Philip of Macedon

King Philip of Macedon ruled Macedonia from 356 till 336 BC. He was born in Pella which was the capital of the Ancient Macedonian Kingdom, as the youngest son of King Amyntas III. Once his father had past away, Macedonia slowly fell apart as his older brothers and future kings Alexander II and Peridiccas III, ineffectively fought against continues attacks by the neighbouring cities, Thracians, Illyrians, and Greeks. Philip II was a hostage of the Greeks at Thebes, between 368 and 365 BC. While he was captivated, he noted the military techniques. Once he returned to Macedonia he instantly set out in helping his brother Perdiccas (who at that time was the king of Macedon) to strengthen the Macedonian Army. Philip of Macedon had taken the throne in 359 BC after the death of Philips older brothers, King Alexander II and Perdiccas III after they were killed in trying to free north west Macedonia against the Illyrians. Macedonia was in one of the most difficult times since the country was almost at the edge of collapse and the neighbours of Greece ready to put an end to the country's existence. Even though Philip was in this immense danger, he did not give up on his country. He removed threats which were internal and secured safety of his kingdom by firmly establishing himself on the throne. He had persuaded the Thracian king with gifts to kill the first pretender to the throne and he defeated the second pretender who was supported by the Greek power of Athens in a battle. He also had made a treaty with the Athenians to hand over the city, Amphipolis to the Macedonians which was on the coast of the country. Within two decades, Philip of Macedon changed the face of Greece. The Greeks of the city states considered the Macedonians to be uncivilised, but in 20 years Philip had united and transformed them into the most respectable and feared military machine Greece had ever seen. But the key to his new professional army was a core of engineers which Philip organised to design a build new instruments and machines of war. The Macedonian were going to show and invasion which changed forever how wars were going to be fought and won. In 356 the Philips Macedonian army had attacked and captured the Greek city Potidaea. While Athens was preparing to send force north, Philip invaded Pydna which was another Greek colony which was on the coast of Macedonia. In 357 the Greek city of Methone which was not far from Pydna, surrendered to the Macedonians and the city was re-founded as a Macedonian city. In 352 BC, Philip had invaded Northern Greece. He defeated Thessaly and all his enemies and by 352 he was in a fixed position and in control of the Northern Greek region. Philip of Macedon had returned to Macedonia once he completed the invasion of Northern Greece. He then began to prepare the remove all of the remaining Greek colonies on Macedonian grounds. In 348 BC the Macedonians attacked the Chalcidice peninsula and defeated the city of Olynthus. All cities which were take over in the Chalcidice were demolished and the greek citizens were sold as slaves and their land was allocated to the Macedonians. Beside the Greek cities which were invaded and taken over King Philip was Stagerira which was the birthplace of Aritotle who was a Greek Philosopher and the whole Chalcidice peninsula seized by Macedonia Till 348 till 339 Philip pacified Epirus, took over Thrace and Scythia which both became Macedonian land. Philip had gotten into battle with the Scythians in which he had a stunning victory, killed the Scythian king and Philip took 20, 000 Scythian women and children as slaves. On his way home, the Thracian Triballians had attacked Macedonia and Philip suffered a severe injury and returned home with nothing. As Philip was recovering from his injury the Greeks were creating and uniting a big army. When Philip had recovered, he assembled the largest army Macedonia had ever had and marched into

Greece. The Greeks on the other hand had created the biggest army since the Persian invasion to fight off the Macedonian army to prevent invasion. In central Greece, at Chaeronea is where the Greek and Macedonia army met. Greece had 35, 000 soldiers fighting on foot and 2,000 soldiers serving on horseback while the Macedonians has 30, 000 infantry and just like the Greeks, 2,000 cavalry. Philips army had shown well coordination and superb tactics which lead to the defeat over the Greek army. The Greeks, Athenians, Theband and the Achaeans had suffered the greatest loss. Ancient Greek historians consider this the battle of Chaeronea as an end to Greek independence and history. Greece had not regained their freedom until the early 19th century. All Greek cities had to obey Philip as he was their King and the commander. They were obligated to follow his orders. While at the celebration of of his daughter's wedding (Cleopatra) Philip was struck with a dagger and killed on the spot. Philip of Macedon was was on the greatest conquerers the world has seen. He had taken over Greece and conquered surrounding cities. His significance to the history of ancient Greece is his invasion in 339 BC of the Greek and Greek land, he had destroyed their independence and they did Greece did not regain itself until the early 19th century.