Alexander The Great’s Travels Through Uzbekistan

Alexander of ancient Greece, the first ruler of the world, traveled through Uzbekistan on his campaign that took him all the way to India. Alexander’s Asian campaign started in 334 B.C.E with the conquering of Asia Minor. This included Egypt as well as the Phoenicians. He then set out to move against Persia, and after his success there, entered Central Asia in 329 B.C.E..

Moving through what is now Afghanistan, but called Bactria by the Greeks, his army made its way northward to what is now the modern day Uzbekistan. Arriving in 328 he fought with the local forces that the king of Bactria had lost control over. Known as the Sogdian states, these different areas were never truly united and were defeated by the Macedonian army. But the people in the area were never conquered, especially the highlanders in the region who continued to find until the Greeks were driven out.

Spitamen, the leader of the Sogdians, was defeated in a final battle with Alexander in the fall of 328. After this, Alexander sought to bring stability to the area with political strategy, as it became clear he could win a battle, but not the war. He gave loyalists property and wealth at the expense of those who opposed him. After two years of fighting he left with weak control over the region.