Alexander the Great

In just thirteen years Alexander the Great built one of the largest empires the ancient world had ever seen, from Greece to the edge of India, and never beaten in a pitched battle. He is the model of the conqueror, a commander of dazzling speed and nerve who died young with the world seemingly still open before him.

A prince of Macedon

Alexander was born in 356 BC in Pella, capital of Macedon¹, the son of King Philip II. Philip had built a formidable professional army and united the Greek states under his leadership. Alexander was tutored as a boy by the philosopher Aristotle.¹ When Philip was assassinated in 336 BC², Alexander, barely twenty, took the throne and the army his father had forged.

The conquest of Persia

In 334 BC Alexander crossed into Asia to make war on the Persian Empire, the superpower of the age. He won his first battle at the Granicus³, then defeated the Persian king Darius III himself at Issus in 333 BC. After taking the coast and Egypt, where he founded Alexandria², he sought the decisive clash.

It came at Gaugamela in 331 BC. Heavily outnumbered on open ground chosen by the enemy⁴, Alexander drew the Persian line apart, opened a gap, and led his companion cavalry straight at Darius. The Persian king fled, his army broke, and the empire was effectively finished. Alexander was master of the Persian world.

To the ends of the earth

Alexander pushed on east, ever further, defeating the Indian king Porus and his war elephants at the⁴ Hydaspes River in 326 BC. Further east, at the Hyphasis (Beas) river, his exhausted army finally refused to go on. He turned back through harsh desert toward Babylon.

Death and legacy

In 323 BC, in Babylon, Alexander fell ill with a fever and died, aged just 32². He left no clear heir, and his generals tore the empire apart in decades of war. Yet his conquests spread Greek language and culture across the East for centuries, an age historians call Hellenistic, and his undefeated record made him the standard every later conqueror measured himself against.

Meet the others in that company in the greatest military commanders in history, or read his decisive victory at Gaugamela in full.

How he never lost

Alexander inherited a superb army from his father Philip and used it with a boldness no enemy could match.

• The Macedonian phalanx. His infantry fought with the sarissa, a pike up to six metres long, presenting a hedge of points no frontal attack could break.
• The hammer and anvil. The phalanx pinned the enemy in place while Alexander led the Companion cavalry in a decisive charge into their flank or rear.
• Lead from the front. He charged at the head of his cavalry, sharing every risk, which won fanatical loyalty and let him read the battle at first hand.
• Aim for the king. At Issus and Gaugamela he drove straight at Darius himself, knowing that if the Persian king fled, his whole army would break.
• Speed and siegecraft. He moved faster than his enemies expected and, at Tyre, showed he could take even a fortress island thought to be impregnable.
• Win the peace, not just the war. He founded cities, kept local administrators and blended Greek and Persian customs to help hold what he had taken.

The march to the end of the world

1. 356 BCBorn in Pella, capital of Macedon, son of King Philip II.
2. 343 BCThe philosopher Aristotle becomes his tutor.
3. 336 BCPhilip is assassinated and the twenty-year-old Alexander takes the throne and command of Philip's army.
4. 334 BCCrosses into Asia and beats the Persians at the river Granicus, his first great victory.
5. 333 BCDefeats the Persian king Darius III in person at Issus.
6. 332 BCTakes the island fortress of Tyre after a famous siege, then enters Egypt and founds Alexandria.
7. 331 BCCrushes Darius decisively at Gaugamela, breaking the Persian Empire.
8. 326 BCWins his last great battle against King Porus at the Hydaspes in India; further east, at the Hyphasis, his exhausted men refuse to go further.
9. 323 BCDies in Babylon at the age of 32. His empire is soon carved up among his generals.

The empire that outran its master

Alexander conquered faster than any state could be governed. In barely a decade he led his army from Greece to Egypt and on to the edge of India, winning every pitched battle he fought. But he built the empire around himself, and left no clear heir.

See how he stands among history's other great captains in our guide to the greatest military commanders in history, and relive the world he fought in through the greatest battles of ancient Greece.

What his conquest left behind

When he died in 323 BC his generals, the Diadochi, tore the empire apart into rival kingdoms. Yet his campaigns spread Greek language, art and ideas from Egypt to Central Asia, opening the age historians call Hellenistic, which shaped the Mediterranean world that Rome would later inherit.

Which conqueror do you fight like? Find out in our Which Commander Are You quiz.