Battle of Issus

Alexander the Great and Persian King Darius III fought their first direct confrontation at Issus on a narrow coastal plain in southern Anatolia (modern Turkey) on November 5, 333 BCE. Despite being outnumbered, Alexander led his Companion cavalry in a charge that broke Persian lines and threatened Darius, who fled and abandoned his family to capture. Alexander's victory gave him control over the eastern Mediterranean coastline and preceded his later triumph at Gaugamela that toppled the Persian Empire.