Battle of Gaugamela
1 October 331 BCE · in Battle View, played out step by step on the ground where it was fought
Alexander the Great decisively defeated Darius III near modern Erbil, leading to the fall of the Achaemenid Empire.
The sides
- Macedon, led by Alexander: about 47,000 men
- Persia, led by Darius III: about 90,000 men
States that fought: Macedonian Empire, Achaemenid Empire.
How it went
Battle of Gaugamela
Alexander has beaten Darius at Issus and taken Egypt. Now he marches into Mesopotamia, where Darius waits with a huge new army on a plain levelled for his chariots, near the village of Gaugamela.
The armies deploy
Darius' line is far longer than Alexander's. Alexander sets a second line behind his own, ready to turn and face outwards if he is surrounded, and puts himself with the Companions on the right.
Alexander edges right
Alexander leads his whole line obliquely to the right, off the levelled ground. Bessus sends his horse round to stop him, and a hard cavalry fight starts on the flank.
The scythed chariots
Darius launches his scythed chariots. The Agrianians and javelinmen shoot the horses and drivers; the phalanx opens lanes, and the chariots that get through are killed behind it.
The gap
With Bessus pulled right and Mazaeus pressing Parmenion on the left, a gap opens beside Darius' centre. Alexander forms the Companions into a wedge and charges into it, straight for the king, the hypaspists and phalanx behind him.
Darius flees
As at Issus, Darius turns his chariot and flees, and his centre collapses after him. On the left Parmenion is in trouble; Persian and Indian horse have broken through to the Macedonian camp.
Alexander turns back
Alexander gives up the chase to help Parmenion. As news of the king's flight spreads, Mazaeus pulls out. Persia's losses are guessed in the tens of thousands, Alexander's in the hundreds. Within the year he is master of Babylon and Persepolis.
Ancient writers give Darius a million men; modern guesses run from 50,000 to 120,000. The exact site, near Tell Gomel, and the armies' facing are not known for sure.
People and wars
- Alexander the Great (356 BCE – 323 BCE): King of Macedon who conquered the Persian Empire and reached India, spreading Greek culture across the Near East before dying in Babylon at 32.
- Campaigns of Alexander the Great (334–323 BCE): Alexander of Macedon crossed into Asia in 334 BCE, defeated Darius III at Issus and Gaugamela, conquered Egypt and the Persian Empire, and campaigned as far as the Indus valley before dying in Babylon in 323 BCE.