Battle of Ipsus - Strategic and Tactical Considerations

Strategic and Tactical Considerations

In terms of overall strategy, it is clear that both sides had resolved on battle; for the allies, it represented the best chance of stopping Antigonid expansion, rather than allowing themselves to be defeated piecemeal. For Antigonus, the chance to defeat all his enemies at once could not be passed up, even if he would have preferred to defeat them individually. However, we know little about the specific strategic considerations facing the two sides before the battle, since we do not exactly how the opposing sides came together, nor exactly where the battle was fought. As mentioned above, it has been suggested that the allied army was trying to cut Antogonus's lines of communication with Syria, in order to prompt him into battle, but this is only one of several possible scenarios.

Tactically, both sides faced the common problem of the wars fought amongst the Successors; how to defeat an army equipped in the same manner and using the same basic tactics. The Diadochi seem to have been inherently conservative, and continued to favour a strong attack with cavalry on the right wing of the battle-line (tactics commonly used by both Philip and Alexander) as the principal tactical thrust— even though they must have been aware of the likelihood their opponents would perform the same manoeuvre on the opposite side of the battlefield. When armies were numerically even and deploying the same tactics, gaining a clear advantage was difficult. The use of novel weapons such as war elephants and scythed chariots to change the tactical balance was one approach used by the Diadochi, but such innovations were readily copied. Thus both sides at Ipsus had war elephants, although thanks to Seleucus, the allies were able to field an unusually high number, in addition to scythed chariots. Both sides therefore sought an open battlefield; the allies in order to use their elephants to full potential, and the Antigonids to allow full use of their strong cavalry arm. For the Antigonids, strong in both infantry and cavalry, the tactical situation was straightforward, and followed the template Successor tactic of a massive cavalry assault on the right wing. For the allies, weaker in infantry, the tactics would have been to maximise their overwhelming superiority in elephants, though it is not clear exactly how they intended to do this. Nevertheless, the elephants played a pivotal role in the battle.