Philip was not good at internal affairs, leaving Alexander with a mess full of debts and dangers. He left Alexander only a few gold cups and silver bowls, less than 60 talents of treasure, but as much as 500 talents of debt. Moreover, the Greek city-states he defeated were basically not controlled.
The Greek city-states conquered by Philip II and some tribes in Thrace and Illyria took the opportunity to rebel or declare independence. Alexander, the young commander-in-chief, first led his army into the northern Balkans, conquered the Illyrian tribe that betrayed him, and repelled the Thracians to the banks of the Danube. At this time, the Thebes who fought Macedonia in those years rumored that Alexander was killed, and took the opportunity to set off an uproar against Macedonia. Alexander knew that Thebes was a famous big city-state in Greek cities. If the riot is not quelled, the consequences will be unimaginable. So he decided to make an example, made a decisive decision, rushed south, and unexpectedly appeared at the gates of Thebes in lightning speed. Thebes couldn't believe their eyes. They all panicked. Thebes was captured and turned into a pile of rubble. Except for a few people who were friendly with Philip II or Alexander or sponsored Macedonia in the past, all the residents were sold into slaves.
Alexander achieved the expected goal, and the destruction of Thebes really set an example for others. Greek city-states bowed to the wind in succession, expressing their obedience. Then Athens surrendered and begged for forgiveness. Soon after, all countries were unified under the leadership of Alexander and recognized Alexander as the supreme commander. Thus, Alexander can make great achievements and organize expeditions to the East without any worries. [ 1]
The excuse of Alexander's expedition to eastern Persia was that the Persians ravaged the Greek holy land and participated in the murder of Philip II. It is said that Alexander gave all his real estate income, slaves and cattle to others before going out to war. At that time, a general was puzzled and asked, "Your Majesty, what did you keep for yourself?" "Hope!" Alexander simply replied, "I keep my hope for myself!" It will bring me endless wealth! " Later, with the desire to conquer the world, Alexander left his native land and embarked on a long journey.
In fact, because of counter-insurgency and other problems, Alexander not only failed to pay off the old debt of 500 talents accumulated by Philip over the years, but also owed a new debt of 800 talents. On the one hand, he was able to hide his debts, on the other hand, he pinned his hopes on the huge loot obtained through the large-scale conquest war, so Alexander had to embark on the road of expedition to Persia.
In the spring of 334 BC, Alexander crossed the Helegu Strait (that is, the Daniil Strait) and began the Crusade of 10. The army he used to start his expedition to the Persian Empire consisted of 30,000 infantry, 5,000 cavalry and 160 warships. The Persian Empire had hundreds of thousands of troops and 400 warships. Moreover, the Persian empire is about 50 times larger than the kingdom of Magiton, not to mention that many ancient and rich countries such as Egypt, Babylon and Phoenicia were conquered by Persia and incorporated into the Persian territory. Despite the disparity in strength, Alexander is good at seeing things from the essence. He knew that although the Persian Empire had a vast territory, a huge army and prestige, it was in decline and divided internally. Emperor Darius Iii was a mediocre and unwise monarch with weak will. The kingdom of Macedonia is unstoppable. With the help of crossing the Hellers Strait in one fell swoop, Alexander broke through the enemy's defense lines with high morale, won the first battle, completely destroyed the Persian morale and determination to resist, and opened up the road of expansion to Asia. Many city-states surrendered without fighting, and even regarded Alexander as their savior from Persian rule.
In the autumn of 333 BC, Alexander defeated Darius Iii with his famous Macedonian phalanx near Isus.
In the spring of 33 1 BC, Alexander marched into Mesopotamia with 40,000 infantry and 7,000 cavalry, and launched the last large-scale decisive battle with Persia in Goga Milla near Nineveh. After careful preparation, Darius Iii has 40,000 cavalry, 200,000 infantry, 200 chariots with knives and wheels, and 0/5 Indian elephants. Compared with Alexander's army, it has absolute advantages. But Alexander and Darius Iii miraculously defeated the Persian emperor with their wisdom. What's particularly interesting is that when Alexander, with less than 50,000 troops, ordered his soldiers to lie down and rest and prepare for the coming battle, Darius Iii took a huge army to keep the soldiers awake all night for fear of night attack. Persian soldiers were armed to the teeth and were on tenterhooks all night, all listless and without fighting spirit. The next day, in the early morning of 33 BC 1 year1October1day, Alexander led an energetic and high-spirited army into the battlefield and skillfully used his flexible "Macedonian phalanx" to finally defeat his powerful opponent. Alexander took advantage of the victory to advance eastward, occupied Babylon, the largest city in the East and the center of ancient oriental culture, and gave himself a title-"King of Babylon, the Four Seas of the World". Since then, Alexander led the troops from Babylon and occupied three capitals of the Persian Empire, namely Susa, Persepolis and iqbal Platthana. Darius Iii fled to the northern summer, was killed by the governor of the summer, Bezos, and dumped his body by the roadside. Finally, Alexander found his body on the way to catch up, and sent it back to Persepolis and buried it in the mausoleum of the Persian emperor. At this point, the ancient Persian Empire and the Achemani Dynasty perished. Macedonian troops conquered all the territory of Persia, and an Alexander empire across Europe, Asia and Africa was established. [ 1]
In 327 BC, Alexander led his troops from the south of the Caspian Sea to the east, passing through the rest (Parthia), Arya and Dranguana, crossing the Hindu Kush Mountains and reaching Bactria (Summer) and Sogdian. 325 years ago, it invaded the kingdom of Boravaz in India. Although Boravaz is not as big as Persia, it is also a powerful country in the local area. Porras, king, is good at fighting. He has 30,000 infantry, 4,000 cavalry and 300 chariots. In addition, he has a unique weapon-200 war elephants. In terms of quantity, it is comparable to Alexander's army. It was summer, with heavy rain, deep rivers and natural barriers on the Jinnah River, so Porras was confident to stop Alexander's attack. When he heard that Alexander was going to lead his troops back to China, he set up troops by the river and defended them strictly. In addition to setting up sentries, each field also sends elephants to "guard". Elephants are so clumsy, why do they have to "guard"? It turns out that Macedonia's war horses are all from the north, and they have never dealt with such a behemoth as the south. As long as they see elephants, they will jump into the water because of fear, so Macedonian cavalry naturally cannot cross the river.
Alexander knew it was not easy to cross the river and made full preparations. He sent an officer to the Indus River. The soldiers were ordered to take the boat apart when preparing to cross the river, split it into two parts, split the big boat into three parts, and transport it to the west bank of Jinnahe River by cart to hide. He himself, after scouting the topography of the river and the west bank, drew up a plan similar to China's Han Xin in the Han Dynasty, that is, "build a plank road in the open and cross the old warehouse in secret". This plan is divided into three steps. The first step is to pretend to cross during the day and tire the enemy down. Alexander ordered ships and rafts to launch near the camp and sail back and forth along the river. The soldiers on the shore also moved back and forth in parallel with the ship, as if looking for the right time and place to prepare to cross the river. Porras did not dare to neglect, and he also shuttled back and forth with the direction of their ships on the other side, and so on for several days, every day. Before the Macedonians crossed the river, porras's army was exhausted. The second step is to fly at night and confuse the enemy. As soon as the daytime feint stopped, the Macedonians began to act at night again. Alexander himself led some cavalry to run back and forth along the coast, shouting the slogan of charge as he ran, as if to secretly cross the river under the cover of darkness. So porras and his army ran back and forth on the other side. In this way, Macedonians did not cross the river for several days. Pollas concluded that the enemy didn't really dare to cross the river, but was just bluffing. So no matter how the enemy moves or shouts, only sentries are allowed to defend along the coast. Large forces no longer move with it. Alexander saw that Porras was exhausted and paralyzed, so he started his next move, smuggling at night. On the surface, it is still a bluff, repeating the same trick and paralyzing the other party. I secretly moved most of the people, boats and rafts to the upper reaches of the river about 50 miles from the original camp. This is where the Jinnahe River turns, forming a lower corner, where there are dense trees. There is an island in the river opposite the lower corner, which is also covered with trees and inaccessible. This formed a natural barrier, and Macedonians made nervous and serious preparations for crossing the river. One night at the end of June 326 BC, dark clouds rolled, thunder and lightning flashed and the river roared. Macedonians used the cover of God to assemble infantry and cavalry on the shore. Just before dawn, it was calm after the rain. Alexander immediately ordered 15000 cavalry to board warships and rafts respectively and head for the islands in the river. As soon as they bypassed the island, they were discovered by the sentry on the other side of Porras. Alexander estimated that Porras had not concentrated his forces here, so he ordered the ship to sail to the other side quickly, and immediately formed a battle formation after landing, ready to fight. I don't know that this is not the east bank of the Jinnahe River, but another island. Macedonians complained bitterly when they saw that all their efforts were in vain. Fortunately, there were not many enemy troops on the other side, so we found another place to cross the river. The river is neck deep and it is almost impossible to wade through it. Alexander dared not delay, and commanded the army to venture across the river. [ 1]
Pollas learned that Macedonians were crossing the river in Xiajiao, but he didn't know where the main force of Macedonia was, so he didn't lead a great army to stop it. The enemy may cross the river from there and lead a great army to meet the enemy. He was afraid that the enemy on the other side would take the opportunity to cross the river, thinking and hesitating. As a result, he only sent his son Porras Jr. to lead 2000 infantry and 120 chariots to stop it. When little Porras reached the other side of Xiajiao, most Macedonian troops had crossed the river. He had too few hands, so he collapsed and committed suicide at once.
When he heard that Alexander crossed the river with a great army and killed his son, he was quite angry. He left only a few troops to guard the local river bank and personally brought 30 thousand infantry. 4000 cavalry, 180 chariots and 200 elephants went to meet Alexander. When he came to a flat and hard sand, he was in place there. He put 200 war elephants in front, each a few feet apart, forming the first front, which made the enemy's war horses daunting and the infantry afraid to cross. He gave in and stood behind the elephants, forming a second front, covering every gap between elephants. The cavalry is arranged on both sides of the infantry to facilitate mobility. And 180 chariots were placed in front of the left and right cavalry respectively. These chariots look imposing, but they have no effect in actual combat.
Alexander met Porras' army in the March and immediately turned the troops into battle formation, ready to fight back. As in the past, he made the phalanx infantry occupy the central position, opposite to the war elephant of Porras, and ordered them not to go into battle first, only to attack when Macedonian cavalry disturbed the other cavalry and infantry. At the same time, he ordered Kolvoc to lead two teams of cavalry to advance to the enemy's right wing in secret, and to attack the enemy in a roundabout way when the enemy cavalry was at war with their own right-wing cavalry. On the other hand, Alexander led most cavalry to occupy the right wing, ready to attack from here first. [ 1]
When Pollas found a large number of enemy cavalry concentrated in front of him on the left, he transferred the right-wing cavalry to the left and let all the cavalry attack the enemy cavalry together. At the sight of the enemy cavalry, Alexander ordered 1 0,000 archers to shoot arrows at the same time, and the cavalry in Porras immediately became chaotic. Taking this opportunity, Alexander led the cavalry to gallop over. The two cavalry fought side by side. At this time, Kolvoc's cavalry appeared behind Polas's cavalry according to the order, making it attacked on both sides. Forced by the situation, porras' cavalry pulled out some troops and turned around to deal with Kolvoc. When Alexander saw some cavalry of Porras, he turned around and killed them, forcing the enemy cavalry to retreat to war elephants. As soon as the elephants in Porras saw the enemy cavalry coming, they rushed to stop them and lost their formation. Macedonian phalanx infantry has been watching the battle and waiting for the opportunity. Seeing that the time had come, they rushed up, besieged the elephants and shot arrows from all directions. The elephant was fearless, but it also drove the elephant to the enemy phalanx, leaving the Macedonian phalanx in a mess. The cavalry of Porras was brave and tenacious, and once again fought against the enemy cavalry. However, due to lack of experience and training, they were defeated and retreated to the elephant again. Macedonian cavalry and infantry advanced step by step, throwing guns and bows and arrows at enemy cavalry and elephants, and Polas' cavalry suffered heavy casualties. Especially those war elephants, because of serious injuries and unbearable pain, became furious. They run around, rampage, regardless of the enemy and the enemy, and trample mercilessly. The infantry and cavalry of Porras, packed with elephants, were forced to hide by the enemy. Many people were injured, and many people died under the elephant's hoof. At this time, Alexander asked the cavalry to intercept behind the other side, and let the infantry close their shields and advance step by step. Many of Paula's soldiers couldn't get away and died on the battlefield. At this time, the Macedonian 8000 infantry and 3000 cavalry who stayed in the west bank crossed the river directly, ending the battle with Alexander's army. [ 1]
Although Borras was defeated, he did not chicken out like Darius Iii, but always bravely led his troops to fight on the battlefield. Later, when I saw that most of my soldiers were killed and there was no hope of victory, I led the army to retreat. Seeing that this man was so brave, Alexander felt that he would consolidate his rule here in the future. Is a rare talent. So I ordered him not to hurt him and invited him to meet him many times. When porras arrived, Alexander personally greeted him and asked him what he wanted. He said; "You should treat me like a king." Alexander gave him what he wanted, let him still manage his country, and gave him a piece of leased land bigger than his original land. So Paula surrendered to Alexander. After eight years and a journey of more than 50,000 miles, many soldiers were injured, disabled, sick and died. Survivors don't want to fight anymore. They all want to go back alive and meet their elders, wives and children, so they complain and even openly refuse to fight. Alexander had no choice but to retreat. [ 1]
Withdraw troops from India in July 325 BC.
In 324 BC, the army returned to Persia and Susa, the fleet landed at the mouth of the Tigris River, and then returned to Babylon, and the Crusade ended.
In 323 BC, Alexander [2] died of a high fever in Babylon. Before Alexander died, he knew the emptiness of life. He fought for more than ten years and was invincible, but he couldn't win death. He ordered his men to leave holes on both sides of his coffin after his death and show his hands to future generations. Although he fought all his life, he returned empty-handed.