Olympias, Alexandros or Dareios, all of whom had reason to see the Makedonian basileos dead. In any case, Pausanios’ attempt failed, and the man was spared his master’s wrath only due to the overzealous response of his guards, who killed Pausanios before he could be captured.
By the spring of 335 BC, Philippos’ army had been readied. Twelve thousand pikemen, the Pezhetairoi, formed its infantry core, with three thousand elite heavy infantry, the Hypaspists positioned directly to their right, and Peltasts recruited from the Illyrians, Thraikoi, Agrianoi and Paeonians on the extreme flanks. The Hellenic League provided thousands more infantry, and mercenaries as notable as Kretan archers and slingers from Rhodos. For Cavalry, the Thessalians provided almost two thousand heavy cavalry of great renown, whilst the Companion Cavalry Hetairoi provided almost two thousand more, whilst the Hellenic League provided an additional five hundred. Finally, Philip could field roughly fifteen hundred light cavalry, a mixture of Greek, Macedonian, Thracian and Paeonian.
Generals Attalus and Parmenion had been sent ahead to link up with the rebellious Satraps and establish a landing, and the Persian response was notable only for its absence. As the western fringes of his Empire switched sides, Dareios seems to have dithered and hesitated, and left military control to the mercenary Memnon of Rhodos. That military control was precarious at best due to the ambition of Persian nobles with no interest in listening to an upstart mercenary Hellen. Memnon had advised them to abandon western Anatole – scorch the earth so that the supply lines of Philip would be stretched to breaking point, and crush his army after weakened by sieges and a long march. However, the nobles saw no reason to ruin their land, believing a single decisive battle would be enough to send the Hellenes back across the Aegean, and allow them to then reduce and obliterate those satraps that had betrayed them.
The divide in the Persian command was known by Philippos, and deliberately invoked when he pushed for a swift siege of Sardis, whilst simultaneously sending word across Anatole that he came not to fight the peoples of Anatolia – the Phryges, Bithynes, Kappadokoi, and others, but to fight the Mede[4], that he would spare the cities of, and respect the customs of those that did not oppose him. Stifling under the burden of Persian rule, many towns and even cities accepted this, and the Persian nobility forced Memnon to seek an open engagement – the area his plan sought to sacrifice was no longer western Anatole, but risked the Empire itself.
They met the Hellenic army close to the great city of Sardis, and the result was catastrophe. Though initial skirmishes were inconclusive, and Persian archers were the match of their counterparts, when battle was joined, the difference was immense. The Phalanx proved more than capable of holding against infantry without formation, and whilst Peltasts enclosed the flanks of the Persian infantry, the Macedonian cavalry, supported by the Hypaspists was able to drive off its Persian equivalents, and strike the Persian army from the rear to cause a general rout, which became a slaughter as the shattered infantry were unable to escape cavalry.
The Persian forces, demoralized and divided, were dealt a crushing defeat – though they had the advantage in numbers, the inability of their commanders to form a coherent strategy was their downfall, and the whole of Anatole fell into Philip’s hands. Ever the shrewd statesman, he not only replaced defeated Persian satraps with indigenous ones, but weakened their power by instituting independent boards to collect tax and tribute in their place. This subordination of the financial duties of the satrapies to central rather than local government ensured that these ‘self-governing’ states were in effect more dependent on the Argead Empire than they had been on the Achaemenids.
But simply relying upon the Achaemenid power structure was not enough for Philip. The city of Sardis, with its strategic location at the western terminus of the Royal Road was a strong city in itself, but had been heavily damaged after its siege. Philip had it rebuilt according to the city plan of Hippodamos of Miletus, to serve as a military colony, regional capital and centre of Greek culture in Anatolia. Sardis was simply the first of many such cities to be built or rebuilt in this manner in the Macedonian Empire both during and after the war.
If his early success in Anatolia had been a stroke of luck, Philip was soon to receive an even greater one. As he marched towards the Syrian Gates, he received word that Kleopatra Eurydike had given birth to a son. In honour of his past victory, and those he was sure to achieve in the future, Philip had the child named Nikephoros.
Whilst Memnon had fled Anatolia following the defeat at Lydia, his political enemies had used that defeat as a mortal wound to be attacked. Accused of cowardice, incompetence and even treachery, the mercenary general was sent to his execution. The Persians exhorted Dareios to lead an army against the Hellenes, and the two armies met in Kilika.
The Persian defeat this time was even greater. Though the sheer weight of numbers of the Persian army pressed the Makedonian phalanx to its limits, particularly at the flanks, the timely intervention of a Hypaspist reserve prevented the flanking of the Phalanx, and counter-charge from Peltasts on the Persian flanks made any repeat of that an impossibility. Once again, Makedonian cavalry carried the day, defeating their Persian counterparts and striking the Persian infantry from the rear to pin them against the sarissae of the phalanxes. Dareios himself attempted to flee when the companions of the Macedonian heir charged him, and a lengthy melee ensued. Alexandros was wounded, but the Persian emperor was captured; and with his capture the Persian army broke, leaving behind a vast and wealth-laden camp. To complete Dareios’ humiliation, not only had he lost his army and his freedom, but his wives and concubines were among the captured.
With no other choice, he sought terms with Philippos - or more accurately, had terms dictated to him, with little choice but to accept them. Dareios ceded all land west of the Zagros mountain range to the Makedonian King, a truly colossal territory, much of which Philippos had yet to even conquer. The city of Susa, eastern terminus of the Royal Road, was to be the easternmost possession of the Makedonian Empire. In addition to this land, and the wealth the Macedonians has already taken from their conquests, Darius was compelled to offer his daughter as a bride for Alexandros. The Makedonian heir was aghast at the idea of not simply annexing the whole of Persia outright, but Philippos scorned such fantasy – administration of his new territory would be a greater task than war with Persia, and if one added the great expanses of Persia, Media and Bactria to the equation… Philippos and Alexandros argued bitterly over the matter, but in the end, Alexandros had little choice but to bow to the will of his father, and so, in under two years, the second Persian War ended.
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After much time lurking on these forums, I'm trying my first AH timeline. Inspired by the excellent and sadly dead 'Blood and Gold' TL of Endymion, I wanted to do an Argead one, but with a pretty different set of PoDs.
Feedback is greatly appreciated, since this is my first time trying one of these.
Next time: Consolidation for the Argeads, Dissolution for the Achaemenids.
1-October under the Macedonian calendar
2-Term used in Antiquity for the Balkans
3-Though it's commonly known as the League of Corinth, it was never referred as that by its participants, Corinth was just the first city their delegates met in.
4-Greeks often referred to Persian and Mede interchangeably, since their first encounter with either was when a Median officer of Cyrus the Great conquered Ionia.