Battle of Issus: detailed description of the battle

The battle of Issus took place more than 2 thousand years ago and was one of the most significant in the course of the conquest by Alexander the Great of Asia.

Despite the limitation of what happened, to this dayReached various facts about this significant day. The reason is that this battle gave a new breath to the Macedonian Empire, which, in turn, had a serious impact on the development of civilization and the settlement of ethnic groups in southern Europe and Asia.

Causes

King of Macedonia Philip held a number of significantreforms, centralized the country, and also increased the number of regular troops. He increased the territory of the country, conquering land in the south and east. After the victory over the city of policies, Philip finally declared himself as a determined commander and ruler, and about Macedonia - as a powerful regional power. After the death of the king, Alexander took his place, who from a young age participated in the campaigns of his father. Immediately after the coronation, he began active conquests. The kingdom grew steadily. And in the early 30s, Alexander invaded Persia. He was resisted by the local satraps, who were easily subjugated by the Macedonian army. Alexander quickly moved forward, almost without resistance.

The conquest of Persia

The king of the Persians, Darius, at that time was collecting a hugearmy to give a decisive rebuff to the Macedonians. At this time, the fleet made regular raids on the coast near the Strait of Hellespont. Macedonians could not resist them because they did not control a number of cities in Asia Minor.

For this reason, fearing a strike from the rear, Alexanderdecides to secure himself first. Instead of deepening in the territory of Persia, he turns around and goes in the opposite direction to subdue all the Persian cities. Port settlements are becoming a priority because they have an enemy fleet based on them. In order to deprive the Persians of this power and allow forage and reinforcements from Macedonia to arrive without problems, Alexander seizes the entire coast.

Forces of the parties: Persians

Darius assembled a rather powerful army.To do this, he traveled through his empire and personally controlled the recruitment of soldiers. In addition to the Persians themselves, detachments were also recruited from the peoples they had conquered. Persia of that time was extremely rich in comparison with neighboring countries. The concept of luxury was much higher there than anywhere else. Gold and silver allowed Darius to hire Greek hoplites. This heavy infantry of the Greeks was famous for its resilience on the battlefield. The hoplites were armed with long spears, 8-kilogram shields and one-and-a-half straight swords (rarely the blades were curved).

As armor used durable shells andheavy helmets. The battle of Issus, according to the Persians, was supposed to bring victory to those who could push the enemy back to the mountains. Therefore, about 10 thousand mercenary Greeks, who wanted to take revenge on Alexander for the defeat at Hirenei, Darius put his troops in the center. On the flanks was the Persian infantry, built in the phalanx, and cavalry. There was also a huge number of warriors from conquered peoples. They stood behind the front line in groups created according to the tribal principle, without taking into account age or quality categories. Given the reinforcements, when the battle of Issus began, under the banner of Darius, there were 100 thousand people.

Forces of the parties: Macedonians

Александр привёл с собой тридцать пять тысяч infantry and five thousand cavalry. These were mostly battle-hoped hoplites. Heavy infantry worked perfectly in one line and attacked with a single organism.

Many mercenaries called for the Battle of Issus. Alexander the Great brought with him about two thousand barbarians, most likely recruited from the Sarmatians or Scythians. As well as several thousand Cretan archers.

Battle

In what year was the battle of Issus, only knownaccording to the memoirs of Diodorus and Curtius. The most common version is 333 BC. The army of the Persians became in order, hiding behind the bay. Darius hoped that a small river would hinder the advance of the Macedonians, and numerical superiority would play a decisive role. However, the place of the fight was in the hands of Alexander. He specifically maneuvered over the mountains, imposing precisely the narrow coast of the Persians.

The Macedonians were the first to attack.The phalanx moved in the center to bind the most dangerous part of the Persian army. Reaching the small river, they forded it and began to climb ashore. There the hired hoplites tried to throw the phalanx back. However, having numerical superiority, she slowly moved forward. At this time, on the left flank attacked the Thessalian cavalry with the support of the Greek and Thracian infantry. The Persian cavalry immediately began to retreat.

A decisive blow was inflicted by the Getirians, led by Alexander and his personal guard - the body of the shield bearers.

Heavy cavalry extremely quickly crushed the entire leftthe flank of the Persians and surrounded the Greek hoplites. The battle of Issus seemed to have been won. However, the Persians decided to attack. At this time, Alexander personally made his way to the king of the Persians, and he fled in fear. This put the entire Persian army to flight. The Macedonians drove the barbarians, the battle of Issus ended. The date of the defeat of Darius has not reached our times.