“Battle issus decisive” by Frank Martini. Darius march south was interrupted, near the Pinarus River which had narrow coastal plain, when scouts spotted Alexander’s army marching north (Arr 2.6.2). Darius marched north and went after Issus and recapturing before following Alexander’s trail south. Alexander captured Issus and kept marching south as he heard, Darius III, king of the Persian Empire, was located at Sochi. Alexander sought to capture coastal settlements to reduce the power of the Persian Navy, as it was vastly superior to Alexander’s navy. Of the 5,000 Greek mercenaries, 2,000 were left and were sent to hard labor camps in Macedonia.Īfter his victory in Granicus, Alexander proceeded in occupying Asia Minor. The Greek mercenaries of the Persians surrendered but Alexander refused to negotiate and proceeded to slaughter them to make an example of traitors. Once the Persian cavalry retreated, as Alexander’s forces proved too much for the Persians, leaving the Greek mercenaries open for an attack. Given the opening he sought, Alexander ordered a direct attack of his companion on the right flank, followed by his entire army. Alexander began his attack by attacking the Persian left flank and drawing the center and weakening it. On the left wing were the Thessalian cavalry and some allied forces. He countered the cavalry by using the Pezhetairoi (six battalions that consisted of 9000 infantry) at the center, 3,000 hypaspists on the right, with cavalry on the right flank, this is where Alexander was located (Arr 1.16.45 – 50). Alexander exploited the Persian mistake and decided to attack on the same day he arrived. The Persians made a mistake of locating their cavalry on the river banks causing the cavalry to be a stationary unit as their infantry was located behind them (Diodorus, Book XVII, 19).
There are inconsistencies on the Persian army, Arrian claims 20,000 cavalry and 20,000 Greek mercenaries but in fact there was 4,000 – 5,000 Greek mercenaries. The army of Alexander consisted of 40,000 men and it was augmented by some troops already located in Asia. It took place on the river banks of the river Granicus in 334 BC. The Battle of Granicus was the first major battle between the two powers. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons –
Cartographer, Department of History, United States Military Academy – The Department of History, United States Military Academy. These decisive victories forced the Persian troops to retreat and given more time for Alexander to advance further into Persian territory. Alexander the Great had three major battles against the Persian Empire, those three battles were the battle of Granicus, the battle of Issus, and lastly the battle of Gaugamela.
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