Crusader Kings: Prisoners of War.

Chapter 74: The Dispute of Length and Shortness
Although after the death of Alexander the Great, his various successors fought against the Romans many times, they all lost in the end.

Perhaps people who do not understand military affairs in this era would have the impression that the Macedonian Phalanx was not as good as the Roman Phalanx because they always lost the battles, but in fact, every time they lost it was not because of the phalanx soldiers.

The advantage of the Roman phalanx is that it has no obvious weaknesses and is flexible and maneuverable. Every hundred people form a complete combat unit, and they are almost completely independent of terrain, which makes the Roman army very resilient.

For example, in the battles fought at Palphi, the troops were able to reorganize and fight back after they collapsed and retreated, thanks to their flexible and easy-to-recover organizational model. This was not an isolated case, as the well-trained Roman army often reorganized and recovered on the battlefield, which was unimaginable for the slightly cumbersome organizational model of the Macedonian phalanx. Once they collapsed, they really collapsed, and it was impossible to restore their formation on the battlefield. The super-long spearmen did not unite to face the well-trained sword and shield infantry, and they were slaughtered.

But correspondingly, the principle of "an inch longer, an inch stronger" also applies in the Mediterranean. No matter how powerful the short sword is, it can't reach the people behind the super-long spear. The Romans didn't want to charge the phalanx head-on from the beginning. Every time they won, they either took advantage of the terrain and made it impossible for the super-long spear phalanx, which was very sensitive to the environment, to deploy normally, or they attacked the weak positions on the flanks and rear, and finally let the isolated and helpless infantry phalanx collapse without a fight.

If you really face this artificial hedgehog head-on, the result is predictable, no one is an idiot.

Nearly two thousand years after Alexander, the super-spear phalanx did not disappear from the stage of history, proving that this tactic was still very valuable.

The fact that the Macedonian phalanx failed to defeat the Roman phalanx does not mean that this tactic is weak. It is just because this tactic requires a higher level of command from the general and more demanding terrain, which not all generals can handle. In comparison, the Roman military system does not rely so much on the ability of the generals, but requires more military qualities from the soldiers.

In Orwell's opinion, those "successors" of Alexander either had high aspirations but low skills, or were incapable of replicating the art one-to-one. Most of them only replicated the simplest part of the Macedonian army, which was the phalanx infantry armed with super-long spears. As for the complex coordination between the remaining light infantry, heavy sword and shield infantry, cavalry, and spear and shield soldiers, few of those successors had grasped the essence of it, and they were all poor imitators.

Alexander indeed used cavalry and multi-arms coordinated operations to perfection, which is something his successors have never been able to do.

The premise of using the spear phalanx is to ensure the safety of the flanks and the rear. Orville believes that the current Roman army can do this, which is not a big problem, and their future combat position is indeed suitable for the phalanx.

Southern France had now been largely assimilated by the Romans, and the main location of the rebellion was in the plains of northern France, where the terrain was very flat, unlike the mountainous and hilly southeast.

Moreover, the level of development in this world is much higher than that of the original world, which means that there are fewer forests and fewer terrain obstacles. In fact, spear phalanxes are popular here, especially when the Gauls lack advanced bows and crossbows, it is relatively difficult for them to break the phalanx.

After confirming the training mode and equipment, Orville began to let his men train intensively. Five hundred sets of mail armor and supporting weapons and equipment could not be gathered in a short time, but it did not prevent the soldiers from practicing, and they just had to follow the routine.

The Romans were very good at learning from their enemies, and they were proud of this. Their research on Macedonian tactics and equipment was no less than that of most Greeks, so it was not difficult to find an instructor with this ability.

Orville inspected the soldiers' status and came every one or two days to make sure that the soldiers and instructors were not slacking off, which was indeed the case so far.

After leaving the villa, Orville asked Belisarius who had been following him, "Do you have anything to do this afternoon?" "As usual, my mission is to protect your safety, so I won't have anything to do."

Belisarius simply replied that he was a very honest man who made people feel at ease, sometimes a little too honest.

Orville hesitated and said, "You have to come with me again this afternoon. Princess Domitia wants me to go to the theater with her. If you don't want to go, you don't have to go. It's okay to give you another day off. Rome is a safe place."

Belisarius did not refuse, but led the two horses in silence. The meaning was self-evident that he was not going to ask for private time.

Seeing this, Orville sighed, got on his horse and headed for the Flavi Mansion.

In order to maintain order and avoid congestion, no one was allowed to ride horses around the city without permission during the day, even the royal family and the emperor were no exception. Orville commuted daily, so he also had to dismount and walk. It took some time for the two to get from the outskirts of the city to their mansion in the city center.
-
After arriving at the mansion, Orville first met with Tia, and the two explained some things to each other. Orville was pulled in to take the blame. The original plan was for Tia and Domicia to go to the theater together to participate in the event, but now Tia had something urgent to do, so Orville had to replace her.

Tia looked at Orville with an apologetic look on her face: "I'm sorry that this happened today, but the Senate is going to discuss the expansion of the army today. The threat from the Gauls is increasing now, and it will soon reach a level that the locals cannot control. We must prepare the suppression troops as soon as possible.

In addition, the German Legion is also a problem. They suffered heavy losses in the civil war and need reinforcements. My father also plans to arrange for them to exchange positions with the Danube Legion."

Tia was talking about all sorts of serious political and military issues, and trying to explain her actions, but Orville stopped her.

"I understand your situation. It's a turbulent time right now. But is Domitia okay? I think she still wants to get together with her family, especially you. She hasn't seen you in three years."

Tia sighed heavily: "I have tried to explain these things to her, but you know, it doesn't work."

In fact, she felt a little guilty and knew that she owed her sister, but that was the situation. Those who were capable would be very busy, and she was basically unable to spare any time every day and could not find complete time to accompany her family.

"Got it. I'll take care of this matter and try to make her happy."

Orville was silent for a moment, then agreed to Tia's request to stay with Domitia for a while.

(End of this chapter)