Qualla: Battle of the Granicus https://qualla.com/battle-of-the-granicus en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 27 Jul 2026 10:40:38 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/s/x/5/k/battle-of-the-granicus-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Battle of the Granicus https://qualla.com/battle-of-the-granicus Battle of the Granicus: Introduction https://qualla.com/battle-of-the-granicus/ Photo credit Turkey_location_map.svg: NordNordWest derivative work: Uwe Dedering (talk), CC BY-SA 3.0. A moment of silence fell over both armies. Then Alexander ordered the charge. It was May 334 BC, somewhere on the banks of the Granicus River in what is now northwestern Turkey — the same river that farmers today call the Biga Çayı, a modest stream flowing past olive groves toward the Sea of Marmara. The Persian cavalry lined the far bank, javelins ready, defending the higher ground. What happened next, on a single afternoon, would open the door to the Persian Empire and change the direction of history. Historians still argue over the exact details. The bones of the matter are not in dispute.

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Image: Turkey_location_map.svg: NordNordWest derivative work: Uwe Dedering (talk) | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Sat, 13 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/x/5/k/battle-of-the-granicus-wp/sx5k-battle-of-the-granicus-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Battle of the Granicus: The Weight of What Led Here https://qualla.com/battle-of-the-granicus/ Photo credit Frank Martini. Cartographer, Department of History, United States Military Academy, CC BY-SA 3.0. Alexander crossed the Hellespont in the spring of 334 BC with roughly 32,000 infantry and 5,000 cavalry — an army assembled to fulfill a promise his father Philip II had made before his assassination two years earlier. The promise was revenge: to punish the Persian Empire for its...

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Image: Frank Martini. Cartographer, Department of History, United States Military Academy | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Sat, 13 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/x/5/k/battle-of-the-granicus-wp/sx5k-battle-of-the-granicus-the-weight-of-what-led-here.mp3 0:06 2 full Battle of the Granicus: The Crossing https://qualla.com/battle-of-the-granicus/ Photo credit «Военная энциклопедия» Ивана Дмитриевича Сытина. (Санкт-Петербург; 1912 год)., Public domain. The Persians stationed their cavalry along the eastern bank of the Granicus, with their Greek mercenary infantry held back — a decision historians have questioned ever since. The cavalry could not charge from a static position on a riverbank; Persian tactical doctrine of the era ...

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Image: «Военная энциклопедия» Ивана Дмитриевича Сытина. (Санкт-Петербург; 1912 год). | Public domain

]]> Sat, 13 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/x/5/k/battle-of-the-granicus-wp/sx5k-battle-of-the-granicus-the-crossing.mp3 0:06 3 full Battle of the Granicus: The Men Who Fell https://qualla.com/battle-of-the-granicus/ Photo credit Megalexandros, Public domain. The ancient sources disagree sharply on casualties. Arrian, whose figures modern historians consider most reliable, records 115 Macedonian dead: 25 Companion cavalry lost in the initial assault, 60 more cavalry, and 30 infantry. On the Persian side, Arrian counts roughly 1,000 ca...

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Image: Megalexandros | Public domain

]]> Sat, 13 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/x/5/k/battle-of-the-granicus-wp/sx5k-battle-of-the-granicus-the-men-who-fell.mp3 0:06 4 full Battle of the Granicus: What Alexander Did Afterward https://qualla.com/battle-of-the-granicus/ Photo credit Frank Martini. Cartographer, Department of History, United States Military Academy, Public domain. Victory at the Granicus opened the western coast of Asia Minor almost immediately. Dascylium, the administrative capital of Hellespontine Phrygia, was evacuated without a fight. Sardis surrendered. Ephesus capitulated. Alexander sent Parmenion to Magnesia and Tralles; he dispatch...

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Image: Frank Martini. Cartographer, Department of History, United States Military Academy | Public domain

]]> Sat, 13 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/x/5/k/battle-of-the-granicus-wp/sx5k-battle-of-the-granicus-what-alexander-did-afterward.mp3 0:06 5 full Battle of the Granicus: A River with Two Names https://qualla.com/battle-of-the-granicus/ Photo credit DEMIS Mapserver, पाटलिपुत्र, CC BY-SA 3.0. The Granicus is today called the Biga Çayı. Drive through the countryside around the modern town of Biga and you will cross it on an ordinary road bridge — a modest river, flowing clear over gravel in summer, its banks unremarkable. Scholars who have studied the battle's location...

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Image: DEMIS Mapserver, पाटलिपुत्र | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Sat, 13 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/x/5/k/battle-of-the-granicus-wp/sx5k-battle-of-the-granicus-a-river-with-two-names.mp3 0:06 6 full