Alexander crossed the Hellespont without opposition, having a force of 30,000 footmen and 5,000 cavalry. A Persian army of 40,000 troops tried to stop him at the Granicus; the Greeks lost 115 men, the Persian 20,000. Alexander marched taking cities and receiving surrenders for a year. Meanwhile Darius III gathered a horde of 600,000 soldiers and adventurers, six hundred mules and three hundred camels were needed to carry the royal purse. When the two armies met at Issus Alexander had no more than 30,000 followers; but Darius, with all the stupidity that destiny could required , had chosen a field in which only a small part of his multitude could fight at one time. When the slaughter was over the Macedonians had lost some 450, the Persians 110,000 men, most of these being slain in wild retreat; Alexander, in reckless pursuit, crossed a stream on a bridge of Persian corpses. Darius fled ignominiously, abandoning his mother, a wife, two daughters, his chariot, and his luxuriously appointed tent. Alexander Treated the Persian ladies with a chivalry that surprised the Greek historians, contenting him self with marrying one of the daughters. If we may believe Quintus Curtius, the mother of Darius became so fond of Alexander that after his death she put an end to her own life by voluntary starvation.
The young Alexander turned aside now with what seemed foolhardly leisureliness to establish his control over all of western Asia; he did not wish to advance farther without organizing his conquests and building a secure line of communications. The citizens of Babylon, like those of Jerusalem, came out en masse to welcome him, offering him their gold, he accepted this graciously, and pleased them by restoring the temples which the unwise Xerxes had destroyed. Darius sent him a proposal of peace, saying that he would give Alexander ten thousands talents (probably equivalent to $60,000,000 in contemporary currencies) for the safe return of his mother, his wife and his children, would offer him his daughter in marriage, and would acknowledge his soveranity over all Asia west of the Euphrates, if only Alexander would end the war and become his friend. Parmenio, second in command among Greeks, said that if he were Alexander he would be glad to accept such happy terms, and avoid with honor the hazard of some disastrous defeat. Alexander remarked that he would do likewise --if he were Parmenio. Being Alexander, he answered Darius that his offer meant nothing, since he, Alexander, already possessed such parts of Asia as Darius proposed to cede him, and could marry the daughter of the emperor when he pleased. Darius, despairing of peace with so reckless a logician, turned unwillingly to the task of collecting another large force.
Meanwhile Alexander had taken Tyre, and annexed Egypt; now he marched back across the great empire, in 20 days from Babylon his army reached Susa, and took it without resistance, then to Persepolis. There Alexander committed one of the most unworthy acts of his incredible career: against the counsel of Parmenio, he burned the palaces of Persepolis to the ground.
Darius gathered, chiefly from his eastern provinces, a new army of a million men --- Persians, Medes, Babylonians, Syrians, Armenians, Cappadocians, Bactrians, Sogdians, Arachosians, Sacae and Hindus and had equipped them no longer with bows and arrows, but with javelins, spears, shields, horses, elephants, and scythe-wielding charriots intended to mow down the enemy like wheat; with this vast force old Asia would make one more effort to preserve itself from adolescent Europe. Alexander, whit 7,000 cavalry and 40,000 infantry, met the motley mob at Gaugamela* and by superior weapons, generalship and courage destroyed it in a day. Darius again chose the better part of valor, but his generals murdered him in his tent. Alexander put to death such of the assassins as he could find, sent the body of Darius in state to Persepolis, and ordered it to be buried in the manner of the Achaemenid kings. The Persian people flocked readily to the standard of the conquerer, charmed by his generosity and his youth. Alexander organized Persia into a province of the Macedonian Empire, left a strong garrison to guard it, and marched to India.
* * ... no, i don not like war, non the less conquers, this text is one of my favoritos.
The real force doesn't come by the size of the army. It is the force of discipline and intelligence, generosity, training, conviction and endurance.
What was Alexander's main problem that made him lost his last battle?
The real force doesn't come by the size of the army. It is the force of discipline and intelligence, generosity, training, conviction and endurance.
"The empire of Darius as well as his army dwelt in immorality and degeneration; eating became the principal occupation of the aristocracy, a corrupt and corrupting multitude of "menials" filled the houses of the wealthy, while drunkenness became the common vice of every class. Darius army leaders brought their concubines to the battle fields and had no ambition for war, no improvement had been made in the training or equipment of the troops, or in the tactics of the generals. while Alexander had a solid army with an excellent military discipline and moral character, they frolicked but only after the battle was won".
What was Alexander's main problem that made him lost his last battle?
----- AMBITION , he couldn't stop.
The story of civilization
CHAP.XIII. -Persia.
CHAP.XIII. -Persia.
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