Science of war-early tactics of the Greeks-Macedonians

In 343 BC. when Alexander was thirteen his father King Philip assigned him a tutor in science. King Philip believed that science was the guarantor of Greece's future and appointed Aristotle to tutor the young Alexander. As a consequence Alexander became history's first scientifically literate conqueror. Alexander's great achievements were underpinned by science. Developments such as powerful battering rams mounted on ships, catapults (parabolos) that could fire huge rocks to a distance of 800 m, small catapults that operated on compressed air and the most brilliant of all the ballista. The ballista was a catapult, as pictured on the right, that sequentially fired arrows without the need for rewinding torsion ropes after each arrow. You may perceive this as the ancestor to the machinegun.
When Greece became part of the Roman Empire in 146 BC, the highly sophisticated Greek technology spread widely throughout the territories of Rome. The ballista was widely used for many years by Roman armies without modification.

Science of Conflict Tactics of the Greeks-Macedonians
In 343 BC. when Alexander was thirteen his father King Philip assigned him a tutor in science. King Philip believed that science was the guarantor of Greece's future and appointed Aristotle to tutor the young Alexander. As a consequence Alexander became history's first scientifically literate conqueror. Alexander's great achievements were underpinned by science. Developments such as powerful battering rams mounted on ships, catapults (*parabolos) that could fire huge rocks to a distance of 800 m, small catapults that operated on compressed air and the most brilliant of all the ballista*. The ballista was a catapult, as pictured on the right, that sequentially fired arrows without the need for rewinding torsion ropes after each arrow. You may perceive this as the ancestor to the machinegun. When Greece became part of the Roman Empire in 146 BC, the highly sophisticated Greek technology spread widely throughout the territories of Rome. The ballista was widely used for many years by Roman armies without modification.
The Macedonian phalanx is an infantry formation developed by Philip II and used by his son Alexander the Great to conquer the divided Greek states in 339 BC at Chaeronea and later to conquer the Persian Empire. Phalanxes were successful on the battlefield and proved impenetrable against an enemy formation that attacks from the front. The first 5 rows of troops held their long spears between the soldiers in front, as shown on the right. Both hands were needed for this. Only the first two rows of troops wore armour the rest were not protected by armour as rarely did an enemy advance past five rows of spears. Although impenetrable against an enemy that marches in formation from the front it was vulnerable from outflanking and from uneven terrain as proved by the Romans. The phalanx was a formation designed to keep the enemy at bay while light cavalry broke through the ranks of enemy forces. Cavalry was quickly followed by elite infantry.