What if the Roman Republic was invaded by Alexander the Great?

[Mrld]

What would happen if Alexander the Great recovered from his illness and marched west and attacked the early Roman Republic? Would the early legions (maniples) be able to stand up against the Phalanx.

[Northern Neil]

What would happen if Alexander the Great recovered from his illness and marched west and attacked the early Roman Republic? Would the early legions (maniples) be able to stand up against the Phalanx.

I think not. Alexander's advanced version of the phalanx in tandem with his intelligent use of cavalry would have caused serious problems to the incipient Roman legions, and Rome would have become a historical curiosity, like the Etruscans and the Kingdom of Pontus.

[Oracus]

um...i don't think that the early Roman legions would be a match for Alexander. wasn't it much later when the Romans started training their legions to combat and counter the tactics of phalanxes? post-Marius legions would have a chance, IMHO, but not the early ones.

[Crastinus]

I have to agree that the early Roman leagions probaly wouldnt of been able to withstand Alexander. There is a chance though, i mean Alexander died at about what 323 B.C. so if in ur situation he would of recoverd then he would of campaigned against Rome not that long after. Yet in 280 the Romans were able to contend (though they didnt really beat him but bled his army dry) with Pyrrhus who was a great general himself and fought in much the same way as Alexander did and with basicaly the same Phalanx/Cavalry/Elephant formations.

[Publius Nonius Severus]

For those who yet to see it, make sure you check out this thread on the topic as well:

 

The first recorded alternative history, Livy vs. Alexander III the Macedonian

[Mrld]

What's wrong with the tactics of the early legion then?

Edited April 23, 2007 by Mrld

[Mrld]

Did the early legions not have the manpower?

[wayneenz]

What would happen if Alexander the Great recovered from his illness and marched west and attacked the early Roman Republic? Would the early legions (maniples) be able to stand up against the Phalanx.

 

There is a 1986 novel about this happening. It's called A Choice of Destinies by Melissa Scott. In it the Romans fight him on rough ground, with a lot of trees etc. They still lose but do kill a large number of Alexanders men.

In the end they are absorbed by Alexander, he marries a patrician, and, because as king he cannot enter Rome, one of his generals becomes permanent Consul on his behalf. Someone by the name of Ptolemy.

They end up destroying Carthage.

The story is sprinkled with small sections set in later history. The last one is set in the year 1947 imperial [1591AD] on a space station.

[Segestan]

The Macedonian Army at the time of Alexander

[Gaius Octavius]

Assuming that Alexander went west after returning from India, if for no othere reason than conquest, might not the Italian peninsula have united against him? Might not the Celts and Carthagenians also have joined in this alliance?

[Maladict]

Assuming that Alexander went west after returning from India, if for no othere reason than conquest, might not the Italian peninsula have united against him? Might not the Celts and Carthagenians also have joined in this alliance?

 

That's actually quite interesting. Would they have been judged by posterity in the same way as the Greeks themselves were, when they united to fight the Persians? They were both fighting for their independence against the huge armies of an eastern monarchy. Somehow I doubt it.

[Gaius Octavius]

All the Italian cities joined against Hannibal, though there were defectors. Not all the Celts or North Africans were happy about him or Carthage.

[oats]

What's wrong with the tactics of the early legion then?

 

Early legionnaires were not trained professionals: most of them were called upon on a conscription basis. Their tactics and strategy consisted of: "Go forward." The lines of the Legion were easy enough to understand: 1st line are unexperienced, 2nd line more experienced, 3rd line are the crack group, and perhaps the phalanx after that. So they essentially steamrolled their lesser opponents in the Italian peninsula.

 

Had Alexander, a very skilled tactician and strategist, been as healthy as he was when he conducted the campaigns in the east, would no doubt have given the Romans serious trouble.

 

As Gaius Octavius mentioned, the Mediterranean peoples may have joined up against Alexander, but in all likelihood the biggest problem that Alexander would have faced is the terrain. The many different people that lived in the Mediterranean, were likely to have joined up with Alexander, as they did with Hannibal on his march to Rome.

 

The challenging terrain to navigate most likely would have been an interesting factor for Alexander to contend with. Also, Alexander's reliance on the cavalry may not have been effective as Hannibal's mixed infantry/cavalry tactics. Remember Italy is a mountainous country, protected by the Alps.

 

To us, now, crossing the Alps creates awe. Then, the Alps must have been seen as an insurmountable obstacle.

 

[nr]

 

I would say that had Alexander been at full health (mental and physical) and was determined to go West, he would have enlisted his expanded expeditionary forces from Persia (as suggested by Segestan), but travelled by naval forces or land march hugging the coastline. The Roman Republican leadership was not exactly united or designed for warfare, as evidenced by Hannibal's first years of invasion. The division would have proven ruinous to the Roman Republic had Alexander been their enemy as well.

 

It may have even been possible that Carthage, depending on when Alexander engaged in this hypothetical Western Campaign, would have allied with Alexander against Rome. Or perhaps Alexander would have gone after Carthage first. Who knows. THis is one of the things that historians debate ad nauseum like whether China would have dominated the world post-1500 had they continued with their maritime expeditions.

[Drusus Nero]

That idea had never occurred to me before .

Wow, just think of what it would've been like if the Roman empire had never existed.

It just doesn't bear thinking about .

[Segestan]

To reason Alexander invading the Roman peninsula we must consider the strength of the Roman Army. The Persian Forces that Alexander faced were surely more organized into an Fighting Force than the Foes of the Roman Army in the times of Alexander and his successors the