It's July of the year 326 BC. Following the great victory on the banks of the Hydaspes, the unbeaten Macedonian army led by King Alexander dwells in Punjab. His insatiable desire for conquest brought them to the largely unknown lands of the Indian subcontinent, beyond which, as the Greeks believed, was the ocean encircling the landmass of the world. Evidently, the subjugation of the Punjabi kingdoms didn't fulfil Alexander's ambitions, and soon he departed further to the East, preparing for another campaign in the densely populated basin of the river Ganges. As it was the middle of the monsoon season in India, torrential rains slowed the Macedonian march. Melting snows in the Himalayas made any major river crossings a challenge. Still, they managed to push through the Hydraotes river unhindered. Eight long years had passed since the war weary Greeks had last seen their homeland. In 334 BC they had crossed the Hellespont to challenge the Persians, but being led by one of the greatest leaders of all time, the Macedonian war-machine virtually ploughed through the entirety of the Persian Empire in an extraordinary conquest. Now the Greek expedition was beyond its former eastern borders, three thousand miles from their homeland, having entered the large, uncharted lands of myth and fairy tales. Their equipment was worn, and their uniforms were rotting off their backs. Humid weather with rain constantly pouring down made the journey even more arduous. Eventually, when Alexander was about to ferry through another monsoon-swollen river, the Hyphasis, the majority of his soldiers refused to march any further, and insisted they turn back. This outright act of disobedience was even backed by his loyal officers, who spoke on behalf of their subordinates and forswore the upcoming campaign. It's not clear whether Alexander was expecting this mutiny and raged against their lack of ambition, or if he was aware that his army's morale was plummeting, and actually planned to stop the conquest at an opportune time. His vanity wouldn't allow him to simply turn back, so perhaps he felt he could use both the demoralization of his troops and sudden bad omens, such as the moon being eclipsed, to justify abandoning his grandiose plans of conquest. Bear in mind, that his whole adult life was a constant string of successful wars and mighty achievements, making him believe he was indeed favoured by the gods, who he saw as blessing him with godlike traits. Whatever the truth was, Alexander eventually submitted to the will of his men and stopped at Hyphasis. Roman sources indicate, that prior to the journey back, Alexander ordered the erection of twelve altars and had the camp fortifications vastly enlarged in order to leave a pseudo wonder commemorating his deeds for posterity. Although the Macedonian expedition returned to the banks of the Hydaspes, Alexander felt that it would be a disgrace to simply go back along the already established path, as it would look like they returned home defeated. So instead of traveling back to Central Asia, it was decided to move south, along the Indus basin, straight to the ocean, and then, alongside the coast, to Babylonia. Hence the next two months were used to build a fleet capable of sailing the troops down the rivers. Just before the fleet was ready, reinforcements from Thrace arrived. 15,000 fresh soldiers, together with plenty of much needed clothes, armour, weapons and various other equipment joined the Macedonian host. One can’t help but wonder, whether, if they had arrived before Alexander reached Hyphasis, he would have had more luck encouraging his men to continue the march eastward. Be that as it may, in early November of 326 BC, with the fleet ready and monsoon season passed, the Macedonians started their expedition south. Alexander had nearly 100,000 men under his command. For the sake of logistics, three separate armies were created. While two contingents under Ptolemy and Craterus marched along the river, Alexander sailed down the Indus with the third detachment. Weeks later, all three contingents strode into the lands inhabited by two warring Indian tribes – the Oxydracians and the Mallians, both hostile towards Greek invaders. As this common enemy appeared, Indian chieftains ceased their local strife, and formed a temporary alliance against Alexander. The Macedonians reached the confluence of the Hydaspes and Acesines rivers where they built a camp and regrouped. The river fleet under Nearchus was ordered to sail down the Acesines and set a bridgehead at the next confluence with the Hydraotis river. Craterus's detachment was to follow along the river. Alexander took command of the largest unit and was set to attack the Indian tribes through the desert that spanned between the rivers. It was a difficult manoeuvre, and Alexander’s attack could have been seen as nonsensical, but this wasn't the first time he had used unexpected measures to surprise his opponents. He was also warned that the Mallian’s had a reputation of being the fiercest and most warlike tribe in the region. In response to this warning the Macedonians often slaughtered whole towns on their way. Further detachments were assigned to this task, to make the conquest more efficient and complete. Several Greek armies roamed the region, so the Mallians had little chance of escaping the invaders. The only safe route of escape was south, straight to the Mallian capital. Alexander was closing the distance to the city marching along the Hydraotis. En route to their destination, the Macedonians encountered an organised Indian defence guarding the ford. Alexander charged with Companion cavalry across the river, quickly causing the terrified enemy to give up the defence and flee. Apparently, rumours about Greek ruthlessness had already spread across the region. While the Macedonian elite cavalry tracked the fleeing enemy, the Indian leaders realized that Alexander’s cavalry was now only made up of a modest number, and so they stopped to fight him. Some skirmishes took place, but the Macedonian King avoided a standing encounter, being vastly outnumbered. Soon, the Greek light infantry joined the skirmish, which resulted in the general retreat of the Mallian force to the citadel. The Mallian last stand was soon encompassed and Macedonian troops laid the siege. The outer walls were quickly stormed and taken by the Greeks, but the inner defence stood strong. Alexander, who had quickly grown impatient at the pace of the siege, took a scaling ladder and charged at the walls, followed by just a few of his bodyguards. Macedonian soldiers rushed to help their king, who was already fighting on the wall. Unsurprisingly, when he took an arrow to the chest, Alexander’s irrational charge collapsed. His action, however, triggered a violent storm, and soon the citadel was taken. Rumour of Alexander's death caused his soldiers to exterminate the city's population. Thousands were put to the sword in their act of revenge. The Macedonian king, though severely wounded, as the arrow had penetrated a lung, was still alive. The arrowhead was removed by surgeon Kritomedos, and Alexander balanced between life and death for the next days. His health eventually improved slightly, and he could accept the formal surrender of the Mallians and install the Greek governor of the region. Alexander suffered from his wound during their journey south along the Indus River, but his life was no longer at risk. Having pacified the Mallians, the Macedonians spent the next half of the year preparing to journey back home. Just when the monsoon season of the year 325 BC was about to end, the 50,000 strong main army led by the king himself departed back west. Nearchus' river fleet was refitted to endure oceanic travel and was to follow the army along the shore. Bad weather and poor understanding of the local tides delayed their journey, and they lost contact with Alexander. Meanwhile, the Macedonian king was about to cross the Gedrosian Desert. He could have avoided this route, marching around it instead, but, constantly seeking new challenges, he decided to push his troops across. In doing this, Alexander wanted to prove his superiority over Cyrus the Great, a Persian king who lost his army in Gedrosia two hundred years earlier. Though it was the most suitable period of the year to attempt the crossing, Alexander didn't avoid huge losses in manpower, equipment and baggage animals due to lack of water and blazing heat. It wasn't the first time that the Macedonian army performed a strenuous march though, and, despite tough conditions, they eventually succeeded, reaching the city of Pura, where supplies from the fertile lands of Drangiana awaited them. In January of the year 324 BC, Alexander arrived at Pasargadae, and two months later reached Susa, where he reunited with Nearchus. There he made efforts to consolidate his freshly conquered lands. Many disloyal satraps were replaced, and some were even killed. In order to cement relationships between the Macedonians and Persians, Alexander held mass marriages in Susa. Many of his officers took Persian wives, and the King himself also married two Persian princesses. An enormous amount of work and dedication was needed to consolidate the vast empire, but instead Alexander had already planned new expeditions to Arabia and the western Mediterranean. He was, however, never to conquer again, as his brilliant military career ended abruptly in the June of 323 BC. Alexander had been holding a drinking party to venerate his deceased friend, Hephaestion, when he suddenly felt a pain in his chest. Despite the pain, he continued drinking. Over the course of the next few days, he suffered from heavy fever and his health quickly deteriorated. On the 11th of June, with only a month to go to his 33rd birthday, and at the height of his power, Alexander died. The Macedonian king’s disastrous and unexpected death caught his friends and officers completely unprepared. In the unregulated succession that followed, Alexander’s vast and powerful empire was slowly partitioned as his successors, the Diadochi , scrambled amongst themselves for the remains.
The Mallian Campaign was conducted by Alexander the Great from November 326 to February 325 BC, it was one of his last ventures as a military commander.
Alexander was defining the eastern limit of his power after his troops refused to march further eastwards, the army marched down-river along the Hydaspes to the Acesines (now the Jhelum and Chenab), but the Malli and the Oxydraci combined to refuse passage through their territory.
Alexander sought to prevent their forces meeting, and made a swift campaign against them which successfully pacified the region between the two rivers. Alexander was seriously injured during the course of the campaign, almost losing his life, but the campaign was a rapid success nonetheless.
In a span of just a few months, the entire lower Indus river region was conquered and absorbed into Alexander's Empire.
Alexander soon divided the conquered regions of India between Philip(son of Machatas), Oxyartes and Peithon (son of Agenor) as the satraps of India, with this immediatelly starting a construction of yet another Alexandria.
However, Alexander died soon after and the region as a whole was swiftly taken by another conqueror from India, Chandragupta Maurya, who launched a series of campaigns against both Greeks and Indians, resulting in the largest and most powerful state India has birthed up until that point.
It really drives me nuts how some amazing parts of Alexanders journey are just "forgotten" or simply not mentioned. I found about this when I read some books about the Diadochi.
I still am angry that I spent years and years of my life without knowing about the siege of Tyre.
niggah could have went to china if he tried hard enough
My favourite part is the elephant ladder