Alexander the Great

Alexander the Great was one of the most famous military leaders in the history of the world. Alexander conquered most of the known world during his reign as the head of the Macedonian military leader. Alexander inherited one of the best military formations of all time which you will learn about when you go deeper into the web site. In all of Alexander’s reign, he had many accomplishes and in this web site you will find out about some of Alexander’s greatest accomplishes during his life.

 

 

 

Contents

      Life of Alexander

      Macedonian Phalanx

      Taking Persia

      Invasion of India

      Proclamation of God

      Sources

 

 

 

The Life of Alexander the Great

Alexander the Great was born in 356 B.C. to Phillip the II, King of Macedonia. His father was a great military leader who helped organize the most famous military formation in all of history, the Phalanx. He had helped make this army very powerful. One day Alexander was to take over the thrown of Macedonia when his father died. When Alexander was young he was tutored by the great philosopher Aristotle. Aristotle taught Alexander in many subjects including science, medicine, literature, and many more. Meeting with ambassadors of other countries helped Alexander learn about how people live in the different countries outside of Macedonia. Alexander became a very educated young man.

 

When Alexander was twenty his father was assassinated and he took over the thrown of Macedonia. At this time the country of Macedonia was in a lot of confusion and Alexander had to fix this. (See Saving Macedonia) Alexander fixed all of the problems that were happening in Macedonia. He did this by killing the people that were causing these problems. After he fixed the city he started on his goal of conquering the world. Alexander was most famous for during war, he used the famous military formation the Macedonian Phalanx. By using this formation which none of the other countries were aware of, he could easily conquer these other countries. Alexander eventually conquered Egypt, Greece, and parts of Asia.

 

Alexander fought many famous battles in his attempt to spread his rule over the world. A couple of these famous battles include the Invasion of Persia, Invasion of India, The Battle of Issus, and The Battle of Granicus. All of these battles Alexander fought hard and won. These battles helped spread his reign over the world. Many rulers of other countries during Alexander’s reign feared him greatly because they knew that he could beat them in the case of battle. His army was now so powerful it was almost unstoppable. The problem was that as Alexander moved away from the countries to new countries, people did not know if their ruler Alexander was alive. This was a problem because people began to spread rumors in the countries that Alexander was dead and this caused confusion. Governors of the countries started to spread these rumors even more so that they could gain more power and would get more money. When Alexander would get back to the countries he would learn what these governors were doing and sometimes he would execute them. This made it so that when Alexander would leave again, the people of the country would not know who to believe or what was happening with their ruler. These problems persisted until Alexander’s death.

 

Alexander was taken sick one day when he was in Babylon. He was in Babylon trying to make plans to improve the irrigation for the Euphrates River. The cause of this sickness was due to him drinking too much unmixed wine. He had drunk a large amount of it in a very small period of time. Alexander kept getting more and sicker with the pain increasing minute by minute and no one was able to help him because they did not know what was wrong. This is the place where Alexander died. His last words were, “To the best. (The strongest)” He said this after he was asked how he left the kingdom. He was saying how he was leaving his kingdom while it was stronger than any other nation in the whole world. He was very proud of this and many people thing this is they way Alexander would have wanted to go out, with his kingdom at the peak of its power.

 

 

 

 

The Phalanx

What is the Macedonian Phalanx?

The Macedonian Phalanx is a military formation where the soldiers stand next to each other, shoulder by shoulder, row by row. All of the soldiers would march forward with long spears. When they would get to the enemy they would just keep marching forward and if a person got killed in the formation, they would just keep on walking forward. This made it so that everyone would keep charging. Even if someone was hurt or killed everyone would still be able to move forward. This overwhelmed the enemy and was virtually unbeatable.

 

 

 

Here is a picture of the formation. The soldier all lined up shoulder to shoulder with their spears pointing forwards. They are all ready to charge forward against the enemy.

 

Who used the Phalanx?

 

The Macedonian Phalanx was used by the military of Alexander the Great. This military formation made Alexander’s army basically invincible because no other army could defend against this. When other armies would charge against Alexander’s army, they could not get around the large spears coming out in all directions and as the phalanx would charge the enemy would be powerless against the huge spears of the Macedonian army. Any army that went up against this formation was bound to fail and this is exactly what happened. These other countries had no way to fight back. The problem was that the other countries had no way of knowing about this formation so when Alexander got there, they had no way to find back. They were defenseless. There were many small places that surrendered to Alexander early when they realized that there was no way they could fight back against Alexander’s invincible army. The Phalanx is the reason why Alexander was able with the Macedonian army, to conquer most of the well known world.

 

The Accomplishment

 

The Phalanx is considered by some as the greatest accomplishment Alexander did in his whole reign. The reason for this is because the phalanx made it so that Alexander could have all of his power. If Alexander would have not been able to have such a strong formation for his men, he may have not been able to beat so many other countries armies. Maybe another country could have beat his army and taken over all his land. This would have completely changed history. Every war that Alexander fought in, he used this military formation for his troops. As soon as he would get to each place he would order his men to get into this formation. Once they were all set, Alexander would order the men to march forward. They would march to wherever they needed to conquer. Whenever someone tried to get in their way, they would be stabbed by the giant spears the men of the phalanx carried. As soon as they took over the place they were attacking, Alexander would establish rule and move onto the next place that he would attack using the phalanx. With Alexander’s formation the phalanx he accomplished his goal of taking over as much land as he could. This is why the phalanx on its own is pretty much the greatest accomplishment Alexander could have had. Alexander may have not had any accomplishments if he would not have had this accomplishment.

 

 

 

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Taking Persia

 

Alexander the Great always had the goal of riding the world of tyrants to make the world a better place to live in. When he took over all of the nations he wanted to make their nation better so that the people would be happier. Alexander really wanted to conquer Persia. This is because they had tried to invade Alexander’s land of Greece after he had conquered it and this made him very mad. The government of Persia had wanted to be in control of Greece with unfair rule which is exactly what Alexander did not want in the world.

Alexander had conquered all of the lands that had surrounded Persia. Once he and his army had got to the land of where Asia was he declared that he would conquer all of the land in Asia with a spear. This is because when Alexander was crossing the ocean and came across the land he threw his spear and it landed in the land and stuck there so he wanted to use only the spear to conquer the land. As the Alexander and his army passed over the land of Asia they soon encountered the Persian Army. Alexander and his men fought uphill against the Persian Army only fighting with their hands. Alexander’s army conquered the Persian Army and proceeded toward Persia. Alexander on his way freed all of the Greek cities he encountered on his venture that had been taken over by Persian rule.

Alexander again encountered the Persian Army on his journey through Asia conquering all of the cities that he could. The leader of the Persian Army’s name was King Darius. Alexander hated this man so much for putting Greece under the rule of the Persian Empire. Alexander and his army again defeated King Darius’ army. The problem was that Darius had escaped. Alexander continued on and eventually captured Darius’ family in the city of Damascus. Every city Alexander went though he freed from the Persian Empire and added to his empire. He was now trying to capture Darius to end the Persian Empire. As Alexander followed the trail of Darius he let free every city from Persian rule and added it to his territory. One morning Alexander and his Macedonian Army met up with the Persian Army. The Persian Army was no match at all to the Macedonian Army. The Macedonian Army killed off most of the Persian Army but the King had gotten narrowly away from Alexander. After this battle Alexander proclaimed himself the king of all Asia. He had no rid the land from the tyrants of Persia. Alexander was very proud and his empire was now even stronger than ever.

 

Alexander still pursued the Persian King for a long time. Eventually Alexander caught up with Darius. The only problem was that Darius was dead. His men were so sick of him ordering them around and running away from Alexander that they murdered him. Alexander was now the soul King of all of the Persian Empire. He now had control of the majority of Asia. This accomplishment was a very big one. This is because Alexander had control of so much more land with all of this new territory in Asia. He had now added to his goal of getting rid of the tyrants in Asia. His empire was now a lot larger because all of this new land in Asia. This made this accomplishment a very great one for him and his empire.

 

 

Invasion of India

 

After Alexander had finished taking over the land Persia had occupied and ruled over, Alexander moved onto the rest of Asia which was mainly India. Alexander went into the land of India and split up his troops. He marched through and took over many small cities. In one city Alexander went to, the King gave Alexander equipment to use on his journey through India. This king was allowed to stay king but he was under Alexander’s rule. The problem that Alexander had to deal with was a man named Porus. He ruled over much of the land and he was a tyrant. He would not let anyone go though his land. He heard of Alexander and got his army together. No one would take over his land without a fight. Alexander went towards the land where Porus ruled and fought many battles with him and his army. Soon there was a very large battle between the Macedonian Army and Porus’ Army. After a long time of fighting during this battle Alexander’s Army was victorious. Alexander captured Porus but was very nice to him. He let him still reign over his country but he had to be under Alexander’s rule. Porus thought that this was very fair and he himself became a fair ruler as he ruled over his land.

 

Alexander continued on through India. He came into contact with many tribes that were very hostile towards him and his men. Alexander had to fight off these tribes to conquer this land. As Alexander continued he had a problem with his men. They were very exhausted and didn’t want to fight anymore. This was a big problem because Alexander would really need his army as he proceeded. Alexander eventually persuaded his troops to keep going with him. Alexander with his army continued to fight off the hostile people that lived in these towns of India. In one fight Alexander was wounded. He rested for many days and with the help of some of the doctors in India he recovered. Now Alexander had taken over the majority of the big towns in India. Now he was set out to take over the rest of it. The rest of it was filled with many tribes in small towns that would not go down without a fight. Alexander and his army continued to fight off these tribes and take over the towns. Alexander was wounded many times but his army continued to rescue him and save his life. This is how loyal his army was to him and looked up to him.

 

Alexander continued through very harsh terrain. There were not very many towns but most of the towns he went to surrendered to him so that they could go on with their way of life. As Alexander and his men kept on going they came to a very large dessert. Almost three quarters of his men were killed here because the conditions of the desert were so bad. Many also died in a monsoon that occurred. The men had no way to get away. After Alexander and his remaining men continued on he came to land that was very friendly. All of the people were very friendly to him and gladly surrendered to him. He did not have to fight anymore to take over any land. Now he could rest with his men. Now he had taken over all of India. His empire was even stronger now. This accomplishment was so great because it secured most of Asia now under his rule. This was not a very easy accomplishment in that he lost a large majority of his army and he himself was also injured many times. This is what made this accomplishment so great.

 

 

Proclamation of God

 

After Alexander the Great had conquered all of Egypt and Greece he needed to find out a way to unify these countries as one country under Alexander’s rule. What he did to do this is he proclaimed himself the king of the country as well as the god of the country. He did this both in Egypt and Greece. When people of these two countries learned that Alexander was the god and king of both these countries they became one. Now both of these countries were unified under Alexander’s rule. This was a big accomplishment because it made it so that all of Alexander’s people joined together and became one. Now all of the people would work together. Also, this made it so that Alexander’s army would be bigger and more powerful because the armies of both these nations would join together. Once these armies joined together they joined with Alexander’s already growing army. This accomplishment made it so that Alexander would have enough people in his army so that he could invade Persia and add to his ever growing empire.

 

 

 

 

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Sources

 

Web Sites

 

      http://www.1stmuse.com/frames/

      http://www.unet.com.mk/ancient-macedonians-part2/nepobedliva-e.htm

      http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/8740/Alexander.htm

      http://faq.macedonia.org/history/alexander.the.great.html

      http://wso.williams.edu/~junterek/persia.htm

 

Books

 

      Alexander the Great and the Logistics of the Macedonian Army
By Donald Engels

      The Genius of Alexander the Great
By N. G. L. Hammond

      The History of Alexander
By Quintus Curtius Rufus

 

 

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Last revised: 1/12/05