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Persia.
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Greece.
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Macedon.
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How strange it is that such fury
should land on mere lines on a map.
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Unless you're following
the path of heroes.
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And so the young King Alexander
sets off on his epic adventure,
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determined to take the fight
to the land of his bitter foe.
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One small kingdom...
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taking on the might of its vast oppressor.
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But what lies in wait?
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Is it glory...
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or is it insanity?
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{\an8}So in the spring of 334 BCE,
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{\an8}having defeated
and put down all of the rebellions
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{\an8}and uprisings and threats in Greece,
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Alexander and his army
march out of Macedonia
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to begin their invasion
of the Persian Empire.
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{\an8}So Alexander marches east
from the Macedonian capital of Aegae,
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and after a march of 22 days,
the army reaches the Hellespont,
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a stretch of sea that marks
the division between Europe and Asia.
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He arrives in Asia Minor with his army
of 32,000 infantry, 5,000 cavalry,
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and, of course,
his retinue of close companions,
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which include Ptolemy and Hephaestion.
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All right, hurry.
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For Alexander,
how he was first received by his troops
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was going to be critical,
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{\an8}because these people were going to
have to accept him and follow him
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{\an8}and be willing to die for him.
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Heaven cannot brook two suns.
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Nor Earth two masters.
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Asia shall be our gift from the gods.
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Let the invasion begin.
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Alexander has to show
an early success
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{\an8}in order to convince his followers,
in a sense, that this entire venture,
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{\an8}which, you know,
from the start seems quite ludicrous,
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{\an8}actually has a chance of succeeding.
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Sir, the men are just tired
from marching for days.
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From a defeat where almost half
their number was massacred.
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Exactly. They need leadership.
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Let me assemble the lines
for your inspection.
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They can meet you.
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Brother, we need them with us.
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We'll need more than them, Ptol.
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We need the gods on our side.
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Come on. The shrine isn't far from here.
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This is the moment
Alexander needs to bond with his men.
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Don't ask.
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The soldiers have been waiting
for him to come.
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They've suffered defeat.
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{\an8}They need him to show himself
to be the leader that he claims to be.
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But as ever with Alexander,
he behaves to the contrary.
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He goes completely off script,
and he goes AWOL for quite a while.
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He goes on a sightseeing tour
to explore for himself
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the world of his great hero Achilles.
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My king.
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Scouts report Alexander landing
his battalion at Hellespont, near Troy.
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He's merged with Parmenion's army,
what's left of it.
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Now they march south into Mysia.
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They're savages, sir.
A pollution on our land.
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And we will deal with them, Bessus.
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Memnon.
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This Alexander... You knew him?
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Back in Macedon
when I stayed at his father's court.
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He was just a boy.
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But...
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bright, endlessly curious.
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I remember at just ten years old,
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Philip sent him out
to meet with Persian diplomats.
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Learned men.
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He ran rings around all of them.
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But this...
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This is reckless.
He's wildly out of his depth.
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Then how do we exploit his foolishness?
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He's a long way from home,
already overstretched.
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Cut his supply lines. Burn the crops.
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Yes. Scorch the earth and starve him out.
Beat them without a fight.
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No.
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Sir?
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No, Bessus.
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Such a Macedonian tactic demeans us.
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And it would starve our own people too.
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But I ask you this.
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What's wrong with a fight, anyway?
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Let's make an example of this... boy.
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A lesson in Persian supremacy
for the world to see.
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Memnon, you know his weaknesses.
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Take whatever troops you need
and destroy him definitively.
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Then, Bessus, spread the word
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to those rebels in Egypt or India,
a warning.
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Threaten Persia
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and you won't live to try again.
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Upon landing in Asia Minor,
Alexander's first act is not one of war
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but rather one of pilgrimage...
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...as he takes himself and
Hephaestion to the famous site of Troy.
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He had a great deal of respect
for the great heroes like Achilles.
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So on the eve
of his great campaign against Persia,
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which would be no simple task,
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it makes sense that Alexander
would try to seek inspiration
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from the great warriors
of Greek mythology like Achilles.
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That's what
makes Alexander very special,
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because he wasn't just
an out-and-out military commander.
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He was someone who
was thinking about things all the time,
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and everything in his life had meaning.
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And so going to visit
the shrine of Achilles,
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he would feel would change
the outcome of a battle.
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Ptolemy should be here praying
to the world's greatest warrior.
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Remember how Homer described him?
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"A lionheart
who mauls battalions wholesale."
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That's a lot to live up to.
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Only if you make such comparisons, right?
Achilles was a demigod.
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Alex, what is it?
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Before we left,
my mother revealed to me a vision
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of my true father.
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Not Philip?
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Apparently, I'm the son of Zeus.
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And you believe this?
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I mean...
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There's a fire in me, Hephaestion.
You know that, and...
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You know, maybe it's a sign.
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But if I'm descended from the gods,
I can't rely on dreams
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or the winged words of my mother.
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I need...
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confirmation.
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For the Greeks, there were gods,
and there were demigods,
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and a god was someone who was
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a being who was completely divine,
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and they had been there
at the creation of the world,
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whereas a demigod was
someone, as the name implies,
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half-god, half-mortal.
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And so, these were the people
who could even walk the Earth
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amongst the mortals.
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Know this.
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As my king,
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demigod, or just... just my friend,
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I will follow.
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And if you trust in them,
your men will trust in you.
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All they need is a hero.
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For Alexander going into battle,
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in a way, he had an edge
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that other warriors didn't
because he saw himself as semi-divine,
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but, of course, the outcome of the battle
would be the proof of the pudding.
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{\an8}Alexander leads his men throughout
what is, nowadays, modern Türkiye
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{\an8}to the River Granicus.
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{\an8}It probably took them about a month.
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The Persians have
something of a standing army as it is,
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but their genius is
always to use mercenaries,
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and Darius is really,
really, really adapted
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at getting the right people
at the right time
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and putting them in the right place,
really quite remarkably so.
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Uh, and so he gets
mercenary troops together,
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uh, and loads them into Asia Minor.
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So conflict becomes inevitable.
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The scouts have confirmed it.
It is General Memnon leading them.
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The same commander
who forced our route at Magnesia.
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Two of his divisions
are already in formation
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on the opposite bank
of the Granicus River here.
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Forty thousand men, the scout reports.
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Five thousand of them
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Greek mercenaries.
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Traitorous rats.
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Led by the biggest rat of them all.
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Parmenion, how could this happen?
How could they intercept us so fast?
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He's had spies watching all of us
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since we left Macedon.
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Ptolemy, tell the men to make camp.
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Let's reassess. We go again tomorrow.
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Or we attack now.
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We catch them by surprise.
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We're swifter, more maneuverable.
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We've also been marching for four days.
The men are exhausted.
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The men only care about victory.
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I think the general
is right here, Alex.
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Give the men the night. Attack at dawn.
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And our current formation
leaves us entirely exposed.
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Sir, I do have experience
of fighting Memnon.
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I understand, General.
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But that experience was of defeat,
was it not?
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Alex?
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You are the king now.
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General, ready your troops.
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You'll attack from the left
while I drive towards their center.
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Now, General.
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Sounded like an order to me.
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The main difference really seems
to come down to age and experience.
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Parmenion is older. He has been a soldier.
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He has been a general
for most of his life.
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He knows all the potentials
that could happen on a battlefield,
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and he wants to think things through
and make the right choice,
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whereas Alexander has the bravery,
the impetuousness of youth.
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Alexander's mindset seems to be,
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"I know what I want.
We're just gonna do it. Let's go."
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"Grant, O all-seeing Zeus,
that victory may go with him."
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{\an8}And for the very first time
in Alexander's career,
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the Macedonians have faced off
against the Persians
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on either side of the Granicus River.
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We have the Macedonians lined up
on one side of the river
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with Alexander's standard formation.
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On the opposite side,
the famous Persian cavalry
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has drawn up
along the steep banks of the river
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with the Greek mercenary infantry behind.
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Darius's troops are prepared for
early morning battle the following day...
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Cavalry prepare!
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...which is the standard way
in which ancient warfare took place.
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Hold your line!
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You take advantage of the dawn,
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you fight throughout most of the day,
and then it's all over by suppertime.
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But Alexander thinks differently.
He's not going to wait for tomorrow.
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It's going to happen now.
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Charge!
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To arms!
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This is a really
important moment for Alexander
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because this is the first time
that he can prove himself
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as a competent military commander
at the head of his army as king.
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And so he leads from the front
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at the head of
his trusted companion cavalry.
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Defensive flank positions!
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The Macedonian cavalry
is really the most important part
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of their military machine.
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Prepare to repel!
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{\an8}And Alexander uses this
to punch through the Persian line.
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It would've been
startling and shocking,
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not just for the Persian soldiers
but their horses as well.
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They had never really experienced
anything like this before,
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and by the time
they sort of got their momentum back
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or figured out what was going on,
it was too late.
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Memnon must have been like,
"Oh my gosh! Like, what...?"
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"What's going on here?"
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You know. "This is not a style of battle
that I have experienced before."
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Left flank! Hold the line!
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Memnon is completely thrown
by Alexander's bizarre tactic.
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Fight, you damn cowards!
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Keep pushing!
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This is a very
fast-moving battle.
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Although the Persian army is
quite a bit larger than Alexander's,
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the speed of his attack allows him
to overcome that disadvantage.
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Keep going!
We're pushing them back!
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Alexander wants to be plunging headlong
right into the center of the action.
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Spear!
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Alexander was not just active. I mean,
he was almost quite recklessly active.
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He put himself
right at the heart of the danger.
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In this battle, Alexander is
actually wearing the armor of Achilles
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that he had taken from the temple of Troy.
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This makes him really conspicuous
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and a very clear target for the Persians.
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To the king!
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Alex! No!
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It's really only with the foresight
and the bravery
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of a Macedonian officer called Cleitus
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that Alexander's life is saved.
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00:18:28,400 --> 00:18:31,680
He could very well have died
on the battlefield at that moment.
251
00:18:35,760 --> 00:18:39,160
So while this situation is occurring
on one side of the battlefield,
252
00:18:39,240 --> 00:18:41,360
Parmenion and his heavy cavalry...
253
00:18:42,360 --> 00:18:45,320
...are gaining the upper hand
against the Persians.
254
00:18:47,480 --> 00:18:50,560
Cavalry! Charge!
255
00:18:54,600 --> 00:18:58,960
And he causes their lines
to lose all discipline and break apart.
256
00:19:02,480 --> 00:19:06,320
At which point the horses start to panic,
and the rider's like, "What's going on?"
257
00:19:06,400 --> 00:19:08,520
and everything kind of
just falls into disarray.
258
00:19:09,720 --> 00:19:12,280
That's the downside
of using horses on the battlefield,
259
00:19:12,360 --> 00:19:16,680
that when everything starts to fall apart,
it can fall apart very quickly.
260
00:19:19,200 --> 00:19:21,040
And their only choice is to flee.
261
00:19:22,520 --> 00:19:23,800
I think it's Napoleon that said,
262
00:19:23,840 --> 00:19:26,080
"Don't give me good generals.
Give me lucky ones."
263
00:19:26,160 --> 00:19:28,480
Undoubtedly, there was...
There are elements of luck there,
264
00:19:28,520 --> 00:19:30,080
and there's no doubt about it.
265
00:19:30,160 --> 00:19:32,040
But the... the point, really,
266
00:19:32,120 --> 00:19:35,680
about Alexander's army,
certainly at this stage,
267
00:19:35,760 --> 00:19:39,720
is that it has the capacity, ability,
and mobility to seize these opportunities.
268
00:19:40,320 --> 00:19:41,360
Can you believe it?
269
00:19:42,200 --> 00:19:44,160
The entire Persian army vanquished.
270
00:19:44,240 --> 00:19:46,000
Well, two divisions of it.
271
00:19:46,520 --> 00:19:49,520
By a brilliant military tactician.
272
00:19:50,040 --> 00:19:51,320
What's left of him, anyway.
273
00:19:51,400 --> 00:19:53,040
Alex, ignore Ptol.
274
00:19:54,000 --> 00:19:56,840
I mean, this...
This is a victory for the ages, right?
275
00:19:58,320 --> 00:19:59,320
Yes.
276
00:20:00,080 --> 00:20:01,080
Yes, it is.
277
00:20:02,600 --> 00:20:04,920
The Granicus was incredibly important
for Alexander.
278
00:20:05,000 --> 00:20:07,840
Not only did he have to prove himself
to his own army,
279
00:20:07,920 --> 00:20:11,040
he also had to prove himself
to those back in Greece,
280
00:20:11,120 --> 00:20:13,000
who might be doubting his ability.
281
00:20:13,080 --> 00:20:14,840
He also had to
prove himself to the Persians
282
00:20:14,920 --> 00:20:17,440
to show that he was worthy
of being taken seriously
283
00:20:17,520 --> 00:20:19,320
and that he was a very real threat.
284
00:20:19,920 --> 00:20:21,000
Look around, Heph.
285
00:20:22,000 --> 00:20:24,240
It wasn't only Persian blood
we spilled today.
286
00:20:27,120 --> 00:20:29,040
There were Greeks within their ranks.
287
00:20:30,440 --> 00:20:31,720
Greeks killing Greeks.
288
00:20:41,680 --> 00:20:43,200
Tend to this man well.
289
00:20:43,760 --> 00:20:45,200
He's a hero of Macedon.
290
00:20:48,320 --> 00:20:49,840
Be assured, my friend.
291
00:20:49,920 --> 00:20:51,520
I will deal with the enemy.
292
00:20:59,440 --> 00:21:03,360
The Persian army was always
comprised of Greek mercenaries.
293
00:21:04,000 --> 00:21:07,320
So on that battlefield that day,
you know, when they've clashed,
294
00:21:07,400 --> 00:21:10,040
Greek would've heard Greek.
Greek was fighting against Greek
295
00:21:10,120 --> 00:21:11,560
and Macedonian against Macedonian.
296
00:21:11,640 --> 00:21:14,320
And that's the way...
way the world worked in antiquity.
297
00:21:14,400 --> 00:21:17,760
There were probably, eh...
more Greeks fighting in Darius's army
298
00:21:17,840 --> 00:21:21,760
than there were in Alexander's army,
which is a... a striking fact,
299
00:21:21,840 --> 00:21:25,960
uh, in part, because
obviously they found service in the...
300
00:21:26,040 --> 00:21:29,600
Eh... In Darius's army to be very lucrative
and very reliable employment.
301
00:21:36,600 --> 00:21:37,640
So...
302
00:21:40,880 --> 00:21:42,400
This is all it took...
303
00:21:49,800 --> 00:21:52,000
to betray the land of your fathers...
304
00:21:55,400 --> 00:21:59,480
to slay your blood brothers
for the King of Persia.
305
00:22:10,480 --> 00:22:11,480
This...
306
00:22:13,200 --> 00:22:14,280
...is all it took.
307
00:22:21,000 --> 00:22:23,520
A few coins from Memnon's filthy grasp.
308
00:22:26,400 --> 00:22:27,400
Heph?
309
00:22:29,480 --> 00:22:30,480
Would you?
310
00:22:34,160 --> 00:22:35,160
Parmenion?
311
00:22:45,400 --> 00:22:46,400
Well...
312
00:22:49,680 --> 00:22:53,000
I hope, for your sakes,
you saved enough to pay Hades himself.
313
00:23:19,000 --> 00:23:22,880
The majority of the mercenaries
are massacred in cold blood.
314
00:23:23,960 --> 00:23:27,920
Alexander is creating
a clear, definitive message
315
00:23:28,000 --> 00:23:30,960
that if you are Greek
and you fight for the Persians,
316
00:23:31,040 --> 00:23:32,880
expect no mercy from me.
317
00:23:32,960 --> 00:23:35,800
You have betrayed my cause.
If you're Greek, you fight for the Greeks.
318
00:23:39,680 --> 00:23:41,720
We were taken by surprise, sir.
319
00:23:43,080 --> 00:23:45,160
Not as surprised as I am right now.
320
00:23:47,480 --> 00:23:48,840
What did we lose?
321
00:23:59,800 --> 00:24:02,040
What did we lose?
322
00:24:03,520 --> 00:24:06,400
Over 5,000 of our Greek soldiers,
1,000 cavalry.
323
00:24:07,400 --> 00:24:10,440
I hear the treasury at Sardis
has also been looted.
324
00:24:11,440 --> 00:24:12,440
Oh.
325
00:24:13,480 --> 00:24:14,480
It gets better.
326
00:24:16,200 --> 00:24:19,640
Reports say he's heading south
towards the coastal cities.
327
00:24:26,560 --> 00:24:28,360
Well, you can't fault his ambition.
328
00:24:29,280 --> 00:24:31,920
Even so, this needs to end here.
329
00:24:32,840 --> 00:24:34,520
Then let me end it, sir.
330
00:24:35,880 --> 00:24:39,520
On my honor, I will not only
defend the cities in your name,
331
00:24:39,600 --> 00:24:43,600
but I will also crush this irritant
in the process.
332
00:24:44,360 --> 00:24:46,480
It would be a welcome redemption.
333
00:24:47,600 --> 00:24:48,880
Memnon.
334
00:24:49,680 --> 00:24:50,680
We are Persia.
335
00:24:52,560 --> 00:24:55,040
And we do not wish to be surprised again.
336
00:25:07,640 --> 00:25:11,320
Alexander,
with his success now driving him forward,
337
00:25:11,840 --> 00:25:14,200
he begins to work his way down
338
00:25:14,280 --> 00:25:17,680
to the Greek-speaking cities
of Asia Minor.
339
00:25:19,400 --> 00:25:23,920
He publicizes this
as a kind of campaign of liberation,
340
00:25:24,000 --> 00:25:26,480
um, releasing these Greek city-states
341
00:25:26,560 --> 00:25:29,600
from the oppression
of... of the Persian overlords.
342
00:25:29,680 --> 00:25:31,240
We need to remember
343
00:25:31,320 --> 00:25:34,880
that there's a long history
of Greek-Persian interactions
344
00:25:34,960 --> 00:25:36,440
on the coast of Asia Minor.
345
00:25:36,520 --> 00:25:38,800
These Greeks have interacted
with the Persians
346
00:25:38,880 --> 00:25:42,280
far longer than they have
with this new kid from Macedonia.
347
00:25:42,360 --> 00:25:43,880
They don't know what to make of him.
348
00:25:45,800 --> 00:25:50,760
So as Alexander is advancing down
the coast and taking the Greek cities,
349
00:25:50,840 --> 00:25:52,800
one of these cities is Halicarnassus.
350
00:25:52,880 --> 00:25:56,800
The defense of Halicarnassus
is headed up by Memnon,
351
00:25:56,880 --> 00:26:00,000
and it basically turns into a stalemate.
352
00:26:01,200 --> 00:26:05,200
This is a city that has really benefited
from Persian rule over the centuries,
353
00:26:05,280 --> 00:26:07,560
and they are very loyal to Darius III,
354
00:26:07,640 --> 00:26:10,800
and Alexander finds
at Halicarnassus his first blockade,
355
00:26:10,880 --> 00:26:13,320
the first moment when he can't push past,
356
00:26:13,400 --> 00:26:14,680
um, the city itself.
357
00:26:15,920 --> 00:26:19,080
Right column, down this street.
Left column, with me.
358
00:26:20,320 --> 00:26:22,080
And so he lays siege to it.
359
00:26:22,560 --> 00:26:23,560
Search this house.
360
00:26:24,280 --> 00:26:26,456
Out now!
361
00:26:26,480 --> 00:26:28,280
The city finally falls.
362
00:26:28,360 --> 00:26:29,480
Move!
363
00:26:30,080 --> 00:26:32,280
And Alexander's men rush in,
364
00:26:33,000 --> 00:26:36,480
and they are under very strict orders
to find Memnon
365
00:26:36,560 --> 00:26:38,320
and bring him to Alexander.
366
00:26:42,240 --> 00:26:43,240
There he is!
367
00:26:53,520 --> 00:26:54,520
Move!
368
00:26:55,280 --> 00:26:56,416
Tie them up.
369
00:26:56,440 --> 00:26:58,440
Please leave me. That's my wife!
370
00:27:09,720 --> 00:27:11,800
March these to the square. Go!
371
00:27:21,880 --> 00:27:22,800
Do we have Memnon?
372
00:27:22,880 --> 00:27:25,360
No. And he's ordered
the city be set on fire.
373
00:27:31,160 --> 00:27:33,000
Alex, the city's ours.
374
00:27:33,080 --> 00:27:34,080
Not yet, it isn't!
375
00:27:34,680 --> 00:27:35,840
Let the fires burn.
376
00:27:36,520 --> 00:27:40,240
Let it burn? Brother, these are
the very people we're meant to be saving.
377
00:27:40,320 --> 00:27:43,240
But if they fail to rise up for Macedon,
what are they?
378
00:27:43,920 --> 00:27:44,920
The enemy.
379
00:27:45,720 --> 00:27:47,480
And enemies need to be purged.
380
00:27:58,040 --> 00:28:01,160
Alexander is often portrayed,
historically,
381
00:28:01,680 --> 00:28:06,160
as this great warrior, fair-minded person,
just, an intellectual,
382
00:28:06,240 --> 00:28:09,920
and, indeed, he was all of those things,
but there was a flip side to him.
383
00:28:10,000 --> 00:28:13,800
He could be very brutal.
He could kill entire villages.
384
00:28:13,880 --> 00:28:17,560
He put to death many Greek mercenaries
who were fighting for the Persians.
385
00:28:17,640 --> 00:28:21,120
So, on one side,
you had the noble Alexander,
386
00:28:21,200 --> 00:28:23,800
and on the other side,
you had the brutal Alexander,
387
00:28:23,880 --> 00:28:26,400
and sometimes you'd never know
which one you were going to meet.
388
00:28:56,120 --> 00:28:59,400
Memnon has fled
from the city of Halicarnassus,
389
00:28:59,480 --> 00:29:04,520
and he makes his way to the coast
and to the safety of the Persian fleet,
390
00:29:04,600 --> 00:29:09,640
uh, who are there. Um, and sadly,
on board one of the ships, he dies.
391
00:29:09,720 --> 00:29:12,720
Now, the sources are various
in their interpretation.
392
00:29:12,800 --> 00:29:17,240
Some say that he died of a fever,
others from his war wounds.
393
00:29:17,320 --> 00:29:18,800
Um, we simply don't know,
394
00:29:18,880 --> 00:29:21,920
um, but it was a very sad
and inglorious death
395
00:29:22,000 --> 00:29:24,640
for this really remarkable general.
396
00:29:24,720 --> 00:29:29,280
But, of course, for Alexander,
it was something of a... of a coup.
397
00:29:29,360 --> 00:29:33,000
This is a pivotal point for Alexander,
and it's one he could not have foreseen.
398
00:29:33,080 --> 00:29:37,920
I mean, the death of Memnon is a stroke
of incredible good fortune for Alexander
399
00:29:38,000 --> 00:29:41,720
because Memnon was such a skilled general.
400
00:29:41,800 --> 00:29:47,040
Uh... Darius was incredibly reliant on him,
and now he's gone.
401
00:29:48,320 --> 00:29:50,200
It belonged to General Memnon.
402
00:29:52,240 --> 00:29:54,120
He died on board his command ship.
403
00:29:57,400 --> 00:30:00,960
Not how the Lion of Magnesia
would have wished to leave this earth.
404
00:30:07,680 --> 00:30:11,080
Then we will remember him as he was.
405
00:30:12,720 --> 00:30:15,400
We will celebrate him.
406
00:30:17,000 --> 00:30:18,160
We will avenge him.
407
00:30:20,200 --> 00:30:23,000
Sir, the general was
a true leader of the men.
408
00:30:24,400 --> 00:30:27,560
We would be wise to name
his replacement immediately.
409
00:30:28,480 --> 00:30:32,080
And, in time, a new commander
of the western satrapies too.
410
00:30:33,360 --> 00:30:35,120
Without a stern hand,
Egypt may be tempted...
411
00:30:35,160 --> 00:30:41,560
Yes, but right now,
this boy king is out of ideas.
412
00:30:42,360 --> 00:30:44,040
His army is exhausted.
413
00:30:45,960 --> 00:30:48,960
We may have lost General Memnon, but...
414
00:30:49,040 --> 00:30:50,760
We can end this once and for all.
415
00:31:03,360 --> 00:31:04,480
Governor Mazaeus.
416
00:31:07,480 --> 00:31:10,360
It's time to prove
you're worthy of my daughter's hand.
417
00:31:11,200 --> 00:31:13,080
Notify your city garrisons.
418
00:31:13,680 --> 00:31:14,680
At dawn...
419
00:31:17,160 --> 00:31:19,400
we march west. All of us.
420
00:31:22,960 --> 00:31:28,520
After the death of Memnon,
Darius has to now take charge himself
421
00:31:28,600 --> 00:31:32,840
{\an8}and pay specific
and personal attention to Alexander
422
00:31:32,920 --> 00:31:37,640
{\an8}as he is now going to move
towards the heartland of the empire.
423
00:31:39,400 --> 00:31:42,680
{\an8}In the midst of this marching
and campaigning,
424
00:31:42,760 --> 00:31:47,160
{\an8}Alexander heads inland into,
basically, what is now central Türkiye,
425
00:31:48,800 --> 00:31:53,280
{\an8}to a site called Gordion,
which has another mythical past.
426
00:31:55,080 --> 00:31:58,120
Not for war, not because Darius is there,
427
00:31:58,200 --> 00:31:59,840
but because of a knot.
428
00:32:00,440 --> 00:32:01,440
The Gordian Knot.
429
00:32:02,400 --> 00:32:04,920
So there is a legend attached to this knot
430
00:32:05,600 --> 00:32:07,960
that whoever manages to untie it
431
00:32:08,040 --> 00:32:11,440
will become lord and master,
ruler of all Asia.
432
00:32:11,520 --> 00:32:15,640
So you can see why this might be
kind of tempting for Alexander, right?
433
00:32:15,720 --> 00:32:18,480
It has the potential to be a huge PR bonus
434
00:32:18,960 --> 00:32:20,520
but also to be a PR nightmare.
435
00:32:20,600 --> 00:32:23,200
I mean,
what if he can't actually untie the knot?
436
00:32:29,680 --> 00:32:32,680
No one's told him
how he has to untie the knot.
437
00:32:32,760 --> 00:32:35,680
There's no rules
about what constitutes untying,
438
00:32:37,400 --> 00:32:38,800
and he pulls out his sword.
439
00:32:41,440 --> 00:32:43,520
Boom. The knot is undone.
440
00:32:46,800 --> 00:32:47,800
Nicely done.
441
00:32:50,680 --> 00:32:52,240
Though he believed it or not,
442
00:32:52,720 --> 00:32:57,880
he knows that accomplishing this
would sort of add to his status,
443
00:32:57,960 --> 00:33:02,480
add to his propaganda,
add to his influence in the region.
444
00:33:03,080 --> 00:33:06,640
General Parmenion. Assemble the lines
and make preparations to leave.
445
00:33:07,320 --> 00:33:09,080
At first light, we march east.
446
00:33:10,480 --> 00:33:11,680
Away from the coast?
447
00:33:13,160 --> 00:33:15,120
How will we resupply without our ships?
448
00:33:15,200 --> 00:33:17,960
We'll plunder local towns.
They'll have all we need.
449
00:33:18,040 --> 00:33:20,440
And we'll be nimbler, quicker for it.
450
00:33:22,480 --> 00:33:23,880
This is our time to strike.
451
00:33:25,640 --> 00:33:29,000
So this is, what? Your big gamble?
452
00:33:30,680 --> 00:33:34,680
You know breaking our supply lines
will leave us totally exposed.
453
00:33:36,680 --> 00:33:39,640
No one wins a war with starving soldiers.
454
00:33:40,480 --> 00:33:43,040
Well, then it can be
another thing I'm first at.
455
00:33:44,800 --> 00:33:48,240
And don't pretend
you're making us quicker or nimbler, sir.
456
00:33:49,840 --> 00:33:51,840
Then what am I making us, General?
457
00:33:54,920 --> 00:33:55,920
Bait.
458
00:33:58,120 --> 00:33:59,320
That's it, isn't it?
459
00:34:00,280 --> 00:34:02,880
You know Darius himself is out for blood,
460
00:34:02,960 --> 00:34:05,880
so you are going to wage a war
461
00:34:05,960 --> 00:34:08,640
with the largest army
the world has ever seen.
462
00:34:10,320 --> 00:34:12,600
And even if, what?
463
00:34:13,200 --> 00:34:15,000
- It'd be suicide.
- Absolutely.
464
00:34:17,600 --> 00:34:20,880
Because that is
the only way we're going to win.
465
00:34:26,080 --> 00:34:28,880
No man or woman born,
466
00:34:28,960 --> 00:34:30,800
coward or brave,
467
00:34:30,880 --> 00:34:32,680
can shun their destiny...
468
00:34:35,080 --> 00:34:39,000
or avoid a path
they were always destined to follow.
469
00:34:44,440 --> 00:34:46,120
A path where two men,
470
00:34:47,280 --> 00:34:49,480
two sides of the same coin,
471
00:34:51,080 --> 00:34:53,640
would face each other for the first time...
472
00:34:57,280 --> 00:35:02,840
at a battle whose echoes
would outlast even the gods they idolize.
473
00:35:08,080 --> 00:35:10,400
And where the spoils of victory...
474
00:35:14,040 --> 00:35:16,160
are the world itself.
475
00:35:28,120 --> 00:35:29,640
But this time...
476
00:35:33,120 --> 00:35:36,160
all of our pieces are in place.
477
00:35:37,240 --> 00:35:39,880
Alexander, Darius,
478
00:35:41,280 --> 00:35:42,680
and Stateira.
38290
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