Introduction 1. Alexander became the ruler of Macedon in 336 BC taking over from his father Phillip II. Immediately after taking over, he conquered all of Greece defeating powerful armies of Sparta and Athenia. His greed for wealth, power, recognition and prestige took him to the mighty Kingdom of Persia and on the pretext of avenging attack by the Persian ruler Xerxes in 480 BC, he engaged the mighty Persians in three major battles. The brilliant strategist and ferocious commander Alexander was, he was knocking the doors of India by 326 BC. 2. In his quest to conquer India, Alexander met with the first and by the fiercest resistance from King Porus of the Kingdom of Pauravas located east of the river Hydaspes (present Jhelum) river in 326 …show more content…
The aim of the paper is to describe and analyse the Battle of Hydaspes fought in 326 BC between the Macedonian army led by Alexander and the army of Paurvas led by King Porus. Background 4. In 326 BC, the Northern part of Indian subcontinent comprising of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and Bihar was ruled by the Nanda empire and the fertile land of Punjab was ruled by several kings fighting amongst themselves. In order to enter India, Alexander had to cross two major rivers of Indus and Jhelum (Hydaspes). The Kingdom of Eastern Gandhara located between these two major rivers was ruled by King Ambhi. 5. When Alexander challenged King Ambhi, he had two options, he could fight and see his city annihilated by the stronger army of Alexander who were well prepared for crossing Indus river or not oppose Alexander and save his city from death and destruction. Alexander was known to make examples of opposition leaders with slow painful and public deaths. King Ambhi wisely avoids confrontation and does not offer any kind of resistance to the Greek army. 6. Alexander crossed Indus river with ease and commandeered Taxila making it his base of operations for mounting further attacks east of river Hydaspes. After