After the death of Philip of Macedon, many of his governors in the recently conquered territories wished to take advantage of the weakness of the new young king, Alexander. These territories included the lands of Illyrians, Thracians and some city-states of southern Greece. Alexander had to prove the strength of his rule before embarking on a Persian campaign, so he suppressed several nascent uprisings in Greece and on the territory of northern tribes. The date of the battle of Granik is 334 BC. e.
Planning stage
After extensive planning of the battle at home, in Macedonia, Alexander began to prepare for the next major conquest: the invasion of Asia. Before leaving Macedonia, Alexander appointed an experienced General Antipater as his regent, leaving him 9,000 foot soldiers and 1,500 cavalrymen to maintain control over the Macedonians' possessions in Europe. In the spring of 334 BC, the great commander Alexander took 2,600 cavalrymen and went on a 20-day march from Macedonia to the Hellespont to join Parmenion in Asia. So the battle of Granik was prepared.
Persian reaction
Before Alexander and his army were able to cross the Hellespont, the Iranian governors and other noblemen who were in power at that time in Persia gathered their forces from 10–20 thousand cavalry and 5–20 thousand infantry in the city of Zelea. Memnon was a high-ranking Greek mercenary employed by the Persians, and he advised emptying the land that Alexander would have to pass in order to thus deprive his army of food and supplies. This should complicate the life of Alexander and his soldiers on their long journey before the battle of Granik.
Goals and objectives of the Persians
Persian satraps did not trust Memnon because of his nationality and did not begin to ruin these territories. The Persians had two main goals. Firstly, they tried to force Alexander to take a position advantageous from their point of view before he could continue on his way inside the country, and secondly, the Persians hoped to arrange a comfortable defensive position that would minimize the advantage of an attacker in the infantry. The Persians advanced from Zeleia to the Granik River, which was an obstacle for Alexander and his army. The enemy hoped that the army of the great commander would not be able to maintain the form of the system, which would seriously undermine its effectiveness, since the preservation of the closely packed and mutually supportive structure, usually used by the Greeks, was central to Hellenic strategy. The Persians expected the arrival of the Macedonians with all their cavalry on the front line. Alexander, after crossing to Asia at the Hellespont, traveled 100 km back to the north to meet the Persian armies.
Clash
And the battle broke out at Granik. According to the biographer Alexander, Arrian, the army of the Macedonian king met with the Persians on the third day of May on the way from Abydos. Alexander's right hand, Parmenion, suggested crossing the river upstream and attacking at dawn the next day, but Alexander attacked immediately. This tactic took the Persians by surprise. The Macedonian line was lined with heavy phalanges in the middle and cavalry on both sides. Alexander was with satellites on the right flank. The Persians expected that the main blow would come from the position of Alexander, and moved the units from the center to the vulnerable side.
Start of battle
The battle on the Granik River began with an attack by the Persian cavalry and light infantry, which hit the Macedonians on the left, from the side of Parmenion. The cavalry squadron was led by officer Ptolemy, son of Philip. The Persians greatly strengthened this side, and the attack of the Macedonians was discarded, but at that moment Alexander led the riders in a classic wedge-shaped structure and crashed into the center of the Iranian army. Several high-ranking Persian nobles were killed by Alexander himself or his bodyguards, although the general was still struck by an ax blow from an Iranian aristocrat named Roisak. The second Iranian named Spitridat tried to attack Alexander from behind, while the great king was still unsteady on his feet, but was killed by Klitus the Black, who chopped off an outstretched arm to the enemy. Alexander quickly recovered and continued to wage war after the Battle of Granik.
Cavalry force
In the end, the Macedonian cavalry were able to gain an advantage over their adversaries thanks to the superiority of their counterparts over the Persian weapons, as well as the close support of the light infantry, alternating horse squadrons. Then the Greek cavalry turned left, which forced the Persian cavalry, which after the general offensive was occupied by the left side of the Macedonian line, to change direction. In a recently liberated location, a hole opened on the front line, and the Macedonian infantry attacked the divided Persian army from the rear. The Macedonian phalanx attacked the Greek mercenaries. Since many leaders were already dead and the infantry was defeated, both flanks of the Persian cavalry retreated when they saw the collapse of the center. The foot soldiers were partially finished off, and the survivors were captured after the battle on the Granik River.
Losses
The total loss of the Greeks was 300-400 people. The Persians lost about 1,000 cavalry and 3,000 killed infantrymen. Greek mercenaries under the command of Memnon of Rhodes, who fought for the Persians, were left after the retreat of the cavalry. They tried to make peace with Alexander, but to no avail. After the battle, Alexander ordered the mercenaries to be enslaved. Of the 18,000 Greek mercenaries, half were killed, and 8,000 were enslaved and sent back to Macedonia. The king sent 300 Persian armor to the Athenian Parthenon as a sacrifice to Athena with the following epigram: "Alexander, the son of Philip, and the Greeks, except the Lacedaemonians, from barbarians living in Asia." The winner of the Battle of Granik - Macedon, continued his great campaign.
Contradictions
The above story about the battle directly contradicts the words of Diodorus Siculus, who stated that when Alexander found out about the concentration of Persian forces, he quickly advanced and set up camp opposite the enemy so that the Granik River flowed between them. The Persians rested on a hill. The king did not move, intending to attack the enemies while crossing the river, because the Iranians assumed that they could not fear anything during the day. But at dawn, Alexander boldly crossed his army across the river and deployed in good order before the Persians managed to stop him.
In response, the Persians placed riders on the entire front of the Macedonians, as they decided to fight them in battle. Memnon of Rhodes and the satrap of Arsamen held the left wing, each with its own cavalry. Next to the riders from Paflagonia, the Satrapathan satrap of Ionia was at the head of the Girkan cavalry, the right wing of which was kept by a thousand Medes and two thousand horsemen led by Reomiter, as well as as many Bactrians. The winner of the battle on the Granik River, Alexander of Macedon, went down in history as the greatest military leader.
In total, the cavalry of the enemy amounted to more than ten thousand people. There were at least one hundred thousand Persian foot soldiers, but they were far away and did not advance, since it was believed that the cavalry was enough to crush the Macedonians. Arrian and Diodorus' reasoning about the battle is inconsistent, so historians usually prefer the version of the first, although some revisionists still try to reconcile both stories.
Green's opinion
The historian Peter Green, in his 1974 book Alexander the Great, suggested a way to reconcile the stories of Diodorus and Arrian. According to Green’s interpretation, the riverbank was guarded by infantry rather than cavalry, and Alexander’s forces suffered heavy casualties during the initial attempt to cross the river. Accordingly, they were forced to leave. Then Alexander reluctantly accepted the advice of Parmenion, crossed the river at night, and the next day joined the battle at dawn. The Persian army hastened to the crossing point of Alexander, with the cavalry reaching the battlefield earlier than the slower infantry, and then the battle continued to a large extent as described in the stories of Arrian and Plutarch.
Green explains the differences between his tale and ancient sources, suggesting that Alexander later hid his initial unsuccessful river crossing. Green devotes an entire chapter in support of his interpretation, believing that for political reasons, Alexander could not allow even a temporary defeat. Thus, the initial collapse was covered by his propagandists with a very heroic (and Homeric) attack on a well-trained enemy. In the preface to the reprint of the 2012 edition, Green states: “Based on the available evidence, the theory remains untenable and the contradiction inexplicable.” One way or another, the battle on the Granik River became one of the greatest clashes of the time.
Honors Fallen Enemies
Towards the end of the battle, Alexander buried the Persian commanders and Greek mercenaries, who fell while fighting on the side of the enemy. Those he captured were shackled and sent to Macedonia for tillage because, although the prisoners were Greeks, they fought against their country in the army of the enemy, opposing the decrees adopted by the Hellenes at the federal council. The commander also sent 300 units of Persian armor to Athens to hang them in the Acropolis, as already mentioned, as an offering to Athena. The king also ordered the addition of a text to the generous sacrifice, which narrated, among other things, about the Lacedaemonians, in order to note the absence of the Spartans in the combined Greek army.
The army of the Kingdom of Macedonia was one of the greatest military units of the ancient world. Initially, it was created by the formidable king of Macedon, Philip II. Previously, the army of Macedonia did not mean much in the context of the political battles of the ancient world, and the city-state was considered secondary. The results of the Battle of Granik changed everything.
Army efficiency
The latest innovations in weapons and tactics were adopted and improved by Philip II, and he created a unique, flexible and effective army. Introducing military service as a form of full-time employment, Philip was able to regularly train his people, ensuring unity and solidarity among the Macedonians.
Tactical Enhancements
Tactical enhancements included recent developments in the deployment of the traditional Greek phalanx invented by Epaminondas of Thebes and Ifrath of Athens. However, the Macedonian king also independently introduced innovations. He adopted the use of a longer spear, a two-handed pike, as a standard. The Macedonian pike, sarissa, gave the owner many advantages in both attack and defense. For the first time, cavalry became a decisive force in battle. The Macedonian army improved coordination of various types of troops. In essence, this is an early example of combined weaponry tactics. The heavy infantry phalanx, rifle infantry, archers, light and heavy cavalry and siege vehicles were deployed in battle in such a way that each type of troops was used for its intended purpose, creating a synergy of mutual support. Thanks to such a powerful army during the battle of Granik, the victory went to the Macedonians.
Multinational composition
The new Macedonian army was a union of various forces. Philip dealt with Macedonians and other Greeks (especially with Thessaly cavalry), as well as a wide range of mercenaries from all over the Aegean and the Balkans. By 338 BC e. More than half of the army recruited for its planned invasion of the Persian Empire by the Achaemenids came from all over the Greek world and the surrounding barbarian tribes, such as the Illyrians, Peons and Thracians. The winner of the Battle of Granik - Alexander the Great, clearly did not judge people by their nationality and turned out to be right.