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HISTORY'S
CURRENTS
ALEXANDER THE GREAT
Alexander
was born in Macedonia, a kingdom in northern Greece, in
356 BC. His father was Philip II, king of Macedonia, who
had usurped the throne from his young nephew Amyntas when
Phillip's brother King Perdiccas died. His mother was the
very formidable and mystic Olympias. The philosopher Aristotle
educated Alexander. Phillip had used Macedonia's gold and
silver mines to build an imposing state treasury. Using
this wealth, Phillip had built an impressive military machine
using the phalanx, massed infantry eight to sixteen rows
deep, marching in disciplined ranks, and carrying long pikes,
to conquer most of Greece. At age 16, Alexander led his
father's heavy cavalry in one of the final and decisive
battles of the conquest of Greece, the battle of Chaeronea,
in 338 BC. At Chaeronea, Alexander saw and exploited an
opening in the Greek lines and charged into the breach.
The result was a total defeat of the Greek forces and an
end to Greek resistance of Phillip's rule.
At
age 20, Alexander became king of Macedonia after his father's
assassination in 336 BC. He inherited a powerful yet volatile
kingdom, which he had to secure, along with the rest of
the Greek city-states, before he could set out to conquer
the massive Persian Empire. The Persians had tried twice
to conquer Greece, and were a major power in 4th Century
BC world. Alexander secured his kingdom and repressed a
rebellion in the Greek city-states by destroying Thebes,
and moved against Persia in 334 BC.
Against
overwhelming odds, Alexander led his army to victories across
the Persian territories of Asia Minor, Syria and Egypt without
incurring a single defeat. At the Granicus River in 334
BC, Alexander defeated a Persian army sent to stop his crossing
of the Hellespoint. The Persian force, led by a Greek general,
stationed itself at the top of a steep bank on the opposite
side of the river. The Persian plan was to concentrate their
attack upon Alexander in the hope he might be killed, but
Alexander led a successful charge across the river and routed
them. According to tradition, Alexander lost only 110 soldiers.
At
Issus in 333 BC, Alexander defeated a Persian army commanded
by Darius III. After invading northern Syria, Alexander
left his wounded soldiers in a camp in the city of Issus,
directing the remainder of his army southward in search
of Darius's armies. Meanwhile, Darius moved his army up
from the south. In a maze of Syrian mountains, the two armies
passed each other. Darius discovered Alexander's camp at
Issus and massacred the wounded Macedonian soldiers. After
Alexander found himself cut off from communication with
the north, he returned to Issus and defeated Darius's army.
Darius fled to Babylonia, leaving Syria, Palestine, and
Egypt open for conquest by Alexander.
He
went on to conquer most of the coast of Asia Minor including
the coastal city of Tyre in 332 BC. At Tyre, Alexander's
army constructed two moles to a fortified island fortress
a half a mile away. His engineers constructed siege machines
with catapults and iron-headed battering rams, which pounded
the wall until a weak spot collapsed. Using ships collected
from the Greek islands and other Phoenician cities, Alexander
took the island fortress, massacred 8,000 Tyrians, and sold
30,000 into slavery. The fall of Tyre closed a main base
for the Persian fleet and won control of the eastern Mediterranean
for Alexander.
Alexander
moved on to conquer Palestine and Egypt. In Egypt he was
declared Pharaoh and a living God. His next battle would
settle the age-old Greek score with the Persians and the
Persian monarch, Darius III.
Alexander's
greatest victory was at the Battle of Gaugamela, in what
is now northern Iraq, in 331 BC. Alexander, with 40,000
infantry and 7,000 cavalry, invaded Persia. The Persian
army, led once again by Darius III, massed about 250,000
men on the plain of Gaugamela. Alexander attacked the Persian
left flank and then broke through their center. Darius fled
and the Persians retreated. The Persians lost tens of thousands
of men in the battle, and the Macedonians lost fewer than
500.
Alexander
went on into India, but an exhausted army, discord in the
ranks of the officers, and tropical heat forced him to turn
back. Alexander III of Macedonia died in 323 BC at the age
of 32 of either an epileptic seizure or alcohol poisoning.
Alexander had led his army further than 11,000 miles, founding
over 70 cities and creating an empire that stretched across
three continents and covered some two million square miles.
He had spread Greek culture, with its emphasis on philosophy,
science, art, and literature across the known world. His
short life, however, prevented him from making any real
impact on law, government, or economics in the ancient world.
His
empire was divided into three parts, the Seleucid Empire
in Syria and Mesopotamian, the Ptolemaic Empire in Egypt,
and the Macedonian Empire in Greece.
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