Alexander the Great: The Battle of Issus, 333 BC ⚔️

The Battle of Issus, fought in 333 BC, was one of the most pivotal moments in ancient history. On one side stood Alexander the Great, the young and ambitious king of Macedon, leading his army of Greeks and Macedonians against the vast forces of the Persian Empire under the rule of Darius III. The outcome of this battle would shape not only the fate of these two great empires but also change the course of world history.

The Battle of Issus was fought on the banks of the Issus River, in what is now southern Turkey. The Persian army, vastly outnumbering Alexander's forces, had the advantage of terrain and position. But Alexander, through a combination of tactical genius and sheer determination, defeated the Persians and secured a decisive victory.

The Battle of Issus was a turning point in Alexander's campaign, as it marked the beginning of his conquest of the Persian Empire. It was also a significant defeat for Darius III, who would later be captured and executed by Alexander's forces.

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🧾 Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
1:10 After the Battle of the Granicus
6:56 The Battle of Issus
13:40 Aftermath

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Written by House of History

🖼 Photos, paintings and imagery: Public Domain, Wikicommons

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[davidhughes]

I watch and rewatch ancient military history videos every single night and have never been disappointed in your hard work. Thank you for making an old man happy. Seriously you are the best!!!

[panagiotisg]

I come from and grew up in Thessaly and have often wondered how it was for those Thessalian cavalry in the left flank against the flower of the Persian nobility, the best cavalry Darius had. How did they not crack, neither in Issus nor at Gaugamela is beyond me.

[IronWarrior]

Darius made the mistake of putting what were his best line infantrymen in the center while placing his weaker on the flanks, as the Greek Hoplite mercenaries pushed forward beating back the Macedonian Phalanx inflicting some considerable losses on them, the right flank with Alexander in charge were beating the Persian left flank driving them back, hence by pure luck, a gap opened up and this is where Alexander together with his companion cavalry seized the moment and charged through and effectively got in behind the main persian line. Of course Darius had no idea that Alexander was a dare devil initiative taker leading from the front. Darius was basically not mentally prepared to fight Alexander essentially man to man. If only he had held his nerves and kept fighting long enough for his Persian cavalry to rout the Thessalian cavalry as they were in the process of doing, a semi encirclement would have happened where the immobile phalanx would have been cut down, and then all bets were off.

[DeadSanto]

Love your channel bro keep up the good work

[napoleonibonaparte]

I guess the lesson here is to never go on work holidays with family.

[SamTheEnglishTeacher]

Alexander got that Henry Cavill in The Witcher aesthetic. Now that'd be a good idea for a movie.

[MarbleKing]

Why does A.I. like 6 fingers instead of 5? I noticed it in Bing myself

[CptSlow]

I like those units dancing in the water whole time lol

[RLoshbough]

Love your work 1 day you will be multimillionaire youtuber

[Kai.CRoleplaying]

the craziest thing is that people back then had that many fingers

[watch-Dominion-]

8:50 - did you say "cavlary" ?

[maganechikujoin]

Outro got cut, but atleast u got patreon in actually funny.

[solonsolon]

Are you going to continue your series on Alexander?

[mike]

Did you use chat GPT to make all those paintings?

[marianom]

Excellent video man

One thing that I still dont understand is how the actual battles used to play out. Making an analogy with soccer, I understand that the match end up say 2-1 and what formations each team used. But how does the actual match plays out? Does anyone has a video on that? How is it possible than being so outnumbered he still managed to win? I understand that a skilled soldier may account for many more less skilled enemies... But what does it mean to be a more skilled soldier at that time? Why does the number of soldiers does not seem to translate into victories?

Nowadays, I understand that a tier one US unit can overpower perhaps hundreds or thousands of middle-east soldiers, because of their better equipment and superior training and tactics that allows them to establish fire superiority and kill many more enemy-soldiers (plus air reinforcements, logistics, etc). But I still dont see how the battles used to "play out" at Alexander's time.

If anyone has any resources to these questions it'll be much appreciated

[SamTheEnglishTeacher]

5:22 count the fingers lol
edit: 5:58 whoooo boy I wouldn't want to catch those hands

[Theodoros_Kolokotronis]

One of the most thrilling historical novels that follows the life of Alexander the Great during his legendary campaign to avenge the Persian invasions in Greece, is “The Virtues of War” by Steven Pressfield.

Truly epic.

[BOSIE]

Good video but he married Stateira a lot later towards the end of his life when he was consolidating his position after the campaign in India.

[dan_mer]

Perhaps both estimates of losses were correct. The mercenaries and "vassals", using the term very loosely, ran away and in the end Darius had barely a third of the soldiers. They were not necessarily killed.

[vangelisskia]

ALEXANDER’s speech before the battle of Issus:
"...We Macedonians are to fight Medes and Persians, nations long steeped in luxury, while we have long been hardened by warlike toils and dangers; and above it will be a fight among free men and slaves. And so far as GREEK will meet GREEK, WE shall not be fighting for like causes; those mercenaries with Dareius will risk their lives for pay, and poor pay too; WE on the contrary shall fight for GREECE and our hearts will be in it".
Arrian, "Anabasis of Alexander" Book II, Ch.7, par.4, 5 Cambridge, Massachussets, Harvard University Press