History channel decisive battles E04 The rise of a Myth, Battle of Gaugamela (October 1, 331 BC)

Alexander assumed the kingship of Macedon following the death of his father Philip II, who had unified most of the city-states of mainland Greece under Macedonian hegemony in a federation called the League of Corinth. 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.
In 335 BC, Alexander crossed the Hellespont into Asia. It took over one hundred triremes  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 of Phrygia. 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.
 Alexander a 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 Black Cleitus. Alexander's horse was killed, although he was not at the time riding his belovedBucephalus, 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.
After Alexander's forces successfully defeated the Persians at the Battle of the Granicus, Darius took personal charge of his army, gathered a large army from the depths of the empire, and maneuvered to cut the Greek line of supply, requiring Alexander to countermarch his forces, setting the stage for the battle near the mouth of the Pinarus River and south of the village ofIssus. Darius was apparently unaware that, by deciding to stage the battle on a river bank, he was minimizing the numerical advantage his army had over Alexander's.
Initially, Alexander chose what was apparently unfavorable ground. This surprised Darius who mistakenly elected to hold the wrong position while Alexander instructed his infantry to take up a defensive posture. Alexander personally led the more elite Greek Companion cavalry against the Persian left up against the hills, and cut up the enemy on the less encumbering terrain generating a quick rout. After achieving a breakthrough, Alexander demonstrated he could do the difficult and held the cavalry successfully in check after it broke the Persian right. Alexander then mounted his beloved horse Bucephalus at the head of his Companion cavalry and led a direct assault against Darius. The horses that were pulling Darius' chariot were injured, and began tossing at the yoke. Darius, about to fall off his chariot, instead jumped off. He tossed off his royal diadem, mounted a horse, and fled the scene. The Persian troops, realizing they had lost, either surrendered or fled with their hapless king. The Macedonian cavalry pursued the fleeing Persians for as long as there was light. As with most ancient battles, significant carnage occurred after the battle as pursuing Macedonians slaughtered their crowded, disorganized foe.
The Battle of Issus occurred in southern Anatolia, in November 333 BC. The invading troops led by Alexander, were outnumbered more than 2:1, defeated the army personally led by Darius III of Achaemenid Persia.The battle was a decisive Macedonian victory and it marked the beginning of the end of Persian power. It was the first time the Persian army had been defeated with the King (Darius III at the time) present. Darius left his wife and an enormous amount of treasure behind as his army fled. The greed of the Macedonians helped to persuade them to keep going, as did the large number of Persian concubines and prostitutes they picked up in the battle. 

Persian army (Battle of Issus)

Units	Numbers
Peltasts	69,000
Persian Immortals	10,000
Greek hoplites	10,000
Cavalry	11,000
Total	100,000

Macedonian army (Battle of Issus)

Units	Numbers
Peltasts	13,000
Phalangites	22,000
Cavalry	5,850
Total	40,850

Darius, by now fearing for both his throne and his life, sent a letter to Alexander where he promised to pay him a substantial ransom in exchange for his prisoners of war, agreed to sign a treaty of alliance with Alexander, and agreed to give to Alexander half of his empire. Darius received a response from Alexander, which began "King Alexander to Darius". In the letter, Alexander blamed Darius for his father's death and claimed Darius to be a vulgar usurper who planned to take Macedonia. He agreed to return the prisoners without ransom, but told Darius that he and Alexander were not equals, and that Darius was to address Alexander as "King of all Asia". He also told Darius that, if he wanted to dispute Alexander's claim to the Achaemenid throne, that he would have to stand and fight Alexander, but if he fled, Alexander would pursue and kill him. By this, Alexander revealed for the first time that his plan was to conquer the entire Persian Empire.
After that, Alexander marched into Egypt. The Egyptians hated the Persians, in part because Persia considered Egypt as nothing more than one big bread basket. They welcomed Alexander as their king, placed him on the throne of the Pharaohs, giving him the crown of Upper and Lower Egypt, and named him the incarnation of Ra and Osiris. He set in motion plans to buildAlexandria, and, though future tax revenues would be channeled to him, he left Egypt under the management of Egyptians, which helped to win him their support.
 

Name of Alexander the Great in Egyptian hieroglyphs (written from right to left), circa 330 BC, Egypt

During the two years after the Battle of Issus, Alexander proceeded to occupy theMediterranean coast and Egypt. He then advanced from Syria against the heart of the Persian empire. Alexander crossed both theEuphrates and the Tigris rivers without any opposition. Darius was building up a massive army, drawing men from all parts of his empire. He gathered more than 250,000 soldiers (including more than 42,000 cavalry) against approximately 47,000 Macedonian soldiers (including around 8,000 cavalry). Just before the battle, Darius offered Alexander a generous peace agreement. Darius would cede half of the entire Persian Empire provided Alexander cease his invasion of Persia. When presented to Alexander, he declined the offer without any consideration at all.

Units	Low Estimate	High Estimate
Peltasts	10,000	30,000
Cavalry	12,000	40,000
Persian Immortals	10,000	10,000
Bactrian Cavalry	1,000	2,000
Archers	1,500	1,500
Scythed chariots	200	200
War elephants	15	15
Total	52,930	87,000

Belligerents
Macedon,Southern Greek allies	Achaemenid Empire,Greekmercenaries
Commanders and leaders
Alexander the Great Hephaestion, Craterus,Parmenion, Ptolemy, Perdiccas,Antigonus, Cleitus, Nearchus,Seleucus	Darius III Bessus, Mazaeus, Orontes II
Strength
47,000 (See Size of Macedonian army)	50,000-100,000 (modern estimates) (See Size of Persian army)
Casualties and losses
100 infantry and 1,000 cavalry (according to Arrian); 300 infantry (according to Curtius Rufus); 500 infantry (according to Diodorus Siculus)	40,000 (according to Curtius Rufus) 47,000 (according to Welman)90,000 (according to Diodorus Siculus) 300,000+ captured (according to Arrian)

On the eve of battle, Alexander's generals including Parmenion suggested that to counter the overwhelming number of Persians, a surprise night attack should be launched. Alexander dismissed this idea, proclaiming that he would not "steal his victory". As it turned out Alexander's dismissal of the night attack option was either a lucky move, or a stroke of genius. Darius, fearing a night attack, kept his army awake and on alert for the whole night, while Alexander's was allowed to sleep. The next morning, Alexander himself over-slept. When his concerned generals woke him, he stated matter-of-factly that the battle had already been won.Darius chose a flat, open plain where he could deploy his numerically superior forces, not wanting to be caught in a narrow battlefield as he had been at Issus two years earlier, where he was unable to properly deploy his huge army. Darius also had his soldiers flatten the terrain prior to the battle, so as to give his 200 war-chariots optimal conditions to operate in. However this did not matter. On the ground were few hills and no bodies of water that Alexander could use for protection, and in the autumn the weather was dry and mild.The most commonly accepted opinion about the location is east of Mosul in modern-day northern Iraq.

Now you are about to see the view that the generals wish to have, and see the Phalanx infanty and the Companion cavalry of Macedon against the scythed chariots  the diversity of Cavaly and the thousands of troops from all corners of the Persian Empire, the fight will decide the future of Persian Empire and the Kingdom of Macedon and the Macedonian kingdom and the Greek city-states, and the world will not be the same before!