Image from lakeside ministries.
This image is of Persia's vast empire. It covered just about all of Europe. Persia was even able to conquer Babylon and Assyria, two major ancient superpowers. There was just its main rival, Greece, that was in the way of total domination.
Alexander was ready to take on Persia, his highly disciplined army was capable of handling large foes. But Persia was no picnic, they were a dominating superpower, and their army was one of the best the world had ever seen.
The Persians were led by King Darius III, he was a pretty honorable king, and it is said that the Persians were known for treating brave warriors with respect. This could have been one of the reasons he maintained his empire so well, he would usually treat the places he conquered with certain rules. He would allow them to pretty much live a normal life in their own province, but they would have to pay taxes to the Persian Empire.
Alexander himself was also respectful to the places he conquered, and could maintain all of Greece pretty well. One of the things that started to happen though, was that Greek mercenary soldiers started teaming up with the Persians. With this Darius could learn the style of Greek fighting, and use them in his own battles. Alexander was aware of this however, and he had conquered places that used Greek soldiers against him. Now, though, he would fight one of his greatest battles ever.
Alexander's main motive for invading Persia was to get revenge for the damage Xerxes had done to Greece in his invasion in 480-479 BC, in which he burned Athens to the ground twice. However, Alexander also wanted to show the other places in the world Greek culture, ideas and thinking.
Darius had been defeated by Alexander at the Battle of Issus in 333 BC, two years later, Darius was regrouping and gathering up his army for another fight. This time he had an absolutely massive army, including the mercenary hoplites. The number of men could have possibly been around what Xerxes had when he invaded Greece.
Darius chose the land to fight, a flat land, called Guagamela which means something like "Mount Camel" or "Camel pasture" due to the shape of the hill that looks like a camel's hump, it is also called Arbela. He chose to have a nice flattened pasture to maneuver his fearsome scythe chariots around, this type chariot had two razor-sharp blades protruding from either side. Darius thought he could win this, but there was just one critical problem.
The chariot had been a very good and effective weapon for a long time, used by the Egyptians, Assyrians, and the Persians themselves. The thing was, then people started using cavalry, which is more versatile then a chariot, and cavalry can overwhelm a battle field, this basically replaced the chariot. The strength of Darius right now was in his numbers, besides his infantry, he had 200 chariots and 15 elephants.
But Alexander wasn't alone, though outnumbered greatly compared to Darius, he had about 40,000 infantry and 7,000 cavalry. This mixed together with his strategic mind could be used to great effect.
Darius, with the field of his choosing, and with far superior numbers, set up his entire army and waited for Alexander. But then something happened, Darius, expecting a surprise attack, stayed up all night with his army. Alexander however, had his men rest the whole night and get refreshed to fight the next day.
When day came, Alexander and his army, refreshed, and ready, got prepared and marched out to the battle field. Darius and his men were tired, grumpy and restless. Alexander had his men ready, but this was something that surprised Darius. Alexander's army was set up in a simple but effective formation, an easy "right oblique" formation. Alexander's right flank would clash with the left flank of the Persians, having support around him, he could sweep into the side of the chariots and make it difficult to maneuver and fight back. Darius immediately responded, he sent out his cavalry, Alexander responded and drove through. Darius quickly unleashed his chariots to catch Alexander's infantry which were behind the cavalry. The chariots drove forward, but Alexander sent in the Macedonian mounted peltasts and archers to dispatch of them. Behind the chariots came the Persian cavalry, but they intentionally drove through the battle and into the Macedonian camp to rescue the family Darius had left behind at Issus. This left a gap in the Persian line, Alexander immediately charged forward. Darius saw this, in despair, he tried to muster his army, but then turned around and fled. His army saw him leave, and without any leader they began losing heart. Alexander pursued Darius, but eventually turned around and helped out the rest of his army. Poor Darius had failed, he returned to his place knowing that Alexander was eventually coming after him. Sadly when he got back, he was dispatched by one of his own governors, Bessus.
Alexander had won, he eventually marched into the weakened Persian empire and won anything he could. He now conquered Persia and spread Greek culture as far as he could. After all this, however, he wasn't satisfied. He wanted to conquer all of India, but his army refused to go any further. Alexander returned with his army to Babylon. Sadly, In 323 BC, Alexander at the age of 32, was sick with a fever from alcoholism and died. He was young and had his flaws, but he left a massive empire and legacy behind him. The rest of his men had a tough time trying to decide who should take over in his place, eventually after various civil wars, his empire began to fall apart, some being gathered back up again by his general Diadochi.
Well, this is eventually what happened. After all this, we see the one who is really in control. The one who is the real master, stronger and wiser then any empire, we see God in all of this, bringing down the proud, and exalting the small. We see again how none of this happened by accident. We see how war, though it is sad and brutal, is used in things like this. Initially war wasn't here, it is a result of sin, something serious. But Jesus who takes away sin, is more serious. Jesus can take away all the damage that sin has done, and he will through us trusting in him. Thats the real battle, fighting against sin, and fighting for Jesus Christ.
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