24. The Badass General Who Built on Epaminondas’ Innovations and Professionalized Warfare
While Thebes and Sparta vied for the position of top dog in the ancient Greek world, a new power was rising in the north that would soon eclipse both. In 359 BC, a twenty-three-year-old Philip II (382 – 336 BC) ascended the throne of Macedon. Within two decades, he would demonstrate his chops as a general to such an extent that neither Greece nor warfare would ever be the same again. It shocked the Greeks, who viewed Macedon as a barely civilized kingdom that spoke a barely intelligible Greek dialect. That, despite the fact that Macedon had plenty of potential, both in manpower and resources that far exceeded those of any Greek city state.
Philip unified the fractious Macedonian tribes and transformed them into the world’s most respected and feared military machine. He made soldiery a full-time job and highly paid professional occupation. That allowed him to drill his men regularly, and ensure their discipline and unit cohesion. Epaminondas had impressed Philip, and he built on the deep phalanx innovations of the Theban general. He improved upon them when he armed his Macedonians with a long spear, the sarissa. Philip also reduced his men’s armor, and gave them smaller and lighter shields to increase their mobility. That enabled them to march at speeds that few other armies could equal.
