Alexander Wearing his Competitive Edge on his Sleeve
Written by Callum McDonnell, reviewed by Oscar O’Neill and Saskia Higgins
No military commander in history has ever won a battle by himself. This statement holds true for even the greatest of conquerors such as Alexander. His Persian empire came as a result of his military prowess and well trained army.
In order to succeed, Alexander the Great knew how important it was that soldiers follow strict training regimes, work together coherently and all stick to the same plan. If one soldier was to abandon their post or be caught slacking it could lead to serious consequences. Alexander the Great was known to demand absolute obedience and anyone who disobeyed would meet strict punishment. Although there is some dispute to the validity of this statement, it is said that ‘He required all men to swear an oath of allegiance’ (Wasson, 2014). His army was no longer loyal to a province or city but they were solely loyal to him, the king. Alexander also had the respect of his men and never betrayed their trust as he fought next to them, ate with them, and refused to drink water when there wasn’t enough for all. Quite simply, he set the example (Wasson, 2014). This bond would prove his greatest strength in the most trying times (Berg, 2016).
Alexander the Great’s obsession with a well trained and obedient army could have been satisfied with the latest developments in wearable technologies. “Amazon has been granted a pair of patents for a wristband that can pinpoint the location of warehouse employees and track their hand movements in real time” (Ong, 2018). Ethical questions have been raised about whether it’s right to control employees within the workplace to such an extent, but it could have been extremely useful during Alexander’s reign. By tracking the location of all of his soldiers on the battlefield he would have been able to use this information to modify his strategies. These wearables could have heartbeat sensors within the technology which would have also kept track of how many of his men were still alive, providing him with key information on if he needed to send reinforcements or retreat.
Another benefit to equipping wearable technology to his army would have been the health and emotion tracking element. They would be able to gauge whether the morale or general health of his soldiers were low. This would provide real time information that could be used to determine whether or not it would be feasible to continue marching another day or if that would cause possible fatalities to his withering soldiers. He could then use this information to determine when would be best time to deliver both bad and good news to his soldiers.
It is also likely that the information gathered from these wearables would not be used solely for the soldiers benefit. Heart rate and location during battle could be recorded and if it was clear that someone was disobeying orders and not sticking to their post they could be caught and severely punished. As with the reported situation in Amazon warehouses, “If workers break from scanning packages for too long, the system automatically generates warnings and, eventually, the employee can be fired.” (Lecher, 2019).
We can see from the Amazon case that employees felt they were “treated like robots in effect because they’re monitored and supervised by these automated systems,” (Lecher, 2019). It would require a huge amount of trust between both Alexander and his men for the use of this technology to work. If his army can not see the benefit to their health and wellbeing, they are unlikely to agree to such heavy supervision. It is better that the army fights for their king and not for fear of their king.
References
Berg, C. (2016). Alexander the Great: A Case Study in Martial Leadership. [online] Ancient History Encyclopedia. Available at: https://www.ancient.eu/article/854/alexander-the-great-a-case-study-in-martial-leader/.
Lecher, C. (2019). How Amazon automatically tracks and fires warehouse workers for “productivity.” [online] The Verge. Available at: https://www.theverge.com/2019/4/25/18516004/amazon-warehouse-fulfillment-centers-productivity-firing-terminations.
Ong, T. (2018). Amazon patents wristbands that track warehouse employees’ hands in real time. [online] The Verge. Available at: https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/1/16958918/amazon-patents-trackable-wristband-warehouse-employees.
Wasson, D.L. (2014). The Army of Alexander the Great. [online] Ancient History Encyclopedia. Available at: https://www.ancient.eu/article/676/the-army-of-alexander-the-great/#:~:text=Alexander%20and%20his%20Royal%20Companions.
