Alexander defeats Darius III

5 November 333 BCE, Issus, Turkey

The rise of Alexander the Great was not inevitable. The great Persian Empire stood against him and while his father had always wanted to defeat it, there was no guarantee of victory against its superior numbers. Yet at Issus, on a narrow battlefield, Alexander managed to tactically outmanoeuvre the experienced king of Persia, send him running, and begin his conquest of the Persian Empire.