In The Footsteps Of Alexander The Great; 103; Across The Hindu Kush

Two thousand three hundred years ago Alexander the Great invaded Aisha his goal to conquer the Persian Empire. We followed in his footsteps a twenty thousand mile journey from Greece to the plains of India. By the fifth year of the war Persia had fallen and the Persian king had been killed. Alexander now set out to overrun the vast eastern empire and he headed for Afghanistan. Kabul Afghanistan. Our journey now brought us into a

modern day war. The old city had been devastated. A crossroads on the ancient routes to India. Kabul has been a battleground for more than two thousand years. The city had been devastated by war. ALEXANDER wintered here in the fifth year of his campaign. He founded a new city close but another Alexandru. One more step towards uniting the world under Greek rule. For his teacher. Aristotle had told him it was fitting that Greeks should rule barbarians. Settled with Greek and native colonists. Alexander's city would foster a remarkable mixed culture. Greek and Asiatic.

I was hoping to see its treasures in Kabul Museum but that rich legacy the glass from Egypt the Ivory's from India Chinese lacquer was all gone. What's left is locked down in the cellar. And even that has been looted and smashed. When you thought this. Was to come out of limousines then what happened to me. When we saw all this. A museum director said it was as if our mother and father had

died. Our whole history was here. OK. Shame on me. This. Is. A Greek Period. He's wearing a Greek toga. That's the kind of. Huge. East and West. Of two in Afghanistan. This is an absolutely unique civilization. And this museum. Chief read it in the world. Just heartbreaking. It was a somber introduction to Afghan history. But this is a tale of war

and war destroys the past as well as the present. Now we had no idea what to expect on the road ahead. As Alexander saw it that went to the eastern part of the Persian Empire was still on conquered. The Greek historian. Aryan says a Persian nobleman Bessus had proclaimed himself king of Aysha and was rallying resistance. It was Bessus who had murdered the previous king Daria's. Now he'd retreated north beyond the Hindu Kush Mountains thinking Alexander wouldn't try to cross till the snows had gone.

Alexander took up the challenge. The next stage of our journey was to follow Alexander over the Hindu Kush. But to get out there we needed a vehicle. Suddenly Land Rover. So all the way up the fence. Yes I'm sure of course. All right you're the expert then. Alexander had burnt his wagons when he entered Afghanistan. They slowed the army. They were always breaking down so his troops crossed the country entirely on foot or horseback.

Early in the spring Alexander set out ahead of him the great mass of the Hindu Kush which rises to 20000 feet. On the other side his enemy Bessus was wait. There were three main. Bessus expected and Xandra to come the direct route and he devastated the land then to deny Alexander's supply. But Alexander never did what was expected. He chose the wrong beast and went up the Pantea and heading for the Holocaust. Traveling up the Panjshir Valley today is almost impossible to believe that a great army could have made its way through here. But they did. Throughout the whole of history armies had to find a way over the Hindu Kush and this tended to be the favorite route

Tambling the great For example came this way on his way from the Caucasus to India. No idea. Your main problem especially in the spring was not the terrain but with the cold and especially the lack of food and provisions. And as it turned out that was exactly the problem that Alexander faced. A local people had buried their winter supplies to foil the Macedonian forages. So Alexander's men had to take their own food with them. Or.

Landrover soon began to struggle. Alexander had been right wheeled vehicles can be a liability on these roads. The Russians also found their mechanized gear failed here against men fighting on foot and supplied by mue. Eventually our Land Rover would go no further any clunking noise it could be the tough job so we're going to pull it. And. It wasn't the last of our problems. Close closed the road is

closed because of a landslide. Where is this Could you ask the gentleman of the five minutes past the hour. Really. Impossible for vehicles to get through. It's impossible only donkeys. Told you we should use donkeys on who's part of the thread. How long do you think it'll take a. While. But then they have to build the road again. The road is good. We were obviously here for the night. So we went back to the nearest village.

What is the name of the village where we leave the cars and we start to walk up to the park. And I walk off to the mall. Alexander always used local guides. If they did well they were rewarded if they misled him they would kill. Simple but effective. I find. It easy to find the man with the horses. Yes I see him shot. That was what was. So highly organized. A commander. Commander great great. Great. Great.

Great stuff for. Sure. In fact Alexander's sappers and the engineers and one of the keys to his speed is move. They did this kind of job for him all the way to India. We abandoned our Land Rover and took a lift on towards the foot of the park. Track began to rise. Now we passed travellers walking in long zig up the

hillsides. It was easy to imagine the Macedonians doggedly trudging forward. This road was actually made up because a few years ago when it was really a track that the horses could use. Alexander's army must have been able to come along the river valley and those wide open spaces in the early part of the patch and here they would have been single file. So it would have taken them hours to cause any given point. And the Army must have stretched for ten miles. Who knows maybe all the way back down the ship. Which explains why it took 17 days to cross. Finally we reached the whole station below the pause and

there was commander how you study. It's a bit like the Wild West out here. And for a moment the atmosphere seemed to threaten you. No matter. What. How much does it cost. Per. Horse. To take a horse over from here and I'll walk all the way to the mouth over the mega as I mean just. Walk. Back. From. At this time. And the time has passed my time. The. Whole. Time. I mean it doesn't get worse. Kenny. Chesney it's the price of horses is $60000. OK what's your guess. I'll give you a

discount. Pounds. Kind on man will you that top off boss. That's you want very see. Thank you very much. OK. We loaded up our pack horses took 100 kilos each the same as Alexander's. His men had to carry their own gear in backpacks that would get tough at high altitude. All along the route to my surprise we saw people. Traders refugees

family. The comeback was still a thoroughfare to the north. As it's been throughout history. And we enjoy it. Well he said that night we met with the local commander. He recognized our cameraman Peter who'd covered the war with the Russians. We were the first Westerners through here and since then on Alexander's March the Greeks said the people here had never seen foreigners before. Let me just read about as Ariens says Alexander's mind was now totally concentrated on defeating Bessus.

And here on the past that night I could almost feel the magnetism of Alexander's leadership and the sheer excitement that his men must have felt marching with him. The. Next day. The track went higher. Than on the land well better. For us as no doubt for the Greeks. Walking was now an effort. As the crossing went into its second week. They ran out of grain and started killing the pack animals for food. But there was no firewood for cooking and they had to eat the flesh roll.

This they did says Arrian with the juice of a medicinal plot. Sophia. Can you ask which. Which part of the FUCK are you. That. I I. Ah. So you get a juice out of it. All right. Right. What did you make and. Then. To. My. Friend. Well I'm from Texas. What was your mother. Oh. No not a good advice I can make. Really. It's a tiny detail. But just imagine it cold water a raw horse meat and the bitter juice of the Sophia.

They were over 11000 feet and the starving troops were suffering from chronic fatigue brought on by altitude sickness. We brought few supplies with us and we took our snacks where we could find them. Did. Good stuff. From. A. Long distance traveling. Dried Melber is. Compressed together and kind of dried fruit. Mujahideen have gone in during the war with the Russians and these men. Keep your energy up. At such times. Alexander was inspirational. He'd run up and down the column cheering the man giving a helping hand lifting those who'd fallen on flacking.

Just below the summit. It was gunfire our gods raced off. They were bandits ahead. They. Make some changes. So I should just start making out more and more. Hold up buddy. Copenhagen is something you meet men. Robert the situation if you had to give anything like foodstuff money. Yes yes yes yes yes. So we're good targets. Is it true.

How's it going. No. Half an hour later we got the all clear. So. Finally we reached the top and saw the view Alexander's men had seen all those years before. Yes. OK.

Wonderful. We made it the top of the cover passes about 12000 feet on the road stretching your way down to the land of bacteria. And former Soviet Central Asia and around the mountains of the Hindu Kush. The Greeks knew that these mountains were part of a continuous chain which split into and was the source of all the great rivers of Asia and following Alexander's footsteps up here. This way you can really feel whatever you think about him what an amazing achievement it was to drive an army over these mountains. Nothing stopped him said the historian Arrian nothing. Put him off. He just kept coming on and on. Whatever the cold or the starvation he drove on and in the end his enemies were struck with fear at the speed of his response. Best the US was nowhere to be seen. The Gamble had paid off just below the summit a can of stones is said to mark the burial place of the Greeks who didn't

make it. On the other side of the Hindu Kush in northern Afghanistan they found good fishing in the rivers. There were big herds of livestock too. There was plenty of grain here. They could draw breath and fill their bellies. Yes yes we though were still travelling through a civil war. We now had to cross the lands of the local warlords and that was the tricky matter of a front line to negotiate. I have a letter from. General Harroun is my last chance would have I'd met the head of the local

garrison in London before we set out. He'd written me a letter of introduction to his frontline commanders. OK so you are most welcome to your home. Thank you very much indeed. Thank you. OK. So we waited. With the Fundamentalist Islam is that the Taliban closing in on Kabul we weren't too keen to retrace your steps. Nice to see you. I told you when I was in London I would like to.

Let them know next time you come you'll realize soon enough to get on my noticeboard. Come on. My. Career has had its ups and downs. He wants delivered pizzas in Pennsylvania. Then he was summoned home by the family to a very different life. Now. You can just be traveling along a quiet country road and you run into some group that you've never heard of. You decide they want to kidnap you for a bit. Of. Course. No one I know this time lives. In Afghanistan. This. Is. The beginning of. Your life in danger and your life is in danger. You can't just get.

Alexander though met no resistance. The people of this part of Bactria the Greeks had a prosperous. They grow grapes here and have all manner of fruits. It was a little Haytham. A warlord's house wasn't quite what I expected but soldiers are the same everywhere I guess for all the guns and high tech the Macedonians perhaps were much like the Afghans. Brave tough pious they lived hard and played hard like soldiers throughout history. The news that night was gloomy. Rockets were falling on Kabul.

We'd got through just in time for. Next day as we got ready to head north. Tanks were rumbling through the streets. They were moving their forces back towards the mountains. Poor Afghanistan. Now I began to understand Alexander's work. We hired a battered Russian pickup and drove on in Alexander's tracks. Bessus was on the run and Alexander pursued him like a hunter. Towards the river

Oxus which divides Afghanistan from Central Asia. The road goes through waste land covered by moving sand dunes just as the Greeks described. But they weren't carrying enough water and they lost their way. Imagine it was midsummer blazing heat. They had to cross this great belt of shifting sand dunes and they had no water. They probably had to camp here for two nights and then they made the fundamental unbelievable mistake of broaching the wine supplies because they had nothing else to drink. It made them feel better. For the moment said one of the Alexander historians but the after effects were terrible. Maybe they had no choice but Alexander as a leader ended up hung over and dehydrated

stumbling over sand dunes trying to find the Oxus river. The Greeks reached this place just about the same time of the day. Late afternoon early evening when they saw the river. The trucks are so thirsty that they all piled down to the river banks and just started drinking. And there were a lot of deaths due to over consumption of the water over the river which isn't particularly good apparently. In desperation Bessus had burned all the riverboats battalion Zonda made rafts from tents stuffed with straw and ferried his troops across in five days. Bessus was running out of places to hide. Our journey now took us into Central Asia it was back on the

road to Samarkand. Despite the intense heat. Alexander advanced relentlessly. Then a very strange thing happened somewhere on this road. Alexander came to a small town. To his surprise the people here spoke Greek. As Alexander and his office has strolled around. They saw Greek faces in the marketplace. The townspeople had quite a tale to tell. Their ancestors had been Greeks from the Aegean coast of Turkey. Though bilingual now they still kept up Greek custom. But they had a dark secret that ancestor with a priest. The family of the

temple of did among the bronchodilator. A hundred and fifty years before they'd collaborated with the Persians in the hated war which Alexander had vowed to avenge. So what would Alexander do now. This. Early next morning Alexander came through the gate with a small detachment of troops apparently to receive the hospitality of the BRAC. In fact during the night the army had been given instructions to surround the top. And at a prearranged signal they began to attack. With the intention of massacring everybody. So. The you don't have suspected nothing. But despite the kinship of language desperate entreaties the fact that they were holding olive branches in their hands the symbol of peace the savagery didn't stop

until everybody had been killed. And afterwards the Greeks destroyed its walls and even cut down its wounds and sacred groves. So. No trace. The expedition historian Kalis the niece did his best to justify the massacre. The aim of Alexander's crusade after all had been to punish persion wrongs. Arrian. Says nothing. I imagine he felt that. However you gloss it over. A war crime is still a war crime. Alexander now received word that support for Bessus was crumbling in the face of the Macedonians lightning advance. Alexander sent his general Tola me on ahead

to arrest him. The last resistance in the Persian empire he thought had now collapsed. Telling me that Alexander I pushed on as fast as he could up this road with my town cavalry 10 day march in four days. This kind of hit somebody really hard man. His supporters were just terrified they turn him over to the Greeks. When Alexander arrived he was standing by the roadside. Humiliated his dog collar. Bessus met a gruesome and his nose and ears were cut off and he was sent back to Persia to be impaled. The Persian punishment for Tritons. Alexander pushed on to the sea or down river the outermost edge of the Persian

Empire. Here he founded a city which he called Alexandria the father must it's still here today. Co-gen in Tajikistan. To understand why he stopped here. We have to imagine the world as he saw it. As far as he knew he was near the northern edge of the world. Beyond the Siddartha and they only a belt of aeroplanes. As far as the great ocean which had circled the there was no point in going any further. To mark his northern limit Alexander built altars to his favorite god done Nice's perhaps on the very spot where now there is a great statue of Lenin monument to another tide of history which has come and gone. It's a nice place for the most. I think the Greek colonists might have felt quite at home here.

Figs and olives in the market. Alexander said he hoped the tongue would one day become rich and famous. Perhaps he remembered the words of his teacher Aristotle. But civilization will only thrive on citrus. Trade. Money. Shush shush. This gent was one of more than 20 Alexandria's the King founded between Egypt and India. The empire was linked by a system of post-horses and racing camels. The troops received letters from home medical supplies came out here by the ton. Oh thank you very much indeed. Thank you.

Alexander even had his favorite books and fresh fruits sent us. Him grief. My parcel came from a friend in Athens. Great great newspaper. All three columns Aristotle was right. The fruits of civilization. That's a bottle of now. But the local people were not prepared to buy into the idea of a Greek world empire. That summer the famed horsemen of Bactria would gather the sardines to pay Martin. For two thousand years or more. They bred the finest horses in Asia and they fought the kind of war. Alexander had not prepared for. No battles just hit and run. You can imagine what he was up against when you see them play Karshi.

This was just a game. Alexander couldn't beat us because we were such good horsemen. The old man said. Even an eight year old could ride and throw a spear. That's horse. We had greatness. That. Is. What our forefathers used to say. The horse is the wings of a man. A horse is strong. Feel like I'm a fierce. In.

Heavy fighting. Alexander was seriously wounded in the head and throat and lost both sight and speech. Worse was to follow a Macedonian column was white top of Samarkand. That first defeat 30 years. At his base on the Siddartha river he suddenly found himself crippled and at bay. Alexander was now one of the lowest points in his entire career surrounded by enemies suffering from a leg wound he had malnutrition dysentery coming on his throat wound did not heal so he could hardly speak. His voice was so quavering that people even close to him couldn't hear. He couldn't stand in the ranks he couldn't ride

a horse. He couldn't give his army encouragement and instructions. The very thing on which his generalship depended as a vivid image of Alexander at this moment opening his tent flap at night to gaze across the river at the twinkling fires of the nomad armies. Being Alexander though he had to act. He forced his way across the river and won a stunning victory even though his dysentery was not so bad. He had to be carried back. Now began his hardest war. That winter he regrouped in the next spring. Massively reinforced he took fire and soared across Central Asia. Five mobile army groups and fifteen thousand men spread up the river valleys of Tajikistan in a search and destroy operation almost as far as China. In the autumn they

reunited. Salman Khan. Salman. Khan. The most famous and glamorous city on the Silk Route. In Alexander's day. It was the chief town of Sakuya. Today's was Pakistan. Here that September took place one of the most fateful incidents of Alexander's life. Just outside the city gate lies the mound of the ancient tongue. And the remains of a soaked in Palace. One night. Alexander held a banquet here among the guests was a veteran cavalry officer called Cleetus. One of Alexander's father's generation

fighters that saved Alexander's life back in the early days with everyone drunk. The evening turned nasty. Alexander was harping on about his relationship with his father. He felt very embittered and competitive. It's a real Freudian stuff. My father never gave me the credit for my part in his victories he said for me ill will and jealousy kritis was one of the old guards stood up he said. Everything you have achieved was based on what your father did. In fact your father's achievements are far greater than yours. And he won them fighting men not women. His point Alexander had been relatively calm and unruffled following tirade. He threw fruit at clatters tried to grab a spear in order to hit him and kept calling out in Macedonian to give the alarm for the royal bodyguards to come in. Alexander's friends meanwhile had grabbed hold of Clyde and they pulled him out of the door and actually got him across the moat over there. But just when everybody thought everything was

over. In comes quizes again here I am Alexander Alexander grabs a long spear from one of the guards at the door and runs him through blood everywhere and Alexander collapses onto the body in a drink sodden heap. In floods of tears. Some said titers got what was coming to him. The king now suspended freedom of speech at the Tomb of Tambling another tyrant or hero depending on your point of view. The words of an eyewitness came to mind spoke of the fear which people around Alexander felt. He was a very violent man with no regard for human life who was said to be melancholy man. Meanwhile Alexander had still not crushed the Central Asian revolt the

ringleaders were holding out in the rugged mountains on the Tajik was Becton border. With their wives and children they'd taken refuge on an inaccessible peak known as the sogged in Rome where I was wrong. It's never been fun. We were sleeping at a village high in the mountains. Hearing of our search for the rock over breakfast the local men showed us an old manuscript of the Alexander legend. That's a good place. There were old traditions. They said that Alexander had come this way and that the last citadel of seraglio lay in the mountains close by. Stories like this are ten a penny in these parts where you'll find Alexander's legend everywhere but my ears pricked up when they began to tell us about a mountain a day's walk from

their village. Ice of ice. I know home because their forefathers had told them I was the softy and they offered to take us. It seemed worth a try. Yes. The mountain lies right in the heart of ancient sancta. It's called has Rati so tunne. It's fourteen thousand feet high. And the last few thousand feet form a sheer cliff. The sardines thought they were safe. Alexander was about to give up. Attempting to seize the soft rock

but one of the ambassadors came down from the Sorkins irritated him so much Arrian says that he had to go on and seize it in pursuit of glory. The ambassador simply said in response to Alexander's demand for them to surrender just fine soldiers who can fly. Nobody else is going to be of any concern to us. Alexander asked for volunteers with experience in mountain climbing. Three hundred men came forward Hurd's men from the Macedonian uplands. They took ropes made P-town Roman tent pegs. The climb was difficult enough for our local guides but Alexander's men did it that night on the back face where they wouldn't be seen. On the other side a narrow path led to a ravine which was massively defended. 32 of Alexander's climbers died on the rock.

That you're. Doing the next day on this 300 mountain is up here over the top of the ridge up there waving flags. The barbarian said Herrion absolutely staggered. They had simply not thought it was possible. Alexander's Herald rushed up to the front line shouted across to surrender now he said You see I found the soldiers who could fly. The rebels gave up there and then the story was remembered everafter is proof of Alexander's almost superhuman powers.

But now comes the most amazing twist in the tale. A piece was finally broke. Not through war but through love. At least that was how the Greeks told. One night a splendid banquet was held by one of the sulkin barons Alexander's erstwhile enemy Occy Ortiz. It was a feast of typical barbarian splendor. The Greek said. I imagine not unlike the great wedding feast you see today. The feast was the Baron's beautiful daughter Roxanne little story.

She'd been captured on the songs in rock with her girlfriends. She danced with the Kings Alexander set eyes on Aryan says it was love at first sight with the same impulsiveness which would kill plucked. Alexander proposed with his sword he cut the bread as they still do to mock and engage in those that he was 29. She had to guess. His friends was attracted to put it mildly. She'd had a relationship with a woman before but his real intimacy is emotional and physical. Same with man. And to cap it all he ordered some of his generals to marry the local women too. Wasn't really love or just a clever political ploy. Who can say. Alexander's marriage with Roxann sealed the conquest of Central Asia.

He now returned with his new bride to bulk in northern Afghanistan to prepare for the invasion of India. We flew there in a war lords helicopter. Alexander's expedition would open up the heart of Asia to the Greeks. Would be the greatest crossroads on the recent China. Sea wall stretching the seven miles with the remains of a hundred. Fighting makes. I'm a. Huge profits of the period. When the Arabs came here in the seventh century simply. In.

The. Face. Those still had another card to play in this story. It's. Here in bulk. Alexander announced that he wished to be worshiped as a god. Persian star. You can imagine how that went down among the Macedonian veterans. And now for the first time there was a serious plot against Alexander's life. A group of royal pages planned to assassinate him. They were betrayed and tortured to death. But the dissension over Alexander's divinity climaxed in a sensational falling out with the man who had helped create Alexander's image. Aristotle's nephew the

historian he's. The funny rift took place here in the city to look back after a bitter exchange. Callison has left the royal presence and turned to reiterate two or three times a single line from Alexander's favorite book The ELLYARD. The line is this a better man than you by far was Patroclus. But still death did not spare. In other words you're not a god. Alexander. The King's response was predictably savage using the pages plot as a pretext. He arrested the knees and had him tortured and crucified. Of all Alexander's deeds it was said. This left the bitterest taste for everyone agreed consistency's was innocent yet he was brutally killed without trial.

It was the act of a tyrant and as Aristotle said. No one freely endorsed such rule. Alexander had already achieved more perhaps than he could have dreamed but now the question was no longer his ability to do thing. But whether his men would still follow him on into the unknown. The