We shall. Okay, we're talking about Philip II of Macedon now. We did an episode on Alexander the Great. We went through everything. I mean, I've spoken with historians about him. Allegedly, he was gay. Doesn't matter. Okay. I just think it's a funny thing to bring up now. We're talking about Philip II of Macedon. This is his father. This is really the guy that kind of laid the groundwork for Alexander to do what he did. So why does history celebrate the son and forget the father entirely? This is justice for Philip ii, all right? And we're going to be going through all the details of who he was. Now, in order to understand Philip's achievement, you need to understand where he started. Macedon wasn't just weak, it was a joke. Okay? The major Greek powers barely considered it a part of, like, the civilized world. It was on, like, the fringe of all the maps. It was like, yeah, what even is that? You know? And geography cursed the kingdom from the very beginning. Mountains dominated the north, home to independent tribes who raided the farmlands below them whenever they pleased. The fertile south struggled to feed its population. And whenever Macedonian forces chased these invaders, they simply retreated into terrain that no army could follow. Enemies surrounded the kingdom on every border. To the east lay Thrace, a persistent threat. To the west, there were the Ilarians, you know, fierce warriors occupying mountain fortresses that were basically impenetrable. And then you had Thessaly bordering the south with some of the finest cavalry and all of the Greek, you know, armed forces. And then looming over everything were the true powers of the Greek world. You had Athens with its dominant navy, and Sparta. I mean, you know about Sparta, right? 300. It's one of the. One of the most legendary forces in the ancient world. And then Thebes, of course, with its revolutionary military strategy. And, you know, the Persian Empire had even conquered Macedon at one point. The kingdom kept on losing wars over and over to anyone who even bothered to fight it. I mean, you can imagine being a Macedonian at the time was pretty tough. You had internal chaos. Macedonian kings took a bunch of wives, they had a bunch of sons. There was all these secession problems. Foreign powers were exploiting this instability, you know, backing different princes to keep the kingdom. Just constantly at war, constantly divided, constantly Weak. And when Philip was born, around 382 BC, nobody imagined that Macedon would ever matter. It was poor, it was fractured, surrounded by enemies. I mean, again, I don't want to throw any countries under the bus, but just imagine a country that is poor, impoverished, constantly invaded, over and over and just stuck between massive military superpowers. Just imagine that, okay? And so the great city states of Greece saw it as, you know, just, you know, this backwater inhabited, you know, by people that weren't exactly Greek. And Philip's court fostered close ties with philosophers. And through these circles, ideas about leadership and governance reached Macedon. And through his son, Alexander would receive direct tutelage from Aristotle years later. Now, as we all know, Alexander the Great, you know, as a child, was taught by the famed Greek philosopher Aristotle. Now some people will speculate again, this is not verify, this is maybe even historical conspiracy land. But some speculate that his father Philip II actually may have met Aristotle. He was obviously, you know, the Macedonian royal family physician at the time. Now Aristotle's ideas were, you know, spreading through this empire. And in his book on politics, he sowed the seeds in the minds of the Athenians that although the best government may be democratic, if a man distinguished with extreme virtue, you know, should be king and this government should be superior in democracy. So basically to say that it's possible that the Athenians saw, you know, Philip II and then later Alexander the Great as a virtuous ruler, which is why they maybe didn't put up as much of a fight. Perhaps it was also by Aristotle himself. Again, this is not verifiable but an interesting theory regardless. Imagine Macedon at this time poor, impoverished, surrounded by enemies and historically the losers and Philip II was, he was compelled to prove them wrong. So around 368 BC, Macedon lost another war, this time to Thebes, which had risen to become a dominant military power in Greece after, you know, Sparta and Athens exhausted each other in the Peloponnesian War. As a part of the peace settlement, Macedon sent hostages to guarantee compliance. Now this is basically an old school tactic to basically say, hey, we're going to give you some of our people within the royal court. That way you know that we're not going to attack you and that we have some type of alignment. You have some of our people, we're all good, we're not going to, you know, aggress the situation. Now one of these people was the teenage prince Philip. As the third son of King Amntas iii, Philip was considered dispensable valuable enough to obviously satisfy the people of Thebes and their demands, but not important enough to matter if something went wrong, if he gets killed, you know, and they can kind of renegotiate on their peace treaty. Now, Philip spent roughly three years in Thebes and in those years changed everything. As a royal hostage, Philip received excellent treatment. He had freedom to move through the city, access to all the institutions, and most importantly, exposure to military innovations that made Thebes so powerful. Now the Thebans had developed the Sacred Band, an elite unit of 300 soldiers bound by intense personal loyalty and rigorous daily training. Unlike Spartan warriors, who came exclusively from the aristocratic class, the Sacred Band often were drawing from hoplites who were heavily armored citizen soldier infantrymen of these ancient Greek city states. So Philip saw that discipline and constant training could matter more than birth, which sounds obvious to us now, but back in the day, they thought that the supreme soldiers were going to come from the high class. But Philip knew that, that this was not true. And this was a lesson that he would later apply to a larger scale, that you could get anyone, and if you were able to train them appropriately and situate their minds effectively, you could make them into a military machine. But the Sacred Band's real innovation was tactical. Traditional Greek warfare centered on the phalanx, a formation where soldiers would basically lock shields together and advance as, like a wall of, you know, spears and shields. Think almost like an ancient tank. Armies would just simply crash into each other until one side broke. The Theban general Epaminondas revolutionized this entire approach. Instead of attacking straight on, he weighted his line unevenly, placing the strongest troops, the Sacred Band, on one flank in a deeper formation than normal. Now, this concentrated force smashed through the enemy's best soldiers first. Then when elite troops fell, pan through the rest of the army. This might sound a little complicated, but just know that this was the brilliant tactic that crushed the legendary Spartans at the Battle of Leuctra in 371 BC. This was a decisive victory that shocked the Greek world and gave Thebes a brief military hegemony over all of Greece. Now, Philip studied these tactics obsessively. He learned how the Thebans coordinated infantry and cavalry and combined operations. He observed how constant training could create disciplined soldiers that, you know, part time citizen soldiers and smaller militias couldn't match. And he understood that a professional army, soldiers who trained year round instead of farming between campaigns, could actually defeat any force of amateurs. Now, the Thebans never suspected that they were educating their future conqueror. Macedon seemed Too insignificant to even threaten anyone. This was a guy of lower royal status from a completely insignificant nation. They treated Philip well, sure, hoping to create a future ally who would remember their kindness. But they created a monster instead. What's up, guys? We're gonna take a break really quick.
A (16:12)
Now. Philip returned home around 365 B.C. with a head full of military knowledge and strategy and ambitions that would have seemed insane to anyone who knew the history of Macedon. But he patiently waited for the opportunity, and it came. In 359 BC, his brother, King Perdiccas III, died in battle against the Illyrians, a catastrophic defeat that killed 4,000 Macedonian soldiers and left the kingdom defenseless. Now, once again, this is the story. Macedon, right, and the heir that was apparent was a child. Philip became the regent, theoretically ruling until his nephew came of age. But in practice, Philip had seized power for life. I mean, you gotta understand, the situation was desperate. The Illyrians threatened invasion. Thrace was pressing from the east. The army was shattered. Most rulers would have just focused on survival. Once again, the story of Macedon just getting pounded and pounded and pounded. But Philip decided to rebuild everything from the ground up. His first revolution was social. Traditional Macedonian society determined status by birth. If you came from a good family, that's where you were. If you were a low family, that's where you were. Nobles commanded because their bloodlines were the most pure. I mean, they were. They were put in charge of all the militaries, regardless of their ability. It's all based on your lineage. Philip began promoting men more aggressively based on ability, though noble birth obviously still carried a great weight. If you performed well in a battle, you would rise through the ranks no matter who your father was or what family you were born into. And again, this sounds obvious now. We live in a much more meritocratic society. But for most of the world, throughout most human history, things were based on your bloodline. Who is your father? If you were the child, you would inherit everything. That means job, that means military rank, that means status, nobility, all that was just passed on. But this idea of promoting people not based off who their parents were, but how skilled they were was radical. And the aristocracy resented having to treat these farmers and these peasants as equals. But Philip identified talent wherever he found it and promoted ruthlessly based on results. His greatest discovery was Parmenion, a commander from minor nobility who became Philip's most trusted general and partner in conquest. I mean, again, this was not done at this time. Parmenion's loyalty never wavered because Philip had given him opportunities that no king would have ever offered. Philip also understood that professional soldiers needed professional pay. He couldn't ask men to train year round if they also had to feed their families. And they would have to pick up a farming shift in Order to make enough money, to make enough food, right? They needed money to live in Macedon, but they didn't have the money to pay them. So Philip took it. In 357 BC, Philip captured Amphimopolis, a city controlling access to rich gold and silver mines. And then suddenly, Macedonia had a little bit of money to throw around. So Philip used it to pay his soldiers and fund construction projects and crucially, bribe foreign politicians. And so he paid off Athenian leaders and nobles through Greece to support his interests or just to stay out of the way. A steady stream of gold bought Philip time to build his army while keeping enemies off balance through diplomacy and corruption. Philip didn't just copy what he learned in Thebes, he improved on it dramatically. The traditional Greek phalanx had significant weaknesses. Heavy armor would slow down their movement. Short spears meant that soldiers had to, you know, be close with enemies in order to fight. And if faster troops were able to flank the formation, it became extremely vulnerable. So Philip redesigned everything. He reduced armor weight dramatically, and this really increased the army's ability to march. He compensated for less protection. He then extended the infantry spear with the sarissa. This is basically like a giant pike or a spear that was maybe like 15 to 20ft long, nearly twice the length of traditional weapons. Enemy soldiers couldn't reach these Macedonian troops because of this forest of spears basically pointing at them before they could even get close. He created specialized units to protect vulnerable flanks. So shield bearers, basically, the guys just holding the shields, they were called hypospis. They served as elite mobile infantry capable of rapid repositioning. So when threats would emerge, they converge to basically seal the gaps before the armies and the enemies could exploit them. Maybe most importantly, Philip perfected combined arms warfare. Now, this is basically when you just combine all of your different military tools all in one unified system. This includes infantry, cavalry, you know, horseback archers, all working together. So the phalanx basically would pin enemies in place while the cavalry would sweep around and strike from behind. And this was an anvil and a hammer, basically, that Thebes really kind of discovered and pioneered. But Philip II executed it with unprecedented precision. Now, against this machine, traditional Greek armies were helpless. They couldn't match the speed of the Macedonians. They couldn't penetrate the wall of these giant sarissa, you know, spears. They couldn't counter the speed that the cavalry were charging in order to take them from behind. But Philip understood that military power alone wouldn't achieve his goals. You needed a great military, but you also needed brilliant diplomacy. Now, at this point, the Greek City states hated each other. I mean, Sparta despised Thebes, Thebes despised Athens. Everyone hated each other and had grudges through generations and generations of warfare. And Philip exploited every division and basically formed temporary alliances, played rivals against each other, and always would buy time for his army to grow stronger. He also married strategically. He took wives from neighboring kingdoms in order to seal an alliance. His multiple marriages weren't indulgence alone. I mean, I'm sure he enjoyed himself, but they were foreign policy, basically binding potential enemies into his family through blood. How are you going to fight me? Like I married someone from your tribe, your city. We have children together. You're going to kill your own children? So when diplomacy and bribery weren't enough, Philip would then use deception. This is the best part. He made promises that he never intended to keep. He would pretend to be weak in order to learn enemies that were too confident and too eager. He understood that wars are won before the battles even begin. And this is through preparation and manipulation. So by the late 340s, this is again BC. Philip had transformed Macedon from, you know, the loser kid in gym class that was constantly getting picked on into the strongest power in Greece. Again, this is through diplomacy, through strategy, through deception, and then, of course, through military strength. He moved south, systematically absorbing territory through conquest and intimidation and, of course, diplomatic manipulation. The decisive confrontation came at Chaeronea in 338 BC. Athens and Thebes finally united against this Macedonian threat that continued to grow. And so they assembled their combined forces for a final stand. But it was too late. Philip's army was a precision instrument, facing opponents who was still fighting like, you know, it was the four hundreds or something, you know, the battle was decisive, and the allied Greek line broke. Philip crushed both of these armies decisively when the Theban line collapsed. The sacred band, those legendary warriors whose predecessors literally taught Philip everything that he knows, they refused to retreat. They held their ground, and they were nearly annihilated, allowing their comrades to escape. And the irony here is fantastic. The sacred band of Thebes had shown Philip how to build an unstoppable army. And then with that army and with that information and also the deep understanding of how the sacred band would operate, he was able to destroy them. After Chaeronea, Philip controlled basically all of Greece. Most Greek city states now were bowing to a Macedonian and Macedonian dominance under the League of Corinth, though Sparta ultimately would remain outside of his grasp. Now, the League of Corinth was basically an organization of these Greek states that he himself was the supreme military commander. And the poor kingdom that nobody respected for generations had become the master of the Greek world. Philip immediately turned toward his ultimate goal, and that was Persia. He sent Parmenion ahead with an advanced force of 10,000 soldiers to secure a foothold in Asia Minor. These Greek cities under Persian rule would ultimately welcome this liberation from Philip ii. And the full invasion would then follow after. And then came the wedding. In 336 BC, Philip's daughter Cleopatra married Alexander I of Epirus. Now, there's a lot of interesting names going on here. Okay, Obviously Cleopatra, we're not talking about Cleopatra in Egypt. That comes much later. The obvious queen, the pharaoh, so to speak. She happens much later, but coincidentally, the same name. Also Alexander I of Epirus. Not the same Alexander, of course, but again, a very popular name. And it's ironic because Cleopatra would die in what city?
A (26:49)
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