Great Battles
Alexander the Great’s first test in the Persian Empire would set the pattern for his conquest. Vastly outnumbered, could he lead his army to victory?
THE RIVER GRANICUS (THE BIGA ÇAYI, ÇANAKKALE PROVINCE, NORTHWESTERN TURKEY) LATE SPRING/EARLY SUMMER 334 BCE
In spring 334 BCE, the 22-year-old Macedonian king, Alexander III (reigned 336-323 BCE), invaded the vast Achaemenid Persian Empire with a small yet elite army of some 30,00043,000 veteran infantry and 5,000 cavalry. This invasion was the culmination of almost a century of pressure for a Greek commander to punish Persia for its own invasion of Greece during the fifth century BCE. Persia had also continued to seriously meddle in Greek affairs, affecting the end of the Peloponnesian War in 404 BCE and with the King’s Peace in 386 BCE. The mantle of leadership for this proposed invasion had passed from the Spartan king, Agesilaus II (r400-360 BCE) to Athenian and other statesmen and then to the Macedonian king, Philip II (r359-336 BCE), who had all but conquered Greece in 338 BCE at the Battle of Chaeronea. Philip had probably already begun plans for just such an invasion but, when he was assassinated in 336 BCE, the responsibility for (and willingness to undertake) the invasion passed to his son Alexander. Alexander had commanded his father’s cavalry at Chaeronea so was already a veteran at 18. He was not yet ‘the Great’ but his conduct during the invasion more than earned him the title and kings and commanders ever since have sought to emulate him.
With his relatively small force, Alexander intended to conquer the immense Persian Empire. According to our sources, the Persians could muster more than a million men against Alexander’s tiny force. Most modern authors are highly sceptical about such numbers but there is little doubt Alexander was vastly outnumbered and marching entirely in enemy territory. His first test would occur on the banks of the River Granicus, known today as the Biga Çayı in Çanakkale Province, northwestern Turkey, a river which flows roughly north-south into the Black Sea. This river is the most likely location, although there are other candidates, too, such as the Dimetoka, a tributary of the Biga Çayı.
Alexander crossed the Hellespont into Persia in the spring of 334 BCE, entering Persia with an army of veterans rather than young, inexperienced men. They had all campaigned in Greece and further afield under Alexander’s father and had fought in Thrace and Greece under Alexander himself. Alexander had spent the previous two years ensuring that Greece and Thrace were pliant and loyal and would not contemplate rebellion while he was conquering Persia.
Macedonian phalangites made up the core of his a
