If Alexander entered China at that time, could China withstand the Macedonian phalanx?

The collision between Alexander's Macedonian phalanx and the Qin army has always been a hot topic among military fans. My answer to this kind of question is that if Alexander came to China at that time, he would be defeated.

This is not to belittle Alexander. It is undeniable that the army led by Alexander was extremely combat effective. If he faced his army head-on, it would be difficult to gain the upper hand.

Alexander began his expedition from Central Asia in 327 BC. In this year, the State of Qin was in the era of King Qin Huiwen. In this year, Qin destroyed Yiqu and changed it into a county. In this way, Qin became the largest vassal state in western China. If Alexander wanted to enter China, he had to fight the Qin army.

From the perspective of the military organization of the two, Alexander's Macedonian phalanx had reached the pinnacle of proficiency at this time. The Macedonian phalanx consists of a phalanx of 8 to 16 people deep with spears. In this way, there are countless spear points densely packed in front of it. People at that time recalled that in front of the phalanx, everyone had to face the assassination of ten spears at the same time. Therefore, it is impossible to resist in front of this square formation.

And Alexander also controlled an elite heavy cavalry. He used this cavalry to keenly find the enemy's weak points to break through, forcing the enemy to the front of the square formation and crushing it. It was with this fighting method that Alexander defeated the huge Persian army and conquered Western Asia.

Equivalent to the Macedonian army, the Qin army at that time had gone through Shang Yang's reforms, and its national power was also on the rise. The conquest of Yiqu showed that the Qin army had gained the upper hand in the tactics of the nomads. At that time, the Qin army had developed into a mixed army of infantry, cavalry, chariots, and crossbowmen. There is a possibility of a battle with the Macedonian army.

However, objectively speaking, if the Qin army does not adopt correct strategies and tactics and confronts Alexander's Macedonian army, it may suffer a big loss. Judging from the several battles between Alexander and Darius, the Qin army would definitely be defeated in a head-on battle on a flat field.

Darius pushed the effectiveness of his army to the extreme and threw in all the weapons and equipment he could. Even Qin Jun couldn't do better than him, but he failed.

However, the Macedonian phalanx has a fatal weakness, that is, it must maintain the formation and cannot allow the enemy to break into its interior. In this way, the Macedonian phalanx was vulnerable in rugged terrain. The later Roman army seized on this shortcoming of the Macedonian phalanx and defeated it. In order to make up for this shortcoming, Alexander's cavalry took on the task of protection.

Therefore, the key to defeating the Macedonian phalanx was to defeat Alexander's cavalry. If the Qin army clearly understood the advantages and disadvantages of the Macedonian phalanx, it should use highly mobile cavalry and chariots to contain and destroy Alexander's cavalry. If Alexander's cavalry is suppressed, the rest will be easy to say.

The Macedonian phalanx moves slowly and requires orderly formation. At that time, the Chinese army had long abandoned the one-line formation and adopted the more flexible Yuli formation and its variants, which were much more flexible than the Macedonian phalanx. Introducing the Macedonian phalanx into unfavorable terrain or setting up artificial obstacles can tear the Macedonian phalanx apart, creating an opportunity to invade the phalanx and defeat it.

If so, Alexander would be defeated on the battlefield. However, it is estimated that the Qin army had to pay a certain price to find the weaknesses of Alexander's Macedonian phalanx before defeating him.

This is on the battlefield. At that time, Alexander's main reason for conquering Western Asia was that he faced loose political regimes, which allowed him to defeat them one by one. However, when he arrived in China, what he had to face was not those uncivilized nations, but a civilization as brilliant as the Greek civilization.

In terms of the art of war, China at that time had already put forward specialized military science and the theory of total war. Alexander mainly relied on himself to carry supplies for his army, which usually lasted for a month. When he comes to China, he will feel the Chinese art of war. These include strategies such as strengthening walls and clearing fields, attacking from the east and attacking from the west, watching fire from across the bank, driving away tigers and devouring wolves, etc. Just using strategy will cause him to flee in defeat.

Therefore, if Alexander came to China on his expedition, he might have taken advantage of the fact that the Chinese army did not understand the characteristics of his army at the beginning to win some battles.

However, once the Chinese army discovers his true and false intentions, he will be dealt a completely annihilating blow. In the end, he will die in China with nothing or escape back to Greece.