In 329 BC, Alexander the Great's army had penetrated deep into the Iranian plateau. Through the lightning conquest of Gyeonggi in the Persian Empire, the last resistance of the Achaemenid dynasty was broken. But the legendary crusade did not end there. Soon, the Macedonians will face a whole new world, met with unprecedented fierce resistance. For nearly 2 years, Alexander will be exhausted across Central Asia. But his military genius was also revealed, helping him to quickly adapt to the new war environment.
In the end, the Macedonian army won in conflicts such as the Battle of the Syr Darya And changed the course of regional history forever for the conquest of the region.
<h1 class="ql-align-justify" > pursue rebels</h1>
Alexander's journey to Central Asia began in the city of Ecpatana
In 330 BC, the Macedonian army marched north from southern Persia and successfully captured the defenseless city of Exe battana. It was the last Persian capital to fall into Alexander's hands, and it was also the last base of resistance of Darius III. Because the invaders were too fast, the fading King of Kings found himself powerless to cope. In addition to 6,000-7,000 Eastern cavalry who were not directly loyal to him, he was accompanied by only a small number of undead guards and 2,000 Greek mercenary infantry.
However, the last Persian kings were doomed to never again go to war. Bessers, who was the grand governor of the eastern provinces, was no longer willing to listen to the incompetence of the monarch. He soon mutinied in the Shirkani region on the southern shore of the Black Sea and imprisoned Darius in a carriage with a cage in gold chains. The governors of the remaining eastern provinces decided to use this distinguished captive as a puppet to continue resisting the macedonian army's crusade. Of course, this also meant that they had effectively relinquished control of the western Persian territories. Forcing a small number of pro-Greek nobles and mercenary infantry to leave, they fell to Alexander's side without hesitation.
Troops from the East had betrayed Darius III
Through the confessions of the apostates, Alexander knew that he could not end the war against Persia. Because the entire east of the Tigris River is difficult to defend, it is inevitable that it will not be retaken by the sudden Central Asian army. This, coupled with Darius himself still at large, would shake the authority of his new empire in Babylon. Therefore, he began to pursue in a large number of pursuits the following year, and with a selection of high-quality troops, he rushed forward, without giving Bessers and others a chance to breathe. The latter had been preparing to recruit new troops from the three regions of Bactria, Sogdiana and Arya, but could not wait for reinforcements to arrive. Every time I had just set up camp at a stronghold, I heard follow-up news from Alexander's vanguard troops. In addition, the original national treasury has all fallen into the hands of the enemy, and he is also stretched thin in terms of military expenditure.
In the end, Alexander's political goals were accomplished by his opponents. Besses could not bear Darius's uncooperative attitude and simply joined forces with several high-ranking officials to assassinate him. The poor last King of Persia, on his deathbed, met the new Macedonian monarchs who had repeatedly thwarted themselves. The latter was also pleased to see him succeed and held a very dignified funeral for him. As for Bethus, who betrayed himself, he also began to present himself with the title of Artaxerxes V. This also gave Alexander sufficient motivation to seize the orthodox power of the Persian Empire.
The assassination of Darius made alexander alexander
<h1 class="ql-align-justify" > political disintegration</h1>
Alexander prepared to conquer all the eastern provinces of Persia at the same time
In 329 BC, Alexander led an army from the southern shore of the Black Sea into the Central Asian world. At this time, in addition to the garrison that remained in Expatana, the real field force was only about 20,000 people. This was due to the fact that Alexander was adjusting the structure of his troops, and as a result, he was in a period of exhaustion.
Having acquired almost the entire Persian treasury, the Macedonians already had a large reserve of precious metals that the empire had plundered for more than 200 years. Alexander took the opportunity to carry out the policy of huairou and dissuaded the Greek allies and the Thessalian cavalry, who had been in charge of logistics. Although many volunteers will remain as mercenaries who receive military salaries, it will inevitably leave a military vacuum in all regions. Alexander continued to demand reinforcements from the mainland, waiting for more mercenaries to arrive from both sides of the Aegean. As a result, in the early days of his entry into Central Asia, he tried to avoid large-scale conflicts and tried to recruit a small number of local soldiers. The Macedonians tended to crack down small tribes that dared to resist, but were happy to make peace with the Persian-Eastern Iranian nobility.
Alexander chose only to storm some of the recalcitrant cities
Thus, Alexander pushed almost methodically to the east. It first entered the Arya region in present-day western Afghanistan, then turned northeast into the heart of Bactria, and finally into the great city of Marrakanda, later known as Samarkand. Along the way, most of the institutions of the Persian Empire were retained, and most of the governors were retained. Garrisons entering the core cities are also very rare, almost all of them symbolic political presences. Of course, Besses, who was the culprit, was also successfully handed over to the Macedonian army. In the last moments of his life, he was sentenced to death by Alexander as a symbol of his own inheritance of Persian orthodoxy.
However, things quickly took a sharp turn for the second half of the year. The Persian nobility, including the governor of Bactria, Spittamenes, were unwilling to genuinely submit to the new Macedonian order. After the central destruction of the Persian Empire, they effectively became the spokesmen for local power. The regions all wanted independence and took advantage of the anti-Hellenistic alliances that Bethes had forged during his lifetime. Among them, there are mountain people from the Afghan region, Sogdian cities in Sogdiana, and Scythian tribes scattered north of the river. Today, these men are moving separately, attacking the small Macedonian garrisons that remain throughout Central Asia. Alexander and his more than 10,000 main forces were drawn to the Syr Darya Valley, the farthest from the rear.
Macedonian cavalry deep into the heart of Central Asia
< h1 class="ql-align-justify" > the Battle of the Syr darya</h1>
The Scythian cavalry south made the Macedonians invincible
At first, Alexander's strategy was to send his troops to attack with fewer men and horses. These Macedonian divisions often easily took control of the rebellious towns and immediately became the new colonial garrison. However, for the geography of Central Asia, such control is clearly not enough.
As the most topographically complex region in the world, central Asia often has simultaneous agricultural oases, irrigation areas with large rivers, mid-mountain pastures, vast grasslands and arid deserts. Endless mountain ranges divide the terrain and ensure that limited paths are maintained. Locals are familiar with this, and outsiders are prone to get lost here. The fierce mountain people will take the risk, and the cavalry that comes and goes freely can also turn around and leave. As a result, the Macedonian army could only selectively control certain central municipalities, which were immediately surrounded by peripheral resistance.
Central Asia is probably the most topographically complex place in the world
But Alexander did not have the strength to help at this time. Their reinforcements were still on their way to western Persia, and they entered the river region with the main field force. After crossing the Amu Darya River, they soon discovered 7 fortress cities founded by Persian military settlers. In flat terrain, these strategic pivots are key to controlling the rich-producing areas. As a result, the Macedonian army soon fell into successive sieges. Fortunately, the defense technology of these cities was still in the early days of the Persian Empire in the 6th century BC. The Macedonians, on the other hand, had new weapons, including large ballistas, large enough to ensure they could break through all the rammed earth walls. Scattered storage of grain and other materials also became the main supply of the Crusading Army.
Soon, a new threat emerged on the other side of the Syr Darya River to the north. 6,000 Scythian warriors were gathered and prepared to march south to attack the frontiers of Alexandria's new empire. The latter naturally could not ignore it, and had already seen the threat of the steppe direction as the biggest obstacle to their own control of Central Asia. So 15,000 infantry and cavalry followed the emperor in the Northern Expedition and were blocked by their opponents on the banks of the Syr Darya River. Due to the large number of archers guarding the crossing, the forced crossing of the Macedonian army was bound to attract the baptism of the Central Asian composite bow. Behind these light cavalry, there were also heavy cavalry equipped with centaurs waiting for rabbits.
The Macedonians used siege ballistas to open the way for the troops crossing the river
Of course, Macedonians from Europe would not have much of a strangeness to nomadic cavalry. Alexander's father, Philip II, once defeated the Scythian army south in Thrace. In the Battle of Gaugamela, which fought against the Persian Empire, a large number of eastern nomadic troops were also involved. Therefore, Alexander, who was a general, soon deployed a response. He had the sappers set up siege ballistas on the south bank, and also deployed some smaller models on the river crossing ships. As huge arrows shot toward the north shore, it caused a commotion among the nomadic cavalry. This was the first time that ballistas appeared on the battlefields of Central Asia, and the range was again above the compound bow, which soon forced the Scythians out of the shoals by the river.
Then the first Macedonian cavalry began to cross the river. These Greek mercenary cavalry and Macedonian reconnaissance cavalry were soon surrounded in reverse in pursuit of the Scythians. The latter sent elite armored cavalry to charge and had the archers besiege from three other directions. At the same time, important companion cavalry and light infantry began to seize the time to cross the river. Under the cover of Cretan archers, the second cavalry broke into the opposing encirclement and caused a greater fierce battle. The slowest Macedonian phalanx infantry took the opportunity to encircle from both flanks and trigger the total collapse of the Scythian line. In this way, Alexander killed 1200 enemy troops at the cost of 160 killed. The rest of the men scattered and fled, not daring to engage the Macedonians again.
Alexander cleverly surrounded the nomadic cavalry with infantry
<h1 class="ql-align-justify" > deconstructivation strategy</h1>
The Scythians were forced to flee further north
The victory at the Battle of the Syr Darya opened the door for Macedonia to a successful conquest of Central Asia. Alexander also quickly realized that the source of resistance in the complex mountains was actually the herders in the northern steppe. They are the business and information transmitters between the closed areas, and they are also the most powerful group to make big moves. Since then, the Central Asian strategy has first focused on controlling the northern frontier.
In 328 BC, a reinforcement sent by Alexander was annihilated at Sogdiana. Although the number was only over a thousand, it was one of the few total annihilations in the history of the Macedonian Empire. The opponent was none other than another wave of Scythian tribes coming south from the northern meadows. To this end, Alexander hastily retreated north of the Syr Darya River, advocating the consolidation of the main city of Malakanda. With the arrival of a large number of reinforcements, the cautious tactics of the past will be replaced by more aggressive initiatives. To this end, the Macedonian army marched north in five routes, sweeping through the north-central part of the river, which had been regained by the Scythians. The latter faced a fully fledged Hellenistic army and could only flee in terror.
Some mountain towns require Macedonian commandos to climb rock walls with their bare hands
The towns that were left behind to seek blessings had to fall one by one at the insistence of the attackers. Alexander paid special attention to the attack on the survival resources of the enemy-occupied areas, and did not hesitate to destroy some of the originally prosperous cities. The nomadic cavalry, who would later return, was demoralized by the difficulty of obtaining supplies.
At the same time, more Greek garrisons in Macedonia were distributed. In addition to the original cities such as Bactria, Kabul, and Malakanda, new Hellenistic cities such as Bagram, Kandahar, and Herat were deliberately built for more refined control of water, farmland, and pastures. Among them were soldiers, mainly composed of Greek mercenaries. Only in a few important cities were macedonian field armies stationed exclusively. The Scythians had lost their industrial income in the north, and it was difficult to reap the harvest of plunder in the south, and gradually a large number of deserters appeared. In a desperate situation, Spitameinis was also betrayed by the Scythians who were willing to surrender.
A large number of Greek soldiers were forcibly arranged to settle in Central Asia
After ensuring the stability of the northern defensive line, the Macedonian army began to return south to the Bactria region. Later, in Ptolemy, who established the state in Egypt, commanded a separate mercenary into Arya and completely completely defeated the local rebellion. Now, only northern Afghanistan, with the best land conditions, continues to struggle. Alexander's approach was also controversial internally, and he chose to marry Roxana, the daughter of a barbarian leader. This anger against Macedonian conservatives is the best strategy for stabilizing the situation in Central Asia. The whole of Bactria also calmed down, and Alexander could finally begin to plan how to conquer India.
By 326 BC, the entire form of Central Asia had stabilized, and Alexander began to lead his army across the Hindu Kush Mountains to the south. But at this time, he may not have imagined that the hard-topped territory behind him would become an Asian island of Greek civilization in the future.
Alexander's political marriage to Roxana
As a result of the successful establishment of the Macedonian-Greek forces, they later picked up the tenacious characteristics of all the hillmin groups. So much so that for hundreds of years after Alexander's death, Afghanistan would have been a forward base for ancient Greek civilization. His personal image and legend are also constantly praised by the indigenous people of Central Asia, without the slightest murderous spirit when he came.