The Issus Campaign

In part two of our look at Alexander the Great we move further into Persia and assess in detail the first major battle that took place with the ‘core’ Persian Royal Army at the Battle of Issus, which was also the first major defeat for the Persian King Darius.

Introduction

Alexander the Great as truly a genius in the battlefield and a great leader of men, but coupled with this was a ruthless nature. Following his entry into the Persian Empire land battles were soon counter pointed by naval action. This offended the Persian King Darius and he sent out fleers of ships to wipe out the Macedonian threat.

The victory at Granicus has opened up Anatolia (Asia Minor) to Alexander and he wanted to hammer this advantage home. The Persian Empire has been effectively ‘scratched’ by the mighty warrior and his army, but there was a lot of land a many battles still left before him.

Alexander also wanted to be seen as the liberator of the Greeks in the area. However, his goal was hundreds of miles away. This goal was the defeat of King Darius, capture of the wealth that went with this, the defeat of the Royal Army and also the defeat of the Naval power within Phoenicia.

In the past Darius the Third had been a powerful warrior, not in the same vein as Alexander, but nonetheless a powerful man. Now he had lost the spark of warrior. He had embraced a plodding mentality, almost arrogantly ignoring the problem that has arisen in his Empire.

Alexander embraced the challenge and lax attitude of Darius and pressed home his advantage. In most cases the cities before him accepting him as a liberator and they fell with little or no bloodshed. But cities like Miletus and Halicarnassus eventually fell following bitter fighting and sieges.

Staggering

The Macedonian General stopped for no man and kept up a gruelling campaign speed. Within only 15 months of stepping foot inside the Persian Empire the power base of the Persians had been removed from Anatolia. An achievement that can only be classed as staggering.

Now historians are split in their view of the actions of Darius, bringing into doubt his ability as a leader and even questioning just how successful Alexander would have been had the Persians not responded to his threat more quickly.

It we are generous to Darius we can consider the sheer size of the Persian Empire and add to this the complexity of mustering the Royal Army. There is also the issue of a Persian Monarch accepting the threat and ‘bothering’ to set off and deal with the threat personally. This is perhaps why it took so long before Darius faced off against Alexander at the Battle of Issus.

Before the Royal Army kicked into action Darius called for the start of a major naval offensive against Alexander’s fleet. The Persian navy moved and captured most of Lesbos and Cheos, but despite this Alexander was, by August of 333 BC, in Cilecia and only hundreds of miles away from the Phoenicia cities of the ‘Levant’ – the source of Persian naval power.

By now you could see that Darius was not impressed by the speed of Alexander and sat in Babylonia assembling a formidable army. Historians of the time claim that Darius has access to 600,000 men!

Now as prone to exaggeration as they were the simple fact is that Alexander entered this campaign with around 40,000 men and was therefore heavily outnumbered by the Persians. But the geography of the country left these spread out quite thinly.

Interestingly Darius’ feelings of worry were evident as he raised a new Corp for combat against Alexander – the Kardakes. There is some confusion over the role of these infantry as some sources (most notably Osprey) call them ‘Light Persian Infantry’ and others refer to them as ‘Heavy Infantry’. It is believed that some 60,000 Kardakes were present at the Battle of Issus.

My money is on them as Heavy infantry drilled in a way that could allow them to counter the Macedonian Phalanx. But the core strength to the Persian Army was, as ever, its mounted troops. Some 20,000 were believed to be at The Battle of Issus.

Risky Business

One of the interesting points of debate is the issue of Darius risking the defeat of his Royal Army at the hands of Alexander. The common or garden army of Persian, as in the provincial fighting forces could be lost and not noticed. But to lose the Royal Army, now that was food for thought. This could have risked the entire empire.

It is speculated that this is why Darius waiting so long before engaging Alexander’s force head on. To build an unbeatable army that could destroy the invading force. Now as we all know this isn’t what happened.

The Battle of Issus

It is one line of thinking that Darius believed that his sheer numbers would scare off any invader. After all, who would dare go up against the Royal Army and his cavalry and chariots? Well a mad man may well do it, or optionally a skilled commander who feared nothing.

Timing could have also been interesting given that Alexander fell ill in Cilicia and it was not until the October that he managed to resume his campaign. He pressed on and it was here that he discovered that the Persian Royal Army had double-backed behind him.

This move by the Persians allowed them to select the battleground of their choice. It was to be with the Amanus Mountains to Alexander’s right and the Gulf of Issues to his left. This position also allowed the Persian’s to anchor their left flank on the mountainside and their battle line followed the Pinarus River. At the end this line, two miles inland, it kinked perpendicular to the coastline into the mountains.

The vast bulk of the army’s cavalry was massed near to the sea and, then the Kardakes, the Greek Hoplite mercenaries and Darius with Royal Horse and Foot Guard was positioned just before the kink in the line. On the kink was more Kardakes with cavalry support and in front of the army were positioned archers.

Behind the army were the light infantry, although these were generally regarded as “next to useless.” The kink was formed from more light infantry that held a loose crescent shape running South from the Persian line.

The river formed a strong natural defence and the infantry in the centre made this even stronger by building stockades. The natural crossing point was right next to the sea, but as we’ve said the Persian’s cleverly bunched cavalry here. It all looked like a tough day for Alexander.

As you can see from the map we have provided Alexander’s march was up the narrow coastal plain (less than two miles wide) and it was as he reached Point C that he started to deploy his army into a combat posture. As he moved to Point D the stage was set for a fairly major battle and as ever Alexander moved his cavalry to the flanks and the centre was composed of strong ground troops.

As usual the Macedonian’s spent hours manoeuvring the foot troops, the giant Phalanx, into position in front of the Persian’s, cleverly ensuring that no gaps were left, negating the risk of roaming cavalry getting amongst them.

Alexander had looked carefully at Persian disposition and moved his Thessalian cavalry to his left flank to counter the threat of the Persian cavalry and his own plan had him starting the battle on the right flank, making rippling movements towards the sea.

As to his extreme right flank Alexander moved some cavalry and around 300 Agrianian foot troops towards the Persian ‘crescent’ to protect against attack.

True the Macedonian army was outnumbered and on a terrain not of its choosing but ‘figuring’ out the terrain was one of Alexander’s true skills. By the afternoon of the battle his left flank was formed up and ready to go against the Persian’s but his right flank was still half a mile away from the enemy.

Then Alexander made his move. On his right-centre the Hypaspists, led by Alexander himself, were storming across the river and into the kink in the Persian line. The Kardakes were the first to discover that the right flank was Alexander’s starting point and as this action occurred the next phase of the plan came into play as the Macedonian Companion cavalry hit the left flank hard, which was simultaneously attacked by a mixed force of lancers, light cavalry and Agrianian foot.

It was too much – the Persian left flank started to buckle.

The battle wasn’t over though and the Persian’s plan of smashing the Macedonian left flank with their massed cavalry near to the sea was going well. The Thessalian cavalry was fighting a courageous delaying action here. The Macedonian line was bending out of shape but not breaking. This left wing was commanded by the trusted leader Parmenio.

It was now time for the centre to come into play and the Phalanx moved to cross the river, holding its tight formation. The combat in the centre was bloody against the Greek Hoplites, and many Macedonians were slain, but the Phalanx was holding its ground.

Now it was time for Alexander to strike his killer blow in this battle. Putting himself at the head of his Royal Guard cavalry he charged diagonally across the battlefield straight at Darius. Who after a very brief fight chose to flee the battlefield.

The Persian army crumbled away after news of Darius’ flight spread. It had taken just under one hour from Alexander’s initial assault for the Battle of Issus to be over.

Now the sheer numbers of Persian troops started to affect their own flight. Thousands of cavalry were slain (some historians have it at 10,000 mounted troops slain and 100,000 in total dead) and the battle was a disaster for the Persians.

Darius' almost cowardly actions on the battlefield was enough to shatter what was left of his army...you have to wonder what would have happened if he'd stood his ground and battled Alexander? Would the battle have ended so badly for the Persians? Or would they have snatched a victory from the jaws of defeat?

I guess we'll never know...but it does make for great gaming.

Personal Involvement

The fact that Alexander took on a heroic role within his battles – something that Darius would certainly not have done – could have a significant impact on his battles. It certainly did at Issus. The fact that Alexander led his troops, assaulted Darius would have contributed to the overall morale of his men and aided their victories.

This came at great risk, but then again he was a Great Man.