After the King

Map Key:
Thick red border: limit of Alexander's Empire
Thin red borders: client kingdoms of Alexander
Dotted black lines: satrapy boundaries
Thick blue line: Nanda Empire border
Thick black lines: borders of less important countries
Dot-Dot-Dash line (red): Alexander's part of the Arabia Campaign
Dot-Dot-Dash line (black): Nearchus' part of the Arabia Campaign
Stippled red line: Alexander's campaign against Sandrocottus
 
"Alexander's march up the Indus soon became widely known, and Sandrocottus' army became discouraged at facing a general who was widely known to be invincible, and had already beaten many of them before. Thus, while Alexander marched, Sandrocottus' forces began to dwindle: first a few of the men who had served with Taxiles and Porus left, one or two at a time (for they had been dispersed throughout the army in the hopes of preventing mass desertion) and went to join Taxiles' son, who was raising revolt in the north. Then, entire units of men who learned that their towns had surrendered to Alexander. However, this meant that the men he was left with were fanatically loyal to him, or fiercely hated Alexander, as such, when it was time for the two to meet face to face, the battle was hard-fought and bitter, and afterwards, none of Sandrocottus' men were found with wounds on their backs. However, Alexander nonetheless eventually triumphed [1]. Sandrocottus was captured and brought to Alexander, who said to him,

Sandrocottus, you have shown bravery, daring, and courage in your campaign against me, and I would offer to allow you to rule this territory in my name, were it not for the fact that you murdered my men in cold blood. For that, I judge death to be too good a fate for you.​

First, he had Sandrocottus' tongue cut out, so he could not try and bribe his tormentors. Then the tendons of his legs were cut, so he could not escape, and the tendons of his arms were cut to keep him from committing suicide. He was then whipped one hundred times on his back, a further hundred on his chest, and was then carried around the camp on a frame, with sign that read "Thus is the fate of the dishonorable" around his neck. He was then nursed back to health for a week, only to receive the same treatment a week later. Things continued in this manner until one of Sandrocottus' former soldiers by the name of Sisicottus [2] who had been a trusted lieutenant, saw his chance one day when Sandrocottus was being paraded around the camp, and grabbed a dagger and drove into Sandrocottus' heart before anyone could stop him.

Sisicottus was brought before Alexander in chains, and was asked why he had killed Sandrocottus. To this, Sisicottus replied that he was loyal to his master until death. Upon hearing this, Alexander said that it was more than Sandrocottus deserved to have someone like Sisicottus in his service, and released him from his chains. Alexander then asked Sisicottus if he would serve Alexander as faithfully as he had his former master, to which Sisicottus replied that he would, and accompanied Alexander from this point onward [3]."
-Plutarch, "Life of Sandrocottus"
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[1] This battle was fought several miles from the city of Taxila, probably as a last ditch attempt by Sandrocottus to get its inhabitants to fight for him. If this was his hope, he was sorely disappointed, as the citizens declared their loyalty to Taxiles' son, shut the gates of their city, and posted guards. They did not go so far as to attack Sandrocottus until it was clear that Alexander had won, and then they primarily just sacked Sandrocottus' camp.
[2] Regarding Indian names: I have gone through Arrian's Anabasis and copied out a list of every Hellenicized Indian name I could find, and will be using them at random, except for the rare case when the proper Hellenization is known (ie: Sandrocottus, etc.) or I use a historical figure who the Greeks never had a name for.
[3] This concluding paragraph of Sandrocottus' "Life" serves to subtly contrast him with Alexander. Whereas Alexander's lieutenants are depicted as remaining loyal to him after his death (in the form of his son), Sandrocottus' kill their leader for material gain.

So, that's Sandrocottus' rebellion. My apologies to those of you who wanted a long, drawn out campaign ending in an epic battle, but I don't think that's realistic as I mentioned previously in this thread. There are epic battles aplenty coming up with the Nanda, and then with the Chinese, though. I'll write some of them out in detail, but others I'll gloss over like I did this one, simply because I'm not all that confident writing battle plans.
 
I am really enjoying this time line and hope you carry it to completion. I do have some thoughts and suggestions, however:

1. In the showdown between Alexander and Sandrocottus you do not go into much detail regarding the battle itself, only stating that it was "hard fought and bitter". As a matter of fact, you provide more detail about the torture of Sandrocottus than the battle itself!

Specifically, how many elephants did Sancorcottus bring and how did Alexander deal with them? Did Alexander win the battle through maneuver of his cavalry (such as he did against the Persians or Porus)? No, I do not need a play by play (or blow by blow) breakdown but a bit more detail would be interesting.

2. You hint that Alexander will be making it all the way to China. Wow. I have come upon threads at other history boards asking “what would happen if Alexander did make it to China?” or, more specifically, “could Alexander even have made it to China?” However, the one question that nobody seems to ask – and that I feel is 100% more relevant – is this: Was Alexander (and the Greek/Macedonian world at the time) even aware of China?

So I am looking forward to how you put this together, particularly in terms of Alexander discovering the whereabouts of China, learning about the “Warring States” at the time and preparing the campaign accordingly. To be honest, if Alexander does plan to march an army to China he is going to have to fight his way through a TON of horse archers in the process (Scythians, Sarmatians, Hsiung-Nu, etc).

It is a well known fact that Alexander did have a campaign planned against the Scythians. Not to give you any ideas or anything, but perhaps after finishing off Sandrocottus and Nanda, Alexander launches his Scythian campaign and by accident “stumbles upon China”. My thought is that Alexander might lead an army over the Pamir Mountains into the Tarim Basin region and subsequently establishes contact with the Far East. In OTL it was the Successors of Alexander who expanded outside of Bactria and into the Tarim Basin that led to the first contact between the West and Far East.

Also, I find the Warring States period of China fascinating, especially the Qin Dynasty. The Qin kind of reminds me of a smarter and more powerful version of Sparta on some serious steroids.

On a final note: Many have stated that it would have been impossible for Alexander to even reach China. Yet, just over three centuries after his death a Chinese general by the name of Ban Chao (Han Dynasty) lead an army of 75k cavalry and mounted infantry through the Tarim Basin, over the Pamir Mountains and as far west as the Caspian Sea. I see no reason why Alexander could not have made it to China by following (in reverse) the exact same route.
 
Good luck! I wish you well. But I do have some suggestions and notes about the classical world and conquering game I hope you'll consider.

We'll find it easier to follow if you datestamp your updates.

That's, IMHO, way, way too much conquered turf. Nobody's ever managed to conquer that much, not even now that we have fast tanks and aircraft. You didn't know that, of course.

Back then, out of sight of water, Al's troops had to travel on slow, slow foot, battling the whole way - even slower because it'd be alot of offroading. The Scythians would've beaten HIM because steppe warfare was totally different and Al was just a newb at it. Remember, some guy - it's one thing to reach China at a march; it's quite another thing altogether to conquer the whole way, and conquer the huge China while he's at it and then have any time to do anything else.

I'd suggest leaving it at his OTL conquests plus most of the Med proper (forget Gaul and Germany). That's believable because ships could travel at decent speed, and his command of Greece gave him pretty good control of the Med.

Though, even that's stretching it because successful people get arrogant and stupid like Hitler and Napoleon did and lose their grip. Plus, like Genghis Khan, he'll probably realize he needs to organize his empire eventually. Remember, also, the luck of the draw will sometimes go against Al, too. What makes great conquerors is that they come back from the loss.

Real conquerors also have to deal with leaving occupation forces (the biggest problem in Iraq and Afghanistan was that we dealt stupidly with that). Otherwise, your new conquests unbecome themselves as they all rebel the second you're out of sight. So, Al'll need to bring in new forces as he goes to keep conquering. Even WITH occupation forces in places, places still revolt, usually twicish - it's just that that lets your assigned governor to have a chance of putting revolts down, or at least of sitting beseiged 'til Alexander or somebody else brings reinforcements.

And, as a warning, unchecked monarchies like Macedon's have alot of limitations. The worst is that only 40% kings were up to their jobs. Their authoritarianism also means that basically only the kings invent much, and only when they're really good (10%ish?), so they're static. IOTL, ISTR one of those limitations broke up most of Al's empire right after his death when a kid reached the throne.

The Macedonian royal family has already been lucky for two generations; his Dad did the hardest bit, of taking over Greece; Al took advantage of the high-tech-for-its-day catapult and an improvement on the back-then-high-tech Greek infantry to conquer lower-tech regions. Not so many monarchies were so lucky as to have two of the very smartest class of king in a row.
 
Thanks for all the feedback!

@ some guy from Mars:

1. Sandrocottus had a couple hundred elephants and deployed them in roughly the same way Porus did (and the Nanda will later, in a battle that I will go into detail on), and they were dealt with by targeting the mahouts, and then the elephants with javilans, causing the elephants to go mad with pain. Not a terribly original plan, but hey, it works.

2. The greeks appear to have had some knowledge of China, specifically as "the place where silk comes from," and know that it's far in the east, however, the main thing that will drive Alexander is his desire to see the eastern ocean. Basically, I was planning on having Alexander roughly follow the plan he lays out in Arrian, where he talks about marching to the Eastern Ocean and then circling around. But that may change. Also, the Indians and Chinese appear to have had limited contact, mostly through the Silk Road, but also through what is now Myanmar. Indeed, there would appear to have been an Indian community living in Yunnan, and it seems likely that they would have been known (to however limited a degree) to fellow Indians in say, Bangladesh.

@ jkay:

I hear what you're saying, and generally agree with you. However, there are a couple of mitigating factors:

First of all, Alexander's men move ridiculously fast; when even they don't move fast enough for Alexander's tastes, he often would mount a small group (say 800) on cavalry and then dismount them after riding a ways. This speed was perhaps the crucial thing for Alexander's army; he would often be able to attack enemies days or weeks before they expected him.

Secondly, Alexander's reputation always preceded him, and often as not, whole kingdoms would surrender to him without a fight, like Taxiles did. Obviously, this won't help him somewhere as far off as China, who will only have heard vague rumors if anything, but it will be a great help with subduing India, and much of the Mediterranean.

Third, having conquered the Persian Empire, Alexander has control of the full Persian bureaucracy, including the "eyes and ears of the king" who basically served as a sort of secret police to ensure loyalty. As he imitated the rest of the Persian Empire, I see no reason why he wouldn't also expand this portion.

Closing thoughts: many areas of the Empire will be only nominally part of it, as was already the case with Armenia, Cyprus, and Cyrene in OTL. They'll pay tribute, but not excessive amounts, and basically stay part of the empire because it's easier than resisting. The world is also much more sparsely populated than it was when the Mongols forged their almost-as-large empire, and yet, they managed to keep it together for several generations. Alexander's empire, OTOH, will outlive him by a mere thirty years.

I know its approaching the limits of plausibility to have Alexander ruling the empire I set out for him in my opening post, but I think it is within them, and besides, the really interesting part is what comes after the empire falls, so bear with me, please.

Oh, also, if anyone happens to have an amazing map of the south Indian kingdoms in 323, please tell me.
 
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"Due to the proximity, Alexander's former ambition to extend his empire to the eastern ocean was rekindled, so he assembled the army and began planning an expedition against the Praesii. However, the size of the enemy army was enormous, and as such he feared that he would be unable to force a crossing, as instead of being forced to move his army every time Alexander moved, the enemy general had enough soldier to hold every good crossing site in strength, and still have a reserve. Therefore, he sought to disguise his intentions by offering sacrifices at the alters he'd previously built [1] and funeral games for Taxiles and Porus [2]. This was so that any enemy onlookers would think he was simply leaving again. He then sailed downriver as far as the junction with the Hyphasis, and waited a few days before crossing and starting to conquer Praesii towns."
-Plutarch, "Life of Alexander"

"The popular tradition of the invasion of the Praesii is in error at many points. While it is true that sacrifices were offered and funeral games held, these were several months before he went on the offensive. The purpose of this delay was two fold: the territories that had revolted with Sandrocottus needed to be reorganized, and Alexander also wanted to be reinforced before marching against as formidable a foe as the Praesii [3]. He particularly wanted more cavalry, for the infantry forces of his army had drastically increased without a corresponding increase in cavalry. He thus called for seven regiments of crack Persian and Bactrian cavalry [4]. Also, some forty thousand of Porus and Taxiles' former soldiers reenlisted to serve under Alexander [5]. He was also joined by Antipater, who had arrived from Macedon and brought with him six regiments of Foot Companions, two regiments of Companions, two of Hypaspists, eight thousand Greek mercenaries, and one thousand Agrianians, as well as the two hundred elephants that had been left in Babylon. Nearchus also rejoined Alexander; his conquest of Arabia complete, and brought with him five thousand Persian skirmishers (the rest having been used to fortify or settle Arabia), a regiment of Hypaspists, eight companies of Epiogoni, one of Foot Companions, and five thousand Arabs mounted on camels. These Arabs were commanded by the son of the king of Saba, who wanted his son to serve under Alexander as a sign of good faith. Also during this time, Alexander crowned Taxiles' son king of both his father and Porus' kingdoms, uniting them into one [6]."
-Ptolemy, "The Conquest of India"

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[1] Built on the return from India the first time; described as being "loftier that siege towers"
[2] This is similar to how he returned from the first expedition, though on the first expedition the sacrifices and games were for a safe voyage and city founding respectively, whereas here the sacrifices are for victory in the upcoming campaign.
[3] According to Plutarch (OTL), at the time of the first campaign, the Praesii army numbered 200,000 infantry, 80,000 cavalry, 8,000 chariots, and 6,000 elephants. A formidable force, even allowing for exaggeration.
[4] ie: 7,000 men
[5] This is the official version, however, it is likely that these were men who deserted from Sandrocottus and had no other option for employment. Alexander was more than willing to turn a blind eye on this, probably because he thought having these men with him would lessen the chances of revolt.
[6] Thereby firmly establishing that Taxiles' son's power came from Alexander and helping secure his loyalty to the empire.

Sorry for all the numbers; but it's kinda necessary plot wise. Map to follow soon, showing the Nanda in comparison to Alexander. As always, feedback is welcome.
 
and another map. same key as before. Biggest changes:
-Arabia conquered / organized into two Satrapies and one Client Kingdom (saba)
-Porus and Taxiles' kingdoms have been combined into one
More to come later; comments, please?

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