Alexander's Balkan campaign

Alexander's Balkan campaign
Part of the Wars of Alexander the Great

The Kingdom of Macedonia in 336 BC
Date335 BC
Location
Ancient Greece, Illyria, Thrace, Dacia
Result Macedonian victory
Belligerents
Macedonians Thracians
Illyrians
Getae
Ancient Thebes (Boeotia)
Commanders and leaders
Alexander the Great
Langarus		 Cleitus
Glaucias
Syrmus
Strength

12,000 heavy infantry
8,000 light infantry
3,000 cavalry

Versus the Getae:
4,000 infantry, 1,500 cavalry		 14,000 men (Getae)

The Balkan campaign of Alexander the Great took place in 335 BC, against a number of rebellious vassals of the Macedonian kingdom. Alexander successfully pacified each in turn, leaving him free to begin the long-planned invasion of Persia.

In 336 BC, while attending the wedding of his daughter by Olympias, Cleopatra and Olympias' brother, Alexander I of Epirus at Aegae, Philip II was assassinated by the captain of his bodyguard, Pausanias. Philip's son, and previously designated heir, Alexander was proclaimed king by the Macedonian noblemen and army.[1]

News of Philip's death roused many states into revolt including Thebes, Athens, Thessaly and the Thracian tribes to the north of Macedon. When news of the revolt reached Alexander he responded quickly. Though his advisors advised him to use diplomacy, Alexander mustered the Macedonian cavalry of 3,000 men and rode south towards Thessaly, Macedon's immediate neighbor to the south. Finding the Thessalian army occupying the pass between Mount Olympus and Mount Ossa, he had the men ride through Mount Ossa and position themselves at the rear of the enemy encampment. Upon discovering this maneuver, the Thessalians surrendered, adding their cavalry to Alexander's force as he rode down towards the Peloponnese.[2]

Alexander stopped at Thermopylae, where he was recognised as the leader of the Sacred League before heading south to Corinth. Athens sued for peace and Alexander received the envoy and pardoned anyone involved with the uprising. At Corinth, he was given the title 'Hegemon' of the Greek forces against the Persians. While at Corinth, he heard the news of the Thracian rising to the north.[3]

  1. ^ McCarty, Alexander the Great, p. 30-31.
    * Plutarch, The Age of Alexander, p. 262-263
    * Renault, The Nature of Alexander the Great, p. 61-62
    * Fox, The Search For Alexander, p. 72
  2. ^ McCarty, Alexander the Great, p. 31.
    * Plutarch, The Age of Alexander, p. 263
    * Renault, The Nature of Alexander the Great, p. 72
    * Fox, The Search For Alexander, p. 104
    * Bose, Alexander the Great's Art of Strategy, p. 95
  3. ^ Bose, Alexander the Great's Art of Strategy, p. 96.
    * Renault, The Nature of Alexander the Great, p. 72