Wars of Alexander the Great

Wars of Alexander the Great
Alexander fighting Persian king Darius III. From Alexander Mosaic of Pompeii, Naples, Naples National Archaeological Museum
Date 336–323 BC (13 years) Location Thrace, Greece, Asia Minor, Syria, Babylonia, Persia, Bactria, Sogdiana, India Result Macedon gains control of the Balkans Conquers Achaemenid Empire Invades India Hellenization begins
Belligerents
Kingdom of Macedon Hellenic league	Persian Empire Pauravas Greek city-states Thrace Getae Sogdia Uxians Various tribes and kingdoms of India
Commanders and leaders
Alexander the Great Parmenion Antipater Ptolemy Hephaestion Craterus Philotas Cleitus the Black Perdiccas Coenus Lysimachus Antigonus Nearchus Cassander	Darius III of Persia Bessus Spitamenes Madates King Porus

The wars of Alexander the Great were fought by King Alexander III of Macedon ("The Great"), first against the Achaemenid Persian Empire under Darius III, and then against local chieftains and warlords as far east as Punjab, India. Alexander the Great was one of the most successful military commanders of all time. He was undefeated in battle. By the time of his death, he had conquered most of the world known to the ancient Greeks. Although being successful as a military commander, he failed to provide any stable alternative to the Achaemenid Empire—his untimely death threw the vast territories he conquered into civil war.

Alexander assumed the kingship of Macedon following the death of his father Philip II, who had unified most of the city-states of mainland Greece under Macedonian hegemony in a federation called the League of Corinth. After reconfirming Macedonian rule by quashing a rebellion of southern Greek city-states and staging a short but bloody excursion against Macedon's northern neighbors, Alexander set out east against the Achaemenid Persian Empire, under its "King of Kings" (the title all Achaemenid kings went by), Darius III, which he defeated and overthrew. His conquests included Anatolia, Syria, Phoenicia, Judea, Gaza, Egypt, Bactria, and Mesopotamia, and he extended the boundaries of his own empire as far as Punjab, India.

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