Into the Land of Bones. Frank L. Holt

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СКАЧАТЬ seem too strong a term for them, but the word does apply in many ways. They singly and collectively acted as expatriate agents intent upon undermining an established government through violence and intimidation, often aimed indiscriminately at civilians as well as soldiers and officials. As modern commentators point out, all sorts of groups might fall into this category, some of them vilified and others openly admired: al-Qaeda, the Kenyan Mau Mau, the French Resistance, Irish nationalists, and so on.¹⁷ To Alexander’s army, the Bactrian and Sogdian hyparchs became true terrorists, and Spitamenes the worst among them; but to the native peoples, Alexander and his generals fully deserved the title.¹⁸ There were no discussions of anything like Geneva Conventions, no apologies for the abuse of prisoners, no public oversight of military actions or expenditures. On all sides, atrocity answered atrocity in the brutal arithmetic of war and retribution.

      Wars in the fourth century B.C.E. concentrated their horrors into a narrow space of slashing blades, piercing shafts, and massive blunt-force traumas. Scarcely anyone could kill an enemy without staring him in the eye; everything became personal and desperate within the shower of a victim’s blood and the sound of his gasping breath. If most soldiers truly fear the bayonet more than the bullet, then ancient warfare stands out for its frenzied close-range slaughter with primitive weaponry. The Bactrians and their Scythian allies wielded stones, bows, battleaxes, spears, and swords. Some of the bows were powerful compound types; the arrows usually were tipped with bronze, three-edged points. Scythian riders developed a handy carrying device called a gorytus that combined a bow case and a quiver. They also experimented with armored cavalry of a kind later made famous in the Middle Ages.¹⁹ Spears of varying lengths were employed either as thrusting weapons or as javelins; the latter were fitted with leather throwing-thongs to increase range and accuracy. Bactrians carried a short sword hung from the right hip and laced to the leg. They wore a waist-length corselet made of thick leather reinforced with metal. A skirt of leather strips protected the groin and thighs. Some Bactrian fighters donned helmets, while others preferred a lighter, hooded headgear.²⁰ All in all, the Bactrians and Scythians looked so frightening with their wild, unkempt hair and great shaggy beards that one Macedonian general suggested fighting them only in the dark of night.²¹

      For their part, Alexander’s armed forces encompassed a wider array of tactical units operating under a sophisticated command structure, the most advanced in that era, thanks largely to innovations begun by Philip II.²² The Macedonian cavalry and infantry derived from territorial levies. Originally, the cavalry formed the elite arm, particularly the mounted Companions (Hetairoi) of the king. The term Companion highlighted a close association with the king endowing status and privilege. To avoid slighting the infantry, the Macedonians wisely extended the title to a special brigade called the Foot Companions (Pezhetairoi); when that name was later granted to the Macedonian infantry as a whole, the former Foot Companions claimed the designation Shield Bearers (Hypaspists) and later Silver Shields (Argyraspids). These carefully recruited and trained Shield Bearers were more mobile and versatile in battle than the king’s six (later seven) brigades of Foot Companions, so they performed the crucial task of linking together the fastest (Companion Cavalry) and slowest (Foot Companions) elements of the Macedonian army. They acted, too, as commandos in special situations, such as the arduous mountain campaigns in Afghanistan. Most Macedonian infantrymen wore armor, including helmets and cuirasses. Their national weapon was the sarissa, a long spear reaching eighteen feet and weighing about fourteen pounds. Its menacing blade was balanced by a useful butt spike, which could itself be swung around and wielded if the sarissa’s shaft were broken. Massed in precise formations, men carrying these sarissas cut deep into the ranks of the enemy.²³

      Alexander’s cavalry fought using swords and sarissas. Because the stirrup was unknown at the time, cavalrymen had to take care not to be unseated while charging, slashing, or thrusting. The king’s mounted forces underwent a transformation in response to the Bactrian campaign. The old squads (ilae) of two hundred riders were organized into larger battalions (hip-parchies) of two or more ilae. These units better served the powerful detachments sent out by the king to hunt down the insurgents, and they stood a better chance against attacks by the first-rate horsemen of Bactria and Scythia. Overall command of the cavalry, once vested in a single Companion, had to be divided for security reasons after the execution of Philotas.²⁴

      Alexander also deployed a great number of allied and mercenary troops. Lacking Macedonian reinforcements, the king grew increasingly dependent on the use of Greek mercenaries while in Bactria. Furthermore, to preserve his dwindling Macedonian manpower, Alexander singled out these mercenaries to be left behind as garrison forces and colonists. This caused resentment among the Greeks forced to remain in Bactria and led to some dissension in the ranks. Another source of friction would be the king’s decision before leaving Bactria to supplement his armed forces with additional native recruits.²⁵ His army thenceforth mixed three volatile elements, but the extreme demands of the Bactrian war left Alexander no choice. He had to assume the risks or retreat from the region.

      SHOCK WAVES

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