The gateway to Asia Minor
The crossing of the Hellespont, the Granicus and Issus give Alexander ports and an initiative that reduces Persia’s ability to choose the theatre.
Military history
The strategic problem
Alexander’s conquest does not rest on the Macedonian phalanx alone. It combines a trained army, breakthrough cavalry, sieges, port bases and a succession of decisions that prevent the Achaemenid Empire from rebuilding a political centre. Gaugamela is the best-known battle in this dynamic, not its sole cause.
Egypt and Gaugamela
The sieges in the Levant secure the coast and Egypt provides a base. At Gaugamela, Alexander opens the Persian centre without allowing his phalanx to break apart.
Conquest after battle
Persepolis falls, then the campaign extends to Bactria, Sogdiana and India. Military victory becomes a problem of administration, distance and succession.
Explore
5 published battles, in chronological order
GaugamelaThe oblique movement of the Macedonian right draws the Persian army, then Alexander’s charge reaches Darius’ centre.GranicusHow did an immediate attack across a river turn an obstacle into a point that fixed the Persian cavalry?IssusHow did the narrow battlefield prevent Darius from fully exploiting his mass while exposing Alexander to a rupture of his centre?Siege of TyreHow did a land army progressively turn an island siege into a combined operation?HydaspesHow did Alexander secure a contested crossing and then neutralise elephants and cavalry without losing cohesion?
Military history
Sources
Indirect ancient sourceArrien, Anabase d’Alexandre
The main military narrative for deployments, marches and decisions attributed to Alexander.
Indirect ancient sourceDiodore de Sicile, Bibliothèque historique, livre XVII
Chronology of the conquest and competing traditions about events.
Critical studyA. B. Bosworth, Conquest and Empire
Sources, administration, violence and the limits of heroic interpretations of the conquest.