Macedonian culture. He even married a Persian dancer, Roxane. This differs Alexander from other conquerors, for he did not try to destroy other races of people, but intermix his people and the conquered people into one culture. In the spring of 327 B.C., he marched his men into India. Before he did this, he felt that it was a necessity to trim down the army to accommodate the different climate and terrain that they would face. He burned all of the baggage wagons of Persian booty that hindered his mobility, and dismissed a large number of his soldiers, reshaping his army with several thousand Persian cavalrymen. The greatest battle fought by Alexander in India was against Porus, one of the most powerful Indian leaders, at the river Hydaspes in July 326 B.C. Alexander's army crossed the heavily defended river in dramatic fashion during a violent thunderstorm to meet Porus' forces. The Indians were defeated in a fierce battle, even though they fought with elephants, which the Macedonians had never seen before. Alexander captured Porus and, like the other local rulers he had defeated, allowed him to continue to govern his territory. Alexander even subdued an independent province and granted it to Porus as a gift. The only tragic note of this battle was the death of Bucephalus, Alexander's horse. Alexander had ridden him in every one of his battles since Greece. He was grief-stricken and founded a city in his horse's name. His next goal was to reach the Ganges River, 250 miles away, because he thought that it flowed into the outer ocean. His troops had heard tales of the powerful Indian tribes that lived in that region and remembered the difficulty of the battle with Porus, so refused to go any further east. Alexander was extremely disappointed, but he accepted their decision. He then persuaded them to travel south down the rivers Hydaspes and Indus, so that they might reach the Ocean on the southern edge of the world. The army rode down th...
