What were the conquests of Alexander the Great?

Between 336 and 323 BC, Alexander the Great led a massive series of military campaigns starting from Greece and extending across the Achaemenid Persian Empire into northwestern India. After defeating Darius III and conquering Persia, he pushed eastward through Central Asia and the Indus Valley until his troops mutinied. His sudden death in Babylon left his vast territories without a stable empire, triggering decades of civil wars among his generals.

What we know

• Alexander's conquests began with securing control over Greek city-states and launching an invasion of the Achaemenid Persian Empire in 334 BC. [2, 3]
• He broke the power of the Achaemenid Empire through decisive victories at Issus and Gaugamela, ultimately overthrowing Darius III. [2, 3]
• His military campaigns stretched as far east as the Indus Valley and Punjab in modern-day Pakistan and India, where he defeated King Porus at the Battle of the Hydaspes. [2, 3, 5]
• The eastward expansion halted at the Beas River when his exhausted troops mutinied, forcing him to turn back toward Mesopotamia. [3, 5]

Still open

• Historians vary in their assessments of primary sources regarding the exact cause and circumstances of Alexander's death in Babylon.

Where to go next

• what followedWhy did Alexander's generals fight after his death?
• a case in pointHow did the Indian campaign unfold along the Indus Valley?
• whoWho was Alexander's father and predecessor on the throne of Macedon?
• how it workedWhat role did Aristotle play in Alexander's early life?
• the bigger pictureHow did Hellenistic civilization spread across the ancient world?
• an unexpected connectionHow did a 3rd-century adventure novel become medieval Europe's second most read book after the Bible?Alexander's actual military conquests inspired a legendary corpus of folklore and myth translated into almost every European and Islamic vernacular.

Sources

• [1]Wars of Alexander the Great (Wikidata Q551888) · CC0 1.0
• [2]Wars of Alexander the Great · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [3]Alexander the Great · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [4]Death of Alexander the Great · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [5]Indian campaign of Alexander the Great · CC BY-SA 4.0