Alexander The Great: The Battle Of Gaugamela

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The Battle of Gaugamela has been said to be the final straw in King Darius’ defence, in which the outnumbered Macedonian forces defeated the united forces of Persia, essentially making Alexander the Great the king of the Persian Empire. After the assassination of his father, Philip of Macedon, Alexander took off on a journey that lasted the rest of his life. Taking his inherited army of about 32,000 he set out to conquer all of Persia. Starting with the Battle of River Granicus, he went south along the coast of Asia Minor to Halicarnassus after a year he met King Darius for the first time at Issus where he took his opposer's mother, wife and daughter. Leaving Issus Alexander followed the Mediterranean coastline taking the Island of Tyre on his way into Egypt freeing both those at Jerusalem and in Egypt itself from the religious oppression of the Persian rule. Alexander the Great planed …show more content…

Attempting to outflank him Darius ordered His cavalry to follow creating a vacuum in the Persian line to be filled by the Macedonian cavalry after a sharp turn back. At the same time, Darius deployed his scythed chariots only to be rendered ineffective when the phalanx simply opened up to allow the chariots to pass through. Immediately following, the Macedonian infantry set upon the Persians and hand to hand combat quickly followed. Realizing that victory was hopeless Darius, the king of Persia, turned tail and ran. Leaving behind an army that no longer had adequate leadership or a reason to fight. In the Summer of 331 B.C. Alexander the Great and his army of Macedonians defeated the well maned Persian army after their leadership, king Darius III, left in an act of cowardice. However, Jona Lendering says in his book Alexander de Grote. De ondergang van het Perzische rijk “ It wasn't Alexander's courage or Darius' cowardice that decided the fate of the Persian Empire, it was the signs that were seen in the

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