BBC - In the footsteps of Alexander (army revolts) 26

In the footsteps of Alexander The Great

East of Porus's kingdom, near the Ganges River (hellenic version of the Indian name Ganga), was the powerful Nanda Empire of Magadha and Gangaridai Empire of Bengal. Fearing the prospects of facing other powerful Indian armies and exhausted by years of campaigning, his army mutinied at the Hyphasis River (the modern Beas River) refusing to march further east.

As for the Macedonians, however, their struggle with Porus blunted their courage and stayed their further advance into India. For having had all they could do to repulse an enemy who mustered only twenty thousand infantry and two thousand horse, they violently opposed Alexander when he insisted on crossing the river Ganges also, the width of which, as they learned, was thirty-two furlongs, its depth a hundred fathoms, while its banks on the further side were covered with multitudes of men-at-arms and horsemen and elephants. For they were told that the kings of the Ganderites and Praesii were awaiting them with eighty thousand horsemen, two hundred thousand footmen, eight thousand chariots, and six thousand fighting elephants. [10]

Gangaridai, a nation which possesses a vast force of the largest-sized elephants. Owing to this, their country has never been conquered by any foreign king: for all other nations dread the overwhelming number and strength of these animals. Thus Alexander the Macedonian, after conquering all Asia, did not make war upon the Gangaridai, as he did on all others; for when he had arrived with all his troops at the river Ganges, and had subdued all the other Indians, he abandoned as hopeless an invasion of the Gangaridai when he learned that they possessed four thousand elephants well trained and equipped for war.[11]

Alexander, using the incorrect maps of the Greeks, thought that the world ended a mere 1,000 km (600 miles away), at the edge of India. He was unaware of China, Malaysia, as well as the other lands east of India. He therefore spoke to his army and tried to persuade them to march further into India but Coenus pleaded with him to change his opinion and return, the men, he said, "longed to again see their parents, their wives and children, their homeland". Alexander, seeing the unwillingness of his men agreed and turned south.

Alexander sent much of his army to Carmania (modern southern Iran) with his general Craterus, and commissioned a fleet to explore the Persian Gulf shore under his admiral Nearchus, while he led the rest of his forces back to Persia by the southern route through the Gedrosian Desert (now part of southern Iran and Makran now part of Pakistan).

Ptolemy coin with Alexander wearing an elephant scalp, symbol of his conquests in India.

In the territory of the Indus, Alexander nominated his officer Peithon as a satrap, a position he would hold for the next ten years until 316 BC, and in the Punjab he left Eudemus in charge of the army, at the side of the satrap Porus and Taxiles. Eudemus became ruler of a part of the Punjab after their death. Both rulers returned to the West in 316 BC with their armies. In 321 BCE, Chandragupta Maurya founded the Maurya Empire in India and overthrew the Greek satraps.

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[aspasia09]

You have a thing with numbers, haven't you?

the force of alexander stood not in the number of his soldier but in his unic approach of a battle: STRATEGY!!!

[tanman2007]

My clan is from the precise place in Punjab where he turned back. I, my brother and some close relatives were born blond and are light skinned. My dad looked like an American Caucasian Sikh with blue eyes. Now I know the truth. LOL

[codenamerishi]

I am an indian and we respect alexander and he was surely a great ruler. We have a saying " jo jeeta vahi sikander " --> The person who triumphs'd be alexander.

however some radical indians make ppl believe he didn't won any thing in india not even Battle of Hydapes, and some radical Greeks make people believe that he won most if not all of india. but both these statements are utterly false.

[codenamerishi]

@nangamujra he was undefeated, thanks to his soldiers who knew they can't win further more anbd told him

[codenamerishi]

@ketoras are you retarded ??? don't you see clearly that the army was fucking afraid and they run away ?!?!?! dream on you idiot....

[z32plus2]

@ModernWarfare2vsODST han cavalry was much later period from alexander's time, qin's cavalry were mounted crossbow men shooting armor-piercing bullet-shaped arrows at you, Alexander's men be dead before could get any where close, Qin's army and cavalry were able to completely kicked out the early ancestors of mongol hordes out of northern china that were no easy feat

[z32plus2]

@ModernWarfare2vsODST chinese already had phalanx and many other different kind of formation, there were tons of experiments went on what worked what didn't worked from 500 years constant warfare, different size of spears found, long to short suggested sophisticated combination different army units working with each other

[z32plus2]

@ModernWarfare2vsODST you can't simply divide conquer, you have to get pass Qin before the rest of other kingdoms. divide conquer is old cheap trick chinese already known using you can't fool them. Qin used more sophisticated strategy, by having good diplomatic relation with distant kingdoms, while killing off near by kingdoms, while walking dangerous path of balance act of preventing all other kingdom united against Qin itself, these were super smart genius

[z32plus2]

@ModernWarfare2vsODST Persian army was a comparatively weak lose collection of different nationalities of different level of loyalty to the Persian king. Qin was completely different story, the whole nation state went to war, young men move up in society by going to war and collect dead enemy human head, more heads more ranks more money, these were blood thirsty heavy drinking killers not going to run away when battle go bad

[z32plus2]

@ModernWarfare2vsODST There were easily many generals more talented than alexander and equally good at strategy in war, same period art of war already written and well read, that period china been though constant warfare for 500 years, these were total war no jokes, whole nation state put all available resources including lots brain power into warfare. What ever alexander could came up with not gona work in china