Schlacht von Gaugamela
Die Entscheidungsschlacht von 331 v. Chr., in der Alexander der Große Dareios III. besiegte, was zum Zusammenbruch des Achämenidenreiches führte.
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- Date
- 1 October 331 BCE
- Location
- Near Arbela (Iraqi Kurdistan)
- Combatants
- Alexander of Macedon vs. Darius III
- Outcome
- Alexander's victory; end of the Achaemenids
Details
The Battle of Gaugamela was fought on 1 October 331 BCE between Alexander of Macedon and Darius III, the last Achaemenid shahanshah, on a plain near Arbela (in modern Iraqi Kurdistan). It was the second and decisive encounter between the two kings after the Battle of Issus. Darius had assembled a far larger army, including scythed chariots and war elephants, and leveled the battlefield to exploit his numerical advantage, but Alexander, through superior tactics and a bold cavalry charge into the heart of the Persian line, broke the enemy. Darius fled the field and the Persian army collapsed; the defeat effectively shattered the military backbone of the Achaemenids. Alexander then took Babylon, Susa, and Persepolis without serious resistance, culminating in the burning of Persepolis. Darius III was killed by his own satrap Bessus in 330 BCE, and with his death the Achaemenid Empire came to an end.
Verwandte Einträge
Quellen
- Encyclopædia Iranica, "Gaugamela"
- Arrian, Anabasis of Alexander, Book III
- Robin Lane Fox, Alexander the Great