The Final Argument of Kings: Counterbattery Engagement From Ancient Greece to Ukraine
According to history, by which we mean surviving text, the first counterbattery engagement took place in 340 BC at Perinthus, which is located in modern-day European Turkey. King Phillip II of Macedon laid siege to both Byzantium and Perinthus at the same time. Attacker and defenders both used rope-torsion catapults which, being powerful enough to kill an armored hoplite but never damaging enough to break a wall, favored the defender. Phillip took rare losses and raised both sieges when the logistics of maintaining two positions on the coast of the Hellespont without a fleet became impossible, while his enemies could resupply themselves at will from the sea. Ammunition for his catapults ran short. Less landbound, Phillip’s son Alexander went on to earn the sobriquet ‘Great’, using artillery to good effect and encountering it during his career, even reportedly being wounded by some sort of missile engine at the Persian Gates. Such weapons had first been remarked upon in Greek writing circa 397 BC. So while the term ‘military revolution’ is always contested and has been subject to abuse as a buzzword, it certainly fits the story of ancient artillery, for all three basic types of fire mission existed within six decades of development…
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3 months ago · Matt Osborne
