How to Use the False Gap to Win Battles - Ancient Tactics
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- Опубликовано: 27 сен 2024
- New Kings and Generals short will describe how to use the false gap tactic in battles to defeat opponents. We will cover the battle Gaugamela, where the Macedonian king Alexander used the False Gap to defeat the Achaemenid army of Darius
Previously:
Ancient Tactics: Hidden Flank - • How to Defeat Your Opp...
Ancient Tactics: Concentrated Center - • Ancient Tactics: Conce...
Ancient Tactics: Oblique Order - • Ancient Tactics: Obliq...
Ancient Tactics: Feigned Retreat - • Feigned Retreat and Ho...
#Documentary #Kingsandgenerals #shorts
Previously:
Ancient Tactics: Hidden Flank - ruclips.net/video/ZNbIEFid6gE/видео.html
Ancient Tactics: Concentrated Center - ruclips.net/video/CTdo9mvgPHs/видео.html
Ancient Tactics: Oblique Order - ruclips.net/video/N8vDnVJU1Lk/видео.html
Ancient Tactics: Feigned Retreat - ruclips.net/video/gXXwi1RbZc0/видео.html
How come Alexander's right didn't break after he pulled a portion of the troops to the centre?
Merry Christmas King and Generals.
@@brokenbridge6316 Merry Christmas!
Yo could you look into how to defeat mounted archers? Have a hungarian friend who keeps using them in tw:m2
@@KingsandGenerals---🎄🎄🎄🎄
Me watching these tactic videos hoping to use them in total war knowing full well the AI is too dumb to fall for them
Lmao yes, my thoughts as well 😄
There's always multiplayer
Ironic, isn't it lmao.
@@mykolastrunce5457 It's strange how most TW multiplayer lobbies are co-op. Apparently even those who can go multiplayer prefer to do so against AI
People fall for rhis tactics, let the AI fall for this too 😂😂
What makes all these tactics from back then even MORE astounding is when you see an actual depiction of the terrain instead of a flat map. Alexander was having to make these calls as his army was fighting across hills and ravines that co.pletely broke line of sight. To be able to coordinate moves like this with nothing but runners darting behind the lines to take messages back and forth is nothing short of next-level.
What you talking about just zoom out and right click to control your troops smh
@@havel6060 lmao
I actually read that Darius had the land flattened for his war chariots. One of the reasons Darius had his cavalry follow Alexander is because he didn't want him to move off the field he previously had ready for the battle.
also the logistics, hygene and overall preparations have been way ahead of his actual time: his army notably didn't suffer morale-breaking-level losses to atrition, disease or weather conditions. those things were a serious threat to any considerable army up until the 18th century (and there's even a very famous 1941-ish case for that matter).
I think tactics were implemented more like in rugby tactics
I'll be sure to use this tactic around the dining table today when dealing with the family, thank you Mr Kings and Generals.
The cousins arent standing a chance
@@ApeX-pj4mq I'm more worried about my nan honestly. She's a lot like Darius III in some ways.
Are you a genius though? And what troops do you have to speak of?
Gotta get your dad and brother to hold back the cousins while you go round the right side of the table and grab all the turkey
Lmao
"sir they out number us 3 to 1"
Alexander: "Then it is an even fight"
And then Napoleon be like
“sir they out number us 5 to 1”
Napoleon: “oh so it will be an easy one”
Nope the real numbers of persian army was not more than 70000 in gaugamela while alexander have some 40000
@@mr___v.k.m.___480 Persian army was double to triple the size you can see its like that in this video as well. Persians lost 70k to 90k men.
Gotta love the shipmaster
@@mr___v.k.m.___480 depending on the sources the Persians could have around 200k. I prefer the high number since Darius was taking things seriously after his defeat at Issues and probably mustered all he can, good or bad troops
This is the "call an ambulance, but not for me" strategy
True
Why this meme never gets old ? KEK
Lmao
Lmao i just saw the meme before this too 😮
HAHAHAHAHAHA
He was taken before his time, but perhaps that's what cemented him as one of the most legendary humans to have ever walked this Earth. What a legend
Imagine him getting fat and washed-up like Elvis or something
@@blaisevillaume9051 I don't wanna imagine that. Happened to Napoleon too after his second exile.
Naw. He would never have stopped. He was going to come back and raise a fresh force to go conquer more.
@@blaisevillaume9051that’s the thing. There’s always some new hotshot with better ideas.
War for wars sake wooo. Surely he sped up the human advancement by going out of his way to kill people.
The key is he went with his men. The moral boost and willingness to charge such crazy odds comes from the leader willing to risk it all to win.
This is an underrated comment. If Darius would have done the same the battle might have been different.
@Max Because at the time of this battle it was men fighting? To be clear I 100% agree that women in the armed forces are capable fighters. They just weren't a factor during this time period.
@@samc9133 ummm no, this types of battles are Strength, Will, Endurance and the Mentality to kill all of your opponents at a most strenuous time. So this type of warfare is hard for women albeit impossible, modern war though gave them a favourable chance of fighting using gunpowder arms.
@@deepdungeon8465 True, the firearm is the great equalizer. A woman and a man can end threats just as easily as one another and both are likely to be more effective than children depending on the age of all parties involved!
Robots, money, and satellites will fight all of our wars before too many more years.
@@deepdungeon8465 ummmm yes, the Scythian women, at the same period as Alexander the Great. You're welcome.
I always loved that the Persian infantry was called Immortals
I believe that was only a special portion of them, not all Persian infantry.
@@andrewp8284 only 10,000 of them were called so because of the fact that when an immortal dies, they are immediately replaced by another keeping the total number at exactly 10,000! Kinda amazing if you think of it @_@
@@summertriangle4745 their are also the most experienced and heavily equipt in all of Persian infantry.
@@andrewp8284 yeah, my wording wasn't exact there
In Sassanid era it was the Persian cavalry that was called immortal
The key to Alexander was that he seemed fearless and for that reason invincible as a leader. Made everyone think he was chosen or something.
And then he died of back pain from carrying Macedonia (joke)
True if Darius stayed and fought they would have won the battle. This happened twice i think.
@@KRYPTIA-mp4ol no the left flank was near collapse, and Alexander had to stop chasing Darius to help them. Also some of the cavalry ended up charging through the greek lines into the camp. Persians fought in the center its likely that Darius may have been killed but its as likely Alexander would have as well. But if they at least fight, Alexander's left flank would have collapsed as he would not have been able to break off and help them. It depends on which view you take on the persian flight. Did Darius retreat first as a coward, or did his army abandon him first and then he retreated. Most accounts suggest he fled at the decisive point in the battle. When you consider he also fled the previous battle as well, their is no excuse.
If you want bold tactics to work, you need to make sure your people have 100% faith in you. Otherwise, they will falter and the whole plan goes to shite. No great tactician wins alone
@@LawAcieIV Greeks had 1000 dead while persians 40,000. They were just too good for that era
Alexander also had to choose between capturing Darius and ending the war right there or going back to save his old friend and general.
Thank you Kings and Generals I'm one step closer in defeating my enemies
And a few milennia late
@@antuan9325 NAILED IT
King of slime?
@@unifiedhorizons2663 Demon Lord who will rule the world
Do you have cavalry to pull that off?
I'm just astounded that Alexander was able to survive Gaugamela let alone win it! It's insane to me
The enemy being incompetent helped alot ;3
"Engage people with what they expect; it is what they are able to discern and confirms their projections. It settles them into predictable patterns of response, occupying their minds while you wait for the extraordinary moment - that which they cannot anticipate."
-Sun Tzu "The Art of War"
"Doo doo feces" - Sun Tzu "the art of pooping"
@@lillyanneserrelio2187 It is hard to know exactly when The Art of War was written, but most scholars think it was written between 475 and 221 B.C.E., during the Warring States period in China.
I read that many years ago, and decades later as I see how wars have evolved in time I'm continuously awed by Sun Tzu's genius.
"occupying their minds" is the key bit in this quote and what makes the whole thing perfect. Cuz it's so fucking true lol, I do this all the time in RTS games.
I have my genius attack set up just how I want it, perfectly chosen to specifically counter everything the enemy has. I box everything and attack move, and as I'm settling in to enjoy the show a new unit shows up, or an earthquake happens, or some fucking thing. "I'm maxed on supply, it doesn't matter," I say. 30 seconds later and my false sense of security is rapidly melting as this new variable effs everything up.
"Sir, we are outnumbered and surrounded!"
-"Perfect, we can attack in any direction."
-Alexander the Great
The correct quote:
“Men, we are surrounded by the enemy. We have the greatest opportunity ever presented an army. We can attack in any direction.”
- Anthony McAuliffe
Marine officer Chesty Puller was said to have uttered something similar when surrounded by the Chinese in Korea.
Elephants entered the chat.
That's the one thing which tormented Alexander the most among all of his campaigns
@@abhishankpaul The only thing that stopped Alexander from marching straight to China was his own army's war weariness. His ambition was completely unmatched in Human history, and it's a miracle that men in his day followed him from battle to battle, continent to continent, year after year.
@@DAAllan82 the already weary soldiers themselves were stunned at the sight of elephants charge from a small kingdom among numerous ones. If they even dared to fight through India and march through floodlands and cross to China, they were surely going to die or mutiny at Tibetan plateau. Then Chinese floodplains and their huge armies were also a factor
The false gap of Alexander and the feigned retreat of Genghis. Some of my favourite tactics
That is actually a tactic developed by one of his Dogs of war Sabutai
and everyone who loves history wonders, who would actually win if they've met on the battle field
Genghis might win on this one as they have advantage of horse archer vs melee cav and slow infantry/phalanx. I can imagine them baiting Alexander cavalry into chasing then got surrounded by horse archer left and right in an ambush without a way for melee cav to return fire to mongols.. then bow infantry and horse archer raining down bows and arrow surrounding the less mobile remaining greek infantry@@webdev2670
Alexander’s intent was to be able to kill Darius III himself, but the left wing of his army desperately needed help so he gave up the chase and went to help his men. This is one of the reasons Alexander’s men loved him so much, he valued them.
Alexander realized that if he went after Darius he was leaving 2/3rds of his army on the field fighting a still numerous enemy. He needed to keep his army together so disengaged from the chase. Parmenion was a well respected general, being abandoned would create mutiny.
"You can run to the end of the Earth you coward" -Alexander to Darius
Alexander thought the earth was flat I suppose
@@vasiliantonov7484 You can't blame him either, for in those times, no one knew the earth was geoid
@@thesuplexguy7789it was well known, Greeks discovered it a few decades prior to Alexander
@@vasiliantonov7484ancient greco people were probably smarter on average than most room temperature minds of today who can barely determine what they want for lunch. Probably smarter than you. You likely watch stupid media and stare at this phone all day.
@@Tortellobello45 Alexander: the original flat earther.
Must have been why he kept going East, he was trying to find the edge 😂
I study about Alexander and being honest he indeed was an amazing general, I was surprised with the tactics he use and how well trained he's military was.
So, I never realized what the false gap was before but apparently it's my second favorite tactic in Rome 2 😂
the general commanding Alexander's left was in a desperate situation, feared he would be overwhelmed, yet his troops kept fighting, giving Alexander time to pull off this masterpiece. Getting the opposing commander to fixate on an apparent successful development is key.
In the execution of the Schlieffen plan, the German left was too strong and successfully gave strong opposition to the French attacks. Had they been less strong and showed signs of disorganization, and made more significant withdrawals, the French might have been lulled into further attacks. The German general on the left (Bavarian crown prince?) did not want to play the role of bait, which should have been a critical element of the Schlieffen plan.
Alexander's left flank commander was Parmenion... I feel lucky to live in the place these legends were born!
@@SimuLord although i know very little about Labienus (Julius Caesar's general), I don't think Parmenion deserves that place... He was a loyal general, respected by his soldiers, but not the best second in command... Maybe because he commanded only foot soldiers he didn't have the chance to shine, i don't know....
@@SimuLord I think Marshal Davout outshines Parmenion. I think he was better while operating autonomously.
I fucking love Alexander the Great. People don't truly understand the importance of his name. He legitimately earned that title, the entire known world knew him, and they were simply forced to respect it.
I've seen this Battle many times. And still amazed me many times. Truly he is The Great.
The Art of War
1. lies in the concentration of one's forces at the perfect moment.
2. To move faster than your opponents' forces
3. Logistics above all, Logistics
These shorts are easily more digestible than the longer videos.
Keep up the good work 👍
Me a Persian: holy shit that was cool
Also me: meh it wasn’t our day
Facts. Didn’t help that the shah was an incompetent commander
Changes are that you have a lot of Greek genes!
@@arthurfleck1554 not… really… comparative populations, quantity of soldiers, etc. Lots of factors, but not really enough, and certainly not comparable to, say, the Turks.
@anil anil no he wasn’t lol.. is it possible that you think this because you are Indian and therefore are biased?
@@lionofpersis Yes
What absolutely blows my mind about this is not so much the tactics themselves but more the ability to execute them using only the communication technology of the day, i.e trumpets, whistles(?) and messengers.
So basically the engage, peel off part and next closest flank strat. Always a good one
This man has the most perfect voice for this, knowledgeable and proud of it but also understanding and in a friendly tone to keep you interrsted
The movie Alexander actually showed this maneuver fairly well. The fact that Alexander lead this move himself is legendary.
Alexander The Great, a man deserving of the title as The Great and is the most significant man in military history
Disengaging cavalry is extremely hard. Even after their opponent has broken it can be difficult to reform them for more action
That tells you something about the companion cavalry.
A very mobile and very disciplined force. Without which Alexander could not have pulled this maneuver off.
Let’s take a moment to appreciate how good the Macedonian Army was. Alexander couldn’t have done it with a army of lesser quality and we wouldn’t be discussing his victories now
Dear Kings & Generals, you would have a real winner on your hands if these Ancient Tactics episodes were longer (20-30 min or so), and where you covered several historical examples of the tactic in more detail.
I guarantee that your viewers would love such a series. I'm not aware of any other channel that's specifically done this.
What's the most impressive is that the enemies sound like glass shattering when they die.
Fun to use these in Rome Total War Remastered. They all work
Blech that remaster was terrible, the OG holds up so much better
What makes this battle more devastating for Darius III is that, at the end of the masterful tactic, his most elite unit - the Immortals - were destroyed after the Persian general fled.
Makes this tactic by Alexander ever more amazing.
Apparently he just brought the extra 1/3 of his army just to watch?
They're reserve troops
Alexander’s “battlefield IQ”, steely focus and personal bravery made him a general unmatched in his time. Despite his youth, he bore the scars of every known battlefield weapon of his day-ballistas included. He was the embodiment of every warrior quality that counted. Prost, my fallen bother.
Quite true though his left flank was on the verge of collapsing and some ennemies had even reach his encampment and were so focused on pillaging that they didn't think of turning back on the rear of Alexander's center !
Forbidding lootin and pillaging during battle was one of the key things that let Ghengis take over Mongolia.
It was very common for a losing army to take very few casualties as the winners would start to raid the camp instead of chasing the enemy, once his army had the discipline he was able to devastate his enemies armies from one win as opposed to slowly chipping away at them with each win.
Genius. These type of man are rare. Even today these type of commanders exist. These kind commanders don't require battle academies, they have a built in sense and understanding for it.
we are waiting for the next episode of alexanders journey. to see what happened next after the siege of halicarnasus. the conquest of minor asia and the battle of ipsus! and the northern wars with peter the great. and i m looking forwart for the pelopones wars, the alliance of delos and the persian wars.
Difference between fielding an army vs slaves.
these videos are so awesome, thanks kings and generals!
So that's how he won when outnumbered. Fucking genius.
And you stil meet people who feel smart saying "Alexander wasn't that Great".
Alexander had it all, competent commanders leading his well trained and excellently equipped soldiers against a mighty empire. The only thing he didn't have is a good general to go against, none of his adversaries were up to the task and for all of his brilliance it makes his campaign seem too easy for what he was actually accomplishing. Yes Alexander was Great but that's about it, his empire fractured and his children butchered before his body had even been stolen and taken to Egypt. Counter this with my personal favorite Julius Caesar who faced a higher caliber of foe with the likes of Vergingetorix, Pompeii and his own right hand man Labienus. This is why people say Alexander wasn't that great, he took everything his father had already prepared and lead it to do exactly what Philip knew it could do.
@@kristiannicholson5893 still, acting like he was "no big deal" doing basically "anime power scaling" is a terrible view on military history.
I heard a guy make a point that Jan Zizka was better than Alexander because he "invented tanks" and "his record was far more impressive", whatever it meant.
The absolute balls and disciple it takes to part infantry and swallow chariots, mind blowing tactics.
Running 20 miles every day with 50 lbs. of gear makes you a supreme badass.
Alexander was truly great
You could also argue he was brave, angry and very lucky that the Persians ran away at just the right moment.
The 2 cavalry units to the left were the most pro of Darius army.
They fought and maintained position even after their leader escaped and only left when it was obvious their defeat.
Alexander's ambitions are matched by many others, the difference in skills, knowledge, compromise, intelligence and bravery against his peers is what is unmatched.
"Some of you may die, but that is a sacrifice I'm willing to make."
Wow, I've watched so many videos about this battle, and it amazes me that you were able to explain it so well in a minute! This is by far the clearest explanation of the entire battle I've seen. Thank you
Pick up your pace. Pick up your pace!
Ride for the hole!
Dariuuuuuuuuus!
Alexander was such a GOAT, that it became immortalized in the Bible.
That’s not even half of it, he also had peltasts hidden behind his Calvary to immobilize Darius Calvary from intercepting once he pivoted from moving off the side of the map
How were the peltasts able to keep pace with the Companion cavalry? They probably had inhuman stamina to run as fast as a horse!
@@carltomacruz9138 they were riding slowly
After watching the netflix documentary and now your short, everything makes more sense
A master at his craft 🇬🇷
This requires highly disciplined troops. Alexander’s father King Philip deserves a great deal of credit for forming the army used by his son. Alexander became king at age 20 and fought Darius when he was 25, but his father spent the 23 years of his reign creating a professional army - a rarity in those days - and conquering Greece. He left it to his son to conquer the Persian Empire.
Alexander must have been playing on very easy.
"All of war is deception." -Sun Tzu
Truly the greatest of the Hellenes in the over 5000 years our civilisation has existed
Had a chance to visit Pella. Got chills walking around.
3 divisions against 10. Great work Darius. You'll be remembered forever.
Trait: Loved by the Gods
+2 defense to units
+2 mobility
+20% luck
+General unit causes fear to enemt units
+6 morale to units under command of this General
Alexander thrived in chaos. That's why western armis today are so formidable, because we teach our battalions and platoons to seize any potential advantage rather than wait for a commander to tell them what to do.
Came here to learn how this would help me win an argument.
Why did Darrius consider Alexanders army moving to right a weakness?
The way Phalanx was deployed was by having the hoplite on the right covering his fellow hoplite on his left with his shield (hoplon). So the shields were overlaping each other, like scales. It was noted that inexperienced hoplites tend to move to the right during the battle to keep themselves safe under the shield of their comrade to their right. So a phalanx composed of inexperienced hoplites tend to "shrink" to the right as the hoplites on the left were pushing slowly to keep themselves safe. That was a sign of weakness known by the Persian generals too since there were countless battles between Greeks and Persians.
Now I'm not sure if this was an issue at the Macedonian sarisso-phalanx since by that time they were using an other type of spear, called sarissa, which it was longer and need both hands to be usable, so the shield they were carrying was smaller and they were not overlaping each other.
But still, gaps between a supposely tight formation, like a phalanx supposed to be, it's logical to be considered a weakness.
@@DonisgrThank you!
@@Donisgr phalangites and hoplites were Different things , the reason Darius thought the center moving to right was a weakness was because of the gap the left Alexander’s left flank isolated and exposed but it was all part of Alexander’s plan to fix them against his sarrisa phalanx in the center and for Parmenion to hold them on the left for as long as possible
One was having "just another day at work" while the other had to fight because his life depended on it. There was a difference.
who is a fan of the Achaemenid empire here?
👍 An excellent and amazing video. Great show really brought up!
It was a massive gamble and Alexander's left flank was pretty much pushed back to the baggage train by the Persians but Darius rode off and the rest of them were captured.
The problem with this in games is that it's almost impossible to get your troops to disengage from a fight. They want to stay and fight to the death.
And the AI is too stupid to fall for any traps. They just stand there waiting for you to attack them, or send every unit after every one of your own units 1v1.
You see the Netflix "documentary" is so bad that a 1 minute short made me understand the battle better than the series...
In addition to tactics, Alex the great used very long spears with poisoned tips. Poisoned arrow tips as well. That was the secret of his power.
Alexander pulled a "Leeerrooooyyyy Jenkiiiiinnnnsss!!!!"
Only the Gods could defeat the Ancient Greeks
So I guess the Indians, Ethiopians, and Romans were gods.
@@ljss6805and ottoman
@@amirjan4835 Ottomans defeated the late medieval Greeks/Romans
@@ljss6805You are right. I didn't realize that he said ancient Greeks
@@ljss6805 Actually the Greek army didn't advance further because they were exhausted from constant battles far away from home
Wild to me that Alexander figured all this out thousands of years ago...
Well that was short...
As advertised :-)
I love tactics illustrated this way.
Thanks ! Might try this next time
Y'all remember when Alexander and Great truly spoken "it's Hellenistic time!"
too fucking short!
tru
Language.
@@johnanth Exactly. Oscar should go wash his mouth out with soap and water. At least that's what I hear they did in the old days.
@@KingsandGenerals I did leave a comment yesterday (which doesn't seem to be here now) suggesting that you'd have a winning series on your hands if you made these videos longer (20 mins or so), with several historical examples being included for each episode.
One thing I've noticed in the comments section is that quite a few people express disappointment that more historical examples aren't included (e.g., the Mongols for this episode).
I think people are seriously forgetting that to pull such a plan off, you HAVE to trust your men and commands WILL hold - and that they did!
Alexander the Great….never lost a single battle. There is a good reason he is called “The Great”
What people forget, as always. Is that his left suffered tremendously. He put his very best and brightest there. Ans they held. They had faith, but they suffered. This is what makes men like Alexander great; they can do amazing things. But many need to die, to do so. Remember that.
One thing this video fails to mention is that this nearly failed Alexander. His left was collapsing as he pursued Darius. Alexander only turned to aid his men when one of his own pleaded with him to return to the real fight. Youthful pride nearly cost him a glorious victory but taught him a valuable lesson.
if Darius kept his balls and rushed his reserves to pin Alexander...we'd be praising the Persians on this video
Thank you for this! I am currently reading Alexander The Great by Philip Freeman. It's really nice to get a visual of Alexander's battle tactics.
I love this breakdown. Really gives you a way to visualize the overall strategies used in battle. Just awesome
Not to take anything from Alexander to me battles like these are more of an example of a high-risk high-reward strategies that ended successfully.
Had Darius remained composed and faced Alexander, it could have been different.
I'll bet that guy Alexander has a great career ahead of him!
+400 social credit
Imagine doing this with little communication with your commanders and little awareness of the entire battlefield. Minimal technology, minimal military structure and he managed to pull of situational and strategic tactics like this in his early 20's.
Darius running away every single time led to him losing his empire.
There's something satisfying about describing a commander's tactics and strategy during a battle as a "Masterpiece"
"Immortals? We'll put them to the test"
Leonidas
The key of this strategy is the angular placement
I like to imagine it was partially accidental like alexander saw the opening and went "fuck it, we ball" and won the whole thing
Your shorts are amazing !
Much of this comes down to granularity, and the ability to allocate units effectively. Alexander's army had superior training and command structure, so that he could assign tasks to unit commanders, but still break-off sub-units for other tasks IN THE MIDDLE OF BATTLE! That's astounding. The Persians fielded larger units, or at least had fewer sub-units of intermediate command. If Darius (or Darius's subordinate in command) had the ability to detach a unit from the center to follow after Alexander, this might have been a very different battle. Instead, Alexander successfully occupied all the major units in the Persian force, but maintained a sufficient striking force to achieve a coup de main.
it's my theory that no commander actually knows what they're doing, rather all the great commanders just were fucking around and got incredibly lucky multiple times in a row, only later ascribing their moves to some genius tactics