Alexander the Great
were fought by King Alexander III of Macedon (“The Great”), first against the Achaemenid Persian Empire, under its “King of Kings” Darius III, and then against local chieftains and warlords as far east as Punjab, India. Alexander the Great was one of the most successful military commanders of all time. He was undefeated in battle. By the time of his death, he had conquered most of the world known to the ancient Greeks.[1]
Alexander assumed the kingship of Macedon following the death of his father Philip II, who had unified[2] most of the city-states of mainland Greece under Macedonian hegemony in a federation called the League of Corinth.[3] After reconfirming Macedonian rule by quashing a rebellion of southern Greek city-states and staging a short but bloody excursion against Macedon’s northern neighbors, Alexander set out east against the Achaemenid Persian Empire, under its “King of Kings” (the title all Achaemenid kings went by), Darius III, which he defeated and overthrew. His conquests included Anatolia, Syria, Phoenicia, Judea, Gaza, Egypt, Bactria and Mesopotamia, and he extended the boundaries of his own empire as far as Punjab, India.
Alexander had already made more plans prior to his death for military and mercantile expansions into the Arabian peninsula, after which he was to turn his armies to the west (Carthage, Rome and the Iberian Peninsula). However, Alexander’s diadochi quietly abandoned these grandiose plans after his death. Instead, within a few years of Alexander’s death, the diadochi began fighting with each other, dividing up the Empire between themselves, and triggering 40 years of warfare.
Philip II was assassinated by the captain of his bodyguard, Pausanias. Philip’s son, and previously designated heir, Alexander was proclaimed king by the Macedonian noblemen and army.[4]
News of Philip’s death roused many states that into revolt including Thebes, Athens, Thessaly and the Thracian tribes to the north of Macedon. When news of the revolt reached Alexander he responded quickly. Though his advisers advised him to use diplomacy, Alexander mustered the Macedonian cavalry of 3,000 men and rode south towards Thessaly, Macedon’s immediate neighbor to the south. When he found the Thessalonian army occupying the pass between Mount Olympus and Mount Ossa, he had the men ride through Mount Ossa and, when the Thessalonians awoke, they found Alexander at their rear. The Thessalonians surrendered and added their cavalry to Alexander’s force as he rode down towards the Peloponnese.[5]
Alexander stopped at Thermopylae, where he was recognized as the leader of the Sacred League before heading south to Corinth. Athens sued for peace and Alexander received the envoy and pardoned anyone involved with the uprising. At Corinth, he was given the title ‘Hegemon‘ of the Greek forces against the Persians. While at Corinth, he heard the news of the Thracian rising to the north
Persia
In 335 BC, Alexander crossed the Hellespont into Asia. It took over one hundred triremes (boats with oars) to transport the entire Macedonian army, but the Persians decided to ignore the movement.
In these early months, Darius still refused to take Alexander seriously or mount a serious challenge to Alexander’s movements. Memnon of Rhodes, the Greek mercenary who aligned himself with the Persians, advocated a scorched Earth strategy. He wanted the Persians to destroy the land in front of Alexander, which he hoped would force Alexander’s army to starve, and then to turn back. Eventually, with Alexander advancing deeper into Persian territory, Darius put Memnon in control of an army, and told him to finally confront Alexander.
The Battle of the Granicus River in May 334 BC was fought in Northwestern Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey), near the site of Troy. After crossing the Hellespont, Alexander advanced up the road to the capital of the Satrapy ofPhrygia. The various satraps of the Persian empire gathered with their forces at the town of Zelea and offered battle on the banks of the Granicus River. Alexander ultimately fought many of his battles on a river bank. By doing so, he was able to minimize the advantage the Persians had in numbers. In addition, the deadly Persian chariots were useless on a cramped, muddy river bank.[citation needed]
Arrian, Diodorus, and Plutarch all mention the battle, with Arrian providing the most detail. The Persians placed their cavalry in front of their infantry, and drew up on the right (east) bank of the river. The Macedonian line was arrayed with the heavy Phalanxes in the middle, and cavalry on either side.
Alexander’s second-in-command, Parmenion, suggested crossing the river upstream and attacking at dawn the next day, but Alexander attacked immediately. This tactic caught the Persians off guard. The battle started with a cavalry and light infantry attack from the Macedonian left, so the Persians heavily reinforced that side. However, by this point, Alexander led the horse companions in their classic wedge-shaped charge, and smashed into the center of the Persian line. Several high-ranking Persian nobles were killed by Alexander himself or his bodyguards, although Alexander was stunned by an axe-blow from a Persian nobleman named Spithridates. Before the noble could deal a death-blow, however, he was himself killed by Cleitus the Black. Alexander’s horse was killed, although he was not at the time riding his beloved Bucephalus, either because Bucephalus was lame or because Alexander believed this battle to be too dangerous for Bucephalus. The Macedonian cavalry opened a hole in the Persian line, and the Macedonian infantry charged through to engage the poor quality Persian infantry in the rear. At this, and with many of their leaders already dead, both flanks of the Persian cavalry retreated, and the infantry was cut down as it fled.[citation needed]
Alexander consolidates his support in Asia Minor[edit]
After the battle, Alexander buried the dead (Macedonians, Greeks and Persians), and sent the captured Greek mercenaries back to Greece to work in the mines, as an object lesson for any Greek who decided to fight for the Persians. He sent some of the spoils back to Greece, including three hundred panoplies (complete Persian suits of armor) back to Athens to be dedicated in the Parthenon with the inscription “Alexander, son of Philip and the Greeks, Lacedaemonians (Spartans) excepted, these spoils from the barbarians who dwell in Asia”.[citation needed]
Antipater, whom Alexander had left in charge of Macedon in his absence, had been given a free hand to install dictators and tyrants wherever he saw fit in order to minimize the risk of a rebellion. As he moved deeper into Persia, however, the threat of trouble seemed to grow. Many of these towns had been ruled for generations by heavy handed tyrants, so in these Persian towns, he did the opposite of what he did in Greece. Wanting to appear to be a liberator, he freed the population and allowed self-government. As he continued marching into Persia, he saw that his victory at Granicus had been lost on no one. Town after town seemed to surrender to him. The satrap at Sardis, as well as his garrison, was among the first of many satraps to capitulate.[citation needed]
As these satraps gave up, Alexander appointed new ones to replace them, and claimed to distrust the accumulation of absolute power into anyone’s hands. There appeared to be little change from the old system. Alexander, however, appointed independent boards to collect tribute and taxes from the satrapies, which appeared to do nothing more than improve the efficiency of government. The true effect, however, was to separate the civil from the financial function of these satrapies, thus ensuring that these governments, while technically independent of him, never truly were. Otherwise, he allowed the inhabitants of these towns to continue as they always had, and made no attempt to impose Greek customs on them. Meanwhile, ambassadors from other Greek cities in Asia Minor came to Alexander, offering submission if he allowed their ‘democracies’ to continue. Alexander granted their wish, and allowed them to stop paying taxes to Persia, but only if they joined the League of Corinth. By doing so, they promised to provide monetary support to Alexander.[citation needed]
Siege of Halicarnassus[edit]
The Siege of Halicarnassus was undertaken in 334 BC. Alexander, who had no navy, was constantly being threatened by the Persian navy. It continuously attempted to provoke an engagement with Alexander, who would have none of it. Eventually, the Persian fleet sailed to Halicarnassus, in order to establish a new defense. Ada of Caria, the former queen of Halicarnassus, had been driven from her throne by her usurping brother. When he died, Darius had appointed Orontobates satrap of Caria, which included Halicarnassus in its jurisdiction. On the approach of Alexander in 334 BC, Ada, who was in possession of the fortress of Alinda, surrendered the fortress to him. Alexander and Ada appear to have formed an emotional connection. He called her “mother”, finding her more amicable than his megalomaniacal snake-worshiping mother Olympias. In return for his support, Ada gave Alexander gifts, and even sent him some of the best cooks in Asia Minor, realizing that Alexander had a sweet tooth. In the past, Alexander had referred to his biological father, Philip, as his “so-called” father, and preferred to think of the deity Amon Zeus as his actual father. Thus, he had finally managed to divorce himself from both of his biological parents.[citation needed]
Orontobates and Memnon of Rhodes entrenched themselves in Halicarnassus. Alexander had sent spies to meet with dissidents inside the city, who had promised to open the gates and allow Alexander to enter. When his spies arrived, however, the dissidents were nowhere to be found. A small battle resulted, and Alexander’s army managed to break through the city walls. Memnon, however, now deployed his catapults, and Alexander’s army fell back. Memnon then deployed his infantry, and shortly before Alexander would have received his first (and only) defeat, his infantry managed to break through the city walls, surprising the Persian forces and killing Orontobates. Memnon, realizing the city was lost, set fire to it and withdrew with his army. A strong wind caused the fire to destroy much of the city. Alexander then committed the government of Caria to Ada; and she, in turn, formally adopted Alexander as her son, ensuring that the rule of Caria passed unconditionally to him upon her eventual death.[citation needed]
Syria[edit]
Shortly after the battle, Memnon died. His replacement was an Athenian named Karademas. Darius’s generals wanted Darius to personally command the army during a major battle against Alexander. Karademas, who thought that this would be too reckless, got into an argument with Darius’s generals. He implied that he should lead the army because, as a Greek, he was a better general than any of the Persians. An argument resulted, Karademas made some uncomplimentary comments about Persian culture, and Darius ordered Karademas executed. Shortly thereafter, Darius realized that he had made a mistake, because he had just executed the only competent general he had left. He decided to take his army, and leave Babylon in order to intercept Alexander.[citation needed]
Alexander marched his army east through Cappadocia, where, for a stretch of nearly 150 km (93 mi), there was no water. As his army approached Mount Taurus, they found only one route through which to pass, which was a narrow defile called “The Gates”. The defile was very narrow, and could have been easily defended. However, the Persian satrap of Cappadocia had an inflated view of his own abilities. He had been at the Battle of the Granicus River, and had believed that Memnon’s scorched Earth strategy would work here. He didn’t realize that the different circumstances of the terrain made that strategy useless. Had he mounted a credible defense of the defile, Alexander would have been easily repulsed. He left only a small contingent to guard the defile, and took his entire army to destroy the plain that lay ahead of Alexander’s army. The Persian contingent that was supposed to guard the defile soon abandoned it, and Alexander passed through without any problems. Alexander supposedly said after this incident that he had never been so lucky in his entire career.[citation needed]
After reaching Mount Taurus, Alexander’s army found a stream that flowed from the mountain with water that was ice cold. Not thinking, Alexander jumped into the stream, suffered a cramp and then a convulsion, and was pulled out nearly dead. He quickly developed pneumonia, but none of his physicians would treat him, because they feared that, if he died, they would be held responsible. One physician named Philip, who had treated Alexander since he was a child, agreed to treat him. Although he soon fell into a coma, he eventually recovered
In the winter of 330 BC, at the Battle of the Persian Gate northeast of today’s Yasuj in Iran, the Persian satrap Ariobarzanes led a last stand of the Persian forces.[13][14] After the Battle of Gaugamela, Alexander had advanced toBabylon and Susa. A Royal Road connected Susa with the more eastern capitals of Persepolis and Pasargadae in Persis (the Persian Empire had several “capitals”), and was the natural venue for Alexander’s continued campaign. After the conquest of Susa, Alexander split the Macedonian army into two parts. Alexander’s general, Parmenion, took one half along the Royal Road, and Alexander himself took the route towards Persis. Passing into Persis required traversing the Persian Gates, a narrow mountain pass that lent itself easily to ambush.[15]
Believing that, after his victory over the Uxians, he would not encounter any more enemy forces during his march, Alexander neglected to send scouts ahead of his vanguard, and thus walked into Ariobarzanes‘ ambush. Once the Macedonian army had advanced sufficiently into the narrow pass, the Persians rained down boulders on them from the northern slopes. From the southern slope, Persian archers and catapults launched their projectiles. Alexander’s army initially suffered heavy casualties, losing entire platoons at a time.[16] Ariobarzanes had hoped that defeating Alexander at the Persian Gates would allow the Persians more time to field another army, and possibly stop the Macedonian invasion altogether.
Ariobarzanes held the pass for a month,[17] but Alexander succeeded in encircling the Persian army and broke through the Persian defenses. The defeat of Ariobarzanes’s forces at the Persian Gate removed the last military obstacle between Alexander and Persepolis. Upon his arrival at the city of Persepolis, Alexander appointed a general named Phrasaortes as successor of Ariobarzanes. Four months later, Alexander allowed the troops to loot Persepolis. A fire broke out and spread to the rest of the city. It is not clear if it had been a drunken accident, or a deliberate act of revenge for the burning of the Acropolis of Athens during the Second Greco-Persian War.[18]
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