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ID:
123600
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Publication |
2013.
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Summary/Abstract |
Alexander the Great campaigned successfully for twelve years, across the range of military operations, against a wide range of opponents, and within many varied geographical environments. This article argues that this remarkable record of success can be partially attributed to Alexander's ability to adapt at the tactical, operational and strategic levels. Alexander was also capable of operating beyond the bounds of his cultural normative framework. After a brief discussion of Macedonian warfare, this article analyses Alexander's art of adaptation through the exploration of important strategic moments. These moments are his operations in the Balkans, defeat of the Persian navy, counterinsurgency in central Asia and the battle of Hydaspes.
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2 |
ID:
125968
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Publication |
2013.
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Summary/Abstract |
After Issus (333 BC), Alexander took possession of Syria and the Levant coast. The next year he attacked Tyre, a rich and strategic Phoenician port and its largest city-state. Tyre was the only Persian port that had not capitulated. Even this far into the war, the Persian navy still posed a threat. Tyre was located both on the Mediterranean coast and an island with two natural harbours. Alexander built a causeway to allow his army to take the town by land. This engineering feat showed the true extent of his brilliance: he built a kilometer-long causeway on a natural land bridge no more than two metres deep. He then constructed two towers 150-feet high at the end of the causeway. The Tyrians, however, quickly counterattacked. They filled an old transport ship with wood, pitch, sulphur and other combustibles, lit it on fire creating a primitive form of napalm, and ran it up onto the causeway, which was engulfed by the flames.
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