The Handy Military History Answer Book. Samuel Willard Crompton
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Alexander, however, smirked, and said, “I would do so, if I were Parmenion!”
Where did Alexander go after the Battle of Issus?
He progressed down the Mediterranean coast—the part we often call “The Levant”—with all the towns and cities submitting to him. Only one chose to resist, the Phoenician city of Tyre, in modern-day Lebanon.
Located on an island half a mile from land, Tyre had resisted many would-be conquerors over the years, and to its people, Alexander seemed no different from his predecessors. They sank his quickly built fleet and defied him with flaming arrows and catapults. After some weeks of desultory, failed attacks, Alexander decided that if the city would not come to him, he must reach it. The only possible way was to build a causeway, of stone and earth, to turn part of the sea into land!
Was this the greatest of Alexander’s accomplishments?
Because it involved the change of geography, as well as sheer doggedness, his victory over the people of Tyre stands very high on the list of Alexander’s achievements. After seven months, the “mole” or artificial extension of the land was complete, and the Greeks and Macedonians stormed Tyre. All 8,000 inhabitants were either killed or sold into slavery. Today, Tyre is firmly connected to the mainland, because drifting sand, as well as wood, filled in Alexander’s mole.
When did Alexander begin to think he was semidivine?
The idea may have been there from the beginning, planted by his ambitious mother, Olympias. But the turning point was clearly when Alexander reached Egypt in 333 B.C.E. Not only did the population submit to him, but the high temple priests took him into the desert to confer all sorts of honors and blessings upon him. During these ceremonies, they told Alexander he was the son of Amun, the sun god.
Egypt had languished for centuries after being conquered first by Assyria and then Persia. Egypt was searching for a heroic leader, and had Alexander been willing to remain, he might very well have been crowned Pharaoh. Alexander was always in a hurry, however, and soon after directing that a city be built in his honor—on the western side of the Nile delta—he led his men out of Egypt and toward modern-day Iraq, where he knew Darius III was waiting.
How large a force did Darius bring to his second battle against Alexander?
The chroniclers do not tell us the exact number, but we surmise that it was at least three times as large as Alexander’s. Just as important, Darius got to pick the battle site. Arriving on the plain of Arbela weeks before Alexander, Darius had his men sweep the battlefield clean of anything that might impede the movement of his chariots. His men, too, had plenty of time to drill and prepare. Amid all the preparations, however, was a deep-seated pessimism. Many of Darius’ men simply did not believe that Alexander could be beaten.
As Alexander’s army approached, the Greeks and Macedonians were excited by a spectacular lunar eclipse. Alexander made the most of it, saying that the eclipse forecast the collapse of Persia. The Persians, by contrast, tried to ignore the eclipse. Thinking Alexander would launch a night attack, Darius kept his men at their posts all night, and they were exhausted when daylight came.
How did Alexander win the Battle of Gaugamela?
Fought on October 1, 331 B.C.E., the Battle of Gaugamela (also known as the Battle of Arbela) featured the Macedonian phalanx, especially Alexander’s use of cavalry. Two hours into the battle, the situation looked good for the Persians, who were outflanking some Greek units and overrunning others. Alexander and the King’s Companions, again, provided the decisive punch, driving straight into what looked like a solid wall of Persians and finding a weak spot.
Darius turned to run. He knew quite well that this was the end: there would be no comeback. Alexander did not pursue right away. He stayed at the battlefield, mopping up and accepting the surrender of thousands of Persians. He knew—as did everyone on the battlefield that day—that the struggle was over. He had won it all.
Why did Alexander burn the Palace of Persepolis?
Soon after winning the Battle of Gaugamela, Alexander entered Babylon in triumph. He found less silver and gold than expected, and soon he learned that the real treasure trove was at Persepolis, in southern Iran. After a few fierce fights with some last Persian holdouts, Alexander arrived at Persepolis. A few days after his arrival, he held a big celebration and then told his men to put the place to the torch in retribution for what Xerxes had done to Athens in 480 B.C.E.
An immense treasure was, indeed, discovered, and Alexander became—in one stroke—the world’s richest man. Had he paid off his veterans, each one could have gone home to Macedonia with the equivalent of a million dollars—perhaps even more—in today’s currency, but he chose not to do so. Rather than turn back, Alexander planned to go much farther. His tutor, Aristotle, had told him of a great ocean to the east, and Alexander wanted to be the first leader to see it.
Who did Alexander leave in charge while he headed east?
He already had a regent back in Macedon, and he now appointed Parmenion and other generals to command in his name in Babylon. Alexander paid little attention to those who warned him about endangering his empire due to his absence. In 329 B.C.E., he set out with about 20,000 men.
How far did Alexander travel?
Because it was not in a straight line, he and his men may well have covered 12,000 miles over the next four years. They ascended the high Pamir Mountains of Afghanistan, and may well have been the first people from any Western nation to see India. Alexander crossed the Indus in 325 B.C.E., and fought one of his last—and most desperate—battles against Porus, king of a northwestern part of India. Porus had many elephants, and they made the battle much harder, but, as usual, Alexander prevailed. Soon after this victory, Alexander prepared to move farther into India, but at this point his men rebelled. They had been on the march for over a decade, they said, and wished to get home to Macedon, if only to see their families one more time before they died.
Alexander was furious, but the “sit-down” strike of his men succeeded in stopping him where the attempts of all his opponents had failed. By 323 B.C.E., Alexander and his men were back in Babylon after a grueling cross of the Gedrosian Desert in southern Iran.
Could Alexander have gone even farther? Did anything remain for him to conquer?
Yes and no. Very likely he wished to cover more ground, but there were no foes to speak of. Alexander knew little, if anything, about the city-state of Rome, but even if he’d seen the Romans at work, he would not have feared them, and he would probably have beaten them as well. One reason for Alexander’s early death (there are, of course, several) is that he lamented the notion that he had nothing more to do.
Alexander died in Babylon, a few days after he turned thirty-two. His record of conquest has to rank at the very top of anyone’s list, especially given that it was accomplished in such a short time.
To whom did Alexander leave his vast empire?
Alexander was, at least in this regard, a realist, and when his generals raised the question of succession on his deathbed, Alexander replied, “To the strongest.” He knew there would be a struggle for the succession, and he did not make things easier by declining to name an heir.
No one—it turned out—could rule so large an empire; perhaps even Alexander would have failed had he lived longer. The empire broke into four competing sections, which often made war against each other. The most prominent of the new sections was Ptolemaic Egypt, named for General Ptolemy. Using the brand-new city of Alexandria as his base, General Ptolemy inaugurated a new chapter of Egyptian history, which by this point was nearly 3,000 years old.
After the death of Alexander the Great, the empire he built split into four pieces. Ptolemy I—a bust kept at the Louvre Museum is shown here—founded the Ptolemaic empire in Egypt.
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