All the Wars of Alexander the Great in a Single Video

Alexander the Great fought galore wars crossed the past world, securing a spot successful past arsenic 1 of the top generals of each time. Credit: Public domain / Wikimedia Commons

In his galore conquests crossed the Classical known world, Alexander the Great fought wars against a myriad of adversaries, triumphing implicit them all.

Alexander’s victories implicit King Darius, ruler of the Achaemenid Empire successful Persia, and King Porus successful India are recalled arsenic his astir celebrated subject achievements. However, the intrepid conqueror faced a wide array of different foes, including the Illyrians, Triballi, Phoenicians, Sogdians, and chap Greeks.

For Alexander the Great, thing abbreviated of the conquest of the full satellite would beryllium a capable achievement. During his tireless campaigns, Alexander and his armies marched each the mode from Macedon to northwestern India. Ultimately, helium died astatine the property of 32 earlier achieving this seemingly insurmountable goal, but his sanction has echoed passim the centuries since.

What made Alexander the Great specified a susceptible general?

Alexander the Great is wide regarded to beryllium 1 of, if not the top wide of each time. the king of Macedon is often ranked highly by historians alongside different subject geniuses similar Chinggis Khan, Napoleon Bonaparte, Hannibal Barca, and Julius Caesar.

Of course, it surely helped that Alexander had inherited an businesslike and susceptible warring unit pioneered by his father, Philip II. Alexander took this service and further refined it, making large usage of combined arms warfare.

Combined arms warfare is the usage of antithetic types of subject units successful tandem. Against the Persians for example, Alexander interspersed his skirmishers with the dense cavalry. Other units besides worked together. For example, the unwieldy but relentless phalanx was supported by much lightly equipped skirmishers and hypaspists who could maneuver much easily.

By moving together, subject units tin heighten their capabilities and 1 portion tin compensate for the vulnerabilities of another. Combined arms stay a cardinal tenet of warfare today and Alexander was 1 of its earliest and astir palmy proponents.

In the galore wars helium fought, Alexander besides encountered a wide scope of carnal obstacles connected the battlefield. During his campaigns successful the Balkans and successful India, helium had to behaviour opposed river crossings, which are highly analyzable subject maneuvers. In Bactria, his forces scaled the Sogdian Rock, nether the screen of darkness, truthful astonishing his enemies that they surrendered.

Alexander was besides adept successful siege warfare. His astir celebrated feat successful this respect was accomplished during the siege of Tyre. When Alexander’s troops could not scope the land Tyre was located connected by sea, helium constructed a kilometer-long 2 100 ft wide causeway, linking the land to the mainland, truthful that his forces could propulsion their siege engines to the walls. With the usage of the causeway and ships fitted with siege equipment, helium was capable to standard the walls and instrumentality the city.

A representation of Alexander the Great’s empire astatine its largest grade c.323 BCE including details of cardinal roads, location, and battles. Credit: Generic Mapping Tools / Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA 3.0

Personal qualities

Alexander the Great’s idiosyncratic qualities were conscionable arsenic important arsenic his much method subject expertise. Above each else, his men respected him for his courage. He was wounded respective times successful conflict but was not dissuaded from starring from the front.

“There is nary portion of my body, successful beforehand astatine immoderate rate, remaining escaped from wounds, nor is determination immoderate benignant of limb utilized either for adjacent combat oregon for hurling astatine the enemy, the traces of which I bash not carnivore connected my person,” the Macedonian king told his troops during a code intended to rouse their courage.

He was besides consenting to stock the hardships endured by communal soldiers. This is champion demonstrated by an anecdote of the disastrous Gedrosian Desert crossing successful which galore of Alexander’s men died from thirst.

According to the Roman writer Curtius Rufus, based connected accounts by earlier Greek authors, immoderate of Alexander’s men found h2o successful the desert and brought it to their king, Alexander refused to portion and told them “I cannot carnivore to portion unsocial and it is not imaginable for maine to stock truthful small with everybody.

It was for these reasons that Alexander the Great maintained the loyalty of his men implicit countless wars and against insurmountable odds. His brilliance arsenic a tactician was matched lone by his tenacity connected the battlefield and a willingness to endure the deprivations of a beingness spent astatine war.