For Alexander the Great’s legendary campaign
against Darius III of the Achaemenid Empire, the winter of 332/331 was the calm before the storm.
During that time, the Macedonian army had what amounted to a holiday in the gentle lands adjacent
to the River Nile. But that holiday was now over. As the mountain snows thawed and the spring
began, two of the greatest armies of the age were on the march. Alexander’s force was smaller,
but had proven itself supreme multiple times in the realms of discipline, technology, and command.
Darius’ newly raised imperial army was massive, its warriors drawn from the seemingly endless
reserves of his continent-spanning empire. Persia was about to face off for one last time against
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Ever since his epochal triumph at Issus two
years earlier, Alexander had been methodically reducing every potential center of resistance
in the western part of the Achaemenid Empire. Syria had been secured and administered,
followed by Phoenicia, Palestine, and the jewel in Persia’s crown - Egypt. But as spring of
331 BC arrived, it was once more time to move on, this time into Persia’s imperial heartland. The
advance would be risky - disconcerting news was even now arriving from Greece concerning
Agis’ revolt. All the king could feasibly do at this point without abandoning everything
he had accomplished was to send a great fleet of 100 ships to aid any harbour supporting the
Macedonian cause. Apart from that, putting down the Greek rebels would be left to Antipater and
the men under his command. With that considered Alexander again turned east, where Darius and
a colossal Persian army were waiting for him. Following one final bout of administrative
fine-tuning, the king marched his army to Thapsacus - a major link between Syria and
Mesopotamia. He arrived between July and August, but an advance force under Hephaestion
had already been present for some time, and managed to construct two pontoon bridges
over the Euphrates ready for the army’s use. As a sign of the Macedonian engineers’ skill, these
bridges lacked a final stretch on the far bank, preventing any enemy force from effectively using
them and this proved to be a wise precaution. Observing the invaders’ crossing from a
safe distance was a force of 3,000 Persian cavalry outriders commanded by one of Darius’
satraps - Mazaeus. Arrian seems to imply that Mazaeus’ horsemen were supposed to stop the
crossing of Alexander’s vastly superior army, but it is more probable that Darius simply
required intelligence as to what the Macedonians were doing. There was, realistically, no chance
for Mazaeus to prevent the crossing by himself. Having learned from previous defeats,
Darius III had come up with a plan. 70 years earlier, another invasion force famously
including 10,000 Greek mercenaries had marched directly down the east bank of the Euphrates
with the aim of taking Babylon, as the Persians believed Alexander, notoriously bold as he was,
would. In that previous clash, the invaders had arrived on a wide, cavalry-friendly plain known
as Cunaxa and were stopped in their tracks. Darius hoped to repeat that feat at the same place,
further relying on the blistering Mesopotamian sun and scorched earth tactics to deny the
Macedonians food, fodder, and comfort. But while this cunning plan took Alexander’s directness
into account, it did not account for the king’s unpredictability. As a lover of Hellenic works,
he too was educated in Xenophon’s anabasis, therefore upon crossing the Euphrates, Alexander
struck northeast across the Mesopotamian plain, beelining towards the other great river - Tigris.
Not only did this completely derail Darius’ preparations, but the cooler northern temperatures
would be better for the Macedonian army. Upon seeing Alexander’s move north, Mazaeus
rode hurriedly to inform his master in Babylon. To the credit of the Great King and his
commanders, this unexpected turn of events did not paralyze Persian preparations
and a strategic pivot was quickly made. The imperial army would move north towards Arbela
and confront Alexander somewhere on the Tigris, all the while Mazaeus would venture upriver,
dispatching a tightly-knit web of scouting forces to keep an eye on the Macedonian monarch. By the
time Alexander got near, Darius’ army would be ready and waiting. Meanwhile, Alexander himself
was still crossing the arid Mesopotamian plain, capturing a few of Mazaeus’ scouts in the
process. It was from these captives that the Macedonians learned, somewhat vaguely, that the
main Persian army had taken up a position on the Tigris and was set to throw the Macedonians
back if they attempted to ford the river. Moreover, estimates of the sheer size of
Darius’ massive army were also obtained. If Arrian is to be believed, such speculation
simply made Alexander desire a confrontation all the more rapidly. Upon finally arriving at
the upper reaches of the Tigris in mid-September, the Macedonian king and his army found neither
Darius nor his hundred-thousand plus men - faulty or deceptive intelligence from the captured scout,
it seemed. Still, deprived of his immediate fight, this did allow the Macedonians to cross to the
far bank relatively easily, after which they were given a well-deserved rest before moving on.
At about the same time Darius, vaguely aware of where Alexander was, reached Arbela. The two
armies, now on the same side of the Tigris, were getting perilously close to one another.
While Alexander continued pressing on with the river on his right and the mountains on his left,
Darius managed to find a perfect replacement battlefield for the great plain of Cunaxa near
the small village of Gaugamela. He marched his troops up and immediately set labourers to work,
flattening hills, clearing rocks and trees, and employing every possible measure to
make the plain as flat as possible. The Great King was so distracted by this that he
failed to take the low hills three miles west. En route, Alexander had two minor encounters
with Persian cavalry forces under Mazaeus, but they were easily put to flight. Further
prisoners taken in these engagements revealed that Darius’ massive army was at Gaugamela,
by that point only around ten miles away. Further investigation uncovered
the ground-leveling operations and made Alexander realise that Darius didn’t
intend to move from this pre-selected battlefield, allowing him to encamp and give his men another
substantial rest before the climactic battle. During this short lull, the Persians utilised
infiltration and assassination tactics, attempting to turn the Greek soldiers against Alexander
with promises of gold and other good things. One of these letters was intercepted and the king
debated reading it aloud before the Greeks to emphasize his trust in them. He was deterred
from doing so by the ever-cautious Parmenion, who reasoned that avarice recognised nothing
as a crime, not even the murder of a king. Instead, the letter was suppressed and the camp
fortified. While most of the army recuperated in camp, Alexander assembled a strong cavalry
escort and went to personally scout both the battlefield terrain and Darius’ army. When
he crested the hill overlooking it, Peter Green suggests that the Macedonian king might’ve
second-guessed his earlier bravado about facing the Persians so brazenly. For what he saw was an
army larger even than that he had faced at Issus. More than that, it seemed far superior in armament
and skill, possessing a large quantity of fearsome eastern cavalry. That night, Alexander sat awake
in his tent for hours on end, analysing the potential of each Persian unit and considering
the potential damage they might inflict, along with the tactics he could use to gain
victory. At some point, Parmenion arrived and suggested that a night attack be carried out, but
Alexander stated that he would “Not demean victory by stealing victory like a thief. Alexander
must defeat his enemies openly and honestly.” But even Arrian, who usually gushes
with praise over the Macedonian king, found it likely that this haughty
response was just a smokescreen. He believed instead that ‘these lofty words
probably indicated confidence in danger rather than vanity.’ Rather than the morality of
victory, refusal to engage in an incredibly risky, potentially catastrophic night attack was
instead simply a sound tactical decision. Pitched battles had worked wonders thus far
and so there was no need to gamble everything in the dark. This proved to be a shrewd decision
indeed. While the Macedonian army was resting in preparation for the coming battle, Darius’ troops,
lacking a camp with fortifications, were actually drawn up in full battle order throughout the night
in fear of any surprise assault by the enemy. Not only did the consequential lack of sleep
exhaust the vast array of Achaemenid warriors, but waiting hour after hour with nothing to show
for it demoralised the Persians greatly, sapping their spirit. Back in the secure Macedonian camp,
Alexander at last crossed the T’s and dotted the I’s of his intricate battle plan and then
simply went to sleep in the early morning hours. When the sun rose above the horizon on the
morning of the great Battle of Gaugamela, Alexander did not rise with it. Instead,
unconcerned by the gravity of the occasion, he slept. On their own volition, the various
battalions had breakfast and assembled for battle. Only when knowledge of Alexander’s plan
became necessary for deployment did Parmenion, probably rolling his eyes a little, go and rouse
the king from his slumber. No doubt curious as to just how the king was able to sleep so
soundly when the largest army ever seen was right there over the hill, Parmenion asked him.
Alexander simply responded by saying that he had indeed been worried when the Persians had been
retreating and laying waste to the line of march, but now that pitched battle was on the cards ‘By
Heracles, he has done exactly what I wanted!’ Not long later, Alexander and his army strode onto
the Gaugamela plain in battle-ready formation. Finally, the Macedonian king and his Persian
counterpart were face to face once more, and the great battle for Asia was about to
begin. But this clash was not to be the walkover the Macedonians might’ve expected after their
winter of luxury. Darius’ army was so massive that its flanks extended beyond Alexander’s by a
significant margin and outflanking was virtually assured. The Persian left and right wings were
commanded by Bessus and Mazaeus respectively, while the Great King Darius III himself
was stationed in the center. On the left, Bessus commanded thousands of cavalry from his
own satrapy of Bactria, together with Sogdians and Arachosians. Additional mounted strength was drawn
from the nomadic peoples beyond Persia’s northern frontier who were in military alliance with the
empire, such as the Sacae and Dahae Scythians fighting as cataphracts or horse archers. On
the right, Mazaeus had Syrians, Mesopotamians, and Medes under his leadership, flanked toward the
center by Parthian and even more Sacae cavalry. Tapurians, Hyrcanians, Albanians, and Sacesinians
from the Caucasus and the areas around the Caspian sea formed the link between right and center. The
vanguard of Mazaeus’ wing was composed of Armenian and Cappadocian riders. Mixed Persian infantry
and Greek mercenaries formed Darius’ center, together with the king’s personal cavalry,
immortals, and the Indian cavalry. Two more exotic units made their debut in this massive
clash. First were the Great King’s 200 scythed chariots - somewhat experimental shock
vehicles with blades on their wheels tailored to break apart the fearsome Macedonian phalanx.
100 of these chariots were drawn up just to the right of Bessus’ Bactrians, and 50 each in front
of the Indians and next to Mazaeus’ Armenians. 15 majestic elephants accompanied the Indian
contingent. All in all, the Persian army at Gaugamela consisted of between 100,000 and 150,000
troops, 30 to 40,000 of which were cavalry. Alexander’s army of around 40,000 infantry and
7,000 cavalry opposed this gargantuan force. On the surface, its units were drawn up as they
usually were. Phalanx battalions made up the solid center, Parmenion and his allied-Thessalian
cavalry stood guard on the left while Alexander, the companion cavalry and the king’s usual
Agrianes, archer and hypaspist strikeforce prepared to smash the enemy army on the right. But
there were a few notable differences designed by the king for precisely this occasion. Both
the Macedonian left and right flank guards were angled inward in order to better withstand
a Persian encirclement attack. The second line of 7,000 Greek hoplite infantry was also arrayed
behind the first line Macedonian line with orders to turn and face any attempt at encirclement by
the enemy. Hopefully, twisting the flanks as he had and deploying such a reserve would hold the
Achaemenid cavalry off until the battle was won. Confident in his army’s supreme discipline
and fully prepared to exploit Darius’ plan, Alexander ordered his entire line to gradually
shift to the right. Simultaneously, the king personally took his right wing and began an
oblique advance, as though aiming to outflank the Persian line with his numerically inferior forces.
At once reacting to this unexpected maneuver, Bessus flexed his strength by stretching his
cavalry even further out, always keeping outside of the Macedonians. This, in turn, dragged units
away from the Persian center. All of a sudden, it became obvious to the Achaemenid leadership
that by edging his army to the right, Alexander was attempting to move the battle away from the
leveled plain, thereby rendering much of Darius’ long-planned strategy null and void. Regardless of
his lacking numbers, Alexander continued drifting right until he was just short of the cleared zone.
Anxious to avoid fighting on the rough ground, Bessus finally committed his wing by launching
a direct charge against the Macedonian right. This commitment was precisely the move
Alexander had been attempting to provoke. As his companion cavalry joined battle with the
ferocious Sacae-Bactrian horse that formed Bessus’ vanguard, the Macedonian king fed additional units
into the fray from deeper on his flank. Naturally, Bessus responded by committing the majority of
his strength with the hope of crushing Alexander and rolling up his army. As this engagement
was progressing on the Macedonian right, Darius III believed that the moment had come to
wipe out this troublesome invader from the west once and for all. On the other Persian flank,
Mazaeus launched an overwhelming cavalry assault against the ever-stalwart Parmenion who
was, as always, desperately outnumbered. All across the line, Persian scythed chariots,
200 of them, barrelled forwards in an all-out rush to smash the Macedonian phalanx. Exercising
the lockstep discipline for which they were known, Alexander’s phalanx battalions refused to be
intimidated by these contraptions. Instead, they simply opened lanes within their ranks into
which the horse-drawn chariots sped impotently. A few casualties were inflicted by the chariots
here and there, but an effective combination of Agriane javelineering, royal guard, and
army grooms put an end to Darius’ wildcard, ripping the drivers from their vehicles and
killing them. On Alexander’s right, the clash between the companion cavalry and Bessus’ horse
intensified still further. For the Macedonians, it was a ferocious battle against the odds,
with Peter Green stating that Alexander’s 1,100-strong spearmen were fighting
a force ten times its own size. Still more Persian cavalry units from the center
entered the fray, attempting to dislodge these brilliant Macedonian warriors. It was then
that Alexander saw his great opportunity. The singular focus on Bessus’ engagement with
Alexander had revealed a dangerous weakness in the Persian left-center - precisely
where Darius himself was positioned. The line had been frayed and many units that would
otherwise have been protecting the Great King were now absent, committed to the fight against
the companions. Now, leading a spearhead of his companions, hypaspists, and several unengaged
phalanx units1, Alexander charged Darius directly. With the raising of a great battle cry, the
Macedonian king’s wedge mercilessly cut into the formations surrounding his Persian counterpart.
Fighting was brutal and hand to hand. Macedonian cavalry spears thrust forward into the faces of
the Persians and Alexander even had more than one horse killed under him. With the help of the
phalangites, Alexander scythed his way closer and closer to Darius. The Persian king, who had grown
increasingly uneasy ever since the battle began, is said by Curtius to have drawn his
sword and prepared to defend himself. However, even with the fate of his centuries’ old
empire on the line, Darius’ skittish nature once more got the best of him. Faced by the rampaging
elites of the Macedonian army, the King of Kings turned tail and ran for his life. Witnessing the
royal flight, the majority of the Persian center collapsed. This was followed by Bessus’ left,
which gradually began disengaging in good order. The time was now for Alexander to seize Darius and
with him the crown of the Achaemenid Empire, and so the chase began. However, before the bold and
triumphant king of Macedonia could ride to claim his imperial prize, an urgent message arrived from
Parmenion. The situation in the rear was critical. Unaware that their monarch had been driven off the
field, Mazaeus and his overwhelming cavalry wing was on the verge of snatching victory
from the jaws of defeat. Moreover, a stray band of Persian and Indian cavalry had
drifted through a gap in the Macedonian phalanx and were ransacking the camp2. Almost
certainly gritting his teeth in frustration, Alexander looked back to where his loyal general
required his urgent assistance, and forth, where Darius was distancing himself with every
passing second. After that second of hesitation, Alexander turned his troops around and charged
the inner-rear of the cavalry bearing down on Parmenion. Although victorious in this action
also, against some of the best Parthian and Indian horsemen, over 60 of the companions
were killed in the battle’s hardest fighting. With the vast majority of Darius’ army scattered
to the four winds and the Macedonians fully in control of the field, Parmenion rode to secure the
Persian camp. The troops, meanwhile, were allowed a well-deserved rest. Alexander could hardly
be too irritated that his enemy had escaped. Darius’ second great army had been almost
totally destroyed, his authority undermined and the Great King himself shown to be a coward
unable to defend his empire. That being said, Darius had slipped the net, first to Arbela where
he regrouped with Bessus and then further east. With the defeat of the last of the Great King’s
organised forces, It was now time to move east into the great expanse of the Persian
Empire, where Darius was to be captured and Alexander could move on to the edge of the world.
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