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. After the fall of Achaemenid rule, operations continued in Central Asia and towards the Indus. At the Hydaspes in 326 BCE, Alexander faced Porus in a different political setting; this dossier covers these campaigns through Alexander’s death in 323 BCE.
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
GranicusHow do the Macedonians establish a foothold beyond a river defended by Persian cavalry?IssusHow does Alexander win on one wing while his centre risks giving way?Siege of TyreIn 332 BCE, Tyre refuses Alexander entry to its island city. The Macedonian mole comes under fire and is attacked by a fireship. The arrival of allied fleets changes the siege: the harbours are blockaded, siege engines reach the walls by sea, and a combined assault eventually captures the city after seven months of resistance.GaugamelaHow does Alexander reach Darius without losing his army on the wings and in the rear?HydaspesHow does Alexander force a crossing, then face Porus’s elephants?
Military history
Sources
Indirect ancient sourceArrien, Anabase d’Alexandre
Arrien, Anabase, III.8–15 ; surtout III.13–15 pour les chars, la brèche, les bagages et le retour.
Principal narrative sequence, checked against Iranica's critical reservations about transmission of the accounts. Limited to the case of Gaugamela; this reference does not cover the whole conflict. Case reference for Gaugamela: the course and constraints of this battle. Its scope alone does not cover the entire conflict.
View ↗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.