Alexander the Great Part 4

At the age of just 22, Alexander, ruler of the small Greek kingdom of Macedonia, had led an invasion of the vast Persian Empire. After a string of victories, he smashed Persian military power at the Battle of Gaugamela, and took the Persian throne for himself. Now in 330 BC, Alexander continued his march east. His goal – to find and kill Bessus, a Persian usurper, claiming to be the rightful king, and to subjugate the Empire's eastern provinces. Alexander headed first for Aria, today part of Afghanistan, where the Persian governor Satibarzanes had launched a revolt, after initially pretending to submit to Alexander. The rebellion was crushed, and Satibarzanes killed, in single combat, by a Greek cavalry officer. Nearby, Alexander founded the city of Alexandria Arianna – modern Herat, one of around a dozen cities that Alexander would eventually found. Almost all bearing his name. Alexander marched on to Frada. The Macedonian court had a long tradition of plots and assassination. Six years before, Alexander's own father, King Philip, had been murdered by his bodyguard. He was now informed that Philotas, commander of his companion cavalry, had uncovered a plot to assassinate Alexander, but kept it secret. Philotas and his father Parmenion were among the most respected of Alexander's commanders, and had played crucial roles in all his great victories. But when Philotas confessed, under torture, Alexander had him executed, then sent assassins back to Ekbatana, where Parmenion was governor, to kill him before he even heard of his son's death, and had a chance to turn against Alexander. In 329, Alexander resumed his pursuit of Besos. En route, he founded the city of Alexandria Arakosia – modern Kandahar in southern Afghanistan. As he reached Kunduz, Besos was betrayed by his own men, and handed over in chains. Alexander sent him back to Persia for execution as a kingslayer. Alexander pushed on into modern Tajikistan, where the Sogdians rose up against him. He had to fight off attacks by local tribes, and take several towns by assault. On the banks of the Jaxartes River, he founded the city of Alexandria Eskate, meaning Alexandria the Furthest – so named because he had, at last, reached the limit of the Persian Empire. This frontier was frequently raided by nomads, known to the Greeks as Scythians. Alexander lured them into a decisive battle near the Jaxartes. The result was a crushing victory for the Macedonian king, that put an end to the raids. But fighting against Bactrian and Sogdian tribes continued, frustrating Alexander, and tying him down in a difficult guerrilla war. By now, many of the Macedonian troops were unhappy with Alexander. Most had not seen their homes in years, but their king seemed bent on conquest without end. What was worse, he'd begun to adopt the rituals and dress of their defeated Persian enemy – customs they viewed as effeminate and decadent. At Marakanda, modern Samarkand, after a furious, drunken argument, Alexander killed Cleitus the Black. Cleitus had been one of Alexander's best generals, and the man who'd saved his life at the Battle of the Granicus. Alexander was full of remorse, but his growing arrogance was alienating more and more old comrades. When he tried to make his countrymen perform the traditional Persian ritual of proskynesis, prostrating themselves before the king, he crossed a line. To Greeks, this was blasphemy. Only a god was worthy of such respect, and Alexander was forced to back down. In Bactria, another plot to assassinate Alexander was uncovered. This time the ringleader was a royal page, one of the sons of Macedonian nobility who attended the king. Hermuleus had become murderously bitter towards Alexander over a perceived injustice. He and his accomplices were tortured, and then stoned to death. Calisthenes, Alexander's official historian, was also implicated in the conspiracy. He was thrown in prison, where he later died. That summer, in 327, according to legend, Alexander became captivated by the beauty of Roxanna, daughter of a Bactrian lord. Their marriage was also a sound political move, helping to end local revolt against his rule, and allowing him to continue his advance into modern Pakistan and India. Alexander now prepared to subdue the Persian Empire's most eastern provinces, which had yet to recognise his kingship. To do so, he would first have to cross the Hindu Kush mountains, and reach the Indus River valley, advancing in two columns. His army won a series of skirmishes against the Aspasii and Asakani, as they fought their way into what's now the Swat Valley of northern Pakistan. After a fierce siege, Alexander took the Asakanian capital of Massaga. According to legend, it was ruled by a beautiful queen, Cleophis, who bore Alexander a son, and was allowed to keep her throne. The ruler of Taxila, near modern Islamabad, had formed an alliance with Alexander. Together, they marched to face Porus, King of Paravas, at the Battle of the Hydaspes. It was Alexander's costliest battle, as Porus's war elephants inflicted terrible casualties amongst the Greeks. But despite Porus's fearless leadership, the battle ended in a decisive victory for Alexander, winning him control of the Punjab. Alexander wanted to push on into India, to reach the Great River, which ancient Greek geographers said formed the edge of the world. But at the River Hyphasis, known today as the Biyas, his army mutinied. His men had marched thousands of miles, fought countless battles, and not seen their homes in eight years. They'd heard rumours of gigantic armies waiting for them in India. They refused to go any further. Alexander was furious, but had to turn the army around. He followed the rivers of the Punjab to the sea – a journey that took 10 months. On the way, he defeated the Malians, but while leading the assault on their capital, was wounded in the chest, and nearly killed. On reaching the coast, part of the army, under Nearchus, boarded ships and returned to Persia by sea. Sailing through the Straits of Hormuz, and entering the Persian Gulf. It was one of the great ancient voyages of exploration, as these waters had been previously unknown to Greeks. Meanwhile, Alexander led the rest of the army back by land, through the Gedrosian Desert, today in southern Pakistan. But extreme heat and shortages of food and water led to terrible suffering, and many deaths among his army. On his return to Persia, Alexander executed several of his viceroys and governors – men accused of ruling unjustly, and robbing temples and tombs, during his long absence in the east. At Susa, he arranged a magnificent mass marriage of Macedonian officers to 80 Persian noblewomen, to strengthen bonds between his two kingdoms. Alexander himself married two Persian princesses. He also paid all his soldiers' debts, and ordered 30,000 youths from across the empire to be trained in the Macedonian art of war. But at Opis, his Macedonian troops mutinied. They were offended by Alexander's apparent preference for Persian advisors and Persian ways. Alexander had the ringleaders executed, and made a speech to the men, reminding them of the glories they'd won together, and leading eventually to an emotional reconciliation. At Ecbatana, Alexander's closest and most trusted friend, Hephaistion, died of fever. The king was grief-stricken, went days without eating, and ordered a period of public mourning across the empire. Alexander waged a successful campaign against the mountain raiders of Kosia, who not even the Persian kings had been able to subdue. Returning to Babylon, he was met by embassies from distant peoples, come to recognise his greatness – Ethiopians, Libyans, European Scythians, Lucanians, Etruscans, Gauls, and Iberians. Alexander's Bactrian wife Roxana was now pregnant. But as he planned his next campaign to Arabia and beyond, he developed a sudden fever, and died days later. Aged just 32, the cause of Alexander's death has never been established. It may have been malaria, cholera, typhus, or poison. Alexander died undefeated in battle. His reputation as a brilliant, fearless and daring military commander remains undimmed. His decade-long campaign created one of the largest empires ever known, stretching from Greece to Pakistan. But it was vast and unstable, held together only by his own brilliance and name. Alexander left no plans for his succession, and his generals soon began fighting among themselves to carve out their own empires. In the Wars of the Successors, Alexander's widow Roxana and his young son were murdered. His own gold sarcophagus, en route to Macedonia for burial, was hijacked, and ended up in Alexandria in Egypt. Today, its location remains one of the world's great unsolved mysteries. Few men have ever had such an impact on the course of history as Alexander the Great. The breathtaking achievements of his short life ushered in the Hellenistic Age, as Greek ideas spread across the territory of his former empire, fusing with local traditions to trigger new developments in art, science, government and language. Some of the successor kingdoms to his great empire were short-lived, others endured for centuries. But all, in turn, would fall to new forces, and in the West, to the rising power of Rome. Research and artwork for this video comes from Osprey Publishing's extensive range of books on ancient history. Every Osprey book examines a particular battle, campaign or combat unit in authoritative, meticulous detail. And with more than 3,000 titles, they cover everything from ancient warfare to modern conflict. Visit their website to see their online catalogue. Thank you to all the Patreon supporters who made this video possible, and to the channel Invicta. Find out more about key moments from the past in their Moments in History series.