Kings and Generals thanks guys, you know I love my Alexander. He’s one of the very few generals in history to have accomplished so much in so little time. Literally every area he conquered would forever be changed
We know the names of Roman armies ,Legio 1 something...and etc,what do we know about the Greek armies ,did they call their phalanxes something particularly?
each of Alexander's phalanxes were regionally-based. For instance, there was a Macedonian phalanx from the region of Lyncestis, so that battalion was likely called the Lyncestian battalion or something similar. There was a similar naming division with Pyrrhus' army where his Epirote phalanx battalions were divided between the various Epirote tribes (for instance there was a Molossian, Thesprotian and Chaonian phalanx). We also have references in later hellenistic armies to specific phalanx units being distinguishable from the colour of their shields. There was for instance a bronze shield phalanx, a white shield phalanx, and perhaps most famously (and some might say notoriously), the silver shields.
The Germans had winter equipment. They just couldn't transport it to the troops at the front because food and ammunition were considered more important and the available transportation entirely insufficient to move all the needed supplies through Russia. Before the start of the campaign, the German quartermaster general explicity said that the invasion could be supplied for about 500 km before transportation collapses. It was considered unimportant and then played out exactly as predicted.
Fun fact: Alexander the Great had thousands of Kings and Generals T-shirts which he would award to soldiers who served exceptionally well during his conquests of Persia
It boggles my mind that any ancient army could be sustained for long on the march. The availability of water alone seems enormous... Like where the fuck are they getting so much water so quickly. Are they digging wells every ten miles or something haha! How the hell did 100k plus armies exist back before the train was invented! Just insane to me and wish I could go back in time to see... Always wondered what would have happened if someone invented the bicycle, gears, and most importantly a decent tire back 3,000 years ago... You'd have small lightning bike units shredding up the country side doing hit and run tactics. I'm sure some would train to use a polearm on a bike too! I mean the Companions could charge enemies without stirrups and stay on the horse while steering it without using their hands!
In China, we learned more about Pythagoras, Euclid, Archimedes, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Homer, and Sophocles in high-school textbooks. Greek Mathematicians, Philosophers, and Authors were truly great. Still, Alexander was the crucial one responsible for spreading that culture. (Later we had diplomatic relations with Greko-Bactrian kingdoms in Han dynasty. )
Aristotle was his teacher recommend of his father but Platon had some problems as beeing half greek. Jewish refused him as a apostle, because of their hate against macedonian tradesmen which made them competition. Platon was replaced with Paul. But christians monasteries from Romania considers him as apostle.
Fun Facts. Did the Macedonian logistical reforms influence Marius? Later, with the Marian Reforms at the beginning of the first century BC, the Romans would adopt a similar logistical system to Philip in their own army (reduced size of baggage train, made the soldiers carry their own kit) and the legionaries thus gained the nickname Marius’ mules. Could Philip's reforms have been the inspiration for Marius? Macedonian roads: uniting the empire. One other area that truly epitomised Alexander's logistical brilliance was his road building. Among his army were specialised surveyors and teams of road constructors - mainly from his light infantry. We hear Alexander tasked these men with clearing obstacles and constructing roads to aid his army through difficult terrain. Yet Alexander evidently intended these roads to have a much longer lasting impact. Once finished, they not only aided the speed of Alexander’s march but they also greatly increased communication and feasibility of overland travel throughout his spear-won territory - most notably to his new cities spread throughout Asia. Supply depots were likely also constructed along these new roads. All this both provided and secured lines of supply and communication for the Macedonian army when on campaign throughout his empire. Alexander had intended for instance, to build a coastal road with intermittent ports stretching from Egypt to the Straits of Gibraltar to supply his future campaign in the west. Yet his untimely death at Babylon in 323 BC, aged only 32, brought a swift end to these bold plans.
The speed of communication is crucial in any situation - especially in warfare. Telegraph, radios, walkie talkies, remote control, satellite, internet, networking...
If you haven't read well known European historians and you only have read the Yugoslavians you have to start from point zero . Than you will understand not only 19-20 centuries but also medieval Bulgarian history and ancient history of Greece.I would repeat again for you. The problem is that the people ( Revolutionary's from 1903)- all of them proclaimed that they were Bulgarians from Macedonia.They themselves stated in letters and memories and still alive relatives that they were Bulgarians. So the point is that you can't change their identity postmortem like Tito did in 1945. Or you think that can do it? By the way what is your proof that your DNA and DNA of Alexander The Great same? Do you believe in this? If you really believe in this your country should never change the name under the Greeks demands. In case with Bulgaria all is clear. THE people declared that were Bulgarians lived not long time ago, how ever before Tito Yugoslavia 1945 .
I'd forgotten to what extent Alexander owed his success to his father Philip, from whom he inherited the ancient world's #1 military machine. And I didn't know Philip had pioneered many aspects of Alexander's logistics. Great video.
In short, Alexander always grabbed the best option for his army, be it getting new troops, adopting new formations and adapting to suit tough conditions. Something tells me History would have been very different if he had alive for a decade longer. If this man had turned his attention to building a kingdom, I think he would have formed an empire that lasted centuries.
@3:12 I didn't realize the Macedonians promoted this channel before it even existed. Perhaps the Oracle of Delphi had a vision of it she shared with Phillip II.
"The bull is crowned. All is done. The sacrificer is ready. Oh, and make a bunch of shirts with 'Kings and Generals' on them, they'll be important later."
The best part of this video is the upbeat, energetic, tense, dramatic music while explaining stuff like equipment carried by individual soldiers. Lol. Only Kings and Generals could pull that off and make it cool instead of corny! Very informative and entertaining video guys, especially the explanation of how Philip II abandoned ox carts in favor of horses and mules as his beasts of burden, with camels added later by Alexander III the Great. I didn't know about that! Thanks for that!
This is still one of my favorite videos. I’d always struggled to get a handle on logistics, but this video gave me my first insights that really stuck.
Yet another great video depicting ancient warfare logistics. I support you very much to continue a series like this where you will cover other factions as well like Roman, Persian and other.
The first time I asked K & G to make a video on it was more that half a year ago . And the latest was on the last video. But nevertheless he never assured me that this was certainly the case.
I needed my fix today thanks kings 👍. During the Persian conquest, most cities that were liberated by Alexander gave up without a fight conserving his army for Gauglemela and many other major battles. And unlike many other generals, Alexander adopted military tactics and culture into his army making it majorly effective, he could see the future well beyond his time.
Loved this episode, few channels cover logistics and I hope its something you do for more periods and generals. Another thing I'd like to suggest is to add timestaps to the description of your season videos. I was enjoying your monghol season video (again for like the 3rd time) but I'd love to know exactly which episode I am watching. Watching these videos really is a treat, few people as much enjoyment for love and history (and you give us a bigger picture than extrahistory that gives a more personal take on history which I also love).
This is an episode I needed to see. I'm pooling what I know about Classical Era warfare (a lot of it learned from this channel and Wikipedia) into a board game.
Good video.whenever I thought about Alexander ,logistics and reccons never came to my mind. Now you tell me about these two aspects.thanks for this.Alexander is the greatest king and General of all time.
“Move swift as the wind and closely-formed as the wood.Attack like the fire and be still as the mountain” “Be subtle!be subtle! and use your spies for every kind of business” Sun Tzu-The Art of War
AMAZING WORK ! You guy's always Deliver Top-Notch Content & What Better Way to Start my Morning at 8am than an Episode on ALEXANDER THE GREATEST , My Hero , on just How he was Able to Conquer so Much. Thank You for the Knowledge!
500 miles in 13 days with a 40kg pack is just INSANE to me. That's 60km a day. I remember walking with a 10kg pack over flat ground in Spain and barely being able to walk 40km each day. These phalangites were no joke.
Didnt Mongols "life off the land", that is plunder civilian settlements nonstop? There is reason we never hear about glorious campaigns of Mongols in Mongolia.
@@OkurkaBinLadin they "lived" in their 10 men squads and would forage the land to restock their supplies, a feat not many armies are really capable of, since this requires quite a lot of mobility which the Mongolian Horsemen of course possessed
a great show, revealing what is little discussed! Kudos! only thing i would like added is a discussion of how Alex secured his water based supply, from Asia Minor thru Tyre to Egypt, before he moved inland into Syria & Mesopotamia.
I understand Mongol also bring their livestock during their campaign just like a nomads, but Alexander are using "conventional supply lines" yet they managed to conquer known world.
Different armies mean different logistics, the mongol empire was one based on size and speed. Most Mongol territory was the open plains and areas where nomadic/horse travel was easier. Alexander's forces moved much slower, but did have more flexibility in terms of geographical dominance, hence why Alexander's army held territory in India that the mongols couldn't obtain in their own conquests.
The Macedonians held nothing. Alexander's Empire was held together by Syrian-Persian bureaucrats & periodic mass-murders that left half the cities in the Middle East in ruins, until the Parthians repaired them 200 years later. They held zero territory in India apart from one city-state that surrendered & another that didn't- both of which Alexander had to return back to their owners when his troops mutinied. As it is- there was no more an "Alexandrian" Empire than there was a Hunnic one. The only Greek Empires around the time were of the Diadochi who actually had a plan beyond "Murder everyone & claim to be King." It was good Alexander died when he did at the height of his Power, or he'd had been laughed at today.
A nice addition to a rather good day. Thanks. Had been eagerly looking forwards for this and, as usual, I am not disappointing. Thanks again! Keep it up. This video is practically flawless.
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Thanks for the video 😀. It's always interesting to see the preparation before each great project. King Philip the hard-working paved the way for his son Alexander. PS: Alexander war theme from Civ V was a nice touch😉.
+Kings and Generals on an unrelated note have you thought about making a video about modern logistics? Something like those of the Third Reich during their early Russian and French invasions.
I have Engel's book, and it is excellent. He has a formula for calculating food, water, fodder and how many pack animals are required for a given sized army. I have created an Excel spreadsheet for Classical war gaming. By playing around with the formula you can instantly see in Excel how changing the number of servants, how much grain the men carry, or other factors affect the speed and logistics of an army. Large armies were very slow and on the verge of starvation if they didn't keep constantly on the move to new areas for forage. The Perfect army seems to be 40-50,000 fighting men. Large enough to intimidate or win battles, small enough to still move fairly rapidly and still relatively easy to provision.
It's also amazing how long they can survive without it. Caravan camels that cross the Sahara or Gobi without food and water are in such a terrible shape that they need six months to regain their strength to be able to make the return trip.
this is the part of war that no one ever thinks about, but it's really fascinating. People had to be extremely smart to have continued success like this.
I bought the book "Alexander the Great and the Logistics of the Macedonian Army" by Donald W. Engels mentioned at 12:25 of this video is an informative and very readable book. I highly recommend it.
I have Engels Book, and it is excellent. The Principles espoused are applicable to every pre-industrial army the world over, as well as post industrial armies still heavily dependant on animal transport. The book has a wealth of information, so much, in fact, that the footnotes often take up most of the page. I highly recommend it.
It would be brilliant if you would make videos about Alexander's wars in Asia; important battles and military tactics on the battlefield. Anyway, it was a great video like always 👍
Things like the water supply of Pergamon (carrying water over dozens of kilometres and pumping it to the top of a mountain by a pressured pipe) are actually quite impressive. "They didn't have plumbing" is nonsense.
The water supply in Pergamon that I mentioned, was built in Hellenistic times, though, when the city definitely was Greek (and important, unlike earlier settlements there). Also, I doubt that we can assign ethnicity to the rather few remains we have of pre-Hellenistic Pergamon. That Wiki article though - really? :D
@@LuisAldamiz Greeks had plumbing. Some of it is even displayed in museums and in the Athenian subway, it was ceramic parts placed one on top of the other. Actually Greeks also had indoor plumbing not only street plumbing.
It also pretty amazing that Alexander had learned such tactical brilliance especially on the battlefield. I mean during the battle of hydaspes, it was the first time that the Macedonian forces had fought elephants in significant numbers, and yet Alexander still led them to a pretty decisive victory against king Porus and his Indian forces. It really makes you think had Alexander lived longer, would he have returned to India and possibly even tried to take on the maurya empire? Or even the Zhou in China? With fresh forces I mean.
Great video as usual, but just one suggestion - use the metric system for values and I know that they were mentioned in the video but I prefer to watch the video as only audio (podcast style) and most people in the world use Metric system.
1:10 Fun fact: in world war 2, US side, for every soldier on the battlefield, there were 17 people behind the front lines supporting him! (Intel, logistics, supplies, etc.)
fun fact: Even the word "logistics" comes from the greek word "λογιστική". Barbarians copied even the terminology not only the greek tactics (=τακτική in greek).
Στέφανος Καρ When I have been visited India, I saw from where Democrit copied his philosophy. When I have been visited Iran, I realized from where Pithagora mathematics is. When I have been visited Egypt I saw the Bible on the walls of egyptian temples. Byzantium is not founded by king Byzas of Megara, but by anatolian hitits to whom as Istanbul was returned back. The greeks are denominated in history as "corrupts". They stole all indo-arian mythology and send it in derision to prepare the way of christian dogma, which is based partially not on greek gnosticism, which didn't exist, but on tomaite gnosticism. With this tomaite dogma is connected apostel Thomas, as unfaithful apostel. Because he really knew something. The myth of Medeea is a monstrosity in the greek mythology but a methods of enligtenmemt in tomaite dogma, connected to middle way of yoga. And etc.
Hey, Joey GB: I was just watching this because I am a big history nut....so I was looking at the comments, and saw your reply (I know it was a dromedary) but when you said that you are fun at parties, it made me chuckle, and I just thought that I would wish you a very happy new year, full of blessings and happy memories!
What’s the difference? To me it’s just camel. I am from Horn of Africa , a region with most camel in the world and still we use them for logistics for families living remote nomad villages to carry food from cities.
If you need more Alexander in your life: bit.ly/2nZDBVV
Kings and Generals thanks guys, you know I love my Alexander. He’s one of the very few generals in history to have accomplished so much in so little time. Literally every area he conquered would forever be changed
We know the names of Roman armies ,Legio 1 something...and etc,what do we know about the Greek armies ,did they call their phalanxes something particularly?
each of Alexander's phalanxes were regionally-based. For instance, there was a Macedonian phalanx from the region of Lyncestis, so that battalion was likely called the Lyncestian battalion or something similar.
There was a similar naming division with Pyrrhus' army where his Epirote phalanx battalions were divided between the various Epirote tribes (for instance there was a Molossian, Thesprotian and Chaonian phalanx).
We also have references in later hellenistic armies to specific phalanx units being distinguishable from the colour of their shields. There was for instance a bronze shield phalanx, a white shield phalanx, and perhaps most famously (and some might say notoriously), the silver shields.
@@battlesoftheancients what about before Alexander era? What about Sparta ,Athens and other?
ohh yes we need a lot.!! thanks for these excellent videos they are very rare to be found and are analytical
All hail logistics!
Like seriously, you can't conquer anything if your soldiers are starving. Wish people recognised its importance more.
There is a common saying, that more warriors died due to the starvation and illness than at the end of the enemy spear.
Probably true to be honest. Although it all depends on which army, which campaign, which general, which region, etc.
Even as late as the Crimea & the American Civil War, this could happen
Dave Thompson Even in WW2.
The Germans had winter equipment. They just couldn't transport it to the troops at the front because food and ammunition were considered more important and the available transportation entirely insufficient to move all the needed supplies through Russia.
Before the start of the campaign, the German quartermaster general explicity said that the invasion could be supplied for about 500 km before transportation collapses. It was considered unimportant and then played out exactly as predicted.
Fun fact: Alexander the Great had thousands of Kings and Generals T-shirts which he would award to soldiers who served exceptionally well during his conquests of Persia
If you can, fly Pancake! Darn I need me an Alexander in my life, nohomo tho.
I'm an Army logistician. I read a book about this years ago. This is a wonderful synopsis. Thank you.
Thanks for watching!
It boggles my mind that any ancient army could be sustained for long on the march. The availability of water alone seems enormous... Like where the fuck are they getting so much water so quickly. Are they digging wells every ten miles or something haha!
How the hell did 100k plus armies exist back before the train was invented! Just insane to me and wish I could go back in time to see...
Always wondered what would have happened if someone invented the bicycle, gears, and most importantly a decent tire back 3,000 years ago... You'd have small lightning bike units shredding up the country side doing hit and run tactics. I'm sure some would train to use a polearm on a bike too! I mean the Companions could charge enemies without stirrups and stay on the horse while steering it without using their hands!
POG
In China, we learned more about Pythagoras, Euclid, Archimedes, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Homer, and Sophocles in high-school textbooks. Greek Mathematicians, Philosophers, and Authors were truly great. Still, Alexander was the crucial one responsible for spreading that culture. (Later we had diplomatic relations with Greko-Bactrian kingdoms in Han dynasty. )
I heard about the Heavenly Horses that the Chinese emperors got through a western expedition into Greco-Bactrian lands. Cool stuff!
Your maths books are insane
Interesting
I know, we remember well the War of the Heavenly Horses Asian one...
Aristotle was his teacher recommend of his father but Platon had some problems as beeing half greek. Jewish refused him as a apostle, because of their hate against macedonian tradesmen which made them competition. Platon was replaced with Paul. But christians monasteries from Romania considers him as apostle.
Great job as always, many tend to forget how armies were full of mortal men and not just robots that marched for a decade straight behind Alexander
True, it was essential to have a good supply chain.
Fun Facts. Did the Macedonian logistical reforms influence Marius?
Later, with the Marian Reforms at the beginning of the first century BC, the Romans would adopt a similar logistical system to Philip in their own army (reduced size of baggage train, made the soldiers carry their own kit) and the legionaries thus gained the nickname Marius’ mules. Could Philip's reforms have been the inspiration for Marius?
Macedonian roads: uniting the empire.
One other area that truly epitomised Alexander's logistical brilliance was his road building. Among his army were specialised surveyors and teams of road constructors - mainly from his light infantry. We hear Alexander tasked these men with clearing obstacles and constructing roads to aid his army through difficult terrain.
Yet Alexander evidently intended these roads to have a much longer lasting impact. Once finished, they not only aided the speed of Alexander’s march but they also greatly increased communication and feasibility of overland travel throughout his spear-won territory - most notably to his new cities spread throughout Asia. Supply depots were likely also constructed along these new roads.
All this both provided and secured lines of supply and communication for the Macedonian army when on campaign throughout his empire.
Alexander had intended for instance, to build a coastal road with intermittent ports stretching from Egypt to the Straits of Gibraltar to supply his future campaign in the west. Yet his untimely death at Babylon in 323 BC, aged only 32, brought a swift end to these bold plans.
Are you legally allowed to speak about the Romans? :-)
I love Rome. Coming soon!
interesting Fact
The speed of communication is crucial in any situation - especially in warfare. Telegraph, radios, walkie talkies, remote control, satellite, internet, networking...
i still think it was a punishment for not follow him into india
Alexander also had two great teachers, Aristotle and his father Philip
Study. 3 . Leonidas
Yea, he had. Perhaps the best of the teachers. And yet the only thing he did was to plunder the world around. Such a contrast.
ahmedshinwari you are mental he stopped Islam from entering Europe for decades and kept peace in Europe ... dumbass
ahmedshinwari not everyone drinks Starbucks and is a progressive little bitch like u ..
Vincent now that is just stupid since you know Islam was After Alexander the Great’s time by like 900 years
4:02 Aww, look at this cute little red thingie in Western Italy. Who would've thought that one day it'll take over the map.
I think they will fail!
@@KingsandGenerals Well, Brennus missed his chance. Whatever, it's not like this city will be looted after 8 centuries, right?
@@KingsandGenerals What about that yellow light in Sicily what citystate does that belong to?
Well as a history Master I tell you -spoiler alert - they will ;-)
Alexander should’ve marched West not East.
3:12 If I'm gonna die in battle, I might as well die in style.
Even Macedonian army had Kings and Generals t-shirt, so you better get yours as well. ;)
Always happy to get a comment from our fellow creator. :-)
@@KingsandGenerals yep
My experience as a soldier taught me logistics arguably THE MOST important thing in any army.
Not just arguably
If you haven't read well known European historians and you only have read the Yugoslavians you have to start from point zero . Than you will understand not only 19-20 centuries but also medieval Bulgarian history and ancient history of Greece.I would repeat again for you. The problem is that the people ( Revolutionary's from 1903)- all of them proclaimed that they were Bulgarians from Macedonia.They themselves stated in letters and memories and still alive relatives that they were Bulgarians. So the point is that you can't change their identity postmortem like Tito did in 1945. Or you think that can do it?
By the way what is your proof that your DNA and DNA of Alexander The Great same? Do you believe in this? If you really believe in this your country should never change the name under the Greeks demands.
In case with Bulgaria all is clear. THE people declared that were Bulgarians lived not long time ago, how ever before Tito Yugoslavia 1945 .
@@petremitrov ehm, I don't know if you see a comment I am not seeing, but I think you commented on the wrong comment
What was your MOS
@@petremitrov The fuck
I'd forgotten to what extent Alexander owed his success to his father Philip, from whom he inherited the ancient world's #1 military machine. And I didn't know Philip had pioneered many aspects of Alexander's logistics. Great video.
Thank you!
It wasnt necessarily the best phalanx overall. But the easiest phalanx to train and have it ready fast and effective if you cover it well.
In short, Alexander always grabbed the best option for his army, be it getting new troops, adopting new formations and adapting to suit tough conditions. Something tells me History would have been very different if he had alive for a decade longer. If this man had turned his attention to building a kingdom, I think he would have formed an empire that lasted centuries.
I sometimes wake in the middle of the night and find myself imagining 'what if he lived for 20-30 more years...'
Hellenistic kingdoms lasted 3 centuries. But was around 4 kingdoms or 5 instead of one big one.
@@karlamay_ same
He was a good commander, bad adminstrator
@@akashpatro9393False. History proves he was just as good as a administrator as he was a general.
@3:12 I didn't realize the Macedonians promoted this channel before it even existed. Perhaps the Oracle of Delphi had a vision of it she shared with Phillip II.
"The bull is crowned.
All is done.
The sacrificer is ready.
Oh, and make a bunch of shirts with 'Kings and Generals' on them, they'll be important later."
One of the best videos to date, guys! It is amazing to know how Generals in Alexander's time successfully kept their forces fed and watered.
Thank you for your kind words!
The best part of this video is the upbeat, energetic, tense, dramatic music while explaining stuff like equipment carried by individual soldiers. Lol. Only Kings and Generals could pull that off and make it cool instead of corny! Very informative and entertaining video guys, especially the explanation of how Philip II abandoned ox carts in favor of horses and mules as his beasts of burden, with camels added later by Alexander III the Great. I didn't know about that! Thanks for that!
This is my most desired Alexander topic. His campaign and battles were amazing but it was his logistics that made it possible.
3:57 awww look how cute little Rome is sitting in that tiny section of Italy.
Cute, eh? :D
One of the things I love the most about this channel is how you use these infographics. They're equal parts slick, informative, and entertaining.
This is still one of my favorite videos. I’d always struggled to get a handle on logistics, but this video gave me my first insights that really stuck.
Awesome. Battles are the tip of the iceberg, so it's nice to get a glimpse of what armies attend to in the meantime.
Donald W. Engels! I've been working my way through his book on Alexanders logistics and it was quite the treat to see this video. Well done!
This channel deserves it's own TV show.
Hopefully, one day. :-)
Personal Possessions: Kings and Generals T-shirt
Great video ! Nothing less expected from the legendary descendant of Achilles.
Yet another great video depicting ancient warfare logistics. I support you very much to continue a series like this where you will cover other factions as well like Roman, Persian and other.
Thank you! We will!
Rome Total War-1 Brutii (Roman, glory) VS Julii (Roman, glory)
th-cam.com/video/eyieXqhkJso/w-d-xo.html
Rome total war-1 Julii (roman, glory ) vs Gallic (bravery)
th-cam.com/video/NGY8qei4rCU/w-d-xo.html
Interesting how important the logistics are to a massive conquest. Thanks for the the video, great work as always.
Thanks for watching!
03:10 hahaha the t-shirt
A video on Xenophon and the Ten Thousand would be cool as well.
On our list!
The first time I asked K & G to make a video on it was more that half a year ago . And the latest was on the last video. But nevertheless he never assured me that this was certainly the case.
That moment where you start liking their videos before watching it, because you know all their videos are great
Thank you for watching
I needed my fix today thanks kings 👍. During the Persian conquest, most cities that were liberated by Alexander gave up without a fight conserving his army for Gauglemela and many other major battles. And unlike many other generals, Alexander adopted military tactics and culture into his army making it majorly effective, he could see the future well beyond his time.
Dennis Cleary
Liberated?! Achamenids treated their subjects better than any ancient Empire...
Alexander: _Mentions logistics_
SPQR: _Looms menacingly in the distance_
The Russian army's logistical nightmare in Ukraine reminded me of this brilliant video. Consistently great content through the years, thanks K&G
Loved this episode, few channels cover logistics and I hope its something you do for more periods and generals. Another thing I'd like to suggest is to add timestaps to the description of your season videos. I was enjoying your monghol season video (again for like the 3rd time) but I'd love to know exactly which episode I am watching. Watching these videos really is a treat, few people as much enjoyment for love and history (and you give us a bigger picture than extrahistory that gives a more personal take on history which I also love).
Problem is, TH-cam is deliberately deranking videos like that and we start to lose views.
This is an episode I needed to see. I'm pooling what I know about Classical Era warfare (a lot of it learned from this channel and Wikipedia) into a board game.
Happy you enjoyed it!
Perfect, as always. Please, more Alexander videos!
More on the way!
Good video.whenever I thought about Alexander ,logistics and reccons never came to my mind.
Now you tell me about these two aspects.thanks for this.Alexander is the greatest king and General of all time.
Thanks for watching!
“Move swift as the wind and closely-formed as the wood.Attack like the fire and be still as the mountain” “Be subtle!be subtle! and use your spies for every kind of business” Sun Tzu-The Art of War
Kings and Generals spoiling me again thank you so much
Thanks for watching!
My father in law did logistics for the Canadian forces in Afghanistan. I can’t imagine how difficult an army of THIS size would be to plan for.
Yeah, the modern armies are much more organized and the chain of command makes it much easier to follow.
Rome Total War-1 Julii (Roman, glory) VS Carthage (most terrible army)
th-cam.com/video/Pxay_ZAX_Lw/w-d-xo.html
Rome Total War-1 Parthia (glory) VS Julii (Roman ,glory)
th-cam.com/video/AyvT0dS4LLY/w-d-xo.html
Awesome explaining overlooked details of Alexander's army! Thumbs up approval! 👍
Thank you very much!
AMAZING WORK ! You guy's always Deliver Top-Notch Content & What Better Way to Start my Morning at 8am than an Episode on ALEXANDER THE GREATEST , My Hero , on just How he was Able to Conquer so Much. Thank You for the Knowledge!
Thank you very much!
I think this is the best one you made yet! It was very intresting and well made. Keep up the good work!
Thank you! More on the way!
500 miles in 13 days with a 40kg pack is just INSANE to me. That's 60km a day. I remember walking with a 10kg pack over flat ground in Spain and barely being able to walk 40km each day. These phalangites were no joke.
Thanks for covering such a diverse range of topics!
Great video as usual!
Thank you!
This series on Alexander is amazing
Next :Logistics of the mongol army!
It is considered.
Didnt Mongols "life off the land", that is plunder civilian settlements nonstop? There is reason we never hear about glorious campaigns of Mongols in Mongolia.
@@OkurkaBinLadin they "lived" in their 10 men squads and would forage the land to restock their supplies, a feat not many armies are really capable of, since this requires quite a lot of mobility which the Mongolian Horsemen of course possessed
a great show, revealing what is little discussed! Kudos!
only thing i would like added is a discussion of how Alex secured his water based supply, from Asia Minor thru Tyre to Egypt, before he moved inland into Syria & Mesopotamia.
I understand Mongol also bring their livestock during their campaign just like a nomads, but Alexander are using "conventional supply lines" yet they managed to conquer known world.
Yeah, but it was a bit different. We'll talk about it.
A55tech, you don't have to be an asshole, Alexander The Great also have a nick name "King of 4 corners of the world"
Different armies mean different logistics, the mongol empire was one based on size and speed. Most Mongol territory was the open plains and areas where nomadic/horse travel was easier. Alexander's forces moved much slower, but did have more flexibility in terms of geographical dominance, hence why Alexander's army held territory in India that the mongols couldn't obtain in their own conquests.
The Macedonians held nothing. Alexander's Empire was held together by Syrian-Persian bureaucrats & periodic mass-murders that left half the cities in the Middle East in ruins, until the Parthians repaired them 200 years later. They held zero territory in India apart from one city-state that surrendered & another that didn't- both of which Alexander had to return back to their owners when his troops mutinied.
As it is- there was no more an "Alexandrian" Empire than there was a Hunnic one. The only Greek Empires around the time were of the Diadochi who actually had a plan beyond "Murder everyone & claim to be King." It was good Alexander died when he did at the height of his Power, or he'd had been laughed at today.
@@a55tech You are such a bitch.
A nice addition to a rather good day. Thanks. Had been eagerly looking forwards for this and, as usual, I am not disappointing. Thanks again! Keep it up. This video is practically flawless.
Thank you very much! Hopefully, all your days will be good.
Thanks, your too!
Would be great to see a video on the logistics of Hannibal's crossing of the Alps
Will consider, but I am sure the sources are obscure on that.
Very nice information love ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷 Greece and Alexander the Great from 🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳 India
Good work as always. Thank you for the lesson. Admiral yi please!!!!!
Thanks!
Thanks for the video 😀. It's always interesting to see the preparation before each great project. King Philip the hard-working paved the way for his son Alexander.
PS: Alexander war theme from Civ V was a nice touch😉.
Thank you very much! :-)
3:15 one of the most subtle plugs I've ever seen
;-)
+Kings and Generals on an unrelated note have you thought about making a video about modern logistics? Something like those of the Third Reich during their early Russian and French invasions.
Yeah, considering it!
I have Engel's book, and it is excellent. He has a formula for calculating food, water, fodder and how many pack animals are required for a given sized army. I have created an Excel spreadsheet for Classical war gaming. By playing around with the formula you can instantly see in Excel how changing the number of servants, how much grain the men carry, or other factors affect the speed and logistics of an army. Large armies were very slow and on the verge of starvation if they didn't keep constantly on the move to new areas for forage. The Perfect army seems to be 40-50,000 fighting men. Large enough to intimidate or win battles, small enough to still move fairly rapidly and still relatively easy to provision.
That's crazy that camels could drink 10 gallons of water a day.
It's also amazing how long they can survive without it. Caravan camels that cross the Sahara or Gobi without food and water are in such a terrible shape that they need six months to regain their strength to be able to make the return trip.
Still amazed how people cannit differentiate camel and a dromedare.
Mauno T. that's interesting point, I looked it up and it says they are both camels, one hump = dromedare, two humps = bactrian
Horses too
this is the part of war that no one ever thinks about, but it's really fascinating.
People had to be extremely smart to have continued success like this.
I bought the book "Alexander the Great and the Logistics of the Macedonian Army" by Donald W. Engels mentioned at 12:25 of this video is an informative and very readable book. I highly recommend it.
Heart me, it's my B-day today!
Happy birthday dude
Thanks man
Happy belated birthday man
I have Engels Book, and it is excellent. The Principles espoused are applicable to every pre-industrial army the world over, as well as post industrial armies still heavily dependant on animal transport. The book has a wealth of information, so much, in fact, that the footnotes often take up most of the page. I highly recommend it.
Great video
Once a watcher, always a fan!! One of the first!!
Happy to hear that!
The loot in the cart at 5:50. An actual lute. 😂 Good stuff.
What is war without some music? :-)
Love your channel and all the great videos! Especially the ones on Alexander, the Romans, and the Mongols!
Thanks, more on the way!
“My logisticians are a humorless lot. They know they are the first ones I will slay if my campaign fails.“ Alexander the Great
You really did deliver this time... Bravo!!
Thank you for watching :)
As a logistics officer in the army I approve this video :D
That is what I want to hear. :-) Thanks!
You're most welcome.
It would be brilliant if you would make videos about Alexander's wars in Asia; important battles and military tactics on the battlefield. Anyway, it was a great video like always 👍
It is covered to death.
Philip the II is honestly so underrated
Good job! Please something more about Alexander's campaigns
Thanks!
I'm loving the icons that you guys use - do you create them yourselves?
Yep, all Cogito :-)
Is no one else gonna bring the AOE2 sound effects. Man, you giving me nostalgia!
6:24 The Virgin Horse Vs The Chad Camel
That should be a shirt. :-)
wow what an amazing video. thank you for your attention to detail. please keep it up!!!!
We will, thank you!
You could propably find the most mundane thing about the ancient word and still make it sound exciting...how about ancient greek plumbing?
Don't know about Greeks, but Roman plumbing is amazing!
Things like the water supply of Pergamon (carrying water over dozens of kilometres and pumping it to the top of a mountain by a pressured pipe) are actually quite impressive. "They didn't have plumbing" is nonsense.
The water supply in Pergamon that I mentioned, was built in Hellenistic times, though, when the city definitely was Greek (and important, unlike earlier settlements there). Also, I doubt that we can assign ethnicity to the rather few remains we have of pre-Hellenistic Pergamon.
That Wiki article though - really? :D
@@LuisAldamiz ο ειδικός στον ελληνισμό μίλησε. κοιτάξετε τους εαυτούς σας. γιατί ασχολείστε με μας; να μας αφήσετε ήσυχους. δεν θέλουμε τη γνώμη σας.
@@LuisAldamiz Greeks had plumbing. Some of it is even displayed in museums and in the Athenian subway, it was ceramic parts placed one on top of the other. Actually Greeks also had indoor plumbing not only street plumbing.
It also pretty amazing that Alexander had learned such tactical brilliance especially on the battlefield. I mean during the battle of hydaspes, it was the first time that the Macedonian forces had fought elephants in significant numbers, and yet Alexander still led them to a pretty decisive victory against king Porus and his Indian forces. It really makes you think had Alexander lived longer, would he have returned to India and possibly even tried to take on the maurya empire? Or even the Zhou in China? With fresh forces I mean.
Got to love that AoE stock animal noises for the clicking part of the video
Amazing!!!
Thanks for watching :-)
Great video as usual, but just one suggestion - use the metric system for values and I know that they were mentioned in the video but I prefer to watch the video as only audio (podcast style) and most people in the world use Metric system.
That is a good point. We made a mistake.
1:50 Philip was like *my army gonna be fast as fuck boiii*
Fast is good, I guess. :-)
I was waiting on this video to pop out, should be good my friend should be good. Thank you for the upload.
Thanks for being with us!
I see you using the AoE sound effects for the animals!
Yep!
More of this please! I'm more interested in logistics and resources than in the actual war engagement.
Alexander is considered great not only because of his tactics and logistics but also he conquered 5% of the world alone.
Answering these sort of questions is my jam.
Can you do one about Caesars campaign in Gaul.
We will
Your videos are inspiring me a lot..!!! Do make some videos on Indian Empires, especially Southern Indian Empires like Chola !
Thanks!
Seems like the armies OF Alexander and Phillip were fans of Kings and Generals channel
As they should. :-)
1:10 Fun fact: in world war 2, US side, for every soldier on the battlefield, there were 17 people behind the front lines supporting him! (Intel, logistics, supplies, etc.)
I am proud Macedonian. Yes we Greeks teach the world with our great leader Alexander the Great!
MACEDONIA: 4000 YEARS OF GREEK CIVILIZATION. I jealous you Greeks
You Greeks rock: Alexander ,Leonidas, hercules and goes on
But now Greece is sourounded by non european FYROM gypsies, poor albanians and turks enemies
MACEDONIA: 4000 YEARS OF GREEK CIVILIZATION true
If you are Macedonian you are not Greek that is haw its go barbarian
Xenophon 's Anabasis is a tale of legends. If you ever have time you could make a video about it.
fun fact: Even the word "logistics" comes from the greek word "λογιστική". Barbarians copied even the terminology not only the greek tactics (=τακτική in greek).
and who says greeks diddn't copy from other civilizations to the eat and south? be proud if you want but there are ons of other great civilizations.
@@schnwiedr5503 cry harder germ-an.
Fun fact: Greeks copied from the Egyptians
@@schnwiedr5503 Who?
Στέφανος Καρ When I have been visited India, I saw from where Democrit copied his philosophy. When I have been visited Iran, I realized from where Pithagora mathematics is. When I have been visited Egypt I saw the Bible on the walls of egyptian temples. Byzantium is not founded by king Byzas of Megara, but by anatolian hitits to whom as Istanbul was returned back. The greeks are denominated in history as "corrupts". They stole all indo-arian mythology and send it in derision to prepare the way of christian dogma, which is based partially not on greek gnosticism, which didn't exist, but on tomaite gnosticism. With this tomaite dogma is connected apostel Thomas, as unfaithful apostel. Because he really knew something. The myth of Medeea is a monstrosity in the greek mythology but a methods of enligtenmemt in tomaite dogma, connected to middle way of yoga. And etc.
Nice video and great animations!
Good job! Like, as always... 👍👏
"personal possessions" haha KG shirt
Omg you made the t-shirt I suggested and showed it in the video! you made my day :D
I will order the t-shirt this week if it's still available.
I'm gonna say it: the animal you showed in the pictures is called a dromedary, not a camel.
Yes I'm fun at parties
Hey, Joey GB: I was just watching this because I am a big history nut....so I was looking at the comments, and saw your reply (I know it was a dromedary) but when you said that you are fun at parties, it made me chuckle, and I just thought that I would wish you a very happy new year, full of blessings and happy memories!
What’s the difference? To me it’s just camel. I am from Horn of Africa , a region with most camel in the world and still we use them for logistics for families living remote nomad villages to carry food from cities.
Dromedary "an Arabian camel".
A dromedary is an Arabian Camel, dude.
So what is a camel?
Loving the classic Age of Empires sounds 👍
Good :-)
Those animal sounds are from age of empires arn't they?
Yep!
I was Looking for this commend hahaha!