Tristan Hughes

He marches into Asia, he invades Persian territory in 334 BC and over the next, well, it's less than a decade, in fact, because he's already defeated the Persian king of kings, Darius, before 324 BC.

Darius is dead by that time, but he beats Darius in two big major battles, the Battle of Issus and then the Battle of Galgamela, the final big climactic clash between the two in 331 BC in what is today northern Iraq.

But before then, he's fought a series of other battles.

He's laid siege to prominent settlements.

Of course, he's taken over important places that will become central in the story of the Hellenistic period that follows, like Egypt and later the

founding Alexandria, that will become one of the great centers of ancient history.

And then after taking over the Persian administrative capitals, I almost said Persian cities, but that would be wrong.

The Persian administrative capitals, the great cities like Babylon, Susa, then the great Persian center of Persepolis, and then Ecbatana.

So these core centers of the Persian empire

He catches up with the last Persian king of kings, Darius, who is killed by one of his subordinates as he's trying to flee east into modern-day Afghanistan to continue the fight.

But Alexander, with his army, continues to press on from there.

So he has what I would say is the hardest fighting of his whole career in what is modern-day Afghanistan and Uzbekistan.

I'm sure that sounds familiar.

Yeah.

He's fighting there for a few years.

It's very, very difficult.

And there are a few setbacks there as well with some of his subordinates.

You get disgruntled soldiers as well.

But he ultimately reaches an agreement.

He marries a local princess who's the daughter of one of the most prominent figures in the region, a man called Oxiartes and this woman called Roxana.