He next came to a city called Issus. He mowed through there and continued his way south. He made it about halfway to Egypt when he realized that his supplies had been cut off. So, he and his army pulled a complete 180-degree turn and started marching back north, which is an amazing feat in itself because to turn what amounts to about 60,000 men completely around without complete disorientation is almost impossible, but Alexander did it.
When they got back to Issus they found that the Persian king, Darius III, had cut off their supply line. This did not surprise the Greeks at all, but it did surprise Darius that Alexander would come back.
It is now 333 B.C.; Alexander and his army of about 50,000 were face to face with King Darius III and his army of about 150,000. They were in Issus, a city with the Lebanon Mountains directly to the east, the Mediterranean Sea to the west, and a small river running right through the middle. The two armies set up phalanxes along the river's edge; Alexander had three, Darius had five, four along the river and one back with him. Along the western side of this river was a wet marshland. Each military set up a cavalry on their side of the river; Alexander with a 500 man cavalry, Darius with a 2,000 man cavalry. And so it began, and the Macedonian-Greek army was hopelessly outnumbered.
The phalanxes charged each other with long pikes, approximately fifteen feet long; this was the bloodiest part of the battle. Meanwhile the two cavalries were pushing against each other, each one trying to pass through to the other side. They went on in a see-saw-like manner for hours. Alexander did the inconceivable. He and a large ground of soldiers went around the east mountainous pass, completely catching the Persians off guard.
He came across the river and instead of charging King Darius and his phalanx, they crashed into the first Persian phalanx. The men of the phalanx stopped in their tracts.
