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Alexander the Great was outnumbered roughly five to one on a flat plain that Dar
Featured Event 331 BC Event

October 1

Alexander Crushes Persia at Gaugamela: Empire Falls

Alexander the Great was outnumbered roughly five to one on a flat plain that Darius III had specifically leveled to give his chariots and cavalry every advantage. None of it mattered. Alexander drove his Companion cavalry directly at Darius through a gap in the Persian line, and the Persian king fled before contact was made. The entire Achaemenid command structure collapsed within hours. Babylon opened its gates without a fight. Persepolis fell weeks later. Alexander had conquered the largest empire on earth by age 25, and Gaugamela was the battle that broke it. The tactical audacity of charging the strongest point rather than the weakest became a template studied by military commanders for the next two millennia.

October 1, 331 BC

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