Battle of Granicus tactics Alexander

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Battle of Granicus tactics Alexander

BATTLE OF GRANICUS - 334

SCORCHED EARTH POLICY ADVISED BY MEMNON
Memnon advises to starve the army by withdrawing and destroying crops and harvests. He knew how good Alexander’s army was and thought it best to fight them at sea. But the Persians ignored this advice, maybe out of pride, resentment, or mistrust.

The Persian army:

a combined army of 40,000 Persians awaited Alexander at the river Granicus
Darius wasn’t present – did he believe the threat wasn’t real?

the river Granicus was not wide but fast flowing, full of spring rains and its banks were steep and muddy.

they had chosen sit for battle and were in the best position
drawn up on higher side of river bank forcing Alexander’s troops to cross the river then climb up a bank whilst being fired upon from above.

PARMENIO ADVISES DELAY
Parmenio advises Alexander to wait for dawn. He feared fighting across a river at night too difficult.

HOW WERE THE PERSIAN FORCES DRAWN UP?
The Persians should have won but they made the mistake of placing their cavalry in front of their infantry.
= cavalry had no room to move and charge,
= infantry couldn’t move forward.

HOW WAS ALEXANDER’S FORCES DRAWN UP?
Standard battle formation: infantry phalanx in the centre, himself and his Companion cavalry on the right wing and the cavalry of the Thessalians on the left.

ALEXANDER’S TACTICS
He tried to make the enemy do what he wanted even though he was in the weaker position. He tried to force the Persians to leave a weak spot in their battle line.

ALEXANDER ATTACKS AT ONCE
Alexander knew the odds and still went into battle hoping to gain a morale victory as well as a military one.

PHASE ONE - Alexander entices Persians to strengthen their left wing

Alexander moves himself and more cavalry opposite the Persian left wing
Persians move men to cover this which was EXACTLY what Alexander wanted as it left their centre weak.

PHASE TWO - Cavalry

Alexander orders his cavalry to cross the river on the diagonal and attack the Persian left.
this is the hardest part of the battle.
Macedonians suffer great casualties because they are facing a strong Persian left wing.

PHASE THREE - Alexander attacks Persian centre

Alexander then led his Companion cavalry across the river to the Persian centre.
Persian centre gives in under the pressure.

PHASE FOUR - Persian wings collapse and battle ends

Persian wing flees when centre gives up
rest of Alexander’s army crosses river and surrounds Persian infantry (=Greek mercenaries) who were completely surprised by the speed of collapse.

they ask for mercy but none given (18,000 men killed, 2,000 sent back to Macedonia as prisoners.

AFTERMATH OF THE BATTLE OF GRANICUS
The Persians were soundly beaten , many leaders were killed and others fled.

Alexander actually very lucky to survive the battle: Alexander had just killed Darius’ son-in-law and was about to kill another noble when Spithridates came up behind him, sabre raised, to kill him. Cleitus came to his rescue cutting off Spithradates’ arm just in time.

Alexander had shown:

superior tactics by taking the initiative and defeating a larger army,
cleverness in forcing Persian cavalry to move to the centre,
bravery and leadership by fighting heroically
enormous confidence in himself and his army: he never considered defeat.
his decision to leap into a fast moving river and scramble up muddy banks against powerful cavalry seemed lunatic but it was in fact carefully planned.

Source : http://www.rosehill-college.co.nz/DataStore/Pages/PAGE_1024/Docs/Documents/B%20of%20Granicus.doc

Web site link: http://www.rosehill-college.co.nz/

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