Battle of Hidaspis River

The Battle of Hidaspis River was a fierce battle between Macedonian army and Indian Wang Bo Rus army on the left bank of the river in 326 BC.

At the end of the 5th century BC and the beginning of the 4th century, Macedonia in northern Greece gradually developed and became the master of the Greek world. In 336 BC, King Philip of Macedonia was stabbed to death at his daughter's wedding, and his son Alexander succeeded him as king. In 334 BC, Alexander left some troops in Macedonia to guard Greece. He personally led the army into Asia, defeated the Persian army and destroyed the Persian Empire, and became the master of the Persian Empire in 330 BC.

Three years later (327 BC), Alexander crossed the Hindu Kush Mountains and prepared to conquer Indian states. Because these countries once recognized the sovereignty of his Persian predecessors.

"Darius I's son Xue Xisi and his successors seem to maintain some form of control over Indian provinces, which send troops to join their army." Although the Persian emperor's control over India gradually weakened, India's borders were divided by small countries, whose rulers were actually independent.

Alexander led about 27,000 to 30,000 infantry and cavalry to invade the upper reaches of the Indus Valley first. There are five tributaries in the upper reaches of the Indus River (hence the name Five Rivers Basin). Alexander's soldiers went into the jungle to reach Osinder and crossed the Indus River on a pontoon bridge in 326 BC. As for how Alexander built a bridge on the Indian River, Ariane, an ancient Greek historian, said, "It was probably a pontoon bridge built by many ships. Because the river is too deep, it is impossible to build an ordinary bridge, and it is impossible to complete such a huge project in such a short time. " After that, Alexander soon conquered Queiroz Kingdom and arrived in Bukfara. Along the way, many tribes sent representatives to meet them and were willing to form an alliance with them and send troops to help. Alexander took the opportunity to reorganize the cavalry, divided the guards into seven brigades, and re-appointed and dismissed the commanders, thus strengthening the strength of the team. Subsequently, the expedition headed for the Hidaspis River, the first tributary east of the Indus River (also translated as the Haidaspis River, the modern Jerum River).

"Between the Hidaspis River and the Assegines River, first of all, Porus has a vast territory and fertile land, with about 300 cities." When Alexander reached the right bank of the Hidaspis River near Haranpur village, he found an army standing on the other side of the river to stop him from advancing. This is poros's team. According to the report, Lubo Wang Si is tall and he is deeply ashamed of his neighbor's surrender to Alexander. He is determined to defend his hometown and compete with Alexander. Therefore, Porus "assembled all his troops on the other side of the Hidaspis River and was determined to stop Alexander from crossing the river, at least when he tried to cross it." Alexander first sent a special envoy to send an ultimatum to Lubo Wang Si, asking him to give up resistance and come to show obedience. However, poros flatly refused the other side. At the same time, he took serious preventive measures and was heavily guarded, adding sentries in all places where he could cross the river.

In the face of Porus's powerful and high-spirited army, Alexander realized that it was impossible to cross the river where Porus himself was stationed, because "there are not only powerful troops here, but also many elephants. Those troops are well equipped and well organized. If you cross the river there, the other party is ready to stop it. He also thinks that his horses are afraid to even go to the other side of Lian Deng, because once the horses land, the elephants will rush at them immediately, and their huge and strange shapes and strange calls will definitely scare the horses. Even when his horse crosses the river on the raft, when he sees an elephant from a distance, he will jump into the water and dare not stand on the raft. " So Alexander adopted the method of smuggling. He divided the troops into several parts and let them March in different directions at the same time on the river bank to attract Pross' attention. Alexander personally led some troops to take the opportunity of reconnaissance to find a ferry that could be broken through. At the same time, Alexander ordered the troops to transport a large amount of food and materials from all directions and pile them in the camp near the Hidaspis River, so as to give Pross an illusion that the Macedonian army was blocked by the summer flood and was busy transporting food, so it could not cross the river and was ready to stay for a long time. They may wait until the river drops in winter before crossing the river. Just when Pross made a wrong judgment, Alexander acted in secret, scouted the river with a raft, and finally found the target at the corner about 17 miles upstream of the Greek military camp. There is an island in the river opposite the corner, where there are dense trees and few people, so it is easy to cross the river. In order to ensure the success of crossing the river, Alexander came up with a clever plan: after the night came, he ordered the cavalry to run back and forth on the river bank with the sound of killing, making the river bank as chaotic as possible, and ordered people to light a bonfire and set up a post to give orders, as if to cross the river at once. When poros saw this scene, he believed it. He quickly led the troops to drive away the elephants and ran back and forth with the cries of Alexander soldiers to stop the Macedonian army from crossing the river. After a long time, poros didn't know about the recruit, so he stopped following it, so he let his guard down and only sent sentries to watch along the coast. Taking this opportunity, Alexander began to cross the river. He left 3000 cavalry and 8000 infantry in the camp to stabilize the situation on the other side, and also supported or replaced the troops crossing the river as a reserve force. In addition, 5000 cavalry and 1 000 infantry formed a surprise crossing team, headed for the crossing point under Alexander's personal command, and then boarded the raft and sailed to the other side.

As we approached the shore, a flash of lightning broke through the night sky and the Indian sentry found everything. The news soon reached Porus, but Porus didn't expect the other party to sneak into the country so soon. But at this moment, Pross did not know the real intention of the Macedonian army. Does the other party really take the initiative or pretend to take the initiative? He can't decide at the moment. Finally, Porus sent his son with 2000 cavalry and 120 chariots to meet Alexander's army.

As poros hesitated, the Macedonian army quickly prepared for the battle. Before poros's son arrived, Alexander had transported the last batch of troops across the river. Later, Alexander sent archers to attack the troops led by the son of Pross. Later, he personally led a huge cavalry unit to rush to the Indian army. Poros's son and 400 Indian soldiers were killed, and the rest of the chariots and a small group of soldiers in the car hurriedly retreated. However, due to the muddy road, the vehicle was difficult to operate and was quickly captured by Macedonia.

The deserter soon returned to Porus's side. After listening to their report, Porus suddenly realized that he regretted the loss caused by his hesitation. Now he is determined to fight Alexander. He left several elephants and several troops stationed in the camp, and led 4,000 cavalry, 300 chariots, 200 elephants and about 30,000 elite infantry to Alexandria. Team soon came to a flat and hard sand (some scholars believe that this place is the Gali Plain, and now the place name is Sellvall Village and Bakrar Village), stopped moving, set up a camp, and laid an array. "An elephant is arranged at the forefront, and an elephant is placed every ten feet or so to form another line of defense in front of the whole infantry line, so that Alexander's cavalry can be frightened everywhere." When other heavy troops advance, they will be attacked and trampled by elephants. "The infantry is deployed behind the elephant, and the elephant is on the second line. In fact, these infantry columns have more or less filled the gap between elephants. " In addition, Porus also deployed infantry on its "two wings" and even extended beyond the elephant line. In addition to the infantry on the two wings, cavalry were deployed and chariots were deployed between the two wings. "At the same time, Alexander also deployed his troops and adopted the strategy of attacking the enemy with his own strengths." Decided not to break through the enemy's defense line from the center, because there was a row of elephants in front, and the phalanx was also deployed in the gap between the elephants in a dense formation. "Alexander knew that cavalry was his own advantage, so he was going to lead the cavalry to attack poros from the left and right wings. He and General Kolvoc and Demetrius commanded the left and right cavalry respectively. Then, he ordered Seleucus, Antignis and Taurang to lead the infantry phalanx, waiting for the cavalry to disintegrate the enemy infantry and cavalry, and immediately launched an attack.

The armies of both sides have been deployed and ready to fight. The Greek army pre-empted, and Alexander ordered about 65,438+0,000 archers to rush to the enemy's left wing immediately, and fired arrows in unison, which quickly disturbed the other side. Alexander took this opportunity to lead the army to the enemy's left wing and dealt a fierce blow, and General Kolvoc followed orders. The Indian army had to change the cavalry into double formations. Poros quickly took out a part with the largest number and the strongest fighting capacity to attack Alexandria, and another part made a detour to attack Kolvoc, thus disrupting the appearance and deployment of the Indian army. When Alexander turned back with Indian cavalry, he quickly attacked the frontal enemy, forcing the Indian army to approach his elephant, while the Indian elephant shepherd drove the elephant to stop Alexander cavalry. Macedonian phalanx soldiers immediately threw javelins at the pursuers, then surrounded the elephants and shot arrows at them. The elephant was crowded in a narrow area and no one was driving it. It was stimulated and trampled at will, which made the Indian cavalry in the narrow area around the elephant suffer a lot. On the other hand, Macedonian soldiers retreated when the elephant rushed over and pursued when the elephant escaped. Later, after the elephant was exhausted, it slowly roared back. Alexander immediately led the cavalry to surround it, and then the concession soldiers connected the shields and approached each other to form an extremely dense formation and jointly attacked the Indian army. Although poros fought bravely with his cavalry and took the lead in running on the battlefield, he could not defeat Alexander's powerful army after all. In the end, except for a few Indian cavalry who escaped, they were completely annihilated under the attack of the Greek phalanx. Indian infantry also suffered casualties in all directions. According to statistics, after this war, "nearly 20,000 Indian infantry died, about 3,000 cavalry were killed, and all chariots were destroyed", and all the surviving elephants were captured. Poros's two sons, the local governor and many commanders were killed. Alexander's team lost little, about 80 infantry and more than 200 cavalry were killed.

Poros himself was injured in the battle on his right shoulder and had to retreat. Teclis, the Indian leader who had surrendered to Alexandria, surrendered to poros. Prowse rejected him and was taken to Alexandria. He still didn't mean to give in, but asked the other side to treat him like a king. Alexander appreciated Pross' courage and unyielding. More importantly, the Indus valley is vast and complex, and Alexander can't rule it. Therefore, he returned the sovereignty of Porus to Porus, and even gave him an area larger than his original land, so as to win people's hearts and reduce resistance.

A major feature of the Battle of Hidaspis was the use of elephants, which was the biggest elephant war in ancient world history. In the battle, Porus passively defended and deployed improperly, allowing the other side to take the offensive, while the Macedonian army adopted flexible tactics. Alexander is good at mobilizing the enemy, pretending to confuse the enemy, making the other side relax their vigilance and morale, and then taking circuitous actions to avoid the enemy's advantages and attack the enemy's weaknesses. The cooperation between cavalry and infantry made the situation of the other side chaotic, and the tall and fierce elephant did not play its due power, but hurt its own people. After poros, the disposal method was generally no longer used, and it was gradually replaced by flexible tactics.