Alexander The Great: The Field Of Battle Of Babylon

Alexander the Great, also known as Alexander III of Macedon (356–323 B.C.), is conceivably the most successful military mastermind of the ancient world. The warrior-king dominated territories that included Egypt, Greece and the present-day Pakistan, Iran, and Turkey. Alexander spent his 13-year reign working to bring together the East and the West using military strength and cultural exchange. He combined battleground victories with kingdom-building tactics to extend his territories. Alexander’s character grew so rapidly that by the time of his demise at the age thirty-two, people thought he possessed godlike qualities. It is not always easy to separate facts and fiction from the tales narrated about Alexander. However, there are eight great highlights from Alexander’s life . Alexander the Great conquered more territories within a short time because he was brave, a military strategist, and utilized the mistakes of his enemies to make them afraid of his martial power.

During the course of his life and reign, Alexander had fought and won many battles and wars, defeating many kings and warlords throughout the ancient world. Perhaps his most recognized conquest was of the Achaemenid Empire of Persia and its ‘King of Kings’ Darius III during the Battle of Issus 1. After defeating the Persians at the Battle

In 336 BC, Macedonia had a new king. This new king's name was Alexander the Great. He was the son of King Philip II and decided to take over the throne after his father passed away. Not only was he king, he was also a mighty soldier. Alexander took his role as king very seriously. Once he became king, he quickly made his way to Greece and restored Macedonian rule in Northern Greece. Alexander was determined to take over the Persian Empire for his father in order to expand the Macedonian Empire. During his reign, Alexander trained the best army that Macedonian has every had. Alexander led the Macedonian Army to defeat the Persians. Alexander wasn't only king of Macedonia, he was also king of Persia. He eventually married a Persian Princess. The

Alexander advanced gradually and conquered territory by territory until Darius, the Great King of Persia, was forced to come out himself to face Alexander. Alexander was victorious in the two key battles at Issus and Gaugamela, and Darius was murdered by conspirators soon afterward. In the meantime, Alexander also conquered Phoenicia, Egypt, and Babylon, all of which proved to be valuable acquisitions.

Alexander the Great was able to defeat King Darius III at the Battle of Gaugamela because of his advanced battle strategies. These included upgrading the phalanx position. Instead of the spears either being straight forward or directly up, he had the back rows' spears point at a 75º angle to deflect arrows and javelins while the front row has their spears straight forward. On both sides of his phalanx, Alexander had set up cavalry. Alexander also had a second phalanx to prevent defeat. Alex first decided to lead the Persians away from the middle ground where the king was. After King Darius III had noticed what was happening, he ordered part of his cavalry to attack from the side. To avoid being surrounded, Alexandre charged straight into the

Alexander the Great was the king of Macedonia, conqueror of the Persian Empire, and one of the greatest military geniuses of all times. Even at an early age, Alexander had the promise to become a great leader. Through all his victories and conquests, he has become a great hero and has had a large impact on history. That is why I chose he book Alexander the Great, by J.R. Hamilton for my review. Hamilton does a very good job with the story of Alexander the Great.

The story of Alexander the Great begins, as one might expect, with his father. Alexander was the son of Philip II, King of Macedonia, who had already made a name for himself. Philip became king to a land surrounded by foes on every side in 359 B.C., but by 356 B.C. he had squashed most of them and built the strongest army in the world (Savill 4). His father was an accomplished ruler who was not willing to sit by and let his land be beset by those who would see it harm. Philip used his army to expand his territory into Greece, first by subduing the northern regions, which included the Athenian port of Amphipolis. He then set his eyes to Athens and Thebes, defeating them at the battle of Chaeronea (Stoneman 18). This battle would be described as some as the end of Greek freedom. After the battle, Philip created the League of Corinth, a treaty of sorts, that basically said Greece was under Philip’s control. Philip had conquered Greece, and he now set his eyes on Persia. He would not make any progress towards his conquest, as he was assassinated in 336 B.C. by one of his bodyguards. Some would argue that Alexander may have had a part in his assassination

Alexander the Great (356-323B.C.) was one of the greatest warrior leaders of the ancient world. As the son of Philip II of Macedon (382-336B.C.), he acquired his father’s sizeable empire following his father’s assassination. Though Alexander was only 21 at his succession of Philip’s empire, he commanded authority among older generals, and gained respect from his peers as a leader.His strategies, the overall designs of achieving success in battle, combined with his tactics, the individual movements in battle, demonstrated his brilliant understanding of the operational level of war (the level above the tactics of the battlefield but below the strategy of the entire war ). By the end of his reign, Alexander had established an empire that included the Persian Empire, and stretched over 3,000 miles from Western Greece to modern day eastern Pakistan and northern India. Alexander the Great’s insight and understanding of the operational level of war is what made him a military genius.

Through many history books and writings, many historians write about Phillip III, or most commonly known as Alexander the Great. Maybe because of how successful he was or maybe just because of how he had such a major impact in history. They tend to focus on the advantages he created, and the success Alexander the Great had as a leader not just in the military aspect of his reign, but also as a leader in the political side. The history shows the impacts and changes brought from the military, from which Alexander the Great lead, and the spreading of Greek culture he influenced through the areas he conquered. As Alexander the Great dedicated his life to further advancing his power, the world would never be same at the time for surrounding villages and empires that tried to defend their land against Alexander the Great with his army and allies.

Alexander the Great was one of the most prominent leaders on the battlefield. His war tactics and strategies have led him to become the leader of the most powerful, largest empire in the ancient world in the 300’s BCE. Alexander the Great used unique strategies shown in the battle of Tyre, Granicus and Gaugamela to defeat The Persian Empire. The Persian Empire at the time controlled most of Asia, Middle East and North Africa.

336 B.C- 20 year old Alexander is crowned king of a newly built empire. The son of Phillip of Macedonia, he is expected to lead a great life, as a conqueror and politician. Trained by Aristotle, his battle tactics are honed down to that of an expert, and he is to become one of the greatest strategists the world has ever seen. It took 20 years for his father to unite the Greek city-states, with different governments and beliefs, but finally, Phillips dream empire is built (Greenblatt and Lemmo 193-194). But even with Alexander’s big empire, he is still far from a great man, also regarding his strategy and influence. It is because of his brutality to the people he encountered and conquered, of his greed and power-hunger, of which drove him to

On the day of the battle it was cold and rainy. Even though King Darius's army was much larger than Alexanders they weren't as well trained. Alexander had more room than Darius because of his smaller army so he was more mobile and he could spread out his troops quicker and better. When the battle began, King Darius's army was on the offense but they were soon on the defense. Alexander was using a phalanx formation and using that he evenly spread out his army when King darius saw this he attempted to take alexanders right flank with his calvary but he

Alexander grew up to conquer the world regardless the cost. Alexander’s military successes was beyond believe, because he conquered Asian minor and Egypt in a decade. The size of the army led by Alexander it vary in different books but according to Arrian (Ptolemy) , there was 32,000 infantry and 5100 cavalry, agree by Diodorus (17.17)(page 34). Even though with this small army Alexander the Great smashed the Persian with less difficulty. ”Alexander, therefore, while the enemy’s attention was engaged by the siege engines and the attempted assault within their sector , order the Guards, the archer, the Agrianes, and his personal guard to hold themselves in readiness, and himself, with a few men only, crept unobserved by the dried-up water-course, under the wall, into the town. Once inside he broke open the nearest gates and admitted the rest of the troops without difficulty” (Page 204). First, Alexander order to his siege engine was to build batter defense and force an entrance through the breaches, soon something has changed his tactics. There were a stream, under the bed, Alexander soldiers pass under the town and opened the gate. While the Cyropolis were engaged in the front. Alexander the great took the town and killed about 8,000, the rest surrounded. Alexander brought down the greatest empire in the world at that period, without difficulty and most

He saw multiple omens of victory including an eagle flying over Darius. Alexander set his cavalry on the right. In the middle was his Macedonian soldiers and archers on the sides of the Macedonians. A different tactic he did was put his troops in the sides at an angle so he couldn’t be flanked. As the battle began Alexanders forces moved right and Darius’ forces moved left but Alexanders move was a trick. Alexander then moved to challenge Darius on the right while some of Darius’ chariots moved to attack the Macedonians. This maneuver failed because the Macedonians just opened up and let then through. Soon after this Darius realized there was no hope. As he fled the rest of his army followed and the battle was won by