by Ronald Sellers

Created on: April 10, 2010   Last Updated: April 12, 2010

Thoughts on a hypothetical military conflict between the ancient Greeks and the ancient Chinese

As, in my opinion, in any examination of potential alternative history, the writer must at least begin from a point of the most plausible scenario. This would have occurred around 330 BC, when Alexander the Great defeated Indian forces East of the Indus River. This time is known, in regards to Chinese history, as the warring states period. Some writers will, in an attempt at levity, pit Alexander against Sun Tzu. The facts are that Sun Tzu died at least one hundred years before Alexander was born and none of his strategic wisdom was adopted by the warlords that arose after him and the fact that Alexander came much closer to China that Sun Tzu ever came to Greece. This establishes a most plausible scenario depicting an invasion, by Alexander, of a China ruled by disparate Chinese feudal military leaders.  The Kingdoms were not united, they were in fact, constantly warring between themselves and if faced by a motivated, coherent force, possessed of a sense of loyalty, discipline and unity of purpose, such as the army of Alexander, then theoretically; they could be summarily defeated piece meal. If warfare were as simple as placing antagonists on a mutually advantageous battle field and blowing a whistle to begin the contest, this article could end now. The authoritative voice of history as well as an examination of current military and political realities obscure the simple proposition of  pitting Greek against Chinese or General versus General. Again in the Greeks favor we know that Alexander would have been the only commander with even a remote ability to facilitate this conflict. On the Chinese side, however, given the frequently changing balance of power during this time period, the identity of who may have opposed Alexander is elusive at best. However, as stated earlier, warfare is seldom ever that simple.

The Greeks had some problems of their own. Not least of which was the refusal of Alexander's troops to continue any farther once they had secured the East Indus valley. They also had suffered both personnel and materiel depletion's in reaching the Eastern most limit of the Alexandrian conquest. In violation of  later promulgated principles of military strategist such as Jomini, Von Clausewitz and Machiavelli, Alexander had extened his logistical trains to the breaking point and

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