May 334 BC · Asia Minor Theater

Alexander's first battle on Asian soil. Crossing the Granicus River against fortified Persian cavalry positions on the far bank, Alexander personally led the Companion Cavalry in a frontal charge that broke the Persian line. He was nearly killed when a Persian nobleman's axe split his helmet — saved only by Cleitus the Black cutting off the arm. The Persian satraps were routed; Greek mercenaries who surrendered were enslaved for fighting against fellow Greeks. Asia Minor lay open.

334 BC · Asia Minor Theater

Miletus, the greatest Greek city of Ionia, was held by a Persian garrison supported by the Achaemenid fleet. Alexander's admiral Nicanor seized the harbor entrance before the Persian fleet could land reinforcements, then Alexander stormed the walls. Most defenders were killed; the Greek citizen population was spared. Alexander made a consequential strategic decision here: he disbanded most of his own fleet, judging that Persian naval power could be neutralized by seizing every Persian port on land. He was right.

334 BC · Asia Minor Theater

Halicarnassus — modern Bodrum — was the strongest city in Asia Minor, defended by Memnon of Rhodes, the ablest Persian commander, backed by the full Persian fleet. The siege was grinding: Memnon used sorties, fire weapons, and counter-siege works. Alexander's engineers eventually breached the walls in two places, but Memnon organized a disciplined retreat by sea, setting fire to the city as he withdrew. Alexander took the ruins; Memnon escaped with the Persian fleet. The threat of Memnon would hang over Alexander's rear until the Greek general died of fever the following year.

November 333 BC · Syria / Asia Minor border Theater

Darius III personally led an army of perhaps 100,000 into a narrow coastal plain that negated his numerical advantage — a catastrophic strategic error. The battle opened with Alexander's right wing Companion Cavalry smashing the Persian left. Seeing Alexander driving toward him personally, Darius turned his chariot and fled. His flight triggered a general Persian rout. The Persian camp was captured intact: Darius's mother Sisygambis, his wife Stateira, and his daughters fell into Alexander's hands. He treated them with conspicuous courtesy — a deliberate political statement that he intended to rule as a Persian king, not merely conquer and plunder.

January–July 332 BC · Phoenicia (modern Lebanon) Theater

Tyre was an island city half a mile offshore, protected by walls 150 feet high, a powerful fleet, and generations of fortification. When Alexander demanded entry, the Tyrians refused. Alexander responded by building a causeway from the mainland — a mole of rubble and timber gradually pushed toward the island over seven months. The Tyrians fought back with fireships, artillery, and raids. When the mole finally reached the walls, Alexander launched a simultaneous amphibious assault using captured Phoenician and Cypriot fleets. The walls were breached after seven months. Some 8,000 Tyrians were killed in the final assault; 30,000 were sold into slavery. The 2,000 men of fighting age who survived were crucified along the beach.

332 BC · Judea / Sinai (modern Gaza) Theater

Gaza was the last barrier before Egypt — a strongly fortified city on a high hill, held by a Persian garrison under the eunuch commander Batis, who had hired Arab mercenaries and refused to surrender. Engineers declared the hill too high to mine; Alexander's engineers built massive earthworks around the entire city and mounted the siege artillery on top. After two months, the walls were breached and the garrison killed. The civilian population was sold into slavery. Batis himself was captured alive. Alexander, allegedly furious at being wounded in the shoulder during the siege, ordered Batis tied to a chariot and dragged around the city walls — a deliberate echo of Achilles dragging Hector's body around Troy.

October 1, 331 BC · Mesopotamia (modern northern Iraq) Theater

Darius chose the open plain of Gaugamela specifically to allow his numbers — perhaps 250,000 men — room to envelop Alexander's 47,000. He leveled the ground for his scythed chariots and positioned elephants on his wings. Alexander's response was oblique: he angled his advance to the right, drawing the Persian left after him, opening a gap in the Persian center. At the critical moment, Alexander wheeled left with the Companion Cavalry and drove through the gap directly toward Darius. As at Issus, Darius fled. His flight caused the Persian army to dissolve. It was over in hours. Alexander pursued through the night but Darius escaped east again.

January 330 BC · Persia (modern Iran, Zagros Mountains) Theater

The Persian Gates were a narrow mountain pass in the Zagros — the last natural barrier before Persepolis. The Persian satrap Ariobarzanes held the pass with perhaps 40,000 men and initially repulsed Alexander's frontal assault with heavy casualties. A local shepherd revealed a mountain track around the position. Alexander split his forces: he personally led a night march over the snow-covered mountains with a picked force, attacked from behind at dawn while the remainder of the army hit the front. The entire Persian force was destroyed. Ariobarzanes died fighting. Persepolis lay open.

329 BC · Central Asia (modern Tajikistan / Uzbekistan) Theater

At the far northeastern edge of the Persian Empire, Alexander reached the Jaxartes River (modern Syr Darya) — the boundary between the civilized world and the Scythian steppe. Scythian horse archers massed on the far bank, apparently expecting the river to stop him. Alexander crossed under fire using hide-stuffed tents as improvised boats and rafts, then used light infantry and archers to suppress the Scythians while cavalry crossed downstream. The Scythians were driven from the bank, pursued for miles, and scattered. Alexander founded a city on the bank — Alexandria Eschate, 'the Furthest' — that survives today as Khujand.

Spring 327 BC · Bactria / Sogdia (modern Uzbekistan / Tajikistan) Theater

The Sogdian Rock was a near-vertical mesa thousands of feet high, its Bactrian defenders convinced it was impregnable. When Alexander demanded surrender, the Bactrian chief Oxyartes reportedly said he needed soldiers with wings. Alexander announced he had exactly that: 300 volunteers with mountain-climbing experience were offered prizes to scale the cliffs at night using iron tent pegs as pitons. 270 reached the summit; 30 fell to their deaths. At dawn, Alexander displayed them on the cliff tops. The stunned garrison surrendered. Among the prisoners was Oxyartes's daughter Roxana. Alexander married her.

May 326 BC · India (modern Punjab, Pakistan) Theater

King Porus of the Paurava kingdom held the east bank of the Hydaspes River with 30,000 infantry, 4,000 cavalry, 300 chariots, and 200 war elephants. Alexander spent weeks in feinted crossings to confuse Porus about where and when the actual crossing would come. On the night of the crossing, a thunderstorm masked his movement upstream; a picked force crossed in darkness and surprised the Indian cavalry. The battle became a close-run fight — Macedonian horses refused to approach the elephants, and the phalanx was punished heavily before Craterus crossed with the remaining army to complete the encirclement. Porus fought until he was wounded and captured. Alexander, impressed by his dignity and courage, restored him to his kingdom as an ally.

November 326 BC · India (modern Punjab / Sindh border, Pakistan) Theater

The Malli tribe — among the most warlike in India — had retreated to their fortified city rather than surrender. Alexander's assault party scaled the walls on ladders; the ladders broke under the weight of the men following. Alexander found himself inside the walls with three companions. Rather than retreat, he dropped into the city and fought with his back to the wall, killing several Malli personally before a arrow punched through his breastplate into his lung. He collapsed; his companions formed a shield wall over him. The main army, frantic at the silence from inside, tore at the walls with bare hands and finally broke through to find Alexander near death. He nearly died. The army's terror that he might not survive shook it to its foundations.