Alexander became a military leader in 335, and remained one until his death in 323 B.C. He reigned from 336 B.C. until 323 B.C., when he died. His military campaign in Persia lasted from 334 to 329, and in 328 he began his campaign in India and Bactria, which lasted until 326. Alexander was only 20 years old when his father died in early 336 B.C. and he took over, ruling for 12 years and eight months.

Alexander was fair skinned and fair haired. He was not very tall, but had outstanding speed and stamina. He was a dedicated soldier, but didn't care for sports. The only sport he really liked was hunting.

Alexander was the eldest son of Philip II and Olympias. Like Alexander, Philip II was a great general. Olympias and Philip, when Philip was not away on a campaign, co

Background Information on the Battle

As this happened, Rhosaces(a Persian) came at him from behind. He rode at Alexander from a flank with his saber with such force that it went through Alexander's helmet to the bone of his scalp. Alexander, swaying and dizzy, managed to kill Rhosaces.

Alexander entered Tarsus on September 3, 333 B.C. He was sweating, hot, and exhausted after the rapid forced march from the foothills of Tarsus. The River Cydnus ran through Tarsus, and Alexander plunged into it almost immediately after getting there. He almost immediately had an attack of such a severe cramp that those watching took it as a convulsion. When his aids saw what had happened, they rushed into the water and pulled Alexander out.

On his way to Taxila, he passed through Clitorial. Here he ordered his patrols to interrogate the natives and get information about elephants, of which Alexander had none. Most of the elephants, he found out, had fled across the river. Alexander rounded up 13 abandoned elephants and attached them to the column. He built a raft and they all went downstream.

In this battle, Alexander made sure that whichever way he moved, Porus would be open for attack from the rear from either Alexander or Cratereus. His only possible defense would be to detach a strong but limited force that could destroy Alexander's assault group before it established a bridgehead. This would leave Porus in charge of Haranpur, making it nearly impossible for the Macedonians to ford there.

In the center of the Persian center Darius put his Royal Bodyguard, a crack of Iranian corps 2,000 strong whose spear butts were decorated with golden quinces. He stationed himself directly behind the Royal Bodyguard in his great ornamental chariot. Flanking his Royal Bodyguard on either side were Darius' Greek mercenaries, about 30,000 strong. Darius' Asiatic levies were worse than useless so they were put in the rear. On both wings were two divisions of lightly armed infantry, called Cardaces. "Cardaces" appeared to be Iranian youth who were or had just finished their training. By the time Darius had moved all of his infantry into this formation, the Macedonians were getting uncomfortably close.

When this realization was made, Alexander reorganized his troops. He put the Thessalians across to their left as reinforcements, and ordered them to ride behind the phalanx so that the phalanx's movements would remain unobserved. Then reports came in that the Persians up on the ridge of the mountain had occupied a projecting spur of it, and were now actually behind the Macedonian right flank. When he heard this, Alexander sent mixed force of lightly armed troops to deal with them. He then pushed forward his cavalry, and brought two squadrons across from the center to strengthen the right flank. He then left 300 cavalry to watch the Persians' movements.

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