Battle of Asakumo

Battle of Asakumo
Part of Second Sabrian War
Sabrian and Makedonian soldiers during the battle
Date May 692 CE Location Asakumo, Lirinya Result Sabrian Victory
Belligerents
Makedonian Empire	Sabrian Empire
Commanders and leaders
Kallistratos	Tiberius Decmus  †
Strength
42,000	45,000
Casualties and losses
15,000 killed	6,000 killed

The Battle of Asakumo was a battle between the Sabrian Empire and the Makedonian Empire in May 692 CE. It was the final battle of the Second Sabrian War during which a Sabrian army under Tiberius Decmus met and defeated a Makedonian army under Kallistratos near the town of Asakumo in Lirinya. Tiberius Decmus was wounded during the battle by an arrow and died ten days after the battle, however the defeat forced the Makedonians to withdraw from Lirinya entirely. A peace treaty was signed three months after the battle, effectively ending the Sabrian Wars.

Background

The Makedonains had invaded Lirinya in 689 CE and proceeded to conquer roughly a third of the island in the west. A Sabrian attempt to drive the Makedonians out of Lirinya failed in the spring of 690, after which the Makedonians drove further east only to be forced back after failing to besiege the city of Misijo. Both sides camped and regrouped for the winter and resumed fighting in the spring and summer, resulting in a bloody stalemate in August 691 at the Battle of Soyki. The heavy losses both sides suffered compelled both to withdraw back to their main staging areas, bringing the fighting to a close on land. In the fall the Makedonian fleet attempted to land a second army within the southern gulf, but were forced back by the Sabrian navy. What reinforcements survived were deposited to Makedonian holdings in the west of the island, while the Sabrians attempted to cut off the supply lines of the Makedonians by sea to no avail after a storm decimated their fleet.

As the spring came Kallistratos, the commander of the Makedonian armies in Lirinya, sought to campaign along the south of the island to capture several Sabrian held fortresses and ports along the coastline to allow reinforcements from Knichus a more direct route to Lirinya. Prexinos I, Basileus of Makedon, insisted on destroying the Sabrian army under Tiberius Decmus instead. The Makedonian king believed that a decisive defeat, coupled with significant prisoners to ransom, would allow Makedon to pressure Sabria into a peace treaty. On the other side, Legate Artoria Flavina had encouraged Decmus to withdraw and avoid a pitched battle until later in the year when fresh troops would be ready. When Decmus learned that the Makedonian army was not as large as he had estimated, he instead argued in favor of battle, which Flavina agreed to.

The two armies marched out in April from their staging grounds. The Makedonians intended to reach the village of Yossi and make camp there, but learned of the approaching Sabrian army while on the march and halted at Asakumo. The Sabrians learned of the Makedonian presence through spies in the Lirinyan countryside and prepared accordingly.

Army Compositions

Neither army was in great shape by the time of the battle. By now years of attrition had steadily reduced the manpower and treasuries of both sides, and their forces reflected their increasingly depleted nature.

The Makedonians had by now suffered severe losses among their most veteran troops, and by the time of Asakumo their forces reflected it. The centerpiece of the Makedonian army under Kallistratos, the pike phalanx, numbered around 18,000, but composed mostly of recently raised recruits who had only just arrived from Makedon. Only 3,000 of the phalanx were considered experienced. The Makedonians fielded around 3,000 archers, mostly Quenminese, in addition to another 8,000 Quenminese shield-bearers. The Makedonians had around 6,000 cavalry, most of them Knichan tribesmen. A further 7,000 infantry, predominantly native Liriyans, Knichans, and Scitarians, formed a mix of light infantry and skirmishers.

The Sabrian army was likewise understrength. 22,000 Sabrian infantry formed the core of the army, backed up by a mixture of Knichan, Zani, and Liriyan cavalry which numbered approximately 8,000. Quintilian skirmishers and Varan light infantry formed another 6,000, while the remainder were a mixture of Astridite, Visconti, and Aurelian infantry and archers. The Sabrians were the best armed of the troops, while the other Cacertian soldiers were considered of questionable quality. On the contrary, the Sabrian cavalry were considered of good quality and were mostly veterans; they also held a numerical advantage over the Makedonian horsemen.

Battle

Both sides became aware of the presence of the other a few days before the battle, allowing both armies to employ their forces in full. Intermediate skirmishing occurred between scouts and foraging troops for three days, but neither side fully comitted to battle until the fourth day. The battlefield featured a largely flat plain with the occasional grove of trees, but was mostly well suited to the employment of the phalanx. It also however gave the Sabrians plenty of room to maneuver their larger cavalry forces.

The Makedonians took up a standard formation with their pike phalanx in the center, skirmishers up front, cavalry split on the wings along with mixed infantry. While the Makedonian usually placed their best troops in the center or massed on a single wing, Kallistratos split up his veteran pikemen into two groups and placed them on the flank of the phalanx. Given the threat of Sabrian cavalry and his own inferiority, it is likely that this was done to ensure that any flanking effort by the Sabrians could be countered by veteran pikemen, whom would be better prepared for rapid maneuvers rather than recently trained recruits. This had the negative effect of leaving the Makedonian center fairly weak and manned by inexperienced troops. As a result, Kallistratos placed his Quenminese infantry behind the center so as to reinforce the phalanx should the need have arisen.

Tiberius Decmus deployed the Sabrian army in a somewhat opposite configuration. He placed his Sabrian heavy infantry in the center opposite the Makedonian phalanx, while the Cacertian mixed infantry were deployed on the flanks. Like Kallistratos, Decmus deployed his cavalry on the wings of his army and his skirmishers up front. Each flank had roughly 1,000 more horsemen than the Makedonians, giving the Sabrians an edge on the wings.

The two armies assembled in the morning, but neither moved for some time as they waited for the other to make a move. Eventually the Makedonians moved forward and took up positions, bringing their pikes to the ready. At this point the Sabrians began moving forward at a slow pace so as to now tire the troops before the actual fighting. When the two armies were just 500 meters apart, Decmus ordered his cavalry to charge and draw off the Makedonian cavalry from their wings. The Sabrian infantry continued to advance while under arrow fire from the Makedonian archers until they were within missile range of the Makedonian phalanx. Once they were close enough, the Sabrians began firing javelins into the phalanx.

On the left flank the Makedonian cavalry, with support from Scitarian infantry, managed to hold off the Sabrian cavalry charge but on the left flank the Makedonians were routed by the mixed Knichan-Zani cavarly. The Knichan and Liriyan infantry holding the flank were soon overwhelmed by cavalry charges from the Sabrians and their Aurelian and Visconti men-at-arms. Realizing the threat from both the Sabrian missile fire and cavalry, Kallistratos ordered the left wing of the phalanx, composed of his veteran troops, to swing around and engage the Sabrian cavalry and Cacertian infantry. Meanwhile the main body of the Makedonian center was ordered to advance on the Sabrian infantry, as the constant missile fire was begining to wear down on the inexperienced pikemen.

The Makedonian center began to advance and started pushing back the Sabrian infantry, who were unable to contest with the forest of bristling sarissas in front of them. As the Sabrians began to retreat however the Makedonian center of the phalanx became separated from the experienced left flank, which was still holding down the Cacertian and Sabrian cavalry on the left but was now unable to cover the exposed center. Under normal procedure, the now-flanking phalanx taxis was supposed to rotate outward to protect the flank or call for a halt; they failed to do so either out of inexperience or were unable to communicate through the fighting. As the Makedonian center advanced it's now exposed flank became increasingly threatened by Quintilian skirmishers and Varan light infantry. Eventually the most leftward taxis halted it's advance nearly entirely to deal with the threat to it's flank, which led to a cascade of failure throughout the phalanx as the induvidual formations of Makedonian pikemen became increasingly uncoordinated.

Seeing the phalanx come undone, Tiberius Decmus took to his horse and galloped past his bodyguard to the front line, where he shouted orders and urged the Sabrian infantry to organize and counter-attack into the gaps of the Makedonian phalanx. Despite being wounded by arrow fire he continued to ride up and down the line, shouting orders to commanders and section leaders, until his subordinate officers were able to catch up and began blowing the appropriate trumpets to signal their troops to maneuver.

As the Makedonian center began losing cohesion the Sabrian infantry began pouring into the gaps to meet the Makedonians at arms length. In the ensuing melee the sarissa was useless and the Makedonian pikemen were forced to switch to their own short swords (which were little more than daggers). Before long the entire Makedonian center came undone as the forward lines fo the phalanx were routed, leading to a total collapse of the center as the Sabrians butchered their way through the inexperieced Makedonians. As the front ranks began to collapse the remainder follow suit, leading to what contemporary sources labelled a "wave of terror as the sons of Makedon collapsed and proceeded to bolt like fearful rabbits".

Realizing the center was collapsing Kallistratos ordered his Quenminese reserve to advance, but they struggled to move past the mass of fleeing Makedonian pikemen, and eventually abandoned the effort to regroup. Realizing the battle was lost, the Makedonian flanks swiftly collapsed, with only the veteran flanking pikemen able to maintain their cohesion, eventually fighting back to regroup with the Quenminese shieldbearers. It proved to be a fruitless effort, as Kallistratos signaled for retreat and fled the battlefield, leaving the Sabrians to claim victory.

Aftermath

While Decmus died from his wounds ten days after the battle, Asakumo proved to be a crushing victory for the Sabrians. The battle broke the will of the Makedonians to continue the bloody struggle for Lirinya, and three months after delegates from both sides met on the coast to negotiate terms of peace.

The political implications were severe. Per the terms of the peace treaty the Sabrians were forced to abandon their claims on the Siduri continent in its entirety, cutting them off from valuable sources of raw materials and manpower. The Makedonians in exchange agreed to abandon any efforts towards Lirinya, which it recognized as Sabrian territory. The Makedonians also agreed to limit their fleet in Bara Sea to fifty ships, which would be insufficient to carry a sizeable enough army to threaten either Lirinya or the Cacertian archipegalo. The battle was something of a final hurrah for Sabria, which entered into decline not long after the war as its drained coffers could no longer support itself. The Makedonians would hold onto eastern Siduri for another 400 years, but their influence began to steadily wane after the Burning Plague.

Asakumo would mark the final time armies of Syara and Cacerta met in battle until the onset of the Desopya Campaign of the Divide War, 1,225 years later.