At the age of just 22, Alexander, ruler of the small Greek kingdom of Macedonia, had
led an invasion of the vast Persian Empire.
After a string of victories, he smashed Persian military power at the Battle of Gaugamela,
and took the Persian throne for himself.
Now, in 330 BC, Alexander continued his march east.
His goal: to find and kill Bessus - a Persian usurper, claiming to be the rightful king
– and to subjugate the empire's eastern provinces...
Alexander headed first for Aria, today part of Afghanistan, where the Persian governor
Satibarzanes had launched a revolt – after initially pretending to submit to Alexander.
The rebellion was crushed, and Satibarzanes killed in single combat by a Greek cavalry
officer.
Nearby, Alexander founded the city of Alexandria Ariana, modern Herat – one of around a dozen
cities that Alexander would eventually found, almost all bearing his name.
Alexander marched on to Phrada.
The Macedonian court had a long tradition of plots and assassination.
Six years before, Alexander's own father, King Philip, had been murdered by his bodyguard.
He was now informed that Philotas, commander of his Companion Cavalry, had uncovered a
plot to assassinate Alexander, but kept it secret.
Philotas, and his father Parmenion, were among the most respected of Alexander's commanders,
and had played crucial roles in all his great victories.
But when Philotas confessed under torture, Alexander had him executed... then sent assassins
back to Ecbatana, where Parmenion was governor, to kill him before he even heard of his son's
death, and had a chance to turn against Alexander.
In 329, Alexander resumed his pursuit of Bessus.
En route, he founded the city of Alexandria Arachosia – modern Kandahar, in southern
Afghanistan.
As he reached Kunduz, Bessus was betrayed by his own men, and handed over in chains.
Alexander sent him back to Persia for execution, as a king-slayer.
Alexander pushed on into modern Tajikistan, where the Sogdians rose up against him.
He had to fight off attacks by local tribes, and take several towns by assault.
On the banks of the Jaxartes River, he founded the city of Alexandria-Eschate, meaning Alexandria
'the Furthest' – so-named because he had, at last, reached the limit of the Persian
Empire.
This frontier was frequently raided by nomads, known to the Greeks as Scythians.
Alexander lured them into a decisive battle near the Jaxartes.
The result was a crushing victory for the Macedonian king, that put an end to the raids.
But fighting against Bactrian and Sogdian tribes continued, frustrating Alexander, and
tying him down in a difficult guerilla war.
By now, many of the Macedonian troops were unhappy with Alexander.
Most had not seen their homes in years, but their king seemed bent on conquest without
end.
What was worse, he'd begun to adopt the rituals and dress of their defeated Persian enemy
– customs they viewed as effeminate, and decadent.
At Maracanda, modern Samarkand, after a furious, drunken argument, Alexander killed Cleitus
the Black.
Cleitus had been one of Alexander's best generals, and the man who'd saved his life at the Battle
of the Granicus.
Alexander was full of remorse, but his growing arrogance was alienating more and more old
comrades.
When he tried to make his countrymen perform the traditional Persian ritual of proskynesis
– prostrating themselves before the king - he crossed a line.
To Greeks this was blasphemy – only a god was worthy of such respect - and Alexander
was forced to back down.
In Bactria, another plot to assassinate Alexander was uncovered.
This time the ringleader was a royal page – one of the sons of Macedonian nobility
who attended the king.
Hermolaus had become murderously bitter towards Alexander over a perceived injustice.
He and his accomplices were tortured, and then stoned to death.
Callisthenes, Alexander's official historian, was also implicated in the conspiracy.
He was thrown in prison, where he later died.
That summer, in 327 - according to legend - Alexander became captivated by the beauty
of Roxana, daughter of a Bactrian lord.
Their marriage was also a sound political move, helping to end local revolt against
his rule – and allowing him to continue his advance...
into modern Pakistan, and India.
Alexander now prepared to subdue the Persian Empire's most eastern provinces, which had
yet to recognise his kingship.
To do so he would first have to cross the Hindu Kush mountains and reach the Indus river
valley.
Advancing in two columns, his army won a series of skirmishes against the Aspasii and Assaceni,
as they fought their way into what's now the Swat Valley of northern Pakistan.
After a fierce siege, Alexander took the Assacenian capital of Massaga.
According to legend it was ruled by a beautiful queen, Cleophis, who bore Alexander a son,
and was allowed to keep her throne.
The ruler of Taxila, near modern Islamabad, had formed an alliance with Alexander.
Together they marched to face Porus, king of Pauravas, at the Battle of the Hydaspes.
It was Alexander's costliest battle, as Porus's war elephants inflicted terrible casualties
amongst the Greeks.
But despite Porus's fearless leadership, the battle ended in a decisive victory for Alexander,
winning him control of the Punjab.
Alexander wanted to push on into India, to reach the great river which ancient Greek
geographers said formed the edge of the world.
But at the River Hyphasis, known today as the Beas, his army mutinied.
His men had marched thousands of miles, fought countless battles, and not seen their homes
in 8 years.
They'd heard rumours of gigantic armies waiting for them in India.
They refused to go any further.
Alexander was furious, but had to turn the army around.
He followed the rivers of the Punjab to the sea – a journey that took 10 months.
On the way, he defeated the Mahlians, but while leading the assault on their capital,
was wounded in the chest and nearly killed.
On reaching the coast, part of the army, under Nearchus, boarded ships, and returned to Persia
by sea.... sailing through the Straits of Hormuz.... and entering the Persian Gulf.
It was one of the great ancient voyages of exploration, as these waters had been previously
unknown to Greeks.
Meanwhile Alexander led the rest of the army back by land through the Gedrosian desert,
today in southern Pakistan.
But extreme heat and shortages of food and water led to terrible suffering, and many
deaths among his army.
On his return to Persia, Alexander executed several of his viceroys and governors - men
accused of ruling unjustly, and robbing temples and tombs, during his long absence in the
east.
At Susa, he arranged a magnificent mass-marriage of Macedonian officers to 80 Persian noblewomen,
to strengthen bonds between his two kingdoms.
Alexander himself married two Persian princesses.
He also paid all his soldiers debts, and ordered 30,000 youths from across the empire to be
trained in the Macedonian art of war.
But at Opis, his Macedonian troops mutinied.
They were offended by Alexander's apparent preference for Persian advisors and Persian
ways.
Alexander had the ringleaders executed, and made a speech to the men, reminding them of
the glories they'd won together, and leading eventually to an emotional reconciliation.
At Ecbatana, Alexander's closest and most trusted friend, Hephaestion, died of fever.
The king was grief stricken, went days without eating, and ordered a period of public mourning
across the empire.
Alexander waged a successful campaign against the mountain raiders of Cossaea, who not even
the Persian kings had been able to subdue.
Returning to Babylon, he was met by embassies from distant peoples, come to recognise his
greatness: Aethiopians, Libyans, European Scythians, Lucanians, Etruscans, Gauls and
Iberians.
Alexander's Bactrian wife Roxana was now pregnant.
But as he planned his next campaign, to Arabia and beyond, he developed a sudden fever, and
died days later, aged just 32.
The cause of Alexander's death has never been established.
It may have been malaria, cholera, typhus... or poison.
Alexander died undefeated in battle.
His reputation as a brilliant, fearless and daring military commander remains undimmed.
His decade long campaign created one of the largest empires ever known, stretching from
Greece to Pakistan.
But it was vast and unstable, held together only by his own brilliance and name.
Alexander left no plans for his succession, and his generals soon began fighting among
themselves to carve out their own empires.
In the Wars of the Successors, Alexander's widow Roxana and his young son were murdered.
His own gold sarcophagus, en route to Macedonia for burial was hijacked, and ended up in Alexandria,
in Egypt.
Today, it's location remains one of the world's great unsolved mysteries.
Few men have ever had such an impact on the course of history as Alexander the Great.
The breath-taking achievements of his short life ushered in the Hellenistic Age, as Greek
ideas spread across the territory of his former empire, fusing with local traditions to trigger
new developments in art, science, government and language.
Some of the successor kingdoms to his great empire were short-lived – others endured
for centuries.. but all, in turn, would fall to new forces... and in the west, to the rising
power of Rome.
Research and artwork for this video comes from Osprey Publishing's extensive range of
books on ancient history.
Every Osprey book examines a particular battle, campaign or combat unit in authoritative,
meticulous detail.
And with more than 3,000 titles, they cover everything from ancient warfare to modern
conflict.
Visit their website to see their online catalogue.
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