ALEXANDER THE GREAT OF MACEDONIA
Alexander the great was born in 356B.C in Pella the old capital Macedonia. He was the son of Phillip II and Olympias the princess of Epirus.Alexanders childhood was spent in Macedonia as his father united the independent greek states through military conquest. At the age of 12 Alexander would tamed Bucephalus, a fierce horse that ate the flesh of all the men who had tried to tame and dominate him. At the age of 13 Phillip II hired Aristotle(a very famous greek philosopher) to be Alexanders personal mentor. Aristotle taught Alexander in the subjects of science, math, philosophy, and literature all of which would help Alexander the great in his later life. Alexander first taste of power came in 340B.C at the age of 16 when Phillip II attacked Thrace he made Alexander regent, this gave Alexander the ability to rule until Phillip II retured. Before the return of the king there was a rebellion by a Thracian tribe named the Maedi that bordered north-eastern Macedonia. Alexander quikly assembled a military force and stop the rebellion. He then proceded to capture the rebell stronghold and renamed after himself Alexandropolis. At the age of 18 in 338 B.C Phillip II gave Alexander a position in the Macedonian army in a commanding post among the senior ranking generals.
PHILLIPS II DEATH AT THE HANDS OF AN ASSASSIN
Phillip II was assassinated in the spring of 336B.C during his wedding ceremony with Cleopatra, a Macedonian girl of high nobility. The ceremony and his assassination took place in Aegae, the old capital of Macedonia. His killer was a young Macedonian noble named Pausanias. Nobody knows why Pausanias killed Phillip but some think that Alexander and Olympias were the ones who planned to kill Phillip and that they convinced Pausanias to kill the king Phillip II. Pausanias was killed immediately after robing Phillip of live by Alexander's closest freinds instead of being captured and judged in a trial, a major reason why Alexander is believed to have been involved in the assassination of Phillip II by some historians. Phillip II death was very helpful and benefitial to Alexander because with his death he inherited the throne of Macedonia that by the time of Phillip II departure inclueded the majority of Greece. Thanks to Phillip II death Alexander could be the one to invade Asia, cross continents, and finally fulfill the dream of Phillip to unite every Greek against Persia and finally destroy it.
ALEXANDER THE GREAT AS KING
Alexander faced many rebellions when he became king because no state believed he was strong enough to enforce his rule like Phillip II ad done. they all saw their chance for freedom. The Greek, the Illyrians, and the Thracians were the strongests rebels. alexader first put down the rebellions in Greece with amazing speed that shocked every nation. After victory in Greece most nations reconsidered and accepted his authority, but the Thracians and the Illyrians still remained. a threat. Alexander returned to Macedonia and charched into Thrace. He then fefeated the Thracians and Tribalians in a number of battles and after he was able to defeat the Illyrians before they could receive reinforcements. Once he was done with the Thracians and the Illyrians he was forced to march to south Greece one more time sence they had rebelled again because they had heard that the great Alexander had perished in battle. Alexander appeared at the walls of Thebes with his army. He gave the Thebans the choice to surrender now and they would all be forgiven, but the Thebans refused believing their defences were strong enough to hold the Macedonians back and strong enough to secure victory. In reality however the walls were weak and Perdiccas was able to penetrate into the citie. Once inside Alexander order to kill the Thebans a total of 6,000 men, woman, and children lost their lives and another 30,000 were sold as slave. After this impressive, overwhelming, and total victory the other Greek citie-states and remaining tribes all lost hope of independece from the Macedonian hand and became calm and tranquil.
ALEXANDER THE GREAT AS AN INVADER AND CONQUEROR
With Macedonian rule firmly and strongly planted in Greece, Thrace, and Illyria Alexander the great was finally ready ready to invade Asia all that was left was to appoint a regent. The 22 year-old king appointed Philip's experienced general Antipater as regent in his absence to preside over the affairs of Macedonia and Greece. Alexander the great left him a military force of 13,500 Macedonian soldiers to watch Greece, Thrace, Illyria, and protect Macedonia, and then set out for the Hellespont (modern Dardanelles) in the spring of 334 BC. In the army of Alexander the grea there were 25,000 Macedonians, 7,600 Greeks, and 7,000 Thracians and Illyrians, but the chief officers were all Macedonians, and Macedonians also commanded the foreign troops. Alexander's second in command was Philip's general Parmenio, the other important commanders being Perdiccas, Craterus, Coenus, Meleager, Antigonus, and Parmenio's son Philotas. The army of Alexander the great soon encountered the forces of King Darius III. There were 40,000 Persians and Greeks (20,000 each) waiting for them at the crossing of the river Granicus, near the ancient city of Troy. These Greeks had joined the Persians in the years following the defeat of the Greek army by Philip II at Chaeronea. The Greeks in the Macedonian train were mobilized by the Macedonians, and they were are believed to be hostages that would ensure the good behavior of their countrymen left behind in Greece under the watch of Antipater's Macedonian troops. Not surprisingly, the Greeks in Alexander's army played insignificant role in the upcoming battles, only to be discharged when convenient. But far greater number of Greeks joined the Persians brushing away the memory of the Persian invasion of Greece some 150 years ago. The Macedonians defeated the Persians and put them to flight and although the Greeks held their ground and fiercely fought, the battle ended in Macedonian victory. Almost the entire Greek force was annihilated. 18,000 Greeks perished on the banks of Granicus and the 2,000 survivors were sent to forced labor in Macedonia. The Macedonians lost only 120 men according to tradition. Alexander then led the army south across Asia Minor. Ironically, it is not the Persians but the Greek coastal cities which gave the greatest resistance to the Macedonians. The Greek commander Memnon and his men considerably slow down the advance of Alexander and many Macedonians died during the long and difficult sieges of the Greek cities of Halicarnassus, Miletus, Mylasa. But at the end the Macedonian army defeated the enemy and conquered the coast of Asia Minor. Alexander then turned northward to central Asia Minor, to the city of Gordium. Gordium was a home of the famous so-called Gordian Knot. Alexander knew the legend that said that the man who could untie the ancient knot was destined to rule the entire world. To that date nobody had succeeded in raveling the knot. But the young Macedonian king simply slashed it with his sword and unraveled its ends. In the autumn of 333 BC, the Macedonian army's encountered the Persian forces under the command of King Darius III himself at a mountain pass at Issus in northwestern Syria. 30,000 Greeks again formed a sizable addition to the Darius' army as elite fighters and were positioned directly against the Macedonian phalanx.
Alexanders action before battle descrived by the Roman historian Curtius
"Riding to the front line he (Alexander the Great) named the soldiers and they responded from spot to spot where they were lined up. The Macedonians, who had won so many battles in Europe and set off to invade Asia ... got encouragement from him - he reminded them of their permanent values. They were the world's liberators and one day they would pass the frontiers set by Hercules and Father Liber. They would subdue all races on Earth. Bactria and India would become Macedonian provinces. Getting closer to the Greeks, he reminded them that those were the people (the Persians on the other side) who provoked war with Greece, ... those were the people that burned their temples and cities ... As the Illyrians and Thracians lived mainly from plunder, he told them to look at the enemy line glittering in gold ..." (Q. Curtius Rufus 3.10.4-10)
the battle was a huge victory for the Macedoninans and Alexander. They had mirculsly pulled of a win in when the persians outnumber them greatly. It was a victory worthy of celebration specially sence Darius had run away during the battle leaving his famaly behind who were treated like royalty with great respect from Alexander.
After the battle of Issus(the one descrived above in which Darius ran) the Sieges of Tyre and Gaza began.
The victory at Issus opened the road for Syria and Phoenicia. In early 332, Alexander sent general Parmenio to occupy the Syrian cities and himself marched down the Phoenician coast where he received the surrender of all major cities except the island city of Tyre which refused to grant him access to sacrifice at the temple of the native Phoenician god Melcart. A very difficult seven-month siege of the city followed. In an enormous effort, the Macedonians begun building a mole that would connect the island-city with the coast. Tons of rocks and wood were poured into the water strip separating the island from the coast but its construction and the attacks from the city walls cost Alexander many of his bravest Macedonians. Although seriously tempted to lift the siege and continue marching on Egypt, Alexander did not abandon the project and continued the siege, surrounding the island with ships and blasting the city walls with catapults. When the walls finally gave in, the Macedonians poured their anger over the city defenders - 7,000 people were killed, 30,000 were sold as slaves. Alexander entered the temple of Melcart, and finally had his sacrifice. During the seven-month siege of Tyre, Alexander received a letter from Darius offering a truce with a gift of several western provinces of the Persian Empire, but he refused to make peace unless he could have the whole empire. He continued marching south toward Egypt but was again held up by resistance at Gaza. The Macedonians put the city under a siege which lasted two months, after which the scenario of Tyre was repeated. With the fall of Gaza, the whole Eastern Mediterranean coast was now secured and firmly in the hands of the Macedonians. The mainland Greeks had hoped that the Persian navy and the Greek commander Memnon would land in Greece and help them launch a rebellion against Antipater's Macedonians, transfer the war into Macedonia itself, and cut off Alexander in Asia, but the sealing of the coast prevented this from happening. Memnon fell sick with disease and died while attempting to regain the lost Greek city of Miletus on the Asia Minor coast, and the Persian plan to transfer the war into Europe died with him.
The conquest of Egypt
Alexander entered Egypt in the beginning of 331 BC. The Persian satrap surrendered and the Macedonians were welcomed by the Egyptians as liberators for they had despised living under Persian rule for almost two centuries. Alexander had long heard his mother's claim that he was the son of the all powerfull Zeus, he did not press a lot of attention to this claim until know. In Egypt the Pharaoh was believed to be the son of Amon-Ra, the Egyptian god of the sun, whom the Greeks and Macedonians identified with Zeus Ammon and he was giving that title by the Egyptians Pharaoh. He then traveled to the temple of the god.to vist the oracle who told him that he a son of Zeus Ammon, destined to rule the world, and this confirmed in him his belief of divine origin. From this day forward he believed he was a god, even making his own army acknowledge his divinity and vow before him( something they did not appritiate). Alexander would remained in Egypt until the middle of 331, and then returned to Tyre before facing Darius.
Battle of Gaugamela
He found the Persian army at the plains of Gaugamela, near modern Irbil in Iraq, which according to the exaggerated accounts of antiquity was said to number a million men.The two armies met on the battlefield the next morning, October 1, 331 BC. On the Persian side were numerous Asiatic nations - Bactrians, Indians, Medians, Sogdians, even Albanians from the Caucasus, the ancestors of the modern Albanians who many centuries later migrated to Europe and are now northern neighbors to the modern Greeks and western neighbors to the modern Macedonians. The survivors of the 50,000 Greeks which Darius had on his side at the beginning of the war were also among the Persian ranks. At the beginning of the battle the Persian forces split and separated the two Macedonians wings. The wing of general Parmenio appeared to be backing down, but Alexander's cavalry rode straight after Darius and forced again his flight like he did at Issus. Darius fled to Ecbatana in Media, and Alexander occupied Babylon, the imperial capital Susa, and the Persian capital Persepolis, and was henceforth proclaimed king of Asia. Four months later, the Macedonians burned the royal palace in Persepolis, completing the end of the ancient Persian Empire.Alexander continued his pursuit of Darius for hundreds of miles from Persepolis. When he finally caught up to him, he found the Persian king dead in his coach. He was assassinated by Bessus, the satrap of Bactria which now proclaimed himself "King of the Kings", assuming the title of the Persian kings. Alexander gave Darius a royal funeral and set out for Bactria after his murderer.He hunted Darius assassins all over Persia killing all of them in the end. He avenged Darius not because the traitors made his revenge impossible but because he believed only a king can kill a king.
Alexander reaches India
In the spring of 327 BC, Alexander and his army marched into India invading Punjab. The greatest of Alexander's battles in India was at the river Hydaspes, against king Porus, one of the most powerful Indian rulers. In the summer of 326 BC, Alexander's army crossed the heavily defended river 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. Porus was captured and like the other local rulers he had defeated, Alexander allowed him to continue to govern his territory. During the battle Alexander's horse Bucephalus was wounded and died. Alexander had ridden Bucephalus into every one of his battles in Europe and Asia, so when it died he was grief-stricken. He founded a city which he named Buckephalia, in his horse's name. The macedonian army would not go very far into India sence many of Alexanders men and generals did not want to go any further and he agreed and choosed to return to Persia through the rivers Hydaspes and Indus. One of the villages in which the army stopped belonged to the Malli, who were said to be one of the most warlike of the Indian tribes. Alexander was severally wounded in this attack when an arrow pierced his breastplate and his ribcage. The Macedonians rescued him in a narrow escape from the village. Still the Malli surrendered as Alexander became to recover from the grave wound. The travel down the river resumed and the Macedonian army reached the mouth of the Indus in the summer of 325 BC. Then it turned westward to Persia. The return was a disaster. The army was marching through the notorious Gerdosian desert during the middle of the summer. By the time Alexander reached Susa thousands had died of heat and exhaustion
Alexander dies
In the spring of 324, Alexander held a great victory celebration at Susa. He and 80 of his close associates married Persian noblewomen. In addition, he legitimized previous so-called marriages between soldiers and native women and gave them rich wedding gifts, no doubt to encourage such unions. Little later, at Opis he proclaimed the discharge of 10,000 Macedonian veterans to be sent home to Macedonia with general Craterus. Craterus' orders were to replace Antipater and Antipater’s to bring new reinforcements in Asia. But the army mutinied hearing this. Enraged Alexander pointed the main ringleaders to his bodyguards to be punished and then gave his famous speech where he reminded the Macedonians that without him and his father Philip, they would have still been living in fear of the nations surrounding Macedonia, instead of ruling the world. After this the Macedonians were reconciled with their king and 10,000 of them set out for Europe, leaving their children of Asian women with Alexander. In the same time 30,000 Persian youth already trained in Macedonian manner were recruited in the army. Alexander prayed for unity between Macedonians and Persians and by breeding a new army of mixed blood he hoped to create a core of a new royal army which would be attached only to him. Alexander will never see this happen. Shortly before beginning of the planned Arabian campaign, he contracted a high fever after attending a private party at his friend's Medius of Larisa. As soon as he drank from the cup he “shrieked aloud as if smitten by a violent blow”. The fever became stronger with each following day to the point that he was unable to move and speak. The Macedonians were allowed to file past their leader for the last time before he finally succumbed to the illness on June 7, 323 BC in the Macedonian month of Daesius. Alexander the Great, the Macedonian king and the great conqueror of Persian Empire, died at the age of 33 without designating a successor to the Macedonian Empire. In my opinion an unworthy end to the greatest worrier king of all times.