In 323 BC, Alexander the Great died in Babylon. Almost all the Macedonian nobles immediately began to divide their interests, but they did not intend to dismember the empire at that time. Many provinces annexed from the former Persian empire have also accepted the new ruling class from Europe, without large-scale commotion.
However, in the Greek area close to the mainland, many city-states were moved by the wind. They set off the Lamian War to expel Macedonian forces with the famous city of Athens as the core. This was also the last large-scale autonomous action in the classical Greek world, just like the doomsday of city-state politics.
Humiliation under the Corinthian League
Philip II who led the rise of the Kingdom of Macedonia
057588b#057588in#04a#04a According to the most traditional ancient Greeks, the Kingdom of Macedonia was essentially a marginal traitor to the Greek world. Although the royal family claims to be from Argos, the main city-state in the south, they are completely close to the barbarians in their daily systems and habits. In addition, the Macedonians once surrendered to the Persian Empire and served as pawns for the conquering of the Greek city-states, which is more likely to cause resistance from conservative politicians.
But by the 4th century BC, the rise of the Kingdom of Macedonia was a foregone conclusion. Compared to the more distant Thracian barbarians and Scythian herders, they are at least friendly to Greece in the court culture. Therefore, Macedonian groups also appeared in some Greek cities.
The Corinthian League of Macedonia almost controls most of Greece
In the end, the relationship between the two sides rapidly heated up due to the Battle of Caronia. The new Macedonian army of Philip II defeated the surviving Athens-Thebes allied forces here, and was promoted to the leader of the entire native Greece. The Corinthian League that followed became an important external aid during Alexander's Eastern Expedition. In addition to the need to pay, the Greek fleet, allied forces, and many mercenaries have become the logistical supply guards of the Macedonian army. Even as the empire expanded eastward, many newly conquered provinces were garrisoned by Greek troops. Almost all minor battles commanded by individual Macedonian generals were undertaken by soldiers of the Corinthian League.
During the Eastern Expedition, Alexander always had tens of thousands of Greek soldiers
05588 Realize that he cannot become the second class of this new empire. Because in the eyes of careerists like Alexander, many aristocratic forces left by the former Persian Empire are more worthy of appeasement. The level of worship and obedience to the emperor in Asia far surpasses that of gruesome citizens and politicians.
Therefore, starting from the second half of the Eastern Expedition, the Corinthian Allied Forces were disbanded in large numbers, and the proportion of Asian auxiliary forces rose rapidly. The new capital city was also moved from Pera to Babylon, making the Greek city-state look more like a fringe away from the core. Some Greek politicians who were exiled because of their failure in the struggle also returned to their hometowns under the order of Alexander to take power, which intensified the Greeks' hostility to the Macedonian Empire.
The Greeks quickly realized that Alexander was not particularly friendly to him
The last mobilization of the Greek city state
The news of Alexander’s death made the inside of Athens around the corner
The news of Alexander’s death in 323 BC had already caused many Greeks to die. Began to move around. Soon, the contents of the Babylonian agreement of the Macedonian nobles were also known to cities such as Athens. They suddenly discovered that the imperial monarch at this time was Philip III with mental retardation, and most of the Macedonian generals seemed to be separated from each other. But in the end, the factors that led them to make up their minds to raise troops mostly originated from the Macedonians themselves.
Haparus, who once served as the Macedonian treasurer, fled around because of corruption. In addition to seeking asylum in Athens, he also gave the city 5,000 talents of silver as a reward. The latter, who was originally not well-off, has a large amount of capital to recruit troops. At the same time, a large number of veterans with expedition experience returned to Greece after being dismissed, but lost their job opportunities because of peace. Some mercenary units hired before Alexander's death also returned directly because of political changes. Therefore, the new Greek insurgents do not worry about finding enough troops. Finally, Athens itself also carried out reforms during the Eastern Expedition. All adult males are required to take turns to serve in the city-states. The spears and shields used are purchased by the government. Coupled with the reorganization of the naval fleet using the opportunity of war, they saw the opportunity to revive the old Athenian Empire.
The huge inflow of funds gave Athens the ability to expand and prepare for war
In addition, in order to further form a quantitative advantage, the politicians of Athens are still moving around on the west bank of the Aegean Sea. not only won the support of the Antorian League in the west, but also received support from areas such as Argos, Phocis and even Thessali. Nearly 10,000 Athenian soldiers first began to go north, but they were blocked by local coalition forces in the Piotia area to the north. Because Alexander was encouraged to destroy Thebes, the Greek cities in this area still chose to be loyal to Macedonia. But Rio Tinius, the commander of the Athens mercenary, quickly arrived from the northwest and brought other 15,000 allies and mercenaries. The Piosha quickly collapsed under the attack from both sides, and gave way to the northern Thessaly area.
Finally Macedon’s Piosha coalition was defeated first.
Antipater, who has been the governor of Europe for a long time,
In the autumn of 323 BC, he served as the security of the European governor. Tipat is still waiting for reinforcements to arrive. According to the news from the East, there should have been a strong general Klatruss commanding a powerful force to return from Babylon. But because of Alexander’s sudden deathAnd a series of disputes, the pace of reinforcements was greatly restrained. The blockade of the Athens fleet also made it difficult for troops to Asia to arrive smoothly.
Therefore, after continuing to ask the governors in Asia for help, Antipater led his 13,000 troops from the mainland and Thrace to the south. He hopes that he can block the Greek coalition forces in Thessali area, not only to avoid the disaster of the local area, but also to allow the local city to completely turn back. Because a large number of Macedonian nobles were transferred to serve in Asia by routes, this army was mainly served by infantry born in the civilian class, with only 600 cavalry responsible for supporting operations. For this reason, Antipater asked for help from the already unsteady Allies of Thessali, and was joined by a local elite cavalry.
Located between the mainland of Macedonia and the hinterland of Greece
Finally, the main Macedonian force escaped into the nearby city of Lamia before it completely collapsed. The coalition army also followed all the way and surrounded the city. In the next six months, both sides competed around the place. As it consumed half of the entire conflict, Lamia was also used by posterity to name this war. However, the Greek coalition forces were unable to break through the outer walls of the city due to lack of necessary preparation. When they continued to strengthen the trenches they dug, they were often attacked by the Macedonian defenders in the city. As the soul of the entire army, the commander of mercenary Rio Tinnis was killed in an encounter.
The Greek coalition attack on Lamia ended in failure
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The main Macedonian reinforcements of the maritime blockade are difficult to reach
At this time, there are already more than 20,000 Macedonian reinforcements ready to cross the sea Enter Greece. But the Athens fleet, which has a total of 170 ships, has also blocked the Hellespong Strait in advance, so that the Macedonian army at both ends can only stare on the shore. Fortunately, the Macedonians are better in terms of financial and human resources, enough to pool the sea power to break through the blockade.
At the end of 323 AD, the first batch of Macedonian warships arrived from the north. This should be the force recruited by Antipater from the coast of Thrace by using the treasury, and it was also beyond the expectation of the commander of the Athens fleet. Although no detailed records were left, the blockade of the Athens Navy was temporarily broken. Including Coracruz, 20,000 infantry and 1,500 cavalry were able to cross Hellespong and head straight for the Tersali area to the south.
The Athens fleet has been harassing the coasts of the Asian territories of Macedonia
8b0f0 but as long as the Athens fleet#04a7588 The main force of the Macedonian army is still there, so the flanks of the Macedonian army will always be threatened. Oyshin is naturally well aware of this, and he leads his fleet to constantly maneuver around the Aegean Sea. The temporary troops formed by Antipater could only wait in place to guard the strait, and did not have the ability to challenge them.
By the end of May of that year, the second Macedonian naval detachment rushed into the Aegean Sea from the south. This is another Phoenician-Cyprus combined fleet under the command of Kratrus, assembled from Sidon off the coast of the Levant. The Athenians were completely unprepared for this and deployed most of their troops to rest on an island called Amorgos.
is located in Amorgos in the southeast of the Aegean Sea All three oars crews need to go to the nearby shore to eat and sleep at night, so they can easily be caught by their opponents. When the Macedonian navy using a larger warship suddenly appeared, the Athenians set sail in a panic. But the latter’s 240 warships were enough to crush the final fleet that Athens had spent all of its financial resources. Therefore, after sinking the 3-4 warships of Kratrus, Oyshin's men all turned around and evacuated, relying on their familiarity with the sea area to avoid complete misfortune.
However, the Macedonians were still unwilling to take measures, and later launched a third battle against the Athens fleet. The Greek, who had exceeded the tolerance limit, finally lowered his arrogant head to Kratrus. The latter also specifically allowed the remains of the Athenians to return to the city with the damaged fleet, so that everyone could witness the defeat of the anti-Macedonian alliance. His victory also means that the communication lines between Europe and Asia are completely opened, and many reinforcements from Macedonia can travel unimpeded at both ends of the sea. The history of Athens as a regional naval power has basically come to an end.
The successive failures of naval battles make the Athenian sea power history
04a7588#0998The end of the Greek world defeat
A large number of Macedonian heavy infantry returned to Europe after the sea road was unblocked
Because the sea blockade was breached, more than 20,000 Macedonian troops began to break through. Smoothly kill the city of Lamia where Antipater is located. The latter also drove away from the city in advance, rushing to meet his life-saving power. The first among them was the general Leonatus who had served as Alexander's close servant. His troops were basically composed of veterans who had experienced the Persian War.
Forced by the power of the Macedonians, the Athens-Antoria Alliance chose to retreat to the south. However, Leo Natus immediately led the army to pursue him, and quickly forced the opponent to stop and start a battle with him. The Macedonians follow the classic pattern of formation, first with the cavalry on the right wing as the main attack, and then let the phalanx troops advance in turn. The Greek infantry chose to retreat first and dispatched elite Thessari cavalry to fight the Macedonians. As a result, Leonatus fell into a melee due to his overconfidence and was cut down by the most famous cavalry in Greece. However, the Macedonian veteran troops remained intact, retreating under the combined force of the opposing infantry and cavalry, until they organized defense at the mountain pass that was not conducive to the cavalry's detour. The Greeks had no choice but to let their troops continue to retreat south.
Many Thessaly cavalry have experienced the Eastern Expedition with strong strength
Faced with a huge disadvantage in strength, Antipheles, who took over as the commander of the coalition forces, decided to continue to use cavalry as a breakthrough. He expects to adopt a similar pattern to the opponent’s main leader, thereby forcing the Macedonian infantry to choose to retreat. But Antipater and Kratrus also learned their lesson and prepared to use the powerful infantry phalanx as their offensive guide.
Antipater ordered the long spear phalanx to advance directly across the board.
The impending failure of the alliance is still in the eyes of the Thessari. Once declared a complete failure, their city will bear the brunt of punishment. In addition, there are already 5,000 senior knights from Europe and Asia, making their position completely shaken. In order to avoid their own suffering, these best cavalry in Greece began to take the initiative to flee the battlefield, and separately returned to their cities to wait for the results.
The number of Macedonian infantry has almost overwhelmed its opponent
05588 , And desperately appealed to Antipater. But the latter requires each city to negotiate with itself separately, which is tantamount to completely dismembering the organic connection between the Greek city-states. At the same time, the Macedonians left half of their troops to monitor the other side, and used the remaining units to attack the rebellious city of Thessali, eradicating the local supporters of the coalition one by one.
In the end, most of the Greek cities began to abandon their leader Athens and make peace with Antipater's Macedonian forces alone. Not only did they need to pay war reparations, but several important cities also needed to accept Macedonian garrisons. The arrogant Athens also finally sent a peace talk representative, and the Macedonians forcibly changed the system. was once a unique democracy in the ancient Greek world and will be completely replaced by oligarchs supported by external forces. The entire Lamian War also ended in the howls of the Greek world.
The Lamian War also heralded the official end of the city-state era
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Although The Mia War is not the end of the city-state regime, nor will it be the last time the Greeks have met a powerful enemy, but it has completely shattered the pride of the classical golden age.Since then, the Greek mainland, whether it is a regional alliance or a strong state, will not become a separate force. In international political, economic and military confrontations, you can only show people in the image of second-rate participants. The only difference lies in who the supporters are. Therefore, we can call the Lamian War the real end of the Greek city-state era.
