1 October in military history: Battle of Gaugamela, 331 BC

Quick answer

In 331 BC Alexander the Great defeated the army of the Persian king Darius III at Gaugamela, on a plain that the historian Paul Bernard places northeast of Nineveh. A Babylonian astronomical diary records the battle on the 24th day of the sixth month, a date Bernard gives as 1 October 331. Plutarch writes that Darius reviewed his army by torchlight on the eleventh night after an eclipse of the moon, and Arrian dates the battle to the Athenian month Pyanepsion. In Arrian's account, when Alexander charged a gap in the Persian line, Darius was the first to flee. This page also covers Lobositz, 1756, and the Volturno, 1860.

The Battle of Gaugamela, 331 BC: Alexander breaks an empire

1 October 331 BC · 2356 years ago

Alexander the Great won a decisive victory at Gaugamela on 1 October 331 BC, defeating the far larger Persian army of Darius III on ground the enemy had chosen in what is now northern Iraq. The victory broke the Persian Empire and made Alexander master of the known world.

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Battle of Lobositz, 1756: the first battle of the Seven Years' War

1 October 1756 · 270 years ago

At Lobositz in northern Bohemia, Frederick the Great's Prussians fought Count Browne's Austrians, who were marching to aid the Saxons trapped at Pirna, in the first land battle of the Seven Years' War. The Prussian advance into Bohemia was checked.

Read the full story of Battle of Lobositz, 1756: the first battle of the Seven Years' War ›

Also on this day

1860: on the Volturno, the Bourbon army of Francis II attacked Garibaldi's lines facing Capua. Garibaldi's memoirs open the battle at "L'aurora del 1º Ottobre" and give his telegram to Naples: "Vittoria su tutta la linea" ("Victory along the whole line", our translation). Guerzoni writes that the blow had been set for 1 October, the name day of Francis II. Trevelyan, who dates the battle 1 and 2 October, gives the Garibaldini's official loss for the two days as 306 killed, 1,328 wounded and 389 missing.¹

Frequently asked questions

When was the Battle of Gaugamela?

In 331 BC. A Babylonian astronomical diary records it on the 24th day of the sixth month, which the historian Paul Bernard gives as 1 October 331. Plutarch places Darius's torchlit review of his army on the eleventh night after an eclipse of the moon, and Arrian dates the battle to the Athenian month Pyanepsion.

Where was Gaugamela?

Arrian places it near the river Bumodus, about 600 stades from the city of Arbela, and Bernard puts the plain northeast of Nineveh. Plutarch notes that most writers said the battle was fought at Arbela.

How large were the armies?

The ancient figures differ. Arrian writes that Darius's army was said to number 40,000 cavalry and 1,000,000 infantry, Diodorus gives 800,000 infantry and at least 200,000 cavalry when Darius left Babylon, and Plutarch a million men. Arrian gives Alexander 7,000 cavalry and about 40,000 infantry.

What happened to Darius?

Arrian says he was the first to flee. Later Nabarzanes, Bessus and Barsaentes arrested him, and Bessus took the command. As Alexander closed in, Nabarzanes and Barsaentes wounded him and left him there; he died before Alexander saw him, in a month Chinnock dates to 330 BC.

Why does Gaugamela matter?

Plutarch writes that after it the Persian empire was thought to be utterly dissolved and Alexander was proclaimed king of Asia. The historian Paul Bernard says the battle sealed the collapse of the Achaemenid Empire.

Sources