Stryker Brigade News

“Nobody quite knew where the battlefield was,” said British Capt. Tom Simpson, who visited the area Sept. 1, along with Lt. Gen. Robert Fry, then deputy commander of Multi-National Force – Iraq. Simpson knew they had to be close to the actual battlefield, reciting historical accounts of terrain features near the site of the epic battle.

Simpson explained the area near Mosul has “layers of history” dating back thousands of years, and that the visit was an opportunity to stand back from the hour-by-hour battle for Iraq and peer into the mind of a great leader like Alexander.

He said there were relics from more recent battles at the site – artillery shell casings from the 1980's and even a British-made military sweater from the 1960’s.

Ancient estimates of troop strength vary widely, putting the Persian forces between about 130,000 and 1 million men. Even on the low side of these figures, Alexander’s army would have been outnumbered by at least four to one.

But what Alexander’s army lacked in numbers compared to the Persians, it made up for with experience. His army had put down a Greek insurgency and battled its way through Egypt and Syria.

Despite the odds stacked against him, Alexander won the battle at Guagamela, sending Darius and what was left of his army into the hills. The commander then set his sights on Babylon, about 60 miles south of present-day Baghdad.

Alexander’s army rode into Babylon as liberators and began to put local leaders in charge of the government. Though the Persian king remained on the run and trying to rally an insurgency, the Persian people desired to live in peace.

To Simpson, the similarities between Alexander’s time and today’s conflict in Iraq are apparent.

“He routed an insurgency campaign and recreated Persian security forces. He used them to bring stability,” Simpson said.

Fry, a military history buff, also noted the parallels:

“Alexander fought a brilliant conventional campaign against the Persian Empire, even though the enemy leader remained at liberty after the conclusion of formal operations. He then had to fight a longer and much more difficult counter-insurgency campaign. Does that sound familiar? But by creating an indigenous capacity for governance and security, Alexander eventually secured the empire and a lasting peace.”