Wars of Alexander the Great
- Period
- 336–323 BC
- Sides
- Macedon vs Achaemenid Persia
- Battles
- 17
Alexander the Great of Macedon carried out a series of conquests and military campaigns from 336 to 323 BC. They began with his conquest of the Achaemenid Empire, which was ruled by Darius III. After a series of victories over the Persians and the defeat of Darius, he began a campaign against local chieftains and warlords that stretched from Greece to as far as the Indus Valley. At the time of his death, Alexander ruled over most regions of Greece and the conquered Achaemenid Empire, including much of Achaemenid Egypt.
Sources: Wikipedia — Wars of Alexander the Great · CC BY-SA 4.0
Battles 17
335 BC
Battle of Thebes
The Battle of Thebes took place between the army of Alexander the Great and the Greek city of Thebes in 335 BC immediately outside of and in the city proper in Boeotia. After succeeding his father as the hegemon of the Hellenic League, Alexander had marched to the north to deal with revolts in Illyria and Thrace.
334 BC
Battle of the Granicus
The Battle of the Granicus in May 334 BC was the first of three major battles fought between Alexander the Great of Macedon and the Persian Achaemenid Empire. The battle took place on the road from Abydus to Dascylium, at the crossing of the Granicus in the Troad region, which is now called the Biga River in Turkey. In the battle Alexander defeated the field army of the Persian satraps of Asia Minor, which defended the river crossing. After this battle, the Persians were forced onto the defensive in the cities that remained under their control in the region.
334 BC
Siege of Halicarnassus
The siege of Halicarnassus was fought between Alexander the Great and the Achaemenid Persian Empire in 334 BC. Alexander, who had no navy, was constantly being threatened by the Persian navy. It continuously attempted to provoke an engagement with Alexander, who would not oblige them. Eventually, the Persian fleet sailed to Halicarnassus, in order to establish a new defense. Ada of Caria, the former queen of Halicarnassus, had been driven from her throne by her younger brother Pixodarus of Caria. When Pixodarus died, Persian King Darius had appointed Orontobates satrap of Caria, which included Halicarnassus in its jurisdiction. On the arrival of Alexander in 334 BC, Ada, who was in possession of the fortress of Alinda, surrendered the fortress to him.
334 BC
Siege of Miletus
The siege of Miletus was Alexander the Great's first siege and naval encounter with the Achaemenid Empire. This siege was directed against Miletus, a city in southern Ionia, which is now located in the Aydın province of modern-day Turkey. During the battle, Parmenion's son Philotas would be key in preventing the Persian Navy from finding safe anchorage. It was captured by Parmenion's son, Nicanor in 334 BC.
333 BC
Battle of Issus
The Battle of Issus occurred in southern Anatolia, on 5 November 333 BC between the Hellenic League led by Alexander the Great and the Achaemenid Empire, led by Darius III. It was the second major battle in Alexander's invasion of the Persian empire, and the first encounter between Darius III and Alexander the Great. The battle resulted in the Macedonian troops defeating the Persian forces. Darius was forced to flee, leaving behind his family and treasury which were captured by Alexander.
332 BC
Siege of Tyre (332 BC)
The siege of Tyre was carried out by Alexander the Great in 332 BC during his campaigns against the Persians. At first, the Macedonian army was unable to capture the city of Tyre, which was a strategic coastal base on the Mediterranean Sea, through conventional means because it was on an island that was 1 kilometer off the coast of modern-day Lebanon and had walls right up to the sea. Alexander responded by first blockading and besieging Tyre for seven months and building a causeway. When his soldiers discovered that they could not extend it any further due to a steep drop under the surface of the water, he ordered siege towers with catapults at the top to be moved to the end. This allowed him to breach the fortifications.
332 BC
Siege of Gaza (332 BC)
The siege of Gaza, as part of the Wars of Alexander the Great, took place in October of 332 BC. Resulting in a victory for Macedon, it ended the 31st Dynasty of Egypt, which functioned as a satrapy under the Achaemenid Persian Empire.
331 BC
Battle of Gaugamela
The Battle of Gaugamela, also called the Battle of Arbela, took place in 331 BC between the forces of the Army of Macedon under Alexander the Great and the Persian Army under King Darius III. It was the second and final battle between the two kings, and is considered to be the final blow to the Achaemenid Empire, resulting in its complete conquest by Alexander.
331 BC
Battle of Megalopolis
The Battle of Megalopolis was fought in 331 BC between Spartan-led forces and Macedonia. Alexander's regent Antipater led the Macedonians to victory over King Agis III. Alexander, warring in Asia at the time, called it a "battle of mice", according to Plutarch.
331 BC
Battle of the Uxian Defile
The Battle of Uxian Defile was fought by Alexander the Great against the Uxian tribe of the Persian Empire. The battle raged on the mountain range between the key Persian cities of Susa and Persepolis. Persepolis was the ancient capital of the Persian Empire and held a symbolic value among the native Persian population. They believed that if this city were to fall into enemy hands, then, in effect, the whole Persian Empire would fall into the hands of the enemy.
330 BC
Battle of the Persian Gate
The Battle of the Persian Gate took place as part of the Wars of Alexander the Great. In the winter of 330 BC, Ariobarzanes of Persis led a last stand with his outnumbered Persian army at the Persian Gate, near Persepolis, and held back the Macedonian army for approximately a month. However, through captured prisoners of war or a local shepherd, Alexander found a path around to flank the Persian troops from the rear, allowing him to capture half of Persia proper in another decisive victory against the Achaemenid Empire.
329 BC
Battle of Jaxartes
The Battle of Jaxartes was fought in 329 BC by Alexander the Great and his Hellenic (Greek) army against the Saka at the River Jaxartes, now known as the Syr Darya River. The site of the battle straddles the modern borders of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan, just south-west of the ancient city of Tashkent and north-east of Khujand.
329 BC
Siege of Cyropolis
Cyropolis was the largest of seven towns in the region that Alexander the Great targeted for conquest in 329 BC. His goal was the conquest of Sogdiana. Alexander first sent Craterus to Cyropolis, the largest of the Sogdian towns holding out against Alexander's forces. Craterus' instructions were to "take up a position close to the town, surround it with a ditch and stockade, and then assemble such siege engines as might suit his purpose". The idea was to keep the inhabitants focused on their own defences and to prevent them from sending assistance out to the other towns.
327 BC
Siege of the Sogdian Rock
The Sogdian Rock or Rock of Ariamazes, a fortress located north of Bactria in Sogdiana, ruled by Arimazes, was captured by the forces of Alexander the Great in the early spring of 327 BC as part of his conquest of the Achaemenid Empire.
327 BC
Cophen campaign
The Cophen campaign was conducted by Alexander the Great between May 327 BC and March 326 BC against the Aspasioi, the Guraeans, and the Assakenoi tribes in the Kabul, Kunar, Panjkora and Swat valleys, in present-day Afghanistan and Pakistan. The main aim of Alexander was to secure the Macedonian line of communications so that the Macedonian army could proceed into India properly.
326 BC
Battle of the Hydaspes
The Battle of the Hydaspes also known as Battle of Jhelum, or First Battle of Jhelum, was fought between the Macedonian Empire under Alexander the Great and the Pauravas under Porus in May of 326 BC. It took place on the banks of the Hydaspes River in what is now the Punjab province of Pakistan, as part of Alexander's Indian campaign. In what was possibly their most costly engagement, the Macedonian army secured a decisive victory over the Pauravas and captured Porus. Large areas of Punjab were subsequently absorbed into the Macedonian Empire; Alexander spared Porus and made him a satrap, effectively reinstating him as the region's ruler.
326 BC
Mallian campaign
The Mallian campaign was conducted by Alexander the Great from November 326 to February 325 BC, against the Mallians of the Punjab. Alexander was defining the eastern limit of his power by marching down-river along the Hydaspes to the Acesines, but the Malli and the Oxydraci combined to refuse passage through their territory. Alexander sought to prevent their forces meeting, and made a swift campaign against them which successfully pacified the region between the two rivers. Alexander was seriously injured during the course of the campaign, almost losing his life.
Earlier and later events nearby
- c. 1754 BCCode of Hammurabi
- 612 BCFall of Nineveh
- 539 BCFall of Babylon
- 336–323 BCWars of Alexander the GreatThis page
- 331 BCBattle of Gaugamela
- AD 224Founding of the Sasanian Empire
- AD 680Battle of Karbala
Who ruled this land
States that held this place in the historical borders data (Cliopatria). Years are approximate, as fine as the data's snapshots (every few years to a century). Tap to open the map for that year.
Show 5 more
- 900–700 BCNeo-Assyrian Empire
- 650 BCAssyrian Egypt
- 600 BCMedian Empire
- 550 BCNeo-Babylonian Empire
- 500–350 BCAchaemenid EmpireThis page
- 300–150 BCSeleucid Empire
- 100 BC – AD 100Parthian Empire
- AD 125Roman Empire
- AD 150–225Parthian Empire
Show 26 more
- AD 250–625Sasanian Empire
- AD 650Rashidun Caliphate
- AD 675–750Umayyad Caliphate
- AD 775–925Abbasid Caliphate
- AD 950–1040Hamdanid dynasty
- 1060–1120Seljuk Empire
- 1140–1180Zengid dynasty
- 1200Ayyubid dynasty
- 1220–1240Zengid dynasty
- 1260–1280Mongol Empire
- 1300–1340Ilkhanate
- 1360Jalayirid Sultanate
- 1380–1460Qara Qoyunlu
- 1480–1510Aq Qoyunlu
- 1520–1530Safavid dynasty
- 1540–1918Ottoman Empire
- 1920British Empire
- 1922–1930British Africa
- 1932–1942Kingdom of Iraq
- 1944British Africa
- 1946British Empire
- 1948–1956Kingdom of Iraq
- 1958Arab Federation
- 1960–2004Iraq
- 2006–2012United States
- 2014 –Iraq