PART OF THE NOVEL "ALEXANDER THE GREAT (MACEDONIAN)" BY ULRICH WILKEN TRANSLATED BY SLAVE KATIN I BUSINESS
Alexander the Great began to pursue the enemy along the entire line, like his father, and his goal was the complete destruction of the enemy. It came behind the backs of the ancient Greek mercenaries, who witnessed the incomprehensible tactics of the Persian courtiers.
Alexander the Great ordered his phalanx to attack from the front, while the cavalry attacked from the side, completely destroying these ancient Greek units, with the exception of about 2.000 survivors. It prevented a part of the cavalry from taking part in the further pursuit of the enemy.
Thus, after a few hours one afternoon in May 334, a great victory was won, first of all, as a result of the ingenious strategic preparation of Alexander the Great, as well as the superior weaponry of the units. As the well-informed Arrian recounts, in a decisive cavalry battle the ancient Macedonian javelin proved superior to the Persian.
This throwing of spears was terrible, because the Ancient Macedonians under the command of Alexander the Great hit their targets as much as possible, and this superiority of weapons encouraged the cavalry to win.
The losses of the royal followers were very small, amounting to only 25 souls of the regiment sent to fight against Memnon, while the other cavalry gave about 60, and the infantry about 30 casualties. Such small losses sound suspicious, but to that must be added the wounded, of whom a large number died.
Alexander the Great ordered the sculptor Lysippus to make statues for those 25 royal followers, which were placed in Dion in Macedonia, and their families were exempted from paying taxes. Among the Persians, many probably suffered, and especially many of their leaders died.
On the day after the battle, Alexander the Great held a solemn funeral not only for his men, but also for the Persians. He showed humanity and great attention to the wounded. He called them before him to show him the wounds and tell him how they got them.
He gave them great attention even when they showed a certain vanity. Hence it can be understood with what enthusiasm the army sacrificed itself for such a leader.
With the shrewd diplomacy which he had acquired in the recent accidents in Athenian Greece, Alexander the Great, with the ability of a generalissimo from the pan-inist war of revenge, proclaimed this victory of Granicus to the world as the victory of the Corinthian League.
This is the meaning of the dedicatory inscription which was engraved by his order on three hundred pieces of Persian armor which he sent to Athens to be offered as sacrifices for the sake of the Acropolis, and on which was written: "Alexander the Great, the son of Philip of Macedon, and all the Hellenes, but not the Lacedaemonians, they appropriated this from the barbarians who inhabit Asia”.
There was not even a word about his Macedonians. Of the ancient Greek contingents, only the cavalry was engaged. It is also significant that Alexander of Macedon does not describe himself as a king, and in the language of pan-linguist propaganda, he called the Persians barbarians.
In the same way, intending to respect the League and placing himself in the position of an elected generalissimo, he sent the captured ancient Greek mercenaries in chains to forced labor in Macedonia, because "contrary to the decision of the League of the Hellenes, they fought for the barbarians , and against the Hellenes".
The court historian Callisthenes celebrated Granicus as a pan-Leninist victory. When he says that the harvest took place in the Adrasthean field, and in the explanation of the name he also mentions the old king Adrastus, who made a cult of Nemas in this region, he probably sees divinity in the fact that Alexander the Great won here as an "avenger" of Ancient Greece.
Alexander the Great went to war not only as a general of the League, but also as a king whose goals were to conquer territories for himself. Undoubtedly, the idea was accurately conveyed by the story of Clitarchus, when Alexander the Great threw his spear in front of him while landing on the Asian coast.
From the moment he set foot on Asiatic soil, as his further actions showed, he regarded it as "a land conquered with his spear." In this sense the Diadochi used the same expression to confirm the illegitimate existence of their conquerors.
To be continued
It says: SLAVE KATIN
