1 00:00:04,337 --> 00:00:06,396 2,300 years ago, 2 00:00:06,606 --> 00:00:08,574 Alexander the Great invaded Asia, 3 00:00:08,942 --> 00:00:11,467 his goal to conquer the Persian Empire. 4 00:00:12,645 --> 00:00:16,103 We followed in his footsteps, a 20,000-mile journey 5 00:00:16,316 --> 00:00:18,307 from Greece to the plains of lndia. 6 00:00:23,390 --> 00:00:27,793 By the eighth year of the war, Alexander had defeated the peoples of Central Asia. 7 00:00:28,595 --> 00:00:32,497 Now he turned towards lndia, heading for what he believed 8 00:00:32,699 --> 00:00:34,394 would be the end of the earth. 9 00:01:18,812 --> 00:01:23,681 Ourjourney now brought us from Afghanistan into the north-west frontier of Pakistan, 10 00:01:23,917 --> 00:01:25,282 by the Khyber Pass. 11 00:01:27,287 --> 00:01:29,414 ln the spring of 326 BC, 12 00:01:29,622 --> 00:01:32,921 astonished local people would have seen 60,000 Greeks 13 00:01:33,126 --> 00:01:34,593 tramping down these hills. 14 00:01:37,597 --> 00:01:38,757 We came into Pakistan 15 00:01:38,965 --> 00:01:41,263 with some British trainspotters. 16 00:01:41,468 --> 00:01:43,663 Being Ramadan, there's no tea! 17 00:01:44,704 --> 00:01:45,193 Or beer. 18 00:01:45,405 --> 00:01:47,703 l could do with a British Rail sandwich! 19 00:01:47,907 --> 00:01:51,274 l could do with a beer, never mind a sandwich. 20 00:01:52,212 --> 00:01:54,077 They'd come to see the Khyber railway, 21 00:01:54,280 --> 00:01:55,770 built under the British Empire. 22 00:01:56,082 --> 00:01:58,175 l was looking for traces of an older past, 23 00:01:58,518 --> 00:02:00,577 but the strategic importance of the Khyber 24 00:02:00,787 --> 00:02:02,982 has never changed since the dawn of history. 25 00:02:04,757 --> 00:02:07,419 lt's always been the main invasion route into lndia, 26 00:02:08,361 --> 00:02:10,226 and the Macedonians crossed it that spring 27 00:02:10,630 --> 00:02:13,724 to enter an exotic and mysterious land. 28 00:02:18,438 --> 00:02:21,407 ln those days, 1,000 years before the coming of lslam, 29 00:02:21,608 --> 00:02:23,803 Hindu lndia began at the lndus. 30 00:02:24,043 --> 00:02:25,408 That's where the name comes from. 31 00:02:29,349 --> 00:02:30,373 lndian people were a source 32 00:02:30,583 --> 00:02:32,642 of rumour and myth to the Greeks. 33 00:02:32,886 --> 00:02:35,013 ''They have the strangest customs on earth,'' 34 00:02:35,221 --> 00:02:36,313 they said. 35 00:02:36,523 --> 00:02:37,182 To Alexander, 36 00:02:37,390 --> 00:02:39,551 it must have been simply irresistible. 37 00:02:50,003 --> 00:02:51,334 We now followed his track 38 00:02:51,538 --> 00:02:54,268 up into the north-west frontier of Pakistan. 39 00:02:59,946 --> 00:03:03,575 You can imagine Alexander driving his troops over these passes. 40 00:03:04,317 --> 00:03:05,682 29 now. 41 00:03:05,985 --> 00:03:09,113 No longer young. Tough, stocky, 42 00:03:09,322 --> 00:03:10,721 hard-bitten little man. 43 00:03:11,424 --> 00:03:16,054 His iron constitution not yet wrecked by the wounds, malaria, 44 00:03:16,262 --> 00:03:19,561 the drinking bouts, the sexual excess. 45 00:03:21,334 --> 00:03:25,134 As he came over these passes, he'll have remembered the words of Aristotle, 46 00:03:25,338 --> 00:03:29,138 who said that from here one could see the ends of the earth 47 00:03:29,342 --> 00:03:31,708 and the ocean the Greeks believed surrounded it. 48 00:03:32,011 --> 00:03:34,639 Alexander now knew for sure that this was wrong, 49 00:03:35,048 --> 00:03:38,984 that vast and densely populated lands lay ahead, 50 00:03:39,185 --> 00:03:40,675 and he was driven to see them. 51 00:03:40,887 --> 00:03:44,345 The question now becomes not when's he going to stop, 52 00:03:44,624 --> 00:03:46,091 but how far can he go? 53 00:03:52,265 --> 00:03:55,666 Alexander planned the invasion of lndia as a two-pronged attack. 54 00:03:55,969 --> 00:03:59,564 The main army headed down through Peshawar to the lndus. 55 00:03:59,973 --> 00:04:01,770 Alexander himself cut north, 56 00:04:02,075 --> 00:04:04,805 perhaps to explore as much as to fight. 57 00:04:12,552 --> 00:04:15,885 And there we discovered a living connection with his story. 58 00:04:21,928 --> 00:04:23,418 These are the Kalash, 59 00:04:23,630 --> 00:04:25,689 the black pagans of the Hindu Kush, 60 00:04:26,032 --> 00:04:29,195 a tiny survival in a surrounding sea of lslam. 61 00:04:30,069 --> 00:04:31,764 They follow ancient gods 62 00:04:31,971 --> 00:04:34,804 and speak a language distantly akin to Greek. 63 00:04:44,951 --> 00:04:46,475 The people welcomed Alexander 64 00:04:46,819 --> 00:04:48,548 and they told him an amazing story. 65 00:04:49,022 --> 00:04:53,322 They, too, were worshippers of the Greek god of ecstasy, Dionysus. 66 00:04:54,427 --> 00:04:57,055 Alexander had once again hit gold. 67 00:04:59,532 --> 00:05:00,556 From his mother's knee, 68 00:05:00,767 --> 00:05:03,167 Alexander had been told tales of Dionysus, 69 00:05:03,369 --> 00:05:05,633 how he'd been born far out to the east. 70 00:05:08,374 --> 00:05:10,968 Now the people took him to sacrifice on the mountain 71 00:05:11,177 --> 00:05:13,145 where they said Dionysus was born. 72 00:05:14,414 --> 00:05:15,244 To Alexander, 73 00:05:15,448 --> 00:05:17,313 it was an unmistakable sign. 74 00:05:17,917 --> 00:05:19,407 The god was here. 75 00:05:29,095 --> 00:05:30,357 Alexanderjoined them, 76 00:05:30,563 --> 00:05:33,191 wearing an ivy crown, drunk on their wine, 77 00:05:33,399 --> 00:05:36,459 dancing for the god, just as his mother used to do. 78 00:05:45,211 --> 00:05:48,009 And today the Kalash add another twist to the tale. 79 00:05:58,024 --> 00:06:00,083 They say some of the Greeks stayed on here 80 00:06:00,293 --> 00:06:03,126 under Alexander's general Shalaksha. 81 00:06:03,596 --> 00:06:04,858 ''They married local women, 82 00:06:05,465 --> 00:06:08,332 and we, the Kalash, are their direct descendants.'' 83 00:06:18,311 --> 00:06:19,505 lf the story was true, 84 00:06:19,779 --> 00:06:21,303 l drank wine that night 85 00:06:21,547 --> 00:06:23,674 with the descendants of Alexander's army. 86 00:06:34,594 --> 00:06:37,893 Alexander now marched on up the valley of the River Swat. 87 00:06:48,608 --> 00:06:52,738 ln their thousands, refugees now fled in terror eastwards. 88 00:07:01,421 --> 00:07:04,720 They took shelter on a rock fortress high above the lndus valley, 89 00:07:04,924 --> 00:07:07,119 a place the Greeks called Aornos. 90 00:07:08,828 --> 00:07:10,955 The rock was said to be impregnable. 91 00:07:11,197 --> 00:07:14,166 The Greeks were told even Hercules failed to take it 92 00:07:14,367 --> 00:07:16,858 when he wandered the earth on his twelve labours. 93 00:07:18,471 --> 00:07:20,905 lt towered a mile above the river lndus, 94 00:07:21,908 --> 00:07:24,103 its summit a long, curving ridge 95 00:07:24,310 --> 00:07:26,972 with enough cultivation to keep a thousand men busy. 96 00:07:27,480 --> 00:07:29,277 Today it's called Pir Sar. 97 00:07:33,886 --> 00:07:34,944 There was only one path up, 98 00:07:35,154 --> 00:07:37,679 which joined the mountain along the ridge from the west. 99 00:07:38,291 --> 00:07:42,421 On Pir Sar, Alexander would surpass even himself. 100 00:07:50,403 --> 00:07:53,429 We set out to climb Pir Sar in the Macedonians' footsteps. 101 00:07:53,639 --> 00:07:55,106 lt's wild here, 102 00:07:55,308 --> 00:07:56,969 and the district officer gave us guides 103 00:07:57,176 --> 00:08:00,339 and armed police to drive off wolves and bandits. 104 00:08:02,582 --> 00:08:03,446 Thank you very much. 105 00:08:10,256 --> 00:08:11,086 Come on! 106 00:08:12,825 --> 00:08:14,315 The path was back-breaking. 107 00:08:14,527 --> 00:08:16,654 Five miles along a narrow saddle, 108 00:08:16,863 --> 00:08:19,832 a tortuous trek which Alexander's men did at night, 109 00:08:20,032 --> 00:08:21,727 with snow still in the gullies. 110 00:08:41,587 --> 00:08:42,349 According to the Greeks, 111 00:08:42,555 --> 00:08:45,854 their advance guard was led by local guides onto the rock 112 00:08:46,225 --> 00:08:48,250 and they came on a secret path. 113 00:08:48,794 --> 00:08:50,853 There's only one way that could be. 114 00:08:51,063 --> 00:08:51,620 lt's this. 115 00:08:51,831 --> 00:08:53,389 lt comes across this narrow neck of land, 116 00:08:53,599 --> 00:08:55,396 the only way onto the rock. 117 00:08:55,601 --> 00:09:01,130 The ground, as you can see, falls away dramatically, with huge crags on either side. 118 00:09:01,340 --> 00:09:03,740 So this must be the route that the Greeks took. 119 00:09:27,466 --> 00:09:29,058 As the path got worse and worse, 120 00:09:29,268 --> 00:09:31,668 l found myself wondering why he'd bothered. 121 00:09:31,904 --> 00:09:34,236 Were the people on top such a threat to him? 122 00:09:34,640 --> 00:09:36,505 The only explanation l could come up with 123 00:09:36,709 --> 00:09:39,337 was what the Greeks called Alexander's ''pothos'', 124 00:09:39,712 --> 00:09:42,306 his desire to surpass even the gods. 125 00:09:49,822 --> 00:09:51,847 By nightfall, we'd become separated. 126 00:09:52,224 --> 00:09:54,624 Hello, have you seen Hadji Khan? 127 00:09:55,428 --> 00:09:56,622 Our guides were lost. 128 00:09:56,829 --> 00:09:58,160 We are going to stop here. 129 00:09:58,864 --> 00:10:01,560 lt was pitch-dark before we found somewhere to stay, 130 00:10:01,801 --> 00:10:05,134 an abandoned mosque used in summer by the shepherds. 131 00:10:14,046 --> 00:10:19,348 lt's been an absolutely terrible walk. The terrain is just up and down. 132 00:10:19,585 --> 00:10:21,815 Even the donkeys could hardly make it. 133 00:10:22,655 --> 00:10:26,216 Much worse than crossing the Khawak Pass in the Hindu Kush. 134 00:10:28,094 --> 00:10:31,723 lt almost made me believe they couldn't have come this way. 135 00:10:31,931 --> 00:10:32,454 lt's so difficult. 136 00:10:32,665 --> 00:10:34,132 You couldn't get an army through. 137 00:10:34,367 --> 00:10:36,801 But if they did, if this was the way, 138 00:10:37,003 --> 00:10:39,904 then it is the most amazing demonstration 139 00:10:40,106 --> 00:10:45,305 of their absolute determination to overcome their enemies, 140 00:10:45,745 --> 00:10:49,875 to show the lndian people that there was nowhere to hide 141 00:10:50,116 --> 00:10:53,552 and that all resistance would be futile. 142 00:11:02,461 --> 00:11:04,292 Next day, in a chill dawn, 143 00:11:04,563 --> 00:11:07,088 we looked down on the lndus from 8,000 feet. 144 00:11:11,170 --> 00:11:13,502 At six o'clock, after cold water and biscuits, 145 00:11:13,739 --> 00:11:16,230 we blearily prepared to carry on. 146 00:11:17,276 --> 00:11:18,709 lt never ceased to amaze me 147 00:11:18,911 --> 00:11:21,243 how Alexander was able to inspire his men. 148 00:11:27,153 --> 00:11:29,678 They must have been tough old birds, these Macedonians, 149 00:11:30,089 --> 00:11:31,420 that's all l can say. 150 00:11:37,496 --> 00:11:38,724 We're nearly there. 151 00:11:46,639 --> 00:11:51,941 Come here. Come on. Come on. 152 00:11:54,547 --> 00:11:55,775 At nearly 9,000 feet 153 00:11:55,981 --> 00:11:58,381 we reached the top of the ridge above Pir Sar. 154 00:11:59,118 --> 00:12:02,485 To the north, the snow-capped peaks of the Karakorum. 155 00:12:13,232 --> 00:12:15,496 Alexander's men now discovered that a deep ravine 156 00:12:15,701 --> 00:12:18,261 lay between them and Pir Sar itself, 157 00:12:18,471 --> 00:12:20,200 and, unbelievable as it may seem, 158 00:12:20,406 --> 00:12:22,636 Alexander ordered his troops to bridge it. 159 00:12:24,577 --> 00:12:28,035 There was about a 500-yard gap that the Greeks needed to bridge. 160 00:12:28,414 --> 00:12:31,822 One tradition says it took seven days and nights 161 00:12:31,922 --> 00:12:33,579 with the soldiers working in relays. 162 00:12:33,786 --> 00:12:37,517 Each soldier had to cut 100 stakes, 163 00:12:37,723 --> 00:12:39,850 and the engineers presumably were digging big piles 164 00:12:40,059 --> 00:12:42,254 in the side of this space here, 165 00:12:42,528 --> 00:12:45,588 and they laid a mat of trees, earth and so on. 166 00:12:45,798 --> 00:12:47,390 And it rose higher and higher 167 00:12:47,600 --> 00:12:50,000 until maybe more than 100 feet above my head. 168 00:12:50,202 --> 00:12:55,538 lt must have looked like one of those trestle railway bridges you see in the Wild West. 169 00:12:55,841 --> 00:12:59,641 Within the week, they'd built the causeway up enough 170 00:12:59,845 --> 00:13:01,574 to allow their catapults and artillery 171 00:13:01,781 --> 00:13:03,976 to concentrate on the lndian defenders, 172 00:13:04,183 --> 00:13:06,549 and then the fate of the rock was sealed. 173 00:13:09,088 --> 00:13:10,612 The lndians tried to surrender, 174 00:13:10,856 --> 00:13:12,790 but Alexander swept along the ridge 175 00:13:12,992 --> 00:13:15,483 and massacred them or drove them off the cliffs. 176 00:13:16,428 --> 00:13:19,192 On top he left an altar to Athena, 177 00:13:19,398 --> 00:13:21,093 as goddess of victory. 178 00:13:27,473 --> 00:13:29,134 Looking towards the roof of the world, 179 00:13:29,341 --> 00:13:31,070 Alexander could reflect 180 00:13:31,277 --> 00:13:34,110 he had surpassed even Hercules himself. 181 00:13:48,928 --> 00:13:51,362 Back on the lndus, Alexander's engineers had built 182 00:13:51,564 --> 00:13:54,431 a huge bridge of boats, ready for the crossing. 183 00:14:01,473 --> 00:14:02,997 lt must have taken them several days. 184 00:14:03,242 --> 00:14:05,733 By now the army was like a moving city. 185 00:14:07,780 --> 00:14:09,680 There were 64,000 infantry, 186 00:14:09,882 --> 00:14:13,340 12,000 cavalry, camp followers, women, children, 187 00:14:13,552 --> 00:14:16,214 scientists, poets, even entertainers. 188 00:14:17,590 --> 00:14:20,286 And the surveyors who were still measuring every step 189 00:14:20,492 --> 00:14:22,824 from Greece to the end of the earth. 190 00:14:24,463 --> 00:14:27,159 And that was getting closer every day. 191 00:14:34,406 --> 00:14:37,637 Alexander paused briefly at the ancient city of Taxila, 192 00:14:37,843 --> 00:14:39,071 on the Grand Trunk Road. 193 00:14:39,912 --> 00:14:41,470 Here a Greek city grew up, 194 00:14:41,680 --> 00:14:43,238 the first in the subcontinent. 195 00:14:47,219 --> 00:14:49,016 A city of neat lines, 196 00:14:49,221 --> 00:14:50,347 a place of colonists, 197 00:14:50,556 --> 00:14:54,083 set apart from the hubbub of the native town next door. 198 00:15:02,334 --> 00:15:05,098 For centuries after, Greek was spoken in these streets, 199 00:15:05,304 --> 00:15:06,703 just as English is now. 200 00:15:08,240 --> 00:15:09,673 ln bazaars you can still find 201 00:15:09,875 --> 00:15:11,672 the coins of Alexander's successors, 202 00:15:11,877 --> 00:15:14,402 Greek maharajahs lording it in a Greek raj, 203 00:15:14,613 --> 00:15:17,241 This is Greek. Eucratides the Great. 204 00:15:17,449 --> 00:15:20,748 Where did the coin come from? Does he know? 205 00:15:20,953 --> 00:15:22,045 Afghanistan 206 00:15:24,490 --> 00:15:26,253 And on their coins, the heirs of Alexander 207 00:15:26,458 --> 00:15:29,757 proudly sport the cavalry hat and scarf 208 00:15:29,962 --> 00:15:31,862 of Alexander's crack units 209 00:15:32,398 --> 00:15:34,525 with all the swagger of fighter aces. 210 00:15:35,000 --> 00:15:37,992 The viciously valiant Greeks, as the lndians called them. 211 00:15:38,570 --> 00:15:42,370 So began the meeting of two of the great civilisations in history. 212 00:15:44,410 --> 00:15:47,174 Alexander, too, was shown with the headdress of elephant hide. 213 00:15:47,579 --> 00:15:48,807 Conqueror of lndia. 214 00:15:49,148 --> 00:15:51,116 That was his ambition now. 215 00:15:56,188 --> 00:15:58,986 He marched on south towards the Great Salt Range. 216 00:15:59,258 --> 00:16:00,816 Long before the Grand Trunk Road, 217 00:16:01,026 --> 00:16:03,119 this was the ancient route into lndia. 218 00:16:16,742 --> 00:16:18,141 When you come over the Great Salt Range, 219 00:16:18,344 --> 00:16:20,744 suddenly a wonderful view opens up. 220 00:16:21,080 --> 00:16:22,012 The Jhelum river, 221 00:16:22,214 --> 00:16:24,478 the first of the five rivers of the Punjab, 222 00:16:24,683 --> 00:16:27,777 and beyond, the plains of lndia, stretching as far as the Ganges, 223 00:16:27,987 --> 00:16:30,421 the heartland of lndian civilisation. 224 00:16:30,756 --> 00:16:32,280 For the Greek troops 225 00:16:32,491 --> 00:16:34,618 it must have been an extraordinary moment 226 00:16:34,827 --> 00:16:37,489 after the thousands of miles they'd travelled. 227 00:16:37,896 --> 00:16:41,161 And from now on, they'd be marching into the unknown. 228 00:16:45,371 --> 00:16:46,303 Across the Jhelum, 229 00:16:46,505 --> 00:16:48,564 the local lndian rajah, Porus, 230 00:16:48,774 --> 00:16:51,834 had massed a powerful army with 200 war elephants. 231 00:16:52,044 --> 00:16:54,376 He was determined to stop Alexander crossing. 232 00:16:55,681 --> 00:16:59,276 Somehow Alexander had to get his forces over in secret. 233 00:17:01,253 --> 00:17:03,813 The Greeks said he did it where a spur of the Salt Range 234 00:17:04,023 --> 00:17:06,821 comes down to form a headland. 235 00:17:13,032 --> 00:17:16,263 l went looking for it at the little village of Jalalpur. 236 00:17:19,938 --> 00:17:22,133 And there l met the general. 237 00:17:22,374 --> 00:17:24,069 General Shafgat. Michael Wood. 238 00:17:24,276 --> 00:17:25,106 Nice to meet you. 239 00:17:25,310 --> 00:17:28,404 Very nice to meet you. What a wonderful place this is. 240 00:17:28,614 --> 00:17:31,105 General Shafgat's family owns the shrine here. 241 00:17:31,316 --> 00:17:33,409 A veteran of latter-day campaigns, 242 00:17:33,619 --> 00:17:35,917 he'd lectured on Alexander at staff college 243 00:17:36,121 --> 00:17:37,748 and he'd got it all worked out. 244 00:17:39,525 --> 00:17:41,322 The battlefield is right in front of you. 245 00:17:41,527 --> 00:17:43,620 Right here? 246 00:17:43,829 --> 00:17:44,693 Across the river. 247 00:17:44,897 --> 00:17:46,023 Why are you so sure? 248 00:17:46,231 --> 00:17:49,428 lf you go through the Greek historians, 249 00:17:49,635 --> 00:17:54,197 they mention a headland from the main range of the hills, 250 00:17:54,406 --> 00:17:55,873 and it's the only place we have here, 251 00:17:56,075 --> 00:17:57,906 we're on top of it. 252 00:17:58,210 --> 00:18:00,610 On the far side, according to the historian, 253 00:18:00,813 --> 00:18:04,078 was a ravine where he hid his cavalry and other forces 254 00:18:04,283 --> 00:18:05,682 during the day and the night 255 00:18:05,884 --> 00:18:07,875 and crossed it across to the island 256 00:18:08,087 --> 00:18:08,985 which still exists. 257 00:18:09,188 --> 00:18:11,554 Out of this whole range of hills, 258 00:18:11,757 --> 00:18:13,588 this is the only place he could have crossed. 259 00:18:13,792 --> 00:18:14,918 Wonderful. 260 00:18:18,163 --> 00:18:20,961 The general offered to show us how Alexander did it. 261 00:18:25,704 --> 00:18:27,296 They're bringing punt poles over there, 262 00:18:27,506 --> 00:18:29,303 aren't they? 263 00:18:29,508 --> 00:18:32,500 Alexander's plan was to hold Porus in front of him 264 00:18:32,711 --> 00:18:34,372 and then cross higher upstream, 265 00:18:34,580 --> 00:18:36,741 a flanking move repeated through history 266 00:18:36,949 --> 00:18:40,282 down to the Napoleonic Wars and Desert Storm. 267 00:18:41,653 --> 00:18:46,590 That is a classic movement of encircling, or outflanking move, 268 00:18:46,992 --> 00:18:50,450 where you have either both flanks or the centre 269 00:18:50,662 --> 00:18:53,495 lean across the enemy's force to attract their attention. 270 00:18:53,832 --> 00:18:55,629 Show as if they were going to cross, 271 00:18:55,834 --> 00:18:58,462 or keep them amused, in general terms. 272 00:18:58,670 --> 00:19:00,604 And go round on a flanking movement 273 00:19:00,806 --> 00:19:02,933 and hit them on the flank or at the back. 274 00:19:03,275 --> 00:19:05,140 Napoleon tried it again and again. 275 00:19:05,410 --> 00:19:08,072 Austerlitz is one of the most classical examples. 276 00:19:10,215 --> 00:19:12,479 We took a small force of cavalry in the boats. 277 00:19:19,591 --> 00:19:21,786 Our infantry crossed on bales of straw, 278 00:19:21,994 --> 00:19:23,222 just as the Greeks did. 279 00:19:31,069 --> 00:19:32,627 According to the historian Arrian, 280 00:19:32,838 --> 00:19:36,035 Alexander also had some prefabricated boats. 281 00:19:38,243 --> 00:19:40,040 Alexander went in a 30-oared boat, 282 00:19:40,245 --> 00:19:43,681 so they could probably take a lot of troops. 283 00:19:43,882 --> 00:19:44,814 But the cavalry, he says, 284 00:19:45,017 --> 00:19:49,420 came across on rafts that they'd prepared beforehand. 285 00:19:49,621 --> 00:19:50,986 They must be... 286 00:19:51,190 --> 00:19:52,589 with planks on top, 287 00:19:52,791 --> 00:19:55,954 stuffed with straw, local rush and things. 288 00:19:56,161 --> 00:20:00,359 We make them in a different manner, only to take the infantry across. 289 00:20:00,566 --> 00:20:02,124 You still use them in the army? 290 00:20:02,334 --> 00:20:04,325 We do, yes. 291 00:20:04,536 --> 00:20:07,994 During World War Two in the Burma campaign, 292 00:20:08,207 --> 00:20:11,438 most of the troops always crossed on these rafts. 293 00:20:14,947 --> 00:20:18,383 The general decided l was so woefully ignorant of military matters, 294 00:20:18,584 --> 00:20:21,644 l needed first-hand experience of what Alexander's men did. 295 00:20:21,853 --> 00:20:22,649 ..this kind of stuff. 296 00:20:22,854 --> 00:20:26,381 This went on in Burma in World War Two. 297 00:20:26,592 --> 00:20:28,583 Most of the crossings were done on this, at night. 298 00:20:28,794 --> 00:20:30,193 Yeah. 299 00:20:31,029 --> 00:20:32,860 Alexander had done it before, of course. 300 00:20:33,131 --> 00:20:36,328 But this time it was at night, pitch-dark, 301 00:20:36,535 --> 00:20:39,095 pouring rain and rising flood waters. 302 00:20:47,546 --> 00:20:48,604 ls that far enough? 303 00:20:53,185 --> 00:20:56,211 Alexander used tents made of sewn animal skins, 304 00:20:56,421 --> 00:20:57,615 which were watertight. 305 00:20:57,889 --> 00:20:59,584 We had an old tarpaulin. 306 00:21:00,025 --> 00:21:02,255 And just before we reached the deep channel... 307 00:21:13,505 --> 00:21:18,704 Should have gone first the middle one, and the two others climb on simultaneously. 308 00:21:18,910 --> 00:21:21,140 Otherwise you will tilt it and get water aboard. 309 00:21:30,822 --> 00:21:33,723 The battle took place near the little village of Sikanderpur. 310 00:21:35,227 --> 00:21:36,626 Surrounded and surprised, 311 00:21:36,828 --> 00:21:38,056 Porus had little chance against 312 00:21:38,263 --> 00:21:40,788 one of the hardest armies ever. 313 00:21:41,133 --> 00:21:44,034 lt was a horrible scene rain, churned-up rice paddies, 314 00:21:44,236 --> 00:21:48,138 the Macedonians jabbing their long spears into the elephants' eyes. 315 00:21:49,474 --> 00:21:52,466 The elephants were maddened by their suffering, says Arrian, 316 00:21:52,678 --> 00:21:54,441 trampling friend and foe alike. 317 00:21:55,480 --> 00:21:57,971 Porus's army was wiped out and he surrendered. 318 00:21:58,283 --> 00:22:00,843 But Alexander was impressed by his bravery 319 00:22:01,086 --> 00:22:02,747 and gave him his kingdom back. 320 00:22:03,055 --> 00:22:04,682 Porus became his ally. 321 00:22:23,442 --> 00:22:28,072 The march restarted around midsummer, right in the middle of the monsoon rains. 322 00:22:35,587 --> 00:22:37,521 lt must have been the last straw for the Greeks - 323 00:22:37,723 --> 00:22:40,157 the wet, the muggy heat, the mosquitoes. 324 00:22:41,927 --> 00:22:43,918 As any old lndia hand will tell you, 325 00:22:44,463 --> 00:22:46,488 during the rains nothing gets dry. 326 00:22:46,698 --> 00:22:48,256 Your gear and weapons rust, 327 00:22:48,467 --> 00:22:50,731 clothes rot, wounds don't heal. 328 00:22:52,337 --> 00:22:56,103 There was no end to the fighting. Casualties remounted remorselessly. 329 00:22:58,877 --> 00:23:00,572 We followed Alexander by road 330 00:23:00,779 --> 00:23:05,415 and entered today's lndia north of the Sikh holy city of Amritsar. 331 00:23:10,255 --> 00:23:12,052 Nearby we picked up two taxis 332 00:23:12,257 --> 00:23:14,987 to take us on to Alexander's appointment with destiny, 333 00:23:15,827 --> 00:23:18,125 by the banks of the river Beas. 334 00:23:33,011 --> 00:23:35,707 ln early September Alexander reached the Beas 335 00:23:35,947 --> 00:23:39,178 at the crossing place of one of the ancient routes through north lndia. 336 00:23:47,626 --> 00:23:49,491 As he started out across the river, 337 00:23:49,694 --> 00:23:52,686 Alexander still thought the end of the earth was near. 338 00:23:53,064 --> 00:23:54,827 His teacher Aristotle had taught him 339 00:23:55,033 --> 00:23:56,796 lndia was a short peninsula 340 00:23:57,002 --> 00:23:59,971 jutting into the great ocean which circled the earth. 341 00:24:00,338 --> 00:24:02,806 As far as he knew, they didn't have far to go. 342 00:24:09,080 --> 00:24:10,172 But here at the Beas, 343 00:24:10,382 --> 00:24:13,715 when Alexander questioned local people about the road ahead, 344 00:24:13,919 --> 00:24:17,377 new and unexpected information came into his hands. 345 00:24:18,023 --> 00:24:20,218 The end of the earth was not near. 346 00:24:20,659 --> 00:24:22,024 Two or three weeks' march from the Beas 347 00:24:22,227 --> 00:24:24,889 was a far bigger river, the Ganges. 348 00:24:25,197 --> 00:24:26,960 And a great kingdom with a vast army 349 00:24:27,165 --> 00:24:29,190 and thousands of war elephants. 350 00:24:29,468 --> 00:24:33,029 How many kilometres is it from here to Delhi? 351 00:24:39,845 --> 00:24:42,370 The Greek army could do about 30 kilometres a day... 352 00:24:42,581 --> 00:24:45,778 so they could do that in three weeks. 353 00:24:50,589 --> 00:24:51,920 Looking out across the river, 354 00:24:52,123 --> 00:24:54,216 Alexander was all for pushing on, 355 00:24:54,593 --> 00:24:57,221 but now after eight years and 17,000 miles, 356 00:24:57,429 --> 00:24:59,260 the troops had reached breaking point. 357 00:25:00,065 --> 00:25:02,158 The king urged them to one last great effort, 358 00:25:02,467 --> 00:25:04,298 but was greeted with silence. 359 00:25:07,973 --> 00:25:10,498 No one dared speak. They were too frightened. 360 00:25:11,009 --> 00:25:13,569 And then one of the senior commanders, Coenus, 361 00:25:13,778 --> 00:25:15,075 plucked up the courage. 362 00:25:15,780 --> 00:25:19,341 ''Sir, you said you would never lead us as a dictator,'' 363 00:25:19,551 --> 00:25:21,109 he began, rather daringly. 364 00:25:21,753 --> 00:25:24,085 ''You always said you were open to persuasion. 365 00:25:24,422 --> 00:25:26,515 ''Let me speak now not on our behalf, 366 00:25:26,725 --> 00:25:29,626 but on behalf of the rank and file of the army. 367 00:25:30,762 --> 00:25:32,992 ''Most of the men who came with us from Greece 368 00:25:33,198 --> 00:25:37,100 have left their bones on the roads of Asia. 369 00:25:37,469 --> 00:25:41,166 ''Those that remain are battered in body and weary in spirit. 370 00:25:41,373 --> 00:25:42,135 ''Look at them. 371 00:25:42,340 --> 00:25:43,568 Their gear's ruined, 372 00:25:43,775 --> 00:25:45,834 they're wearing patched-up lndian clothes. 373 00:25:46,244 --> 00:25:47,404 They've had enough. 374 00:25:49,180 --> 00:25:50,670 ''Sir, under your leadership 375 00:25:50,882 --> 00:25:54,716 our achievements have been simply wonderful. 376 00:25:56,154 --> 00:25:59,851 ''But the will of the gods can't forever be taken for granted. 377 00:26:00,592 --> 00:26:05,086 ''Surely the time has come now to set a limit to our endeavours.'' 378 00:26:07,999 --> 00:26:11,264 The king had reached the moment on which his life would turn. 379 00:26:13,071 --> 00:26:15,062 lt's been the subject of legend ever since. 380 00:26:15,273 --> 00:26:17,002 lt's even in the Hindi movies. 381 00:26:29,688 --> 00:26:31,986 The king was beside himself with fury. 382 00:26:33,491 --> 00:26:35,459 For three days he sulked in his tent. 383 00:26:39,397 --> 00:26:41,422 Then, seeing the army's mood, 384 00:26:41,633 --> 00:26:43,760 Alexander asked the gods for a sign. 385 00:26:56,681 --> 00:26:58,842 The army waited on tenterhooks. 386 00:27:00,785 --> 00:27:02,685 The omens were bad. 387 00:27:08,193 --> 00:27:12,755 Alexander accepted the will of the gods and agreed to turn back. 388 00:27:27,078 --> 00:27:28,636 And what if they'd gone on to 389 00:27:28,847 --> 00:27:30,838 the Ganges, China, even? 390 00:27:31,049 --> 00:27:32,880 History might have been different. 391 00:27:33,485 --> 00:27:34,816 But it was not to be. 392 00:27:35,620 --> 00:27:39,613 Before he turned back, he made altars to the gods who'd brought him so far - 393 00:27:40,058 --> 00:27:42,652 Dionysus, Apollo, Hercules. 394 00:27:44,696 --> 00:27:48,359 And an inscription; ''Alexander stopped here.'' 395 00:27:56,641 --> 00:27:57,835 On the Jhelum river, 396 00:27:58,043 --> 00:28:02,412 he'd ordered a fleet to be built tojourney down the lndus to the ocean. 397 00:28:03,415 --> 00:28:05,110 1,000 vessels all told, 398 00:28:05,316 --> 00:28:07,079 they included Greek galleys. 399 00:28:18,763 --> 00:28:22,665 The last of the master boat-builders on the lndus chuckled. 400 00:28:22,867 --> 00:28:25,961 These Greek warships, he said, wouldn't cope with the lndus. 401 00:28:27,105 --> 00:28:30,666 He sketched a few modifications to Alexander's naval plans. 402 00:28:35,080 --> 00:28:36,479 ''Flat bottoms,'' he said. 403 00:28:36,681 --> 00:28:38,080 ''That's what's needed.'' 404 00:28:40,952 --> 00:28:43,079 So if they were going to build a fleet like this 405 00:28:43,288 --> 00:28:46,280 in six months, 406 00:28:46,491 --> 00:28:49,517 they would need a very big workforce. 407 00:28:52,764 --> 00:28:53,890 He says it's not possible. 408 00:29:00,739 --> 00:29:01,637 Not possible, 409 00:29:01,840 --> 00:29:02,898 but Alexander did it. 410 00:29:03,108 --> 00:29:04,735 He set sail mid-November, 411 00:29:04,943 --> 00:29:07,878 the main army marching with him along the river bank. 412 00:29:08,279 --> 00:29:10,144 They cast off to the sound of bands 413 00:29:10,415 --> 00:29:14,408 and were watched by the lndians, who followed for a while in amazement. 414 00:29:33,738 --> 00:29:36,104 With the army were thousands of women, children, 415 00:29:36,307 --> 00:29:38,741 lndians, Bactrians, Central Asians, 416 00:29:38,943 --> 00:29:40,672 all captives of war. 417 00:29:46,251 --> 00:29:48,947 Among them was Alexander's teenage wife, Roxane. 418 00:29:49,154 --> 00:29:52,920 That autumn, Roxane gave birth to a baby boy. 419 00:29:53,391 --> 00:29:55,291 The king had finally produced an heir. 420 00:29:59,497 --> 00:30:00,759 But the child died 421 00:30:00,965 --> 00:30:03,297 and was buried by the banks of the Jhelum. 422 00:30:04,602 --> 00:30:05,933 How did Alexander feel? 423 00:30:06,571 --> 00:30:08,539 Did he see this as a sign? 424 00:30:09,040 --> 00:30:12,203 All we know is that he plunged himself back into war. 425 00:30:31,496 --> 00:30:33,828 The journey down the lndus took seven months. 426 00:30:34,032 --> 00:30:37,490 lt led them through great kingdoms and past ancient cities. 427 00:30:41,840 --> 00:30:43,501 Everywhere in today's Pakistan, 428 00:30:43,708 --> 00:30:45,232 Alexander met resistance 429 00:30:45,510 --> 00:30:47,876 whose ferocity perplexed him. 430 00:30:50,014 --> 00:30:51,072 lt's with the journey down the lndus 431 00:30:51,282 --> 00:30:54,183 that the tenor of the expedition changes. 432 00:30:54,419 --> 00:30:56,683 The Greeks had been through heavily populated countries 433 00:30:56,888 --> 00:30:58,446 like lraq and Egypt, 434 00:30:58,656 --> 00:31:00,248 but the people hadn't resisted. 435 00:31:00,458 --> 00:31:01,550 Here they did. 436 00:31:01,759 --> 00:31:03,624 Now we start to get the first reports of atrocities 437 00:31:03,828 --> 00:31:07,127 and the large-scale massacre of civilians. 438 00:31:09,500 --> 00:31:12,958 ln the New Year he attacked a big city in the lower Punjab. 439 00:31:14,772 --> 00:31:18,640 The city of a people called the Mallians, today's Multan. 440 00:31:22,413 --> 00:31:23,846 The city was then, as it still is, 441 00:31:24,048 --> 00:31:25,948 surrounded by high walls of brick, 442 00:31:26,184 --> 00:31:28,015 walls which have been assaulted many times 443 00:31:28,219 --> 00:31:29,652 since then, 444 00:31:29,854 --> 00:31:32,755 the last being the British siege of 1849. 445 00:32:12,764 --> 00:32:15,460 Local legend says Alexander's siege broke through 446 00:32:15,667 --> 00:32:17,794 at a place called the Tower of Blood. 447 00:32:35,486 --> 00:32:37,545 The Greeks were outside the walls. 448 00:32:37,755 --> 00:32:39,655 lt can't have been this spot, 449 00:32:39,857 --> 00:32:42,223 but it's as good a place to tell the story as any. 450 00:32:42,427 --> 00:32:44,520 Alexander thought the troops were slacking. 451 00:32:44,729 --> 00:32:46,390 He put a siege ladder against the wall 452 00:32:47,231 --> 00:32:49,927 and he went up himself, led the troops. 453 00:32:50,134 --> 00:32:53,001 Behind him were only three men, 454 00:32:53,271 --> 00:32:54,033 two of his bodyguards, 455 00:32:54,238 --> 00:32:56,502 one holding the sacred shield from Troy, 456 00:32:56,808 --> 00:32:59,038 and an NCO, Abreas. 457 00:32:59,644 --> 00:33:04,047 And Alexander held his shield above him and up he went. 458 00:33:04,716 --> 00:33:07,378 And here's the Macedonian siege ladder itself. 459 00:33:23,768 --> 00:33:26,862 ...the Macedonian siege ladders were as wobbly as this one. 460 00:33:27,505 --> 00:33:29,905 At the top, the weight of the troops behind 461 00:33:30,108 --> 00:33:32,668 broke the ladder, leaving the four men alone. 462 00:33:33,211 --> 00:33:34,109 Salaam. 463 00:33:36,681 --> 00:33:38,581 lt's all right, l'm only a Macedonian soldier. 464 00:33:39,817 --> 00:33:41,614 When Alexander got onto the top, 465 00:33:42,720 --> 00:33:43,652 he crouched on top of the wall, 466 00:33:43,855 --> 00:33:45,720 says Arrian, behind his shield. 467 00:33:46,290 --> 00:33:48,190 The other three men came up, too. 468 00:33:48,393 --> 00:33:51,954 And then, at that moment, surrounded by lndian defenders, 469 00:33:53,297 --> 00:33:54,525 exposed on the wall, 470 00:33:54,866 --> 00:33:57,926 he took his life into his own hands 471 00:33:58,136 --> 00:34:00,969 and leapt into the fortress rather than outside, 472 00:34:01,172 --> 00:34:02,639 leaving the rest of the army behind. 473 00:34:02,974 --> 00:34:05,499 The lndian defenders closed in on him 474 00:34:05,777 --> 00:34:09,144 and he was forced to throw stones at them, beat them off with his sword. 475 00:34:09,347 --> 00:34:12,976 The rest of the army behind, panic-stricken, 476 00:34:13,184 --> 00:34:15,311 tried to find a way of getting into the city 477 00:34:15,520 --> 00:34:18,011 while the four men desperately defended themselves. 478 00:34:18,322 --> 00:34:20,984 Abreas was hit by an arrow and killed. 479 00:34:21,192 --> 00:34:26,892 And then Alexander was struck by an arrow that went in the open bit underneath his armour, 480 00:34:27,098 --> 00:34:28,463 straight into his lung. 481 00:34:28,666 --> 00:34:31,567 He collapsed on the floor, bleeding profusely. 482 00:34:31,836 --> 00:34:35,067 The bodyguard Peucestas straddled him, 483 00:34:35,273 --> 00:34:37,605 holding the sacred shield from Troy, 484 00:34:37,809 --> 00:34:40,175 trying to beat off the lndian attackers. 485 00:34:45,583 --> 00:34:46,777 You can imagine the paramedics 486 00:34:46,984 --> 00:34:48,747 rushing Alexander back to the camp. 487 00:34:48,953 --> 00:34:51,513 Meanwhile panic spread through the army. 488 00:34:51,722 --> 00:34:53,212 They feared that with Alexander dead, 489 00:34:53,424 --> 00:34:54,857 they'd never see home again. 490 00:34:57,295 --> 00:35:00,423 They went berserk and massacred everyone in the city. 491 00:35:03,101 --> 00:35:05,399 Alexander's surgeon prepared to operate. 492 00:35:06,037 --> 00:35:08,870 Kritobolos of Kos had been his father's doctor. 493 00:35:09,073 --> 00:35:11,667 He'd once taken an arrow from King Philip' s eye. 494 00:35:15,980 --> 00:35:17,777 Over the years, Alexander had taken punishment 495 00:35:17,982 --> 00:35:19,609 which would have stopped an ox. 496 00:35:19,817 --> 00:35:22,786 Leg and thigh wounds, a catapult bolt in the shoulder, 497 00:35:22,987 --> 00:35:24,648 21 wounds in all. 498 00:35:24,856 --> 00:35:26,585 This, though, was the most serious. 499 00:35:26,791 --> 00:35:28,190 His lung was pierced. 500 00:35:34,832 --> 00:35:37,892 The story here is that the arrow was poisoned 501 00:35:38,102 --> 00:35:40,400 and Alexander never really recovered. 502 00:35:41,038 --> 00:35:43,438 Now, the Greek historians don't mention this, 503 00:35:44,375 --> 00:35:46,969 but the traditional doctors here, the Hakeems, 504 00:35:47,178 --> 00:35:49,806 claim descent from Alexander's doctors. 505 00:35:51,182 --> 00:35:53,446 They practise what they call Greek medicine, 506 00:35:53,651 --> 00:35:55,084 so perhaps they should know. 507 00:35:59,690 --> 00:36:00,748 But poison or not, 508 00:36:00,958 --> 00:36:02,823 both doctor and patient knew 509 00:36:03,027 --> 00:36:05,257 that Alexander was very close to death. 510 00:36:12,803 --> 00:36:15,371 For a week, Alexander's life hung in the balance. 511 00:36:15,773 --> 00:36:17,604 Then they gently floated him along the river 512 00:36:17,808 --> 00:36:19,776 so the army could see he was alive. 513 00:36:20,611 --> 00:36:22,101 They cried with relief. 514 00:36:22,713 --> 00:36:24,078 They still loved him. 515 00:36:56,547 --> 00:37:00,109 The journey down the lndus took from November until summer, 516 00:37:00,318 --> 00:37:01,478 fighting all the way. 517 00:37:02,220 --> 00:37:06,216 Alexander founded another Alexandria at the confluence of the rivers. 518 00:37:09,694 --> 00:37:12,322 ln July he reached the lndus delta. 519 00:37:23,507 --> 00:37:25,907 His fleet explored the arms of the lndus, 520 00:37:26,177 --> 00:37:29,237 and its journey has been pieced together by Monique Kervran. 521 00:37:32,750 --> 00:37:36,112 We drove across the bay where Alexander coasted that summer. 522 00:37:36,821 --> 00:37:38,311 All this plain was sea then, 523 00:37:38,522 --> 00:37:41,388 but it's silted now, leaving the islands high and dry. 524 00:37:45,997 --> 00:37:50,331 Maybe you want to see the position of this tower. 525 00:37:54,572 --> 00:37:56,039 Alexander's admiral, Nearchus, 526 00:37:56,240 --> 00:37:58,504 says he built fortifications at a place he called 527 00:37:58,709 --> 00:38:00,336 Alexander's Harbour. 528 00:38:01,879 --> 00:38:02,846 They were here on this spot? 529 00:38:03,047 --> 00:38:06,710 Yes, that is clearly written in the ancient text. 530 00:38:06,917 --> 00:38:09,647 And they survived eating oysters. 531 00:38:10,788 --> 00:38:11,618 Arrian mentions this? 532 00:38:11,822 --> 00:38:15,986 Yes, oysters and mussels of a very big size. 533 00:38:19,063 --> 00:38:23,261 So it is possible, then, that these are left by the Greek soldiers 534 00:38:23,467 --> 00:38:25,458 during their stay here. 535 00:38:25,670 --> 00:38:27,934 l let you tell it, but l believe. 536 00:38:28,139 --> 00:38:29,834 The oysters couldn't be from lslamic times 537 00:38:30,041 --> 00:38:33,340 because eating shellfish is against lslam. 538 00:38:33,744 --> 00:38:35,939 Most likely it was Alexander's Greeks 539 00:38:36,147 --> 00:38:37,478 who left these shells. 540 00:38:37,682 --> 00:38:38,671 And they were very happy, 541 00:38:38,883 --> 00:38:43,946 after such a long time away from their country, to have seafood. 542 00:38:46,824 --> 00:38:48,416 Alexander's last act in lndia 543 00:38:48,626 --> 00:38:49,888 was to build altars, 544 00:38:50,094 --> 00:38:52,927 just as he'd done in Central Asia and the Punjab. 545 00:38:53,397 --> 00:38:55,592 He put them on a tiny island in the sea. 546 00:38:56,400 --> 00:38:57,662 lt's never been found. 547 00:38:57,935 --> 00:38:59,459 But in the middle of the delta plain 548 00:38:59,670 --> 00:39:02,104 is another long-forgotten island, 549 00:39:02,473 --> 00:39:04,270 the last before the open sea. 550 00:39:12,116 --> 00:39:15,749 This was perhaps Alexander's last landfall in lndia. 551 00:39:15,953 --> 00:39:19,081 Perhaps he stood on this spot, staring out to sea, 552 00:39:19,357 --> 00:39:21,484 as his fleet set sail for the Gulf, 553 00:39:21,992 --> 00:39:23,926 following the line of the setting sun. 554 00:39:39,076 --> 00:39:42,307 Alexander planned his return from lndia as a combined operation 555 00:39:42,513 --> 00:39:43,673 by land and sea. 556 00:39:44,048 --> 00:39:46,380 With the help of the Pakistan navy, 557 00:39:46,617 --> 00:39:48,847 we tried to trace his fleet's progress 558 00:39:49,186 --> 00:39:51,086 along the bleak coast of the Makran. 559 00:39:58,362 --> 00:40:01,621 The logbook of Alexander's admiral Nearchus survives. 560 00:40:02,199 --> 00:40:02,961 An eyewitness 561 00:40:03,167 --> 00:40:05,897 we could still follow after 2,000 years. 562 00:40:07,438 --> 00:40:09,872 The Greek logbook of the expedition... 563 00:40:10,074 --> 00:40:12,599 He actually mentions a number of places. 564 00:40:12,977 --> 00:40:13,602 For instance, 565 00:40:13,811 --> 00:40:16,507 ''They went round a great promontory or a cape 566 00:40:16,714 --> 00:40:19,148 which stuck far out into the sea and was very high.'' 567 00:40:19,350 --> 00:40:25,812 This is Ras Ormara. lt's a big mountain here. lt's about 1,400 feet high. 568 00:40:26,056 --> 00:40:30,254 lt's 1,400 feet high and it's sticking out in sea. 569 00:40:30,461 --> 00:40:32,759 There's one other little story 570 00:40:32,963 --> 00:40:36,262 that he tells in this, which is particularly interesting. 571 00:40:36,467 --> 00:40:39,265 He says that about ten miles off the shore, 572 00:40:39,470 --> 00:40:41,665 roughly, there was an island, 573 00:40:41,906 --> 00:40:43,271 and it was uninhabited, 574 00:40:43,474 --> 00:40:45,601 no human being ever went there. 575 00:40:45,810 --> 00:40:48,370 ln fact, it was something of an ill-omened place. 576 00:40:48,579 --> 00:40:51,912 This is right in front of you. This is Astola lsland. 577 00:40:52,383 --> 00:40:54,044 On a bigger chart, you can see. 578 00:40:54,251 --> 00:40:56,879 Astola lsland is uninhabited. 579 00:40:57,087 --> 00:41:01,387 You can see the distance. My divider is open 10 miles. 580 00:41:01,792 --> 00:41:04,693 From Astola, the land is about 12 miles. 581 00:41:04,895 --> 00:41:05,793 The water must have receded. 582 00:41:05,996 --> 00:41:07,896 The water must have receded 2 miles. 583 00:41:08,098 --> 00:41:10,498 The Greeks were frightened of stories 584 00:41:10,701 --> 00:41:12,566 that you shouldn't step on this island. 585 00:41:12,770 --> 00:41:15,967 They sailed round the island, shouting to check 586 00:41:16,173 --> 00:41:18,767 there weren't any spirits before they went on it. 587 00:41:18,976 --> 00:41:21,906 ln my 20-year naval career we have never been there. 588 00:41:26,851 --> 00:41:30,651 ln October, Alexander began his return journey with the land army, 589 00:41:31,055 --> 00:41:32,647 100,000 strong now, 590 00:41:32,923 --> 00:41:35,289 with tens of thousands of camp followers, 591 00:41:35,626 --> 00:41:38,993 and we followed, into the dreaded Makran desert. 592 00:42:13,297 --> 00:42:16,596 This part of the Makran has flash floods in the autumn, 593 00:42:16,800 --> 00:42:18,791 when Alexander came through. 594 00:42:20,905 --> 00:42:21,929 The local Baluchis told us 595 00:42:22,139 --> 00:42:24,369 whole villages can be swept away. 596 00:42:25,309 --> 00:42:26,799 This is what happened to Alexander. 597 00:42:27,011 --> 00:42:29,036 One night the army camped in a stream bed 598 00:42:29,246 --> 00:42:31,510 and a flash flood killed many people. 599 00:42:32,516 --> 00:42:33,983 Worse was to follow. 600 00:42:43,961 --> 00:42:45,861 Alexander's route led him to Turbat, 601 00:42:46,063 --> 00:42:48,031 an ancient fortress on the road to lran. 602 00:42:49,800 --> 00:42:50,926 He must have stayed here. 603 00:42:51,135 --> 00:42:52,534 ...all the lslamic city? 604 00:42:53,837 --> 00:42:55,964 lt's a rich and fertile oasis. 605 00:43:02,212 --> 00:43:03,270 What a view! 606 00:43:03,714 --> 00:43:05,705 Yes, you call it the... 607 00:43:05,916 --> 00:43:09,044 From Turbat, the main route to lran goes straight 608 00:43:09,253 --> 00:43:11,380 as a die westwards up the Kech valley. 609 00:43:11,855 --> 00:43:13,584 But Alexander didn't take it. 610 00:43:18,362 --> 00:43:20,023 He now turned off the main route 611 00:43:20,230 --> 00:43:21,720 and headed south for the sea. 612 00:43:22,232 --> 00:43:23,130 lt's only 100 miles 613 00:43:23,334 --> 00:43:25,529 but it goes through the harshest terrain. 614 00:43:31,809 --> 00:43:34,903 The Greeks found impoverished settlements of aboriginal people 615 00:43:35,112 --> 00:43:36,602 they called the fish-eaters, 616 00:43:36,814 --> 00:43:38,975 too poor to give them supplies. 617 00:43:53,464 --> 00:43:58,959 Oh God! We've been on this road now for ten hours. 618 00:43:59,803 --> 00:44:03,000 We've had half a litre of water and two oranges each. 619 00:44:04,008 --> 00:44:08,001 l don't think we took the preparations for this leg very seriously. 620 00:44:08,312 --> 00:44:10,644 But l don't think Alexander did either. 621 00:44:10,848 --> 00:44:14,215 Coming this way makes me think it was a crazy notion 622 00:44:14,418 --> 00:44:16,283 to bring an army through here. 623 00:44:16,487 --> 00:44:19,684 The last big spring is 50 kilometres back. 624 00:44:20,357 --> 00:44:22,484 The Greeks, you can be sure, were in trouble 625 00:44:22,693 --> 00:44:24,456 before they even hit the sea. 626 00:44:31,502 --> 00:44:36,098 At the sea there was no sign of the fleet, only the fish-eaters' boats. 627 00:44:37,141 --> 00:44:39,974 Alexander should have gone back now the way he'd come. 628 00:44:40,577 --> 00:44:41,874 But that wasn't his way. 629 00:44:42,312 --> 00:44:44,610 He decided to push on, sticking to the coast. 630 00:44:45,115 --> 00:44:48,279 Perhaps he was hoping to establish ports to link his empire. 631 00:44:48,719 --> 00:44:50,812 Perhaps he still hoped to meet the fleet. 632 00:44:51,488 --> 00:44:52,512 We don't know. 633 00:45:01,098 --> 00:45:04,363 From here, the only way to follow him was by camel. 634 00:45:04,568 --> 00:45:07,002 Let me check this. An outsider will die on this route, 635 00:45:07,204 --> 00:45:08,000 is that right? 636 00:45:08,205 --> 00:45:09,536 An outsider will die. 637 00:45:09,740 --> 00:45:11,435 He won't be able to find any water. 638 00:45:11,642 --> 00:45:14,338 Great. That's extremely comforting to know. 639 00:45:14,678 --> 00:45:18,205 ls there water on the route? 640 00:45:18,482 --> 00:45:21,951 Are there waterholes or do we have to carry the water? 641 00:45:28,125 --> 00:45:31,060 He says that there is very few water springs. 642 00:45:31,261 --> 00:45:31,886 That's great! 643 00:45:32,096 --> 00:45:35,361 lf l go, l can't find them. 644 00:45:38,368 --> 00:45:41,667 Well, we'd better take somebody with us who can, then. 645 00:46:05,262 --> 00:46:08,925 And so we left the burning shore by the great rock of Pasni 646 00:46:09,333 --> 00:46:12,700 in the footsteps of Alexander's last epic march. 647 00:46:27,417 --> 00:46:30,648 The journey for Alexander's army soon became a nightmare. 648 00:46:34,591 --> 00:46:37,856 The Greeks came into an area of great hills of sand 649 00:46:38,362 --> 00:46:41,388 and then Arrian says their feet 650 00:46:41,598 --> 00:46:45,159 sank in like treading into untrodden snow. 651 00:46:45,669 --> 00:46:48,866 The horses and mules couldn't cope with that. 652 00:46:49,072 --> 00:46:50,767 They didn't have camels as we do. 653 00:46:51,675 --> 00:46:53,302 Sometimes, Arrian says, 654 00:46:53,510 --> 00:46:55,535 they had to go through the whole night without water 655 00:46:56,146 --> 00:46:56,840 and in the morning 656 00:46:57,047 --> 00:46:59,914 they'd leave people behind who were sick or too tired 657 00:47:00,117 --> 00:47:02,745 or absolutely dying of thirst. 658 00:47:03,020 --> 00:47:05,488 Those people were never seen again. 659 00:47:06,056 --> 00:47:07,921 They were lost, says Arrian, 660 00:47:08,125 --> 00:47:10,821 like people fallen overboard and lost at sea. 661 00:47:29,313 --> 00:47:32,942 Now, for the first time in his life, he was staring at defeat. 662 00:47:41,892 --> 00:47:43,621 Why did he come here to the Makran? 663 00:47:44,828 --> 00:47:46,022 l just don't know. 664 00:47:46,496 --> 00:47:48,760 He was trying to get back to lran, l guess. 665 00:47:49,433 --> 00:47:52,493 But why he came here to this coast, 666 00:47:52,870 --> 00:47:56,067 l don't understand. l don't understand. 667 00:48:10,954 --> 00:48:13,320 Alexander became greatly distressed 668 00:48:13,523 --> 00:48:16,117 because they were travelling through such awful terrain, 669 00:48:16,326 --> 00:48:18,055 says the geographer Strabo. 670 00:48:19,897 --> 00:48:20,921 According to one source, 671 00:48:21,131 --> 00:48:22,792 only a quarter of the army survived. 672 00:48:23,200 --> 00:48:25,065 The truth will never be known. 673 00:48:25,269 --> 00:48:27,533 Even though he was in desperate straits, 674 00:48:27,771 --> 00:48:30,706 Alexander still showed flashes of his old self. 675 00:48:31,408 --> 00:48:34,969 He was leading the army on foot, as he often did to encourage the troops, 676 00:48:35,345 --> 00:48:38,041 and everybody was absolutely desperate for thirst. 677 00:48:38,415 --> 00:48:42,181 Some soldiers found a tiny bit of water in a dried-up stream bed 678 00:48:42,452 --> 00:48:44,943 and brought it to him in a helmet. 679 00:48:45,322 --> 00:48:48,382 ln front of the whole army, he poured it away into the sand. 680 00:48:49,026 --> 00:48:51,859 lf they couldn't drink, then he wouldn't. 681 00:48:53,430 --> 00:48:56,024 The Greeks always cited this story 682 00:48:56,233 --> 00:48:58,133 as being proof of his noble character. 683 00:48:58,936 --> 00:49:03,134 l find it a little frightening that after all he'd put them through, 684 00:49:03,507 --> 00:49:06,874 they could still be won over by his tricks. 685 00:49:26,096 --> 00:49:28,621 But the truth is, they still loved him 686 00:49:29,266 --> 00:49:32,235 and still needed his leadership to pull them through. 687 00:49:33,971 --> 00:49:38,237 And he still needed them in order to be Alexander. 688 00:49:43,180 --> 00:49:45,114 Out here you really do wonder 689 00:49:45,315 --> 00:49:49,877 why on earth he brought his army through this appalling wilderness. 690 00:49:51,688 --> 00:49:55,248 lt makes you wonder whether he wanted to punish them 691 00:49:55,459 --> 00:49:58,326 for not following him to the ends of the earth. 692 00:49:58,528 --> 00:50:02,692 But among the Greeks, the most popular explanation was this. 693 00:50:03,100 --> 00:50:04,727 Simply that it was there. 694 00:50:06,169 --> 00:50:08,966 He'd been told the journey was impossible for an army, 695 00:50:09,306 --> 00:50:12,469 and because of his inner demon he just had to do it. 696 00:50:13,143 --> 00:50:14,974 He had to excel everybody. 697 00:50:15,178 --> 00:50:17,408 He had to do what nobody else had done. 698 00:50:20,851 --> 00:50:24,753 And, of course, in the past his gambles had always paid off. 699 00:50:27,557 --> 00:50:29,923 lt took him 60 days to get through the Makran. 700 00:50:32,095 --> 00:50:34,757 ln the spring he arrived back in Persepolis, 701 00:50:34,965 --> 00:50:37,525 from where he'd set off east seven years before. 702 00:50:43,940 --> 00:50:46,408 He walked through the burnt palace of the Persian kings, 703 00:50:46,610 --> 00:50:48,043 destroyed at his orders, 704 00:50:48,445 --> 00:50:50,879 and with hindsight he regretted what he'd done. 705 00:50:52,215 --> 00:50:54,240 After all, he was the king now. 706 00:50:55,085 --> 00:50:58,452 He was now wearing the robes and tiara of the Persian shah. 707 00:50:59,289 --> 00:51:01,052 He could no longer be a mere conqueror, 708 00:51:01,258 --> 00:51:02,691 a seeker after glory. 709 00:51:03,060 --> 00:51:06,154 Now he had to rule the biggest empire the world had ever seen. 710 00:51:14,137 --> 00:51:17,300 And lran was now the centre of his universe. 711 00:51:27,751 --> 00:51:29,048 He still had great plans, 712 00:51:29,252 --> 00:51:30,719 among them to conquer the West, 713 00:51:30,954 --> 00:51:33,514 but fate, or the will of the gods, 714 00:51:33,723 --> 00:51:34,815 was closing in. 715 00:51:43,834 --> 00:51:45,859 There, suddenly, after a massive binge, 716 00:51:46,069 --> 00:51:49,095 his dearest friend and lover, Hephaestion, died. 717 00:51:49,639 --> 00:51:52,472 Alexander was almost suicidal in his grief. 718 00:51:53,310 --> 00:51:55,710 ''Others loved me because l was king,'' he said. 719 00:51:56,079 --> 00:51:58,070 ''Hephaestion loved me for myself.'' 720 00:52:07,724 --> 00:52:09,521 The bazaars were rife with rumour. 721 00:52:11,394 --> 00:52:12,759 Some spoke of poison. 722 00:52:13,063 --> 00:52:15,156 That the king, too, did not have long to live. 723 00:52:15,832 --> 00:52:17,459 That the omens were against him. 724 00:52:18,635 --> 00:52:20,694 That he'd lost his sense of purpose. 725 00:52:21,171 --> 00:52:24,937 The legend is still told by the traditional tale-tellers in lran. 726 00:53:18,361 --> 00:53:21,296 That last spring, he moved back into lraq. 727 00:53:21,932 --> 00:53:23,797 Now obsessed with every omen, 728 00:53:24,000 --> 00:53:24,796 the king dithered 729 00:53:25,001 --> 00:53:27,834 while his soothsayers argued over the flight of birds. 730 00:53:28,638 --> 00:53:32,404 The signs, they said, were plain. He must not enter Babylon. 731 00:53:33,543 --> 00:53:35,101 Till now he'd never ignored the gods, 732 00:53:35,312 --> 00:53:36,301 but now he did. 733 00:53:38,515 --> 00:53:40,073 By the banks of the Euphrates, 734 00:53:40,283 --> 00:53:43,650 after another heavy drinking session, the king fell ill. 735 00:53:43,887 --> 00:53:47,721 The wounds, alcohol, grief had finally taken their toll. 736 00:53:48,391 --> 00:53:51,690 lmagine; the claustrophobia of the palace, 737 00:53:51,895 --> 00:53:54,261 the hanging gardens with their forest of palms, 738 00:53:54,564 --> 00:53:56,725 the somnolent heat of the river. 739 00:53:56,967 --> 00:53:58,958 There's a diary of those last days. 740 00:53:59,169 --> 00:54:01,763 lt's one of the most dramatic records in history. 741 00:54:06,243 --> 00:54:08,438 This is the account of the king's last days. 742 00:54:09,012 --> 00:54:12,504 lt comes almost word for word from the royal diaries. 743 00:54:13,316 --> 00:54:14,874 On 29th May 744 00:54:15,085 --> 00:54:17,383 he slept in the bathroom because he was feverish. 745 00:54:17,621 --> 00:54:19,748 He spent the next day playing dice. 746 00:54:21,057 --> 00:54:23,457 The 31st he bathed and lay down, 747 00:54:23,660 --> 00:54:25,059 listening to Nearchus tell the story 748 00:54:25,262 --> 00:54:27,230 of the return of the fleet from lndia. 749 00:54:27,764 --> 00:54:31,029 On 1st June the fever grew more intense. 750 00:54:31,668 --> 00:54:32,828 He had a bad night 751 00:54:33,069 --> 00:54:35,902 and all through the next day his fever was very high. 752 00:54:37,774 --> 00:54:41,232 5th June they moved him to the other side of the river. 753 00:54:41,945 --> 00:54:43,344 There he slept a little, 754 00:54:43,580 --> 00:54:45,138 but the fever did not abate. 755 00:54:46,583 --> 00:54:49,245 The Macedonian veterans now believed he was dead, 756 00:54:49,753 --> 00:54:53,052 and pushed their way into the palace to see him a last time. 757 00:54:53,890 --> 00:54:56,484 The motive in almost every heart was grief 758 00:54:56,693 --> 00:55:00,151 and a sort of helpless bewilderment at the thought of losing him. 759 00:55:01,197 --> 00:55:03,358 Lying speechless as the men filed by, 760 00:55:03,566 --> 00:55:05,557 he still struggled to raise his head, 761 00:55:06,102 --> 00:55:09,367 and with his eyes gave a look of recognition to each individual 762 00:55:09,572 --> 00:55:11,096 as he went past. 763 00:55:12,142 --> 00:55:16,203 On 10th June, towards evening, he died. 764 00:55:58,121 --> 00:56:01,488 After 20,000 miles, ourjourney was over. 765 00:56:02,125 --> 00:56:03,422 lt ended where it began, 766 00:56:03,626 --> 00:56:06,754 in the shadow of Mount Olympus, the home of the gods. 767 00:56:07,964 --> 00:56:11,195 Alexander's search for eternal glory was cut short, 768 00:56:11,401 --> 00:56:14,768 and ever since he's carried the weight of an unfulfilled destiny, 769 00:56:14,971 --> 00:56:17,599 the hero who flew too close to the sun 770 00:56:17,807 --> 00:56:19,536 and whose wings were burned. 771 00:56:20,710 --> 00:56:23,178 But today the verdict of history is harsher. 772 00:56:23,680 --> 00:56:26,649 A man broken in the end by the loneliness 773 00:56:26,850 --> 00:56:29,910 and insanity of absolute power. 774 00:56:32,522 --> 00:56:35,423 ls that how we should see Alexander's career now? 775 00:56:35,825 --> 00:56:38,794 As self-destructive madness 776 00:56:38,995 --> 00:56:41,122 rather than everlasting glory? 777 00:56:41,898 --> 00:56:44,059 l'll tell you what l think, for what it's worth, 778 00:56:44,267 --> 00:56:47,134 having followed in his footsteps for this far. 779 00:56:47,404 --> 00:56:49,304 And that is that all the evils 780 00:56:49,506 --> 00:56:53,135 unleashed by men of war in our own time 781 00:56:53,343 --> 00:56:56,244 teach us that we should reject Alexander's ideals. 782 00:56:57,113 --> 00:56:59,638 But Alexander was a man of his time, 783 00:57:00,250 --> 00:57:01,342 not of ours. 784 00:57:01,684 --> 00:57:03,311 He believed in the gods, 785 00:57:03,586 --> 00:57:06,020 and he would have accepted their verdicts, 786 00:57:06,222 --> 00:57:08,213 both for good and ill. 787 00:57:08,491 --> 00:57:10,220 lf he could answer us here now, 788 00:57:10,427 --> 00:57:11,655 l'm sure he would say, 789 00:57:11,928 --> 00:57:13,896 like the tragic hero that he is, 790 00:57:14,097 --> 00:57:16,361 ''Let the gods be my judges, 791 00:57:16,699 --> 00:57:18,997 ''for in every sign that they gave me, 792 00:57:19,335 --> 00:57:21,132 they told me no lies.''