1. Accession & The League of Corinth
Alexander took the throne at age 20. As soon as he had secured power he marched his army
south into the Peloponnese presenting himself to the League of Corinth as hegemon (leader)
in place of his father for the Greco-Macedonian invasion of Persia. The vote was
unanimously for Alexander to lead the invasion; only the Spartans were conspicuous by their
rejection of him. They said it was not their custom to be led, only to lead others. Tehre were
also rumblings in Athens too but the speed of Alexander’s approach and the fact that he had
brought his entire army with him frightened the Atheninans into heaping even more
honours upon him and quietening any ill-will for now.
2. The Thracians on Mt. Haemus
Next he marched north to Triballia and Illyria because he had received word that they had
broken the old alliances they had made with Philip. Then he received word that the
Thracians had taken a position on Mt. Haemus. Since Thrace lies between Macedonia and
the Hellaspont Alexander decided to make safe his escape route from Asia by quelling this
revolt. The Thracians were little more than an unruly bunch of shepherds but had
nonetheless had taken a strong position on the slopes of Mt. Haemus. In defence they had
lined their wagons laden with heavy stones in front of their positions and obviously intended
to cut them loose should Alexander attempt climb towards them. Alexander however
ordered the ranks where possible to spread out and allow the wagons to pass by harmlessly
and where they were densely packed to lie down and lock shields allowing the wagons to
pass over them without causing much injury. The strategy worked and the Macedonians
took heart. Alexander ordered his archers to guard the right wing and shoot any Thracians
who sallied forth whilst he led the left wing himself on foot. Those Thracians that attacked
the right were shot easily whilst the rest fled before the Macedonian phalanx. Alexander
took their women, children and booty.
3. King Syrmus & The Triballian revolt
After Mt. Haemus, Alexander sent two of his Companions one of whom being Philotas south
to the coast to sell the Thracian booty (and slaves). He himself marched into Triballia where
King Syrmus was in revolt. On learning of Alexander’s approach, Syrmus evacuated his
territory sending the women and children to seek refuge in the hinterlands. He himself took
refuge in the glens along the banks of the River Lyginus. Alexander ordered his archers and
peltasts to bombard the trees hoping to draw the Triballians out into the open. It worked.
The he ordered Philotas to charge the disorganised enemy on the left wing, whilst he himself
led the charge on the Triballian’s centre with his right wing. The Triballians were utterly
routed. 3,000 of them were slaughtered and the rest fled into the night. According to
Ptolemy only about 11 Macedonian cavalrymen and 40 hoplites were killed in this
encounter.
4. The Getae, The Danube & The Celtic Ambassaors
3 days later Alexander reached the Danube where he was met by some trieremes (naval
ships) from Byzantion. Some of the Triballians had taken refuge on a rocky islet in the centre
of the river and to these he sent the trieremes but they could not make a landing on account
of the rocky cliffs, so he recalled them. Meanwhile the Getae (a Celtic tribe) had massed
their warriors on the farther bank so as to deny Alexander a landing. That night however
Alexander commandeered as many wood hewn canoes that the locals used for fishing (and
piracy) as he could find and ordered his men to stuff the tent awnings with straw to make
pontoons. In this way, along with his ships, his army crossed the Danube at the dead of
night. In total his force was 1,500 cavalry and 4,000 infantry. At dawn he sent the infantry
into the dense corn fields ordering them to flatten the stalks with their sarissas (long pikes).
Beyond the fields however he led the cavalry himself and entrusted the infantry to Nicanor.
The Getae did not offer any resistence but fled before the advance of such an audacious king
who had crossed such a vast river seemingly effortlessly without bothering to build a bridge.
When Alexander reached the evacuated city he razed it to the ground, offered sacrifice to
Zeus, Heracles and to the Danube himself for allowing him to cross. Tehn he went back to
the southern side of the River where he was approached by ambassadors from the
neighbouring Celtic tribes and from Syrmus. He saw each emissary separately and made
alliances with them but remarked that the Celts has too high an opinion of themselves when
he did not get the answer he wanted to a certain question he asked them. The question was
what do you fear most of all. He had rather hoped they would say, Alexander, but instead
they said that they were most afraid of the sky falling down.
5. The Revolt of Clitus & Glaucias (aka The Siege of Pelion)
Next he received word that the Paeonians had revolted under local kings Clitus and Glaucias.
King Langarus of the Agrianes approached Alexander however and promised to attack a
mutual enemy tribe allied to the rebels. This he did and captured vast amounts of booty
which he duly sent back to Alexander. Alexander was so impressed that he promised him his
sister Cyna’s hand in marriage and a home at court in Pella but Langarus died of fever shortly
afterwards. Alexander next made a move on Clitus who had taken up a position on a horse
shoe shaped mountain overlooking the city of Pelion on the River Apsos.
When the Macedonians approached (1), the Paeonians charged down on all sides but were
repelled easily by the highly trained Macedonians and took refuge in the city. Since Glaucias
was as yet a good distance off, Alexander decided to take the city and began a siege.
Glaucias however arrived at dawn the next day (2) and Alexander found himself trapped
between Clitus in the city and Glaucias who controlled not only the mountains but also the
narrow defile into the horse shoe shaped plain. Now it happened that he had just sent
Philotas into the forests to forage for food and feed the baggage animals when Glaucias
arrived. On seeing Philotas leave Glaucias advanced on him (3). When Alexander realised his
pack animals were in danger he himself led a contingent of infantry along with the Agrianian
light cavalry and archers into the woods to rescue them leaving the rest of army to continue
the siege on Clitus in the city. Glaucias retreated to the higher ground when he saw
Alexander approaching and Philotas quickly rejoined the army. Now Alexander realised her
was trapped. Alexander resolved to fight his way free. On the one hand he formed in
infantry into a dense wedge 120 lines deep and ordered them to advance in silence first to
the right and then to the left zig-zagging up the slope (4). They were protected by cavalry on
either side. Glaucias was terrified by the discipline and speed of the Macedonian infantry
and retreated before them ceding the first ridge of the mountains. Meanwhile Clitus had
sallied forth from the city but now Alexander ordered his rear guard infantry to clatter their
shields and raise a loud war cry, which frightened Clitus’ men into retreating back inside the
city. He then stationed a small force on the captured ridge in case Glaucias would launch a
counter assault. He then ordered his infantry to cross the river and spread themselves along
the bank. Once he saw the Macedonians crossing the river Glaucias tried to charge
Alexander’s position but Alexander raised a war cry and chased him off the ridge, then he
turned around and charged across the river (5). He was the first man to set foot on the
farther bank. He then ordered his archers to wade out into the river and fire high over across
the river to protect his army’s rear from Glaucias and lined his siege engines along the bank
to bombard the city to keep Clitus in check. 3 days later his scouts informed him that Clitus
& Glaucias’ security was weak. They seemed to think Alexander had fled. He crossed the
river again at sunset (6) sending the Agrianian cavalry and archers ahead on a flanking
movement. The city was taken by surprise. Many Paenoians were slaughtered in their beds
but the rest escaped into the Taulantian mountains with Glaucias. Clitus initially sought
refuge in the city but later abandoned it and set it ablaze.
6. The Theban Revolt
Suddenly news reached Alexander of a revolt in Thebes. An anti-Macedonain faction
previously expelled by Philip had returned and incited the Thebans to revolt against the
League of Corinth. The had besieged the Macedonian garrison on the Cadmea. Alexander
turned about immediately and marched his entire army south at shocking speed. He reached
Boeotia in 1 week from the time he left Paeonia (Albania). Even when the Thebans heard he
had passed through Thermopylae they did not believe it was really him because they had
heard a rumour that he had been killed in Illyria. They even suspected it was not Alexander
son of Philip but Alexander the son of Aeropus who was leading the Macedonian army. All
doubts fled their minds however when Alexander made camp on the plain of Iolaus.
Alexander however hoped that diplomacy would settle the matter and so he did not order
any advance but waited for the Thebans to sue for peace. Instead they sent a skirmishing
party which Alexander easily repelled. The next day he led his army around to the
Eluetheran Gate which lies on the road to Athens hoping to offer hope to his garrison in the
Cadmea besieged within the siege. Alexander still however hoped that he would not have to
commit his forces and that Thebans would surrender. Ptolemy says it was Perdiccas who
first attacked the Thebans; disobeying Alexander’s orders. He was stationed near the
stockade of the Cadmea and together with Amyntas managed to force a breach in it.
Perdiccas was wounded by an arrow in this mini-siege and carried off for treatment. The
Macedonians however were gradually repelled by the enemy and forced to retreat. When
Alexander saw his own men in retreat he ordered his phalanxes forward. The Thebans
panicked and fled back inside the city but were taken so quickly by surprise they forgot to
shut the gate and the Macedonians got inside. The resulting battle was fierce and bloody but
Ptolemy says that most of the carnage was not committed by Macedonains but by allied
Boeotians (Phocians & Plataens) who hated Thebes for its oppression of their cities. Men
were even slaughtered in the sanctuaries of the gods where they sought refuge. After the
battle Alexander executed the captured Theban soldiers, enslaved the women and children
and razed the city to the ground and divided up the territory amongst other Boeotain cities.
He only spared the lives of the pro-Macedonian statesmen, the priests and preistesses and
temples of the gods and the family and home of the poet Pindar.
7. Athens capitulates
There were shock waves all over Greece as a result of what happened to Thebes. In Athens
the Eleusinian mysteries were postponed so as to take care of the Theban refugees. The
assembly elected 10 ambassadors (one from each of the ten constituencies) to make peace
with Alexander. Alexander received them cordially and made an alliance but sent a letter
with them back to Athens ordering the surrender of several anti-Macedonian orators
including Demosthenes. He also blamed them for the sack of Thebes for inciting the Theban
rebels to violence. Athens only exiled one name from the list: Charidemus, who fled to
Darius in Persia.