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CHAPTER 3

Polis and Phalanx: Greece and Macedon, 800-200 BCE

The age of disruptions in southwest Asia and the eastern Mediterranean that began around 1200 bce saw the eventual reemergence of imperial states in most of that area, a pattern mirrored in developments in china and, in different ways, in India. But developments in Greece would follow a different course, with significant implications for military history. Instead of following the large-state path of military-political development, the Greeks developed small-scale political organizations that generated an effective style of infantry shock combat. The Macedonians then perfected this style and fit it into a combined arms force unmatched in ancient times for its tactical flexibility and effectiveness. It was a style that would carry Macedonian arms and Greek culture to vast areas of southwest Asia. This chapter traces those developments.

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