In 334 B.C, Alexander The Great, who was the King of the Greek kingdom of Macedon, crossed The Hellespont into modern-day Turkey. This event marked the beginning Of Alexander’s conquest of The Persian Empire, a massive entity that stretched from Egypt to India. Persia had terrorized the Greek kingdoms for centuries, and now Alexander was ready to conquer their long-standing oppressor. This evil empire stood over them like a dark shadow. Alexander would make sure that no greek would bow to any foreign force ever again.
So, a bit of background, Alexander’s father, Phillip, ascended to the throne at 24 and subjugated much of Greece. Alexander, at this time, was tutored by the famous Greek philosopher Aristotle. Phillip was assassinated a few years later, and Alexander rose to power. Alexander ruthlessly and mercilessly massacred all rivals to his throne to ensure his place as king was secure. Next, he moved quickly to deal with the revolting Greek states which had broken out in rebellion after hearing news of Phillip’s death.
His next mission would be to conquer the Persian Empire, the empire that covered the entire world, an impossible feat that only the gods could achieve, much less a 20-year-old king of a small kingdom. But in thirteen years, he had done the undoable.
Alexander started by attempting to untie the Gordian Knot. The Gordian Knot was an intricate set of multiple ropes that were carefully and purposefully twisted and turned around each other and in every way possible. They had their ends hidden, making it a close-to-impossible feat. And legend had it that whoever could undo the knot would one day conquer all of Asia. After multiple unsuccessful tries, Alexander got so frustrated that he promptly cut it with his sword, declaring that it did not matter how one undid it.
Back in 334 B.C, Alexander The Soon-To-Be-Great, with an army of ten thousand strong, crossed the Hellespont (Dardanelles Strait), even though the Persians were the kings of the sea at the time. He defeated the Persians at Granicus and proceeded with The Persian holdings in Anatolia (Turkey). The next major battle was The Battle Of Issus. The Persians had snuck up on Alexander’s army from the north as they were heading southwards. This put Alexander in a challenging situation, and it was made even worse by the Persians outnumbering them two-to-one. Amazingly, Alexander used his brilliant military genius to quickly readjust his army into an ideal position and defeat the Persian army.
The funny thing about this was that Darius was so confident in his victory that he brought his family with him along. So when his army lost, Darius fled the field without his family, resulting in his wife and children being taken hostage by Alexander. The even funnier thing was when Darius abandoned his family at Issus, his mother, Sisygambis, disowned him and claimed Alexander as her son.
After this, Alexander continued southward into the Levant. Most were taken without much resistance, but that was until they reached the island city of Tyre. Tyre was an important port city, and Alexander wanted to take it to capture the last Persian port on the Mediterranean Sea. Alexander tried building a land bridge to the island multiple times, but it was destroyed by the Tyrian navy each time. Alexander tried building siege towers to counter the Tyrian navy, but attacks from the strong Tyrian Fortifications and a formidable navy rendered them useless.
