How To Attack Gaugamela

The Macedonian plan of attack was an odd one, and had only been used a few times prior to Gaugamela. Alexander began by ordering his sarissa-armed foot companions forward in a phalanx formation towards the center of the enemy line with the wings echeloned back at a forty five degree angle to entice the Persian cavalry to attack. While the phalanxes fought the Persian infantry, Darius sent a large part of his cavalry and a portion of his regular infantry to attack Parmenion's forces on the Macedonian left. Alexander led his Companion Cavalry to near the brink of his right flank. His strategy was to attract as much of the Persian horseman to the wings as possible in order to form a breach within the enemy line where a decisive blow could then be struck at Darius in the center. Alexander would force Darius to attack, though the Persian king was cautious to be the first to attack after fearing what happened at Issus against a similar formation. Darius, faced with a threat no matter his decision, reluctantly he ordered his horsemen to follow Alexander. Eventually, Alexander saw his chance now, covered by auxiliary troops to fend off the remaining Persian cavalry while Alexander’s force charged into ranks of the preoccupied troops. Alexander’s military genius showed with this maneuver, as it caused a full rout of Darius’ army.
It is true that the Macedonian army did face a larger Persian force at Gaugamela but the Persian army at the battle did not number one million like Plutarch said in the work, modern estimates of the Persian force range from fifty-two to ninety-one thousand.
While Darius had a significant advantage in numbers, most of his troops were of a lower quality than Alexander's. The bulk of their infantry were lightly armored and their spears not long enough to counter the much longer sarissa. Overall, Alexander’s army had the advantage in almost every way. Gaugamela was a great battle, a battle won by a great
man.