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Battles: Battle of Gaugamela
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The battle of Gaugamela was the third great battle of Megas Alexandros, Alexander the Great, in Persia. In this battle Alexander won a victory that has, for many, earned him the epithet 'the Great'.
Alexander's conquests had reached a new height. Following the victory of the Macedonian army at the battle of Issus Alexander had marched on the great coastal cities of Phoenicia. Upon the entrance of the conqueror into the area most of the Phoenician cities surrendered to the Macedonians, but Tyre staid neutral. This made Alexander suspicious and he laid siege to the city when they refused to surrender to him. The siege of Tyre was the longest and bloodiest siege of the entire conquest of Persia. During this time Darius III had returned to Babylon and sent out a summons for a second great army to converge. While he did this the Great King attempted to once again fight Alexander on the scale of grand strategy, opening up fronts in Asia Minor, the Aegean, and Hellas itself. But by 331 this grand strategy had been defeated by a combination of lack of coordination between the Persians, the skill of Alexander's lieutenants, and the loss of not only Tyre but also of Gaza also to a Macedonian siege. In late 332 Alexander began his advance towards Egypt. Once they reached Egypt Alexander and his army were met with a surprise, the crowds of Egyptians welcomed them as liberators and the Persian forces, who had heard by now of the defeat at Issus and the fall of Tyre and Gaza, surrendered with out a fight. Alexander stayed in Egypt for some time, like so many conquerors before and after him. His time in Egypt had two great highlights, the pilgrimage to Siwa, which resulted in his being declared the son of Zeus-Ammon, and the foundation of the great city of Alexandria. When the Macedonians at last left Egypt in April 331 they were in high spirits, as was their king, ready to puncture into the heart of Persia. At this point a message arrived from Darius III. The Great King missed his family terribly and the news of the death of wife had dealt him a blow. He was willing to pay a fortune for their return, as well as the entire Achaemenid Empire west of the Euphrates. To top it all off Darius offered the hand of one of his daughters in marriage to Alexander. Many in the Macedonian camp urged the king to accept the Persian proposal. But Alexander refused outright, he demanded to be treated like an equal and declared he would hunt Darius to the ends of the earth. For the Great King this was another blow and he went into a deep despair. Nevertheless Darius roused himself for the defense of the heartland, and his large army moved out from Babylon. The Persians expected Alexander to follow the Euphrates to Babylon where Darius was waiting for him. But Alexander did something totally unexpected, he crossed the river at Jerablus and marched into Assyria. Darius was caught completely off guard and he knew he had to counter Alexander and quick. So he marshaled his forces and marched from Babylon to the town of Arbela. There he sat and waited for Alexander to move, the campaign becoming a game of chess between the two leaders. Macedonian scouts had since located the Persian force, and Alexander moved north, crossing the Tigris River near modern day Mosul. Darius met this with a policy of scorched earth so extensive that ancient sources tell us that day was as black as night due to the heavy smoke. The Persian forces then moved off from Arbela to the plains near the village of Gaugamela to the west. Once they reached there the Persians set about landscaping the area, transforming the plains of Gaugamela into one gigantic flat. This way the Persian cavalry could operate in perfect conditions. Darius also had caltrops littered all over the ground, so that the Macedonian horses would be crippled. Alexander meanwhile was now aware of the Persian presence and marched quickly to meet them. When the Macedonians reached the hills near Gaugamela Alexander ordered a stop and camp was pitched. For four days the Macedonian army rested while Alexander held a special session to determine what to do. By now he was well aware of the Persian preparations, and had to plan on how to meet it. The result was one of the most brilliant battle plans in history. After exhorting his commanders that absolute obedience and perfect precision were key Alexander prepared for battle. The Macedonian army moved once more towards the plain and pitched camp. One more day was taken in drill and going over the plan. At dawn the following day the Macedonian army assumed formation and marched out in silence. Persian scouts reported this to Darius, who ordered a countermarch. The great decisive battle of Gaugamela had begun.
The battle plan that Alexander laid out at Gaugamela was different then before. Alexander knew from his reconnaissance missions that the Persian line would try to outflank him. He also knew that the Persians would attempt to use their cavalry against him heavily. To counter this Alexander formulated his famous strategy: He would try to draw as much of the enemy cavalry as he could on to his flanks. This would create a hole in which Alexander would strike the killing blow with a special wedge formation. For this reason the Macedonian army was arrayed like a hollow box with the 'sides' jutting out at a 45 degree angle. In the center was the Pezhetairoi backed up from the rear by a phalanx of Greek mercenaries and the light troops. Additionally there was the Cretan archers, a squadron of Thessalian cavalry, Greek cavalry, and the Achaean mercenaries. On the right wing stood the Hypaspistai, Hetairoi, Prodromoi, Paeonians, the Agrianoi, and Macedonian archers. There was also a force of mercenary Greeks and Illyrians covering in front. On the left wing was the main body of Thessalian cavalry, more Greek mercenary cavalry, Thracian Odrysian cavalry, and finally the Pharsalian cavalry. As before the command was divided between Alexander on the right and Parmenion on the left.
The Persians had brought to bare their largest force yet. The army of the Great King that had assembled and marched with Darius to Gaugamela was a truly huge host from all corners of the empire. Even elephants from India and scythed chariots were present at this great battle. Darius' battle plan was to bring as much force to bare as he could on the right wing of Alexander's army, which Issus taught him was the most deadly. He also hoped to use his scythed chariots to create holes in the Macedonian line for his cavalry to exploit. The Persian line was arrayed thus: In the center was Darius himself in his golden chariot surrounded by the Royal kinsmen. With them was the Greek mercenary phalanx, the Anusiya (10,000 Immortals), a force of Carian cavalry, a force of Indian cavalry, and the Mardian archers. Behind the center was a mass of levies, like at Issus. In front of the center was 15 Indian elephants (which are never heard of again) and 50 scythed chariots. On the right wing was the Albanian, Sakesinian, Syrian, Areian, Parthian, Hyrcanian, Tapurian, and Sakae cavalry. In front of the right wing was another 50 scythed chariots, the Armenian and Cappodocian cavalry. On the left wing was more Indian cavalry, the Bactrians, the Sogdians, the Dahae, the Arachrosians, Indian hill men, Persian cavalry and infantry, a mixed force of Medes, the Susians, and lastly the Cadusian cavalry. In front of the left wing was more Sakae and Bactrians, plus another 100 scythed chariots.
The battle of Gaugamela was one of the most decisive in history. When the Macedonians advanced from their camp unto the prepared plain at dawn they were well rested. The Persians on the other hand were tried from not being allowed to sleep the previous night, out of fear on the part of Darius of a night attack. As the Macedonians advanced on the plain Darius ordered a countermarch setting his great army in motion. Soon it became apparent that Alexander was trying to get his army off of the prepared ground. Darius, not wanting all of his preparations to go to waste, ordered Bessus, the Satrap of Bactria and commander of the left wing, to begin the attack. The entire front left of the Persian line surged forward kicking up such a large cloud of dust that the ancient accounts of the battle differ from this point forward. We shall take an mixture of these differing accounts. The initial force of so many cavalry colliding into the Macedonian line at once was so strong that it almost broke. But it held on and Alexander ordered the reserve troops behind the Pezhetairoi to engage. This caused Bessus to commit more and more of his troops to the battle. This was exactly what Alexander wanted, and eventually the entire Persian left flank had been tied down trying to smash the Macedonian right. When a momentary break occurred in the Macedonian lines Darius ordered the chariots forward to attack the phalanx in the center. But Alexander had prepared for that eventuality, by opening gaps in the front ranks that would lead the chariot horses to impale themselves on the rear ranks sarissas' (the long Macedonian pike). Darius then committed his right wing to battle, beginning a great struggle on the Macedonian left. This was all going exactly as Alexander had planned, both flanks of the Persian army were now totally engaged on the 'sides' of his formation. This had created a hole in the Persian line between Bessus' left wing and the center of the Persian line under Darius. Alexander began to collect his strike force for the charge, which included the best of his cavalry, led by the Hetairoi, the Hypaspistai, a few battalions of Pezhetairoi, and any free light infantry and formed them into a wedge like formation. When the time was right Alexander ordered the wedge to charge at full speed. The small force of Persian cavalry which at the time had suddenly arrived to fill the gap in the line was swept aside by Alexander's charge, which was aimed exactly at Darius. Bessus, observing the action, feared that the charging Macedonians would come around and attack his rear, and so sounded for the Bactrians and Sogdians under his command to break off from combat. This caused the Persian left wing to begin to break and flee. Meanwhile the point of the wedge had collided into the Persian center, a fierce fight soon broke out between the elite of both armies. However a crises soon appeared in the Macedonian lines. Alexander's charge had caused a gap to appear between his charging formation and the main body of Pezhetairoi, a gap that the Indian cavalry, as well as some Persian, used to their advantage. They break through the phalanx, but instead of exploiting this opportunity they ride off towards the Macedonian main camp to pillage. At this point in the center of the line the chariot ridden by the Great King suddenly went down. The troops fighting around him mistakenly believed Darius was dead and began to flee prematurely. When Darius did recover from his fall he was, despite his protests , dragged off the field by a kinsmen. Alexander then took off after Darius, ultimately chasing him for a total of 30 miles before giving up. On the other side of the battle field Parmenion rallied his troops and led by the Thessalian and Pharsalian squadrons the Macedonian left counter attacks. Mazaeus (commander of the Persian right), having since learned of the situation in the center and also of Bessus' retreat, called for one of his own. The great battle of Gaugamela, oft called the most decisive in history, was over.
In the aftermath of the battle much happened. With the defeat of Darius at Gaugamela the heartland of the Achaemenid Empire now laid open to Alexander. He would go on to pursue Darius all the way back to Arbela before learning that the remaining soldiers of the Persian army had made for the mountains of Persia, regrouping at the ancient capital of Ectbatana. Alexander knew it would be foolish to pursue Darius into the mountains and decided to call off the pursuit, plus he needed to lay claim to his new lands in Mesopotamia. Soon afterwards the Macedonian army turned south towards the great city of Babylon, the richest city in the Achaemenid Empire. The city surrendered without a fight and welcomed Alexander as a liberator, making his entrance into the city a grand parade (with the conqueror riding in Darius' chariot no less). With the massive victory over Darius at Gaugamela, and the surrender of Babylon, the glory of Alexander reached a new height.
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