A Historic Lesson On Exposure

“Know when to back off”

Alexander of Macedon, who’s conquests earned him the title Alexander the Great, is arguably the greatest military strategist in history, when factoring in the advancements and innovations he contributed to warfare over the course of his rather spectacular and equivalently short lifetime.

His ideas and tactics are still studied to this day by aspiring military commanders; such was the effectiveness of his plans and methods that relevance can still be found in the more abstract concepts he employed.

But perhaps the simplest and most useful teaching of Alexander can be found in the Battle of Gaugamela.

The layout of the battle was as follows: Alexander and his army of perhaps as many as some 50,000 Macedonians met the army of Darius III, leader of the Achaemenid Empire, and his army of 100,000. Outnumbered two to one, Alexander and his commanders were forced to come up with strategy to level the odds.

During this particular battle, it is said Alexander came up with many legendary techniques that utterly changed the face of warfare, including formations that rendered the use of chariots ineffective and the first instance of the echelon formations being employed.

More, during the battle itself, Alexander performed a brilliant feint, riding with his cavalry towards the outermost part of the battlefield, splitting Darius’ forces into two distinctive groups, with a gap formed in the middle where the phalanx echelon was battling. It was then that Alexander reversed his course and drove his 7,000 heads directly into the newly formed weak spot, aiming directly for Darius himself.

The end result was total confusion on the part of the enemy army, as their forces were split and their leader was being born down upon. The ranks began to break and Darius and his entourage began a retreat.

And it was then that Alexander made his most brilliant decision of the day.

He called off the attack.

To understand why, you can’t look ahead of Alexander, where Darius awaited to be slain with presumable victory. You must look behind Alexander, to where the main body of his force was growing weary and one of his most trusted generals, Parmenion, was in danger of falling. Alexander realized that to press his attack would simultaneously be risking his own army and, by extension, his own wellbeing.

Returning to the aid of his main force, they began to sweep up the remnants of the Persian’s who had stayed behind, sealing a decisive victory for the Greeks.

Darius himself would never meet Alexander on the field of battle again. Such were his losses, in both men and credibility, that his empire was torn in two, and shortly thereafter he was slain by the hand of one of his own commanders.

The great lesson is very straightforward. Restraint can often lead to the desired victory, while pursuit of victory can just is easily lead to defeat.

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