Alexander the Great vs. China

[Archbob]

Lets say a hypothetical scenario, that Alexander doesn't die at 33 and his troops did not rebel and he marched on the face the warring states of China, do you think he could have conquered them as well?

I'm not sure how the Chinese army at the time would have fared against the Greek Phalanx and calvary that Alexander had. The Chinese would not fall short on soldiers and I think if a foreign power had invaded, the warring states might have banded together for the moment to fight the intruder.

 

[aronnax]

First all of, it would all die by the time it gets though the Jungles and Mountains of India and SEA.

Number 2, not a chance, Chinese weopenry was better than greek

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ironworking#China

Around 500 BC, however, metalworkers in the southern state of Wu developed an iron smelting technology that would not be practiced in Europe until late medieval times.

Also Sun Tzu stragtezies were being practise by every great general in China by then. Sun Tzu tactics were so effective that even napoleon admired him and used his tactics.

Lastly Alex only had so much men, China, even if just one state, had enough men to keep pilling over them until they crack. Reinforcements would be impossible given the long distance and inhospitable routes

 

[Tee Kay]

Lets say a hypothetical scenario, that Alexander doesn't die at 33 and his troops did not rebel and he marched on the face the warring states of China, do you think he could have conquered them as well?

I'm not sure how the Chinese army at the time would have fared against the Greek Phalanx and calvary that Alexander had. The Chinese would not fall short on soldiers and I think if a foreign power had invaded, the warring states might have banded together for the moment to fight the intruder.

It could've well turned out like the Greeks vs Persians during Xerxes.

No, I think if Alexander invaded he wouldn't have a chance. Remember, his troops turned back when he got to India - they wouldn't have followed him through the Taklamakan and the Gobi to reach China. And also, Alexander can only bring a certain amount of men with him - China is a very populous country capable of organising resistance against foreign invaders. Chinese weapons and tactics are arguably superior to Alexander's. So Alexander would lose due to 1) tyranny of distance, 2) almost certain dissent among troops, 3) superior Chinese military, in terms of manpower, firepower and tactics.

 

[aronnax]

Firepower was not invented yet

 

[innonimatu]

A certain nomadic people did conquer China, despite Sun Tzu, ironworking, manpower and all the rest...

 

[EnlightenmentHK]

inno raises a fair point. Manpower and technology wasn't everything. China had more advanced metallurgy sure, but it wasn't the standard in the land amongst militaries until a century or two past the time of Alexander. They had heavy armor and advanced equipment, but the largest share of their militaries wore none.

In some respects they were a bit like the Persians, which fielded some well equipped, advanced forces...but the overwhelming majority of their armies were poorly equipped peasants who could be crushed by skilled, heavily armed units with relative ease.

Also its quite likely that Alexander would have pursued the 'Genghis Kahn' divide, acquire, and conquer method. China was divided at the time and an outside force may not have been enough to change that right away. Alexander could take out one or a few bordering kingdoms, incorporate their wealth, resources, technology and manpower into his own force, than move on to bigger fish.

I don't believe China had shock cavalry at the time approaching the effectiveness of Alexander's. And most of their infantry couldn't match up to Alex's heavy Macedonian phalanxes. Alexander could routinely outflank much larger armies with his cavalry and his infantry was disciplined enough to maintain lines and formations against far numerically superior foes.

Its definitely not a sure thing, but I highly doubt that Alexander would be summarily defeated with any quickness or ease. A united China could probably defeat him. But he could possibly gobble them up a piece at a time until he could field the numbers to take out the bigger pieces.

 

[silver 2039]

The guy couldn't even conquer India let alone China. He had a hell of a time with Porus who was a fairly minor king, he would have been crushed by any of the larger empires. And then he couldn't reach China even if he wanted to.

 

[privatehudson]

I doubt very much that less than 40,000 men, even under a man like Alexander could fight its way to China and conquer it. Some tasks are beyond even the best commanders. A prudent man would have consolidated his hold on his empire, provided for a sucessor and maybe launched one or two campaigns closer to existing territory, but Alexander didn't win an empire by being prudent.

 

[EnlightenmentHK]

I doubt very much that less than 40,000 men, even under a man like Alexander could fight its way to China and conquer it. Some tasks are beyond even the best commanders. A prudent man would have consolidated his hold on his empire, provided for a sucessor and maybe launched one or two campaigns closer to existing territory, but Alexander didn't win an empire by being prudent.

I'm sure he was more than prudent enough to try to consolidate his empire. But all-conquering gods don't typically plan on dying at 33. Who knows what his empire and the world would have looked like if he made it to even 50.

As for his chances in China...one 'Warring State' at a time, he might have had some success. Hell, its quite possible that the tales of his large army, conquests, and military exploits would have preceded his arrival in China and that one or more states may have been willing to bring him in as an ally against the others. In fact, that had a fair probability of happening. With his own 'patron' chinese mini-state, its quite possible that their combined arms could have triumphed over the others. Who knows if he'd come out as the superior in that sort of arrangement or more as a convenient ally/mercenary to be discarded after conquest.

 

[privatehudson]

I'm sure he was more than prudent enough to try to consolidate his empire. But all-conquering gods don't typically plan on dying at 33. Who knows what his empire and the world would have looked like if he made it to even 50.

I don't believe that marching all the way to the Indus when you've already conquered your main enemy is the best way of demonstrating your intention to settle down and consolidate your gains. The fact that it took the point blank refusal of his troops to go further east to stop him (and that only after he issued them an ultimatum and sulked when they didn't give the reply he wanted) doesn't suggest a man inclined to rest on his laurels.

 

[cubsfan6506]

No his men would be old and he was on his way back home. Think about it like this his empire wouldn't of been an empire. It would of just been places without government. He couldn't of conquered china and managed to hold onto the rest of his gains. Plus he minds well of been chinese. He wouldn't be empire of greece just empire of China.

 

[cybrxkhan]

No his men would be old and he was on his way back home. Think about it like this his empire wouldn't of been an empire. It would of just been places without government. He couldn't of conquered china and managed to hold onto the rest of his gains. Plus he minds well of been chinese. He wouldn't be empire of greece just empire of China.

yup. agreed.

 

[Civfan333]

I don't think he could have done it for the two simple reasons:

1. Most of his men would have died or given up on the journey there
2. He wouldn't be getting reinforcements any time soon...

 

[West 36]

I always thought if he lived, he could have gone West instead. I think he could have had more luck there, had he built up his army, and from an empire forged there, if he picked a capable heir, maybe a decent bit of Europe would have been under the empire's control. Who knows how far he/his empire would have gone there though.

 

[cubsfan6506]

There was really not that much to conquer in europe other then italian greeks.

 

[West 36]

There was really not that much to conquer in europe other then italian greeks.

Yes, but there was alot of productive land, and if taking taking it would be easy, then idk why he wouldn't, unless of course, conquering just doesn't work that way.

 

[Tee Kay]

There was really not that much to conquer in europe other then italian greeks.

And Celts. And the Etruscan city-states. Rome, too. Carthage... et cetera.

 

[Civfan333]

yeah, there were a lot of different civilizations besides the romans.....

 

[Pieman]

There is no way that Alexander could have conquered China. It would have been logistically impossible to keep marching all the way through either the Central Asian deserts or the Indian/Indochinese jungles and into China. Also, as stated plenty of times, his troops would have mutinied well before he could ever reach it and the Chinese were simply too numerous and unlike Persia, too well organised and equipped. However, as it has also been stated, things might have been quite interesting indeed had he conquered his way through the Mediterranean and to the Atlantic Ocean. Who knows, maybe the superpower of the world would have been Greece/Macedon rather than Rome...

 

[Vietcong]

lets just forget about suplies and distance from home, ect ect and that to armys of queal strangth met on a open field.