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{CHAERONEA_TITLE}Battle of Chaeronea
{CHAERONEA_DESCR}King Philip II had ruled the Kingdom of Macedonia for over twenty years. In that time he had taken it from a backwater state North of Greece to the most powerful military entity in the Aegean. He had intervened in the Third Sacred War amongst the Greeks and by virtue of force, brought peace to the region.\n\n
That peace was not to last. Philip attempted to expand his empire to the Sea of Marmara to the East. This caused consternation in both the Persian empire and the city of Athens, who relied on food imports through the area. Athens declared war on Philip and Thebes, bribed by the Persians, followed suit.\n\n
Philip broke off his assault to the East and moved South. His army made contact with the Greeks on the plain of Chaeronea, a town in central Greece. The coming battle would make or break Philip's authority in the Aegean, once and for all.\n\n
{GRANICUS_TITLE}Battle of Granicus
{GRANICUS_DESCR}Having secured his position in Greece, Alexander turned his attention to the mighty Persian empire. Though the ships under his control were few in comparison to the Persian navy, the trip across the Hellespont which seperated the two kingdoms was brief and passed without incident.\n\nOnce in Asia Minor, Alexander took the opportunity to make sacrifice at the site of the city of Troy as part of his preparations to face a large Persian force which had arrived to challenge his invasion. This force was under the nominal command of a Greek mercenary general, Memnon of Rhodes, but the jealousies of a number of Persian regional satrap governors also present seem to have diluted this authority. Nevertheless, this army deployed on the far bank of the River Granicus and awaited Alexanders' arrival.\n\n
{HALICARNASSUS_TITLE}Battle of Halicarnassus
{HALICARNASSUS_DESCR}In 334 BC with the crossing of the Hellespont complete, convinced by the Granicus victory that he would have no need of a means of retreat and most importantly weary of meeting its high upkeep costs, Alexander dismissed his fleet. He planned to defeat the Persian navy by different and indirect means: by seizing all Persian-held ports.\n\nWith the Persians in temporary disarray Alexander began seizing the coastal cities in his path. Many of these were nominally Greek anyway, though they had acknowledged Persian masters for some time previously. The town of Miletos offered some resistance but inevitably fell. Halicarnassus was a different matter though. The defenses there were good and Memnon of Rhodes had arrived to rally the Persians. Unwilling to leave this difficult target as a thorn in his side, Alexander besieged the city, eager to sweep aside the defenders before they could escape to cause trouble elsewhere...\n\n
{ISSUS_TITLE}Battle of Issus
{ISSUS_DESCR}Though reeling from the relentless series of defeats inflicted on his forces by the Macedonians and the death of his most trusted general, Darius Codomannus III, king of Persia, was still master of a vast empire. Sending word to every corner of his domain, he gathered a huge force to his banner and set forth himself to bring Alexander to battle.\n\n
Alexander had established a forward base at the coastal port of Issus and, having rested there for a few days he resumed his march southwards. Darius recieved word of this and resolved to use his knowledge of the local geography to cut his enemies' lines. Taking a route through a mountain pass, he appeared suddenly to Alexander's north, between the Macedonians and Issus. Far from being dismayed by this, Alexander rode eagerly to engage the Persian king...\n\n
{GAUGAMELA_TITLE}Battle of Gaugamela
{GAUGAMELA_DESCR}After a visit to Egypt, Alexander set out once again to face the Persian king Darius. Alexander waited in Tyre expecting Darius to attack, but the Persian king was determined to make Alexander come to him. Eventually Alexander left Tyre and headed East with his army into Persia.\n\n
Darius offered no armed resistance to Alexander's progress into his territory, but sent the Babylonian satrap Mazaeus to shadow the Macedonian army. Mazaeus burned crops and moved already harvested grain to safer storage to deny Alexander a source of food. In doing so, he forced Alexander to move North. Darius was luring Alexander to his chosen battleground.\n\n
The Persian king set out his army in Assyria, not far from the ruins of Nineveh. With a far larger army and a wide plain on which to deploy it, Darius would appear to have the advantage by far. But an astronomical event on the eve of battle fortelling doom for the king of Persia seeded widespread panic in the Persian army. Despite their crushing numerical advantage they must have marched to fight the next day believing the end of the Persian Empire was at hand.\n\n
{HYDASPES_TITLE}Battle of Hydaspes
{HYDASPES_DESCR}Following yet another miraculous victory at Gaugamela, Alexander pursued Darius through the mountains. But he was robbed of his final triumph when the Persian king died by treachery at the hands of his own desperate generals.\n\nThough he had achieved the seemingly impossible in pitting his tiny kingdom against the colossal Persian empire and winning, Alexander's ambition was not satisfied. After five years spent consolidating his hold on Persia, he once again rallied the flagging enthusiasm of his exhausted men and marched for the Indus valley to challenge the authority of the Indian rulers.\n\nThough Alexander met with early success, the Indian king Porus saw no reason to submit to this western upstart and gathered a huge army to thwart him. In the unfamiliar and unhealthy climate of the Indian monsoon and faced with large numbers of men, chariots and war elephants, Alexander once again pitted himself against the odds at the crossing of the River Hydaspes.\n\n