Term Paper on "Alexander the Great, King of Macedonia"

Term Paper 4 pages (1019 words) Sources: 1+

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Alexander the Great, king of Macedonia and conqueror of the Persian Empire, is considered as one of the greatest military geniuses of all times (Alexander pp).

Born in 356 B.C., Alexander was the son of Philip II of Macedon and Olympias. Tutored by Aristotle, Alexander took the throne in 336 B.C. And immediately demonstrated his talent for leadership by "quieting the restive cities of Greece, then putting down uprisings in Thrace and Illyria" and Thebes (Alexander Pp).

In 334 B.C., Alexander crossed the Hellespont, now the Dardanelles, and leading an allied Greek army "undertook the war on Persia that his father had been planning," a march that was to be one of the greatest in history (Alexander Pp). He defeated the Persian force at the Granicus River, near the Hellespont, then took Miletus and Halicarnassus, and in 333 B.C. entered Syria, "and there in the battle of Issus met and routed the hosts of Darius III of Persia, who fled before him" (Alexander Pp). Determined to conquer the entire Persian Empire, in 332 B.C. Alexander entered Egypt, and meeting no resistance, went to the oasis of Amon where is "was acknowledged as the son of Amon-Ra," and the same year founded Alexandria, "perhaps the greatest monument to his name" (Alexander Pp).

Returning to Syria in 331 B.C., Alexander again met and defeated Darius in the battle of Guagamela, and then marched south to Babylon, and on to Susa and Perspolis (Alexander Pp). Now, ruler of the Persian Empire, he pursued Darius to Ecbatana, "which submitted in 330 B.C." (Alexander Pp). Alexander pushed to Bactria, where Bessus, a cousin of Darius, having had the Persian king murdered and had declared himself king, however, when Alexander arrived in Bactria, he captured and executed Bessus (Alexander Pp). Now in the regions beyond the Oxus River, present-day Amu Darya, his men were beginning to show dissatisfaction, and in 300 B.C., a conspiracy against Alexander was "said to implicate the son of one of his generals, Parmenion...Alexander not only executed the son but also put the innocent Parmenion to death" (Alexander Pp). This was one of many instances of his harshness which further alienated his soldiers, who were not pleased with Alexander's "assuming Persian dress and the manner of a despot" (Alexander Pp).

Alexander moved on to what is today Afghanistan and into then into India, where the princes received him favorably, however, at the Hydaspes, present-day Jhelum River, he met and defeated Porus and his army, and after conquering Punjab, his men would go no farther (Alexander Pp). Alexander had built a fleet, and "after going down the Indus to its delta, he sent Nearchus with the fleet to take it across the unknown route to the head of the Persian Gulf, and daring undertaking," while Alexander himself led his men through the desert regions of modern Baluchistan, Afghanistan, and Iran, finally arriving at Susa in 324 B.C. (Alexander Pp).

At Susa, Alexander discovered that many of the officials he had chosen to govern his conquered lands were heavily involved in corruption and… READ MORE

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