24
BEFORE 1000 CE
Gaugamela
331 BCE
◼
MODERN-DAY IRAQI KURDISTAN
◼
MACEDON AND HELLENIC LEAGUE VS. ACHAEMENID EMPIRE
CONQUESTS OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT
After his victory against Darius III
at Issus (see pp.20–23), Alexander
the Great occupied Syria and
Palestine, and then traveled to Egypt
in 332
BCE. It was only in the summer
of the following year that he
returned, intent on pushing into
the Persian Empire’s eastern province. The Persians allowed
Alexander to reach the Euphrates, in Mesopotamia, but put
up just enough resistance to deny him the easier river route
down to Babylon. Instead, the Macedonian army marched north
toward Arbela (modern Irbil), where Darius lay in wait near a hill
called Gaugamela. A series of bad omens shook Persian morale,
and Darius sent a peace proposal to Alexander, which Alexander
summarily rejected. After pausing just a few kilometres from
the Persian line, Alexander attacked on September 30.
Alexander approached obliquely, concentrating his cavalry
on the right to draw out the enemy horse, then sending a
reinforced phalanx crashing through the weak point in the
Persian center that this exposed. This outwitted Darius,
who ed as he saw his army crumbling. Alexander followed
him eastward, occupying the Persian ceremonial capital
at Persepolis, which his troops burned following a drunken
argument. Finally, in July 330
BCE, Darius was murdered on the
orders of one of his generals. Although resistance continued
in the northeast, most of Darius’s governors surrendered,
leaving Alexander the master of the Persian Empire.
The Macedonian infantry
adopted a Greek-style phalanx
formation. Known as Foot
Companions, its members
were armed with 20-ft
(6-m)-long pikes, or sarissas.
In battle, the phalanx was
drawn up 8 or 16 ranks deep,
and the sarissas of the rst
four ranks projected beyond
it, making the formation very
dicult to penetrate. Training
enabled the phalanx to
push forward and break up
less disciplined opponents,
to resist attacks by
numerically superior enemies,
and even to open up to
allow chariots to pass
harmlessly through.
THE MACEDONIAN PHALANX
1 During the erce ghting at
Gaugamela, the phalanx’s oensive
power proved invaluable.
2
GAUGAMELA, 331
BCE
Alexander’s oblique
attack and concentration
of troops on his right
nullied the Persians’
advantage in numbers.
Charges by Persian heavy
cavalry, chariots, and
even elephants served
only to disorder and
overextend the Persian
line. The Persians wasted
their one breakthrough
by attacking Alexander’s
supplies train.
1
ASTRONOMICAL DIARY
This Babylonian
tablet describes heavenly phenomena
that spread fear among the Persian soldiers:
rst a blood-red moon, then re falling from
the sky. Persian priests interpreted these
as omens of military disaster.
In detail
Companions
ALEXANDER
PARMENION
DARIUS
Macedonian
camp
Gaugamela
#
Persian cavalry raids
Macedonian camp
∞
Companions surge
through gap in
Persian line
§
Persians flee the battlefied
€
Persian cavalry
tries to outflank
Alexander’s
right wing
¡
Persian
cavalry attacks
Macedonian front
¢
Macedonian phalanx advances
in oblique formation
Macedonian cavalry
Macedonian infantry
Persian cavalry
Persian infantry
Persian chariots
N
0 km
0.5
0 miles
0.25
0.25
0.5
US_024-025_Gaugamela.indd 24 09/04/2018 11:46
25
GAUGAMELA
◼
331 BCE
2
CAVALRY AT
GAUGAMELA
Fierce
cavalry engagements
took place on both the
right and left wings at
Gaugamela. On the
Macedonian right,
Alexander and the
Companion cavalry
succeeded in drawing
the Persian heavy
cavalry away form the
centre, opening up a
gap in the line that the
phalanx could exploit.
On the Macedonian
left, however, the light
cavalry faired relatively
poorly. This 16th-
century Persian
miniature depicts
the melee between
opposing horsemen.
US_024-025_Gaugamela.indd 25 09/04/2018 11:46
..................Content has been hidden....................
You can't read the all page of ebook, please click here login for view all page.