The Battle of Gaugamela, 331BC

On April 3rd 2004 the Society of Ancients is holding a Battle Day and it has invited a number of people to bring along their version of this bloody and decisive battle from the great exploits of Alexander the Great. Wargames Journal will be taking a 6mm Warmaster game along to the event and this article is by way of our introduction to the game and the first article chronicling its creation.

Introduction

This battle was Alexander's third great battle on his ‘battle tour’ of the eastern lands. As far as this battle is concerned the terrain conditions were equal for both sides so no-one can claim that strategic use of hills and woods played any part in Alexander's victory.

You can assume that before a battle a very detailed planning process took place, we’ll have to hypothesise because no source has described it, but it is fair to say that the records that are in place do point to a very professional amount of reconnaissance being performed by Alexander’s troops – something he utilised extensively throughout all of his campaign.

Alexander knew exactly the capabilities of his opponent.

The Battle of Gaugamela was a decisive clash between the young Alexander and King Darius III of Persia and was to prove to be the undoing of the mighty empire. Before we dive into more about this battle let’s recap upon how and why this young soldier and King embarked upon this campaign.

In the Beginning – taken from Harry Marshall’s article in Wargames Journal, July 2003

Prince Alexander was born in 356BC. As a youth he demonstrated both athletic and mental agility. He was primed for greatness from an early age. At the age of 13 he began to be schooled by the great philosopher Aristotle. But the most significant tutor of Alexander was his father Philip who was to have a massive impact on the young Prince.

Philip of Macendon, who came to the throne in 258BC, was himself a great leader, uniting a fragmented Macedonia and is often overlooked for his own achievements. He forged it into the strongest state in Greece and redesigned the weapons and tactics of his army.

Philip was always confident of his son’s abilities and a particular example of this is the time when the Northern tribes (Mide?) of Thrace decided to invade Macedonia in 340BC. Philip was away campaigning and Alexander, a mere 16 at the time, was regent.

Undeterred by this Alexander led his army, captured the enemy capital and established a military base of operations. The capital was then renamed to Alexandropolis. Not a bad beginning for the 16-year-old leader. Two years after this Alexander commanded the cavalry at the crucial battle of Chaeronea (see the excellent scenario in this current issue) where his father hammered home his pre-eminence in Greece.

Under Philip’s leadership Macedonia moved from being a poor Greek backwater state to assume a role of wealth, powerful state. A legacy that was to drive Alexander to great things indeed. Then a terrible blow was struck. In 336BC as Philip was preparing for his campaign in Persia his bodyguard, Armanius, assassinated Philip. The mighty leader of Macedonia was gone and in his place was a 20-year-old son called Alexander.

The enemies of the country celebrated the death of Philip and indeed many believed that the country would now fall apart, ripe for plunder and conquest and that Alexander was to be no match for them.

How wrong they were…

Power

Alexander quickly asserted his right to leadership and he took power. Now the troubles started. Within days he faced revolts to his leadership from Greece and the Balkans. Within a year Alexander had reasserted control over the Balkans and Greece. He made a rapid series of lightning assaults (Thebes, Illyria, Triballi, and Getae to name but a few) to smash revolts. His ruthlessness shines through here. Thebes was used to set an example with the city destroyed and 30,000 citizens sold into slavery.

With all this done and Greece now firmly established as his ‘ally’ Alexander turned his attentions East…it was time to set his father’s plans of Persian conquest in motion.

The bid by the Persian’s to conquer Greece in the early 5th Century had led to plenty of pent up resentment and Philip had great plans to give them some ‘pay back’. Persia still controlled many areas where Greeks lived, the island of Cyprus being one example as well as plenty of other areas of Asia Minor. But not for long… Now Alexander would champion that cause.

Alexander was looking to show himself as a great king and moving East into Persia was what he needed and his father had laid the plans already.

Fighting the Persians

Persia was a large and powerful country that at its height of dominance stretched from the Greek borders to the Valleys of the Indus. On paper it was a mighty opponent. The way the Persian’s structured its forces was to split itself into Provinces (called Satrapies) and each of these had its own army.

The ‘grand’ army for want of a better term was the one commanded by the Persian Ruler, Darius III, and in the case of invasion could be rallied to join the provincial forces. The heart of the Persian force was its cavalry. The aristocracy of the country formed these core units and in combat they were exceptional.

This cavalry used a hit and run rather than a head-one technique. Persian infantry tended to be ‘light’ infantry and it used plenty of Greek mercenaries. The Persian’s also had an excellent navy.

In the spring of the year Alexander was ready for his invasion. He left control of Greece in the hands of his commander Antipater, to guard the country with 15,000 infantry and 1,500 cavalry. Alexander is said to have had 30,000 men and 5,100 cavalry, which he led through Thrace and towards Hellespont. However, he expected to pick up many more troops as he made his way towards Persia, swelling his ranks into a formidable fighting force.

Able second in command

At the outset of the invasion and for the first four years of the campaign Alexander was supported by an outstanding second in command – Parmenio. This great warrior had been a close companion of his father Philip and had led the Macedonian forces against the Allies of Athens.

One of Parmenio’s strengths was as a cavalryman and would often lead Alexander’s Left Wing into action. This force regularly acted in a defensive posture. A trusted advisor to the young leader it is said he often gave advice, only to have it ignored.

Note: The future does not always bode well no matter how good a General you are. Having served two Kings faithfully he was murdered on orders from Alexander after his son, Philotas, was charged with the attempted murder of Alexander the Great.

When Alexander crossed into Persia in the Northwest he was met by a sluggish collection of Generals (Arsames, Petines, Rheomithres, Niphates and Spithridates). However, once battle commenced they were soon to show great courage. But courage is not enough to win a battle!

When gaming the battles of Alexander it is worth bearing in mind that he not only undertook great risks himself, always seeming to be in the right place at the right time with a unit of cavalry, but that his second in command and sub-generals were also well versed with the art of war.

The First Battle

When Alexander crossed the Hellespont in April 334BC he had a superbly drilled army under his command. After the crossing he himself headed to the ancient site of Troy and made sacrifices in honour of the Greek heroes of old.

Ahead of him lay a Persian Army encamped at Zelia and it was this army that would move to assault Alexander as he crossed the Troad, a territory intersected by rivers that flowed to the Sea of Marmara. One of these rivers – the Granicus – was to be the site for the beginning of Alexander’s Persian campaign in an area known as the Asian Gates. The Persian army was swelled with Greek mercenaries numbering around 20,000 and these troops were well used to fighting Macedonians.

One of the key troop types in the Macedonian Army was the companion cavalry, an elite fighting force that fought in close order and was used with devastating effect by Alexander. The allied Thessalian cavalry and lancers were very complimentary to the companion cavalry and used as ‘shock’ troops.

But the infantry might of the army was the incredibly well drilled Phalanx. Massive in size, scary to behold these units moved surprisingly well considering their complexity. But the genius lay with the fact that each unit could operate incredibly well on its own, but together as a combined force, under excellent leadership, acted as a slick machine.

At Granicus the Persian leaders elected to place their cavalry at the front of the army near the river and the infantry behind. The logic was as the Macedonians crossed the river they could perform a downhill charge into the disorganised troops, smashing them and winning the day.

But what happened next was somewhat amazing, and in the realms of such battles incredibly quick. The Macedonian’s mounted an attack using Lancers, Companion Cavalry and Hypaspists against the Persian centre-left.

As the combat heated up Alexander chose to cross the river on the right flank, taking his Royal Squadron and other cavalry with him. Whilst this was happening the rest of Alexander’s crossed the river and the Persian cavalry could not cope with the formed Phalanx.

With cavalry upon them the Persian cavalry fled the battlefield. The infantry did not fair so well. An estimated 1,000 Persian cavalry died that day, but a terrible 10,000 infantry died at the hands of the Macedonians.

Victory on the Granicus left Anatolia open to Alexander and his army. But this defeat was a minor one for the Persians, but a great morale boost for Alexander’s men. Hundreds of miles to the east lay Darius and his royal army, the Persian navy and much more.

Alexander’s campaign had just started and it was set to last many years, with the great man notching up countless victories using guile and wit.