Ask for Thyself Another Kingdom: Granicus (Alexander's Conquest of Persia)

[Music] my son asked for thyself another kingdom but that which i leave is too small for [Music] me in 358 bc the region of macedon crowned himself philip ii king of macedonia from his capital city pella phillip would eventually bring to heal most of mainland greece philip was shrewd at both politics and warfare and forged a standing army unmatched by any other in the greek city-states most of the greek cities resisted when possible but macedonia mostly seen as a backwater to the greeks had not had a leader as intelligent or daring as philip and the greeks were losing the struggle for independence in 338 bc athens and thieves banded together to resist philip on the battlefield at cara nia and the result was a victory for philip greece was now united under one king and his ambition seemed endless phillips set his sights on crossing the hellspawn into asia and invading the persian empire the persians up to this point had mostly been the aggressors against the greeks philip decided to change all of that and take his army on a conquest of the persian empire however in 336 bc philip was assassinated before his army could make the crossing the reasons for this act are unclear but it seems to have been the result of an internal power struggle within the macedonian court or perhaps even concocted by philip's wife olympias philip's son and heir alexander had the assassins executed and worked quickly to move into his father's place alexander iii was crowned and he shared the ambitions of his father alexander saw his father's future conquest as his birthright alexander intended to fulfill his father's wishes alexander quickly began the process of securing his homeland before the planned invasion and thrace had to be pacified in order to secure the crossing and to make sure all supply and reinforcement paths from macedonia were clear alexander appointed competent men to handle his affairs alexander was fighting hostile tribes when rumors got around greece that he had died in combat the first to act on this false information was thebes who revolted and overthrew the macedonian garrison after alexander pacified illyria and thrace he moved to thebes and sacked the city he allowed his soldiers to sack freely and to be as brutal as they wanted this no doubt sent a message that alexander was not to be trifled with alexander left antipater at pella with a sizable force in order to hold the rear and mine the greeks the spartans especially seemed like a future problem antipater was cunning and a great field commander in his own right and seemed the perfect choice for this task alexander would show through most of his military career that he understood how tenuous his position could be and almost always made sure his rear was secure in april 334 bc alexander crossed the hellspawn and invaded the persian empire he crossed with his father's army who were seasoned in philip's style of combat which alexander would come to perfect alexander made a pilgrimage march to the ancient site of the city of troy and paid his respects to the mythic heroes of the trojan war afterwards he continued to move inland determined to keep the initiative alexander wanted to liberate the coastline south of the hellspawn from persian rule first in order to secure his supply lines a persian army dashed to the area upon word of alexander's crossing and was now shadowing alexander's army with scouts this army encamped near the granicus river as it provided a naturally defensible spot for the persian army in case alexander decided to attack the persian army was led by a contingent of persian aristocrats including mithridates the son-in-law of king darius of persia in a greek commanding mercenaries named memnon memnon was paid well by king darius and even helped the persians to pacify egypt memnon suggested a strategy to avoid battle with alexander's army and maybe see if they could cut his supplies or perhaps draw him further into the empire and surround him memnon's strategy also required a scorched earth campaign destroying asia minor to deprive alexander of supplies the persian commanders did not heed the advice of memnon and chose instead to confront alexander on the battlefield memnon may have had a sense of just how good the army they were facing was mithridates was blind to the danger most of the persian command understandably had no interest in burning their own lands to defeat an upstart macedonian that they had simply never heard of the two armies were a study in contrast alexander's army was mostly made up of infantry carrying large spears called hippitus these soldiers formed a tight formation known as a phalanx and were used to lock down the enemy in combat and wear them down when used properly the phalanx formed a nearly impenetrable wall of armor and spears they were supported by lighter troops usually deploying javelins to protect their flanks and provide fast-moving scouts when needed the two wings of the army were made up of cavalry the left wing was used as a lighter cavalry force that could be used flexibly to chase down fleeing enemy flank enemy formations engaged by the phalanx and to move around the battlefield quickly to respond to unforeseen threats the right wing were known as the companion cavalry personally led by alexander and they were the hammer of the army they were armored and the men were disciplined riders trained to engage the enemy where a breakthrough could be best achieved the persian army mostly consisted of horsemen these horsemen were typically very light in nature and were highly skilled archers they were armed for speed the persian empire was vast and these forces were amassed to move quickly and threats that rose across the land many of the persian veterans had seen battle against tribes who mostly used horse archers and light infantry the infantry consisted of memnon's persian hoplites supported by large numbers of foot archers light spearmen and javelin throwers similar to the macedonians persians mostly had their horse archers in front of the infantry in order to control the feel with arrows if the opposing force showed aggression and attacked these horsemen could redeploy quickly and flank the beleaguered attackers all while keeping up constant arrow fire from the horsemen and foot archers the infantry would then close and the encirclement would begin the persians used this style of warfare to devastating effect against many enemies but the macedonians were a different beast altogether [Music] alexander marched the army to meet the persians across the granicus river neither side seemed like they wanted to attack across the river immediately the commander of alexander's left wing was parmeneo a seasoned commander and good friend of his father hermeneo would often urge caution during many of alexander's engagements and suggested a night crossing knowing the persians could easily resist a frontal assault over the river alexander concocted a different plan but it had to be executed to perfection if it worked it could route the persian army [Music] armenia was ordered to hold the left flank with his cavalry and guard from any counter-attack meanwhile a small contingent of calvary deployed in front of the massive phalanx crossed the river and skirmished with the enemy this small force was nothing more than a screen and suffered horrible casualties but their success became the catalyst for a great maneuver alexander on the right flank then crosses the river while the enemy is tied up and begins a long encirclement of the persian lines the hope was to sow confusion amongst the persians and make them give chase to alexander mithridates it seems overreacted and sent significant forces to counter alexander's flanking maneuver it is also possible mithradati saw the young king and decided to see if he could deliver his head as a gift to darius once the persian army was significantly scattered the phalanx crossed the river and started to pin the greek hoplites in place the cavalry screening force then broke off their attack memnon and his soldiers quickly realized there was nowhere to flee the persian horsemen pursuing alexander had accidentally cut them off and they were being overrun alexander then began his attack on the persian cavalry the greek hoplite spears were no match for the phalanx and the persian cavalry were no match for alexander's companions in close quarters with nowhere to maneuver the order was sounded for the entire macedonian army to cross and the circle was tightening around the persians parmenio rode his cavalry into the fray and turned everything macedonia's way is during this moment that mithridates was slain leading his cavalry against the companions it was reported that alexander killed mithradis personally but this may be nothing more than mythological the persian army went into full flight and alexander turned his sights to the rear of the greek phalanx who were beginning to withdraw this allowed the persian horsemen to mostly escape the greek hoplites were surrounded and all were killed or captured but memnon did escape [Music] alexander enslaved the 2000 greeks captured the battle and had them sent back to macedonia as trophies persian total casualties are unknown the greeks were all either killed or enslaved but the cavalry seems to have mostly survived the battle macedonians report only 150 casualties or so this figure is unlikely considering the fierce fighting in the middle of the field and the horsemen who were used as a diversion alexander followed up his victory at granicus with a campaign of the liberation of asia minor and especially the greek cities on the coast one by one they either surrendered or were seized memnon continued with a small force to harass alexander's supplies by sea but he still knew more had to be done as the macedonian supply lines were becoming more easily maintained from the city's swearing allegiance to alexander memnon made his way to halicarnassus and defended the city from alexander's besieging forces it was not enough alexander ordered attack after attack on the city until it was forced to surrender memnon escaped again only to die shortly afterwards of unknown causes when darius received the news of granicus and the death of memnon he must have known this young macedonian and his army were not going away easily [Music] the persian army deployed against alexander at granicus would end up being the most veteran and experienced army alexander faced in his entire campaign against persia the greek hoplites and the persian horse archers were veterans of many campaigns by winning alexander defeated the best soldiers in the persian army at the outset and on terms that were favorable to himself and his goals alexander's victory at granicus set the tone for the entire conquest and gave the world a glimpse of a brilliant and zealous military commander who will bring down the persian empire [Music] you