Alexander earned the title Alexander the Great because he never tasted defeat in battle and many military analysts believe that he was the most aggressive military commander in history. This narrative highlights Alexander’s military career.
King Alexander of Macedonia was born in the town of Pella in 356 BCE before he died in the city of Babylon in 323 BCE. King Alexander earned the title Alexander the Great because he never tasted defeat in battle and many military analysts believe that he was the greatest strategic, tactical, and operational battlefield commander in all of western military history. Within 12 years, young Alexander created a Greco-Persian Empire that stretched from Greece to India, which included the Middle East and North Africa. Alexander created cities bearing his name. The most famous city he established was Alexandria in Egypt, which was famous for its great library of ancient literary thought, including the lost books of the Holy Scriptures.
Alexander became king of Macedonia in 336 BCE. Although he was only 20 years old, he possessed a keen, brilliant, strategic, tactical, and operational military mind as well as superior courage, and charismatic authority. Alexander’s military expedition against the powerful Persian Empire commenced an epic journey into non-western regions of the world. In 334 BCE, with his Macedonian Army of approximately 32,000 infantrymen and 5,000 cavalrymen, Alexander crossed from Greece into Asia Minor where he decisively crushed a strong Persian Army at the Battle of the Granicus River. Because he was leading his soldiers from the front, Alexander was wounded many times by almost every weapon of ancient warfare. His courageous and reckless style of command made his men drunk with fanatical inspiration to fight and die for him.
ALEXANDER VERSUS DARIUS III
While Alexander was advancing toward Syria, his Macedonian Army met the main Persian Army at the Battle of Issus in 333BCE where he personally led his companion cavalry in a direct assault against the Persian King, Darius III. King Darius, who had never faced King Alexander in battle before, fled from the battlefield when his Persian fighting men were massacred by Alexander’s Companion Cavalry and Macedonian Phalanx.
THE COMPANION CAVALRY
Alexander’s elite fighting force within his army was his Companion Cavalry, which was originally made up only of Macedonian nobles. While they were wearing their long-sleeved purple tunics and yellow cloaks, the Companion cavalrymen were divided into eight groups. Seven of these groups had 200 cavalrymen and one, which was the Royal Squadron, had 300 cavalrymen. The Companion cavalrymen were armed with swords and 12 foot long thrusting spears, which gave an advantage over the Persian armies. These horseback warriors wore metal helmets designed for good all-round vision. Their body armor consisted of a metal breastplate, metal-reinforced leather, or strong linen cloth. Their shields were not used on horseback during battle.
THE MACEDONIAN PHALANX
The primary reason for Alexander’s military successes was his Macedonian Phalanx. The first part of what made the phalanx so deadly was its depth, with rows of up to 16 infantrymen deep. The second part of its lethality was its heavy 18 foot long pike, which required two hands to wield the weapon. The length of these pikes meant that the phalanx’s first five rows could make contact with the enemy simultaneously. The phalanx needed to maneuver quickly and smoothly, with all the men keeping their positions to prevent any enemy from taking advantage of their gaps. The Macedonian phalanx usually operated in the center of Alexander’s lines to hold the enemy’s advance.
ALEXANDER’S REMAINING CAMPAIGNS
With his Companion Cavalry and Macedonian Phalanx, Alexander conquered Egypt without a fight before returning to the east where he met King Darius III again at the Battle of Gaugamela in 332 BCE. Although the Macedonians were outnumber by the Persians, Alexander waited until a gap appeared in Darius attacking formation, then charged decisively in a wedge-shape formation. After being defeated again by the one two punch of Alexander’s Macedonian phalanx and Companion cavalry, Darius fled the batt
Although Alexander was now ruler of the Persian Empire, he continued his march eastward, toward India, where he met the Indian king Porus at the Battle of the Hydaspes River. While they were fighting against terrifying war elephants, the Macedonians were able to surround and defeat their adversary. After years of continuous fighting, Alexander’s exhausted warriors refused to go on fighting and Alexander reluctantly decided to return westward where later he died from a combination of lingering injuries, drunkenness, and a high fever in Babylon in 323 BCE.
PRIMARY SOURCES: The Battle 100; LT. COL Lanning; Sourcebooks, 2003. Ancient Greece; Eric D. Nelson, PhD., and Susan K Allard-Nelson, PhD; 2004. Ancient Egypt; Donald P. Ryan, Ph.D.; 2002. Battlefield; Richard Holmes; 2006. The Art of War; Andre Roberts; 2008. The Book of Wars; Dwight Jon Zimmerman; 2008. The Book of Weapons; Dwight Jon Zimmerman; 2009. The Roman Empire; Eric Nelson, Ph.D.; 2002.