Alexander the Great was one of the greatest ruler’s and conquerors of all time. He conquered the mighty Persian Empire and most of the known world at that time.
Alexander was born in Pella, the ancient capital of Macedonia. He was the son of an excellent general and organizer, named Philip II King of Macedon. His mother was Olympias, princess of Epirus. She was brilliant and hot-tempered. Alexander inherited the best qualities of both his parents. But he was even more ambitious than his father. He wept bitterly when he heard of Philip's conquests and said, " My father will get ahead of me in everything, and will leave nothing great for me to do." Alexander's mother taught him that Achilles was his ancestor, and that his father
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Aristotle also inspired in Alexander a keen interest in other countries and races of people, and in animals and plants. Alexander's education was not all from books. He talked with ambassadors from many foreign countries, and with other noted persons at his father's court. When he was only 18, he commanded part of Philip's cavalry at the battle of Chaeronea. Alexander also acted as his father's ambassador to Athens.
In 336 B.C. Phillip II was assassinated, and at the age of twenty Alex ascended to the Macedonian throne. As soon as he received that position he found that there were many people plotting against him. So he disposed of the conspirators quickly by execution. Then he descended on Thessaly and restored Macedonian rule. Before the end of the year 336 Alex reestablished his position in Greece. He was also elected to the congress of states at Corinth.
In 335 as general of the Greeks he carried out a successful campaign against the Persians, penetrating to the Danube River. On the way back Alex crushed the Illyrians in a single week. On his way back Alex learned that the people in the city of Thebes revolted and called upon the people of Athens to join them. Alexander soon appeared before Thebes with his army and Alex took over the city, destroyed everything except for the temples of the gods and the house of Pindar, a Greek lyric poet. The surviving inhabitants who numbered around eight thousand were sold into
Aristotle is one of the greatest intellectual figures of Western history. Still today we are using his works in philosophy and the sciences. This allowed Alexander to take in vast amounts of knowledge. Aristotle saw the love for learning Alexander had and helped him further his studies. Growing up Alexander was interested in the secrets of medicine. King Philip wanted to give his son the best education he could. He asks
In the Ancient World, Alexander III is viewed as a great leader.As a boy, Alexander’s dad, King Philip III, was the king of Macedonia from 323 BC till 317 BC. While King Philip III was ruling Macedonia, Alexander was taught by philosophers ,such as Aristotle, and trained to become a vigorous leader. Later on, King Philip III died of unknown causes and Alexander III took over at the age of 20, inheriting his father’s kingdom Alexander became a renowned,strong leader. Alexander was a great general who feared nothing. He rode into battles in front of his soldiers and marched into unknown lands. He had great intelligence and battle strategies thinking of the enemies' next
Alexander the Great is without doubt one of the greatest military leaders of history. Not only did Alexander of Macedon conquer enormous areas of the known world but also he demonstrated dynamic leadership and masterful strategy on a large scale and tactics on the battlefield. During his life, he ruled the largest empire the world had ever seen, which stretched from ancient Greece to India. The son of King Phillip II of Macedon, Alexander was educated by the philosopher Aristotle and first led Macedonian troops at age 18. Many times Alexander was worshipped as a god in some of the countries he ruled. He had a huge impact on world history spreading the seeds of western culture and philosophy across the world and has legends and stories
After crossing the Hellespont with an army of 35,000 men, he met his first Persian battle on the banks of the Granicus River. His cavalry charged across the Granicus and overwhelmed the Persians. From there, Alexander went on to conquer all of Asia Minor with little resistance (“Alexander the Great.'; 2). After recovering from a serious illness in 333 B.C., Alexander marched to Syria, where the king of Persia, Darius III, had fortified a riverbank near Issus with 600,000 men (Durant 544). Again Alexander attacked with his cavalry and defeated the Persians. Darius III managed to escape but left behind his family and a large amount of money.
Later on in his life, Alexander continued to show his ability to accomplish many difficult tasks. "After three grueling years of warfare and three decisive battles, Alexander smashed the Persian armies at the Tigris River and conquered the mighty Persian Empire, including the legendary city of Babylon" (“Alexander the Great” ushistory.org). This was a great victory that proved Alexander had what it took to be a great leader. Defeating the Persians was something many leaders could never do, but Alexander
In order to actually understand how Alexander the Great came to power, we must first explore into his background. He was born around 356 B.C.E in July within the capital city of Macedonia. When he was just a small child, he spent his time observing his father, Phillip the II, who during that time was the current leader of Macedonia. His father was a force to be reckoned with, and scholars like to link this to Alexander’s future success within the empire. Along with watching his father, little Alexander at the age of 13, eventually gained a very smart and intelligent tutor by the name of Aristotle. Of which, was a very successful philosopher that taught him literature and rhetoric. It would later serve a purpose in increasing Alexander’s interest in many subjects such as science, medicine and philosophy. This process of his training would continue on until he reached the age of 16. Later
Alexander had been taught many things from a very young age such as academic subjects, politics, sports, and warfare which made him think very highly of himself. His father Philip of Macedonia made an extremely strong army and took over many Greek polises and wanted to take over the Persian Empire. This struck Alexander’s aspiration to take over the Persian Empire as well. Alexander then inherited his father’s kingdom at the age of 18 after his father
In document C it states “In the end, however, the causeway was completed and Alexander’s army smashed into the city.”, this is saying that even if the fight was 7 months he would never quit (Doc C). While on the move back to Greece Alexander’s followers wanted to quit and didn’t want to go on, so some stayed behind while he went on and “conquered the world” (Doc F). “At the time, Persia was probably the most powerful kingdom in the world. This mattered little to Alexander. Using his disciplined cavalry and infantry in both ways, Alexander fought his way through lands controlled by Persia - across Asia Minor, down the Mediterranean coast, into Egypt, and then to Mesopotamia. There he defeated a huge Persian army at Gaugamela.” (BGE). This quote is saying that even though Persia may be strong and powerful Alexander would still get his way wherever he went. This evidence helps explain why Alexander was great because when going through the difficult parts of his battles he would always stay strong and brave through it all despite the hard
Alexander the Great conquered a lot of land and showed many qualities of a great leader. Alexander became king of Macedonia in 323 BC at age 20, after his dad died. Alexander took on his dad's legacy of conquering Persia and continued conquering land. Alexander the Great deserves this title because he spread Greek culture throughout the Ancient world, he had great leadership skills, and great military tactics and leadership.
Alexander the Great, born of King Philip of Macedonia, was one of the greatest conquerors of history. In my opinion, Alexander was a great leader and warrior. For example, in Document B, Alexander used strategy to win over a battle. The strategy he used was complicated, but well thought out; Alexander moved his troops in all different directions to keep Porus puzzled, and took his cavalry to various points along the river bank where he would create a war cry so that Porus would parallel the movements on the other sides of the river until he no longer responded. Now Porus elephants were boxed in, and the elephants trampled their own men because they had no driver's upon them. In this way Alexander won a battle, and through his cleverness, he
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 was born from King Philip II of Macedonia and Olympias, princess of Epirus in 365 BCE. At a young age Alexander was taught by Aristotle. He taught Alexander politics, sports, warfare, as well as academic subjects. When King Philip was assassinated in 336 BCE, Alexander inherited his father’s army and empire. Using his outstanding knowledge, and his father’s great army, Alexander was able to conquer a great amount of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Alexander was substantially great considering he protected his empire, motivated his troops, and impacted cultural spread(ww).
At an early age Alexander’s father Philip hired a tutor. Alexander’s tutor was Aristotle, Philip II hired him to ensure Alexander had the best education. Aristotle worked with Alexander to help improve his intelligence. Alexander was able to conquer more land than his father. He was a very ambitious man he wanted to conquer the world. After his father was murdered he became ruler of the Macedonia empire (57). Under Alexander’s rule the Macedonia empire had control over Persia, Greece, Egypt, Iran, Afghanistan and some of India (64).
During Philip's expedition against Byzantium in 340 BC, Alexander, then sixteen years old, was left in charge of Macedonia. He took the throne like he was already king. He subdued the rebellious Maedi, a Thracian tribe. He took their capital city and drove out its inhabitants. He created a colony of several nations in their region. He called the new city Alexandropolis.