The Fall
The Persian empire ended in 331 B.C.E. when darius the third was defeated in battle by alexander the great and soon after killed .
The Battle of Gaugamela was the real fall of the Persian Empire. The empire had been in a slow spiral down ever since Artaxerxes took rein from his father, Xerxes. Throughout the rest of the Persian empire, the kings were weak and never could return the empire to its past greatness and size. Most of their foreign conquered regions rebelled and had reached complete independence from Persia. By the time Alexander the Great invaded, the empire was almost in shackles. This of course is compared to its former glory; the Persian Empire was still one of the biggest empires if not the biggest in the world. The resources of manpower and technologies that Darius III had at his disposal during the Macedonian invasion were way better than anything Alexander had at his disposal. The main problem for Darius then, was not the amount of resources he had, but how he controlled and could use his assets.
The Battle of Gaugamela was unlike the previous engagements between these two superpowers in several ways. The main way was where it was fought; all previous battles were fought on grounds of the Macedonians choosing. In this battle, Darius took advantage of Alexander’s need to kill him to effectively destroy the Persian Empire. This meant that the Macedonians needed to come to Darius, thus Darius had the ability to place himself and his army wherever he wanted. He chose a place called Gaugamela near a city called Arabela, which is in northern Iraq. The battlefield itself was a wide level field, which Darius even had leveled even further so he could use one of his most prized weapons: the chariot which had scythes on the wheels to inflict casualties on infantry. His other surprise, which he had time to muster during Alexander’s two year campaign down towards Egypt, was 200 war elephants which he managed to transport from India.
The night before the battle, the Persian troops were ordered to stay aware none of them got very good sleep, due to their fear of a surprise attack from the Macedonian camp some 4 miles away. Alexander’s men on the other hand were allowed a good sleep, and the commander himself actually had to be roused the morning before the battle. After dismissing a night attack proposed by one of his generals, to which Alexander said, I will not ‘steal a victory’, the plans for the battle were made. Alexander’s expert plan was to have his Phalanxes move obliquely towards the Persian line, with the main impact aimed straight towards Darius’s position on the battlefield. To prevent Darius’s cavalry, chariots, and war elephants from flanking his force, he used his own hand picked light infantry unit called ‘hypaspists’, which were hardened veterans who fought in both small units and bigger ones. They were able to move and react extremely fast to new threats.
The actual battle opened with the Macedonian Phalanx marching towards the Persian line, with the Persian chariots being repulsed by a rain of javelins and arrows. The second surprise which the Persians had, the war elephants were a disappointment like the chariots because they had not stake in the battle, so they felt no need to wade into a veritable sea of spears. The Persian cavalry on the flanks actually met with very good success and managed to break past the flank guards, and would’ve been able to attack the Macedonians from behind if darius had been able to send them signals to. Instead they ended up looting the baggage train. The front of the army was faring much better for the Macedonians than the back until the Companions, Alexander’s personal bodyguard attacked the pressing forces on the right wing of the Persians in the rear. This caused the Persian to loss their last hope, and they fell into a unorganized and disastrous rout cause by Darius fleeing the battle himself, granting Alexander ultimate victory.
The end of the Persian empire came quickly and suddenly when Darius was killed by Bessus, one of his one Satraps. After this death, Alexander inherited the whole Persian empire and went on the conquer almost all of the known world.
The Battle of Gaugamela was unlike the previous engagements between these two superpowers in several ways. The main way was where it was fought; all previous battles were fought on grounds of the Macedonians choosing. In this battle, Darius took advantage of Alexander’s need to kill him to effectively destroy the Persian Empire. This meant that the Macedonians needed to come to Darius, thus Darius had the ability to place himself and his army wherever he wanted. He chose a place called Gaugamela near a city called Arabela, which is in northern Iraq. The battlefield itself was a wide level field, which Darius even had leveled even further so he could use one of his most prized weapons: the chariot which had scythes on the wheels to inflict casualties on infantry. His other surprise, which he had time to muster during Alexander’s two year campaign down towards Egypt, was 200 war elephants which he managed to transport from India.
The night before the battle, the Persian troops were ordered to stay aware none of them got very good sleep, due to their fear of a surprise attack from the Macedonian camp some 4 miles away. Alexander’s men on the other hand were allowed a good sleep, and the commander himself actually had to be roused the morning before the battle. After dismissing a night attack proposed by one of his generals, to which Alexander said, I will not ‘steal a victory’, the plans for the battle were made. Alexander’s expert plan was to have his Phalanxes move obliquely towards the Persian line, with the main impact aimed straight towards Darius’s position on the battlefield. To prevent Darius’s cavalry, chariots, and war elephants from flanking his force, he used his own hand picked light infantry unit called ‘hypaspists’, which were hardened veterans who fought in both small units and bigger ones. They were able to move and react extremely fast to new threats.
The actual battle opened with the Macedonian Phalanx marching towards the Persian line, with the Persian chariots being repulsed by a rain of javelins and arrows. The second surprise which the Persians had, the war elephants were a disappointment like the chariots because they had not stake in the battle, so they felt no need to wade into a veritable sea of spears. The Persian cavalry on the flanks actually met with very good success and managed to break past the flank guards, and would’ve been able to attack the Macedonians from behind if darius had been able to send them signals to. Instead they ended up looting the baggage train. The front of the army was faring much better for the Macedonians than the back until the Companions, Alexander’s personal bodyguard attacked the pressing forces on the right wing of the Persians in the rear. This caused the Persian to loss their last hope, and they fell into a unorganized and disastrous rout cause by Darius fleeing the battle himself, granting Alexander ultimate victory.
The end of the Persian empire came quickly and suddenly when Darius was killed by Bessus, one of his one Satraps. After this death, Alexander inherited the whole Persian empire and went on the conquer almost all of the known world.