Nicely put, and it supports even more the premise that Darius was an idiot. By Guagemala he knew that Alexander wasn't going to be intimidated, he should therefore have resorted to tactics that were proven to work ie. scorched earth and using natural choke points.Darius' army was huge for the same reason that a cat arches its back, a dog raises its hackles or a blowfish swells up. The size was simply for intimidation purposes. The number of well-trained, well-armed troops he had available really didn't outnumber Alexander's army much at all at Gaugamela. Once the sheer spectacle of his army's size failed to dissuade Alexander from attacking, Darius was done.
You certainly fault Darius, he was a pillock. Alexander? I think that he took a huge gamble based on what he knew of Darius. Luckily for him it paid off.Yes, but do we fault Darius for not taking advantage of the situation, or Alexander for not anticipating and taking action to prevet it
As I've said before, Alexander would have failed the Wellington test (ie. Wellington, one of the best defensive generals ever) would have beaten Alexander because he would have employed the correct strategy and tactics).