Battle Of Issus, November 333 Bc

By André Geraque Kiffer

The Battle of Issus took place in southern Anatolia, 10 km south of the city of Issus, present-day Iskenderum (which in Turkish means Alexandria), and on both banks of the river Pinarus (present-day Payas), in November 333 BC. An operational approach signals that Darius was forced to move offensively to the terrain chosen by Alexander – therefore, more favorable to him – because he was following a defensive strategy. But, mainly, what forced Darius to act tactically offensive is signaled by a logistical approach, in which Darius large army could not subsist solely from the field during the winter. Then, the hypothesis will be considered whether it would have been possible for the Persians, being strategically offensive, to have been, mainly because of the unfavorable terrain, tactically defensive.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Clube de Autores
• Release date: Jan 31, 2024

Book preview

ANDRÉ  GERAQUE  KIFFER

Battle  of  Issus,

November  333  BC.

A  Persian  Historical  Simulation

Author’s  Edition

Resende

2019

---  Kiffer,  André  Geraque.

Battle  of  Issus,  November  333  BC.  A  Persian  Historical Simulation.  André  Geraque  Kiffer.

Author’s  Edition,  Resende,  2019.

Bibliography:  111  p.  36  im.  21  cm..

1.  History.  2.  Art  of  War.  3.  War  Science.  4.  Wargames.  I. Author.  II.  Title.

ISBN  978-85-6585-300-2

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My  story  will  be  less  certain  than  history;  but  whoever  wants to  relive  the  past  to  study  the  similarities  and  analogies between  human  conflicts  in  the  present  is  enough  for  me  to find  it  useful.  This  War  History  of  mine  is  a  definite achievement  and  not  an  ostentatious  work  for  a  current audience.

(André  Geraque  Kiffer)

4 PROLOGUE

I  was  inspired  to  build  this  work  by  reading  Arnold Toynbee's  book,  A  Study  of  History,  and  Trevor  N. Dupuy's  Future  Wars.  Between  2005  and  2007  I acquired  a  collection  of  board  wargames  in  New York,  and  reading  the  book  Wargame  Design published  by  Strategy  &  Tactics  Magazine consolidated  a  Matrix  for  A  Study  of  Military History.  Thus,  from  2008,  I  was  able  to  begin  an analysis  of  the  wars,  campaigns,  and  battles  of history  of  a  particular  time  and  /  or  civilization described  in  the  Smithsonian  Institute's  Atlas  of Military  History.  So  far  I  have  published  the  following series:  I.  Historical  Simulation  of  the  First  Empire Wars  in  2010;  VIII.  World  War  I  Historical Simulation  in  2011;  II.  Historical  Simulation  of  the Wars  in  Classical  Greece  in  2012;  III.  Historical Simulation  of  the  Roman  Wars  in  2016;  and  IV. Historical  Simulation  of  Wars  in  the  Medieval  Era  in 2018.  In  2014,  to  continue  my  work"  A  Study  of

Military  History  ,  I  read  the  book  Japanese  and

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Chinese  Chess  -  The  Science  and  Art  of  War  and added  a  new  book  The  Study  of  Wars  and  Chess Games  to  my  planned  study,  associating  the foundations  of  chess  games  with  the  principles  of Art  and  Science  of  War.  In  each  book  of  the  work  a selected  war,  campaign,  or  battle  is  studied  at  any of  the  applicable  decision  levels,  namely  the Political,  Strategic,  Operational,  Tactical,  and Technical.  Based  on  a  summary  of  the  historical  fact I  seek  to  highlight  the  decisive  fact  (s)  causing  the negative  result  (s)  before  playing  the  simulation through  a  board  wargame  -  the  actions  on  the  other side  of  the  hill  (from  the  enemy)  are  studied through  a  parallel  electronic  war  game.  In  the simulation  all  the  possibilities  of  the  purpose  of  the study  are  completed  when  the  past  of  history  is analyzed  on  the  basis  of  present  theory  and projected  into  the  future  or  revived  as  a  what  if schematic  case.  When  we  play  we  will  follow  the maxim  WIN  ALWAYS  BUT  WITH  THE  LOWEST

POSSIBLE  COST".

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Keywords:  History.  Art  of  War.  War  science.

Wargames.

7 SUMMARY

CHAPTER  1  –  BATTLE  OF  ISSUS,  NOVEMBER

333  BC……..............................................................8 CHAPTER  2  –  PERSIAN  TACTICALANALYSIS...17 CHAPTER  3  –  TACTICAL  SIMULATION...............40

REFERENCES...…..............................................108

8 CHAPTER  1

BATTLE  OF  ISSUS,  NOVEMBER  333  BC

The  Battle  of  Issus  took  place  in  southern Anatolia,  10  km  south  of  the  city  of  Issus,  present- day  Iskenderum  (which  in  Turkish  means Alexandria),  and  on  both  banks  of  the  Pinarus  River (present-day  Payas),  in  November  333  BC.  The distance  from  the  gulf  of  Issus  to  the  surrounding mountains  is  only  3  km,  a  position  where  Darius could  not  take  better  advantage  of  his  numerical superiority.  The  invading  troops,  led  by  Alexander  of Macedonia,  defeated  an  army  led  personally  by Darius  III  of  Persia  in  this  second  great  battle  for supremacy  in  Asia.

The  campaign  that  led  to  the  battle

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Alexander  had  invaded  Asia  in  334  BC  and defeated  the  Persian  western  satraps  at  the  Battle of  the  Granicus  river.  He  then  proceeded  to  occupy all  of  Anatolia  and  the  Levant,  particularly  along  the Mediterranean  coast,  when  he  was  informed  that Darius  had  assembled  a  large  army  in  Babylon  and would  maneuver  to  try  to  cut  off  his  supply  axis.

Im  1:  Issus  general  location.

Darius's  plan  was  ambitious.  He  wanted  to organize  a  very  large  (land-sea)  joint  force  to  first defeat  the  Macedonians  on  the  Cilicia  or  Syria plains  and,  after  his  victory,  to  employ  his  fleet  to invade  the  Aegean  sea.

If  Darius  reached  the  gulf  of  Issus  he  could coordinate  his  army's  employment  with  that  of  the

Persian  fleet  under  Farnabazus,