Tristan Hughes

It's difficult and it doesn't, you know, it's not really, when modern scholars look at the history of warfare and the history of battle, it doesn't tend to get listed.

But it is this river crossing and where it's, because he's fighting mainly against cavalry, you have to be quite careful about keeping together, not being broken up by them and then driving them off and killing their leaders.

So there's a lot of fighting, and it involves large parts of the Macedonian army, but it is that classic thing.

Winning one of these battles doesn't gain you as much as winning an Issus or a Gaugamina, in that far fewer communities are inclined to say, all right, Gauv, it's a fair cop, I'm giving in, because you've done that.

A, people happily run away and think that's no reflection on their manhood.

They will fight again another day because that's just common sense as far as they're concerned.

But also it's this fragmented society, all these different communities.

They don't feel obliged.

Alexander can sack one mud wall city after another, but the next one he comes to doesn't feel that it has to give in.

As far as it's concerned, it's always defended itself.

Why shouldn't it against these people?

Yes, it's not.

And it's not, we lose a lot of casualties as we're gradually taking Tyre.

It's, we're defeated as well.

Well, they've all been away from home a very long time.

You know, we go back to the second episode, I think we talked about the men who were allowed sort of winter's leave, the men that recently married to go home to Macedonia.

But in contrast to Philip's campaigns, where generally speaking, every year you've got to go home for at least a bit of time.

That's no longer the case.

Your home is now mobile.

You're moving around.