CHAP. 1 



!•] 



THE GREEK CAVALRY. 



35 



3 seems 



Alexander improved the cavalry considerably, drew 

 them up in shallower lines eight in depth, and left 

 intervals between the troops in which he placed light 

 armed infantry to aid and assist the horsemen. The ile, 

 or troop in time of war he increased from 64 to 250 

 horses.^ The phalanx of heavy armed infantry was the 

 base or reserve of his army. With his cavalry and the 

 hypaspistes (a chosen body of about 6,000 light infantry 

 equipped and armed specially for offensive movements, 

 and having great mobility), he usually opened the attack 

 upon the enemy, while the phalanx followed up the 

 success. 



Alexander was the first among the Greeks to employ 

 cavalry to a great extent in his army. The proportion 

 of cavalry to the infantry before his time averaged from 

 a twelfth to a fifteenth. On his expedition to Persia he 

 set out with 5,000 cavalry and 30,000 infantry, or in 

 the proportion of one to six. At Arbela he had 40,000 

 infantry and 7,000 horse. Not only did he increase the 

 proportion, but he increased the rapidity of their move- 

 ments, and their ability to manceuvre in masses. His 

 fiery and impetuous nature led him naturally to favour 

 the cavalry service, and we find him in nearly all his 

 battles leading the cavalry of his right wing, opening 

 the action with a charge, and always appearing at the 

 decisive point at the head of a victorious body of horse- 

 men. 



He was the first apparently to have the idea of 

 using the horse and his rider as a projectile weapon so to 

 speak. He understood the advantage of hurling masses 

 upon the enemy and breaking through them by the mere 

 momentum. While Alexander was delivering crushing 

 blows with his horse and with the lighter infantry, the 

 phalanx on the left centre was the mainstay or point 

 d'appui of the line of battle, the left being refused and 

 fighting mainly upon the defensive until the crisis of 

 the action, when it charged. 



The main strength of Alexander's cavalry consisted of 

 two chosen regiments, one Macedonian and the other 



^ Lecomte, 53, 54. 



D 2 



