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The Pros Of Alexander The Great's Consolidation

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Alexander the Great was able to consolidate his position as king of Macedon because of his ability to exploit his lineage and the support from family and the army. Alexander was able to support his kingdom, express his legitimacy and to continue to command the army that his father once lead. His many skills contributed to him to grow his power and achieve a successful reign, in which he took advantage of and began to strengthen his position. With the support of a growing army and a good family reputation he consolidated as the King of Macedon. Alexander the Great was able to consolidate his power because of his legitimate claim to the throne and because of his mother’s ability to discard any rivals that may have got in the way for Alexander’s …show more content…

This meant that from Alexander’s birth, he had the rightful claim to be king after his father. After King Phillip II’s assassination, Alexander’s mother, Queen Olympia, made the choice to help Alexander the Great consolidate his power. Part of this meant to murder the daughter of Philip II and Cleopatra (not the ancient Egyptian Pharaoh), this event drove Cleopatra to her suicide. The reason behind this was that Alexander and his family did not want any interference with his legitimacy. Having another family member that had a possibility of being in line for the throne meant that it was easier for Alexander to be overthrown by the public. Even before Alexander was given the position as king, he was known to be very good with people. According to the ancient source of Plutarch, when Alexander was at the age of 16, King Phillip II left Alexander in charge of the kingdom while he …show more content…

This was all leading to his position in reign of the Macedon kingdom therefore he fought beside his father’s large, well-trained army and when Alexander was given the opportunity to be king, this turned out to be in his favour. Alexander’s loyalty to king Phillip II’s army meant that trust was already earned within the army so Alexander had a large military defence to back and support him as king. When Alexander’s realisation of his father’s death set in, he was determined to conquer the throne. With this realisation, he gathered the Macedon army and gained their support, including any people who had played a major role within his father’s army. The Macedon army, who was now Alexander’s army and looked up to him as their king and ruler. As well as Alexander’s mother, Olympia, murdering the daughter of King Phillip and Cleopatra, the Macedon/Alexander’s army proceeded to eliminate any other potential threats or heirs to the throne. According to a modern source Alexander the Great did not have control of the Corinthian League when he proclaimed king. The source claims that ‘Alexander sent his army south and coerced the region of Thessaly into acknowledging him as the leader of the Corinthian League.’ This example shows that his army was loyal to Alexander and was willing to fight without rejection to Alexander’s commands. The support of

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