How Alexander the Great Conquered Afghanistan

How Alexander the Great Conquered Afghanistan

By Partha P. Bose. Mr. Bose is a partner in the Monitor Group, an international management consulting firm. He is writing a book on the strategy and tactics of Alexander the Great.

Alexander the Great was not the only historic figure to conquer Afghanistan. Others did as well, for a time -- most notably the Mongol Genghis Khan in the 13th century and his descendant Tamerlane in the 14th. But Alexander seems to have been the first *****cceed in Afghanistan, and no one has ever conquered it as completely and as decisively since. Even in mythology Hercules is said to have walked away empty handed. More recently, both the British and the Soviets suffered cruelly in Afghanistan.

Are there lessons to be learned from Alexander's conquest ? No historical analogy is ever exact. But the underlying principles of fighting in Afghanistan remain as true today as they were some 2,400 years ago, and George W. Bush, Tony Blair and other Western leaders contemplating military action against Afghanistan would do well to take note.

Leadership style. War is often demoralizing, especially one fought in the remote mountain ranges and bone-chillingly cold winters of Afghanistan. One of the central tenets of leadership in such situations, as Montgomery of Alamein well knew, is the ability to "get oneself over" to the troops.
Alexander had this ability in spades. Before every attack, he would ride up and down the Macedonian front, stopping before each unit to speak to his men directly, calling out to familiar faces and reminding them of previous acts of bravery. This had the effect of boosting everyone's confidence and letting the men know their contributions would be recognized. It was also the case that Alexander was always the first to ride into battle, fought in the thick of it, and always came to the rescue of his fellow soldiers, whatever their rank.

Dangerously Burdensome

Travel light. Upon entering Afghanistan, Alexander quickly realized that the baggage train -- including five years worth of loot from previous conquests -- had become dangerously burdensome. So he burned his own excess baggage; impressed, his troops did the same. Alexander also sent an advance team to collect intelligence, reconnoiter the landscape, and set up forward supply bases -- which meant that unlike most armies, which are tethered to their supply bases, Alexander's speed wasn't restrained by the pace at which supplies would arrive.

Disperse and concentrate. In Alexander's time -- as now -- there was no organized foe in Afghanistan. The Afghans whom Alexander fought didn't wear uniforms, and they didn't live in towns or villages that Alexander could capture and claim. They would appear out of nowhere, extract a toll, and vanish. This was a war like no other that Alexander had previously fought.
Throughout their two-year Afghan quest, the 50,000-strong Macedonian army took to the habit of dispersing into smaller units and coming together later at pre-determined destinations. These units served several important objectives: First, they didn't expose the entire army to the nightly "hit-and-run" attacks of the skilled Afghan horsemen. Second, dispersion allowed the Macedonians to send only as large a contingent as the destination could sustain and feed. Third, dispersion helped draw out the enemy.

To snare a contingent of Pashtun and Uzbek cavalrymen out in the open Alexander once purposely sent forward a small cavalry unit. The unit was soon surrounded by enemy horsemen, who began riding circles around them -- just as Alexander had wanted. He then sent forth several units of light infantrymen marching in a crescent-moon formation behind whom were screened from view several cavalry divisions. When the infantry stopped near the horsemen, the cavalry charged from behind, splitting itself into two, and attacking the horsemen in a crushing pincer movement.

Exploit the element of surprise. Everything Alexander did in Afghanistan was designed to throw his enemy off guard. On night marches, he would often send out small squadrons of men in opposite directions to light fires and mislead the Afghans. He would also feign preparations for an attack and then fail to carry through, exhausting the enemy psychologically long before the actual attack began.
Perhaps Alexander's most surprising move related to his pursuit of Bessus, the Persian governor of Afghanistan who had murdered Emperor Darius and usurped the Persian crown. Keen *****rprise Bessus, who had hidden behind the Hindu Kush, Alexander decided to attack in early spring, when the mountain ranges lay deep in snow. He stripped his troops down to their bare necessities, abandoned his pack animals, and using ropes and chains brought his entire army over the 12,000-ft-high Khawak Pass in 17 days. This feat so astonishedâ?"and terrifiedâ?"the Afghans defending Bessus that they promptly surrendered him to Alexander.

Prepare for the unexpected. But despite capturing Bessus and sending him back to Persia to be impaled (in accordance with the Persian custom for traitors), Alexander was to be totally surprised in a few months by a ferocious rebellion fanned by one of Bessus' lieutenants. It was then that Alexander realized that Bessus wasn't the true leader of this band after allâ?"in Afghanistan, few things are as they seem. It took five months, and five divisions, before Alexander was able to quell the rebellion and pacify the country.
War of Attrition?

Create value. Alexander always sought to avoid a war of attrition, aware that the longer the war, the less valuable the region was to him. He therefore positioned himself as a liberator of the people from the harsh rule of the Persians. His vision was to unify the world under his reign. In pursuit of that vision, he founded several cities in Afghanistan, built roads and dams, introduced monetary systems where none existed before, stressed commerce and trade between the provinces, and inducted thousands of Afghans into his military. Several of the cities he built stand today, including several of those he named after himself: In today's Afghanistan, Alexandria under the Caucasus is Begram, just north of Kabul; Alexandria in Areia is Herat; and Alexandria in Arachosia is Kandahar, the religious base of the Taliban. He brought people together by connecting them socially, culturally, and economically to the broader world and, in so doing, making them prosperous beyond their wildest dreams.
Alexander's legacy in Afghanistan lasted for over 500 years -- first under the Seleucid Empire, named after his top general Seleucus Nicator; then under the Indian Mauryan Empire, named after his contemporary and friend Chandra Gupta Maurya; and then under the Kushan Dynasty. As good corporate managers and politicians know, the right place to begin thinking about any endeavor is the kind of legacy one wishes to leave behind. In today's endeavor against Afghanistan we also have a chance to bring it out of the dark ages. Do we have Alexander's resolve -- and his cunning?

Thanks for being there for me.​