r/ancienthistory • u/Lanky-Steak-6288 • 4d ago

Sangala: Alexander's most underrated battle?

/r/AlexandertheGreat/comments/1x4ppgn/sangala_alexanders_most_underrated_battle/
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u/jagnew78 4d ago

I'm not sure how you would qualify this as an underrated battle. I'm curious to hear your reasoning. Alexander's Indian campaign was nothing like his Persian one. There was no single army he could defeat to capture huge swathes of territory like in Persia. Instead Alexander had to go city to city, threaten to sack them unless they surrender and then siege them. There are multiple such similar battles/sieges outlined in his Indian campaign, all single siege engagements that only enabled him to conquer one or two settlements at a time or small city-state kingdoms at a time.

I think it's basically right after Sangala that Alexander's army mutinies. Showing that his army by now is demoralized, exhausted, and tired of getting their noses bloodied by the Indian kingdoms. Not nearly the pushovers the Greeks thought they would be.

As Alexander retreats he's forced to deal with the Brahmin freedom fighter insurgencies too. It's so bad he orders the death of all the Brahmins in the area in order to quell the insurgency. Possibly the first documented case of religious persecution.

It's hard to find a glory moment in Alexander's Indian campaign. After Sporus, it's generally filled with the misery and slog of war during monsoon season.

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u/Lanky-Steak-6288 4d ago

I was looking at this engagement strictly through the lense of generalship. I view it as underrated because it's rarely mentioned in the same breath as gaugamela or issos even though the tactics displayed here were really good. I don't know how the rest pertains to the post though.

Instead Alexander had to go city to city, threaten to sack them unless they surrender and then siege them. There are multiple such similar battles/sieges outlined in his Indian campaign, all single siege engagements that only enabled him to conquer one or two settlements at a time or small city-state kingdoms at a time.

Unlike his conquest of the achaemenid empire the campaign in India was centered mostly around Pakistan and Punjab.  In his previous campaign while it is true that after each major battles Alexander won large territories this was also followed by fierce resistance. This is true for granikos (see miletus, Halicranassus, Pisidia, cilician gates) issos(the offensive in Alexander's rear by the remnant of the Persian army, the Greek mercenaries sailing to Laconia and joining agis at the battle of megapolis,tyre,naval Operations in the agean), Gaugamela(lowland uxia held by Medates, uxian defile, Persian gates etc) 

Post hydaspes up until hyphasis the only real resistance was at sangala.