PolledHistory - 1-7 Sep - Alexander The Great

 Hello! After a week of polling and a high vote rate, we have got a conclusion for this week's theme "Historical Leaders": About Alexander. So let's begin!

338 BC, Ancient Greece. Greece at this time was a mountainous peninsula with a collection of several small states and city states. Athens had lost its original power after the Peloponnesian War against Sparta, but from the north, a new terrifying Greek power came - Macedon. The Southern Greeks never really saw the Macedonians as truly Greek and saw them as barbarians.

Nevertheless, when King Philip II of Macedon organized a new alliance called the League of Corinth, a military alliance. Only Sparta did not join. This consolidated Macedonian power in Greece, which is already doninant. Sparta at the time wasn't much of a military superpower like it used to be, and though Macedonia never truly destroyed Sparta, it was mostly because Sparta was quite a worthless area that was weak.

Philip II was assasinated by 336 AD, but he left a powerful and strong Macedon. His son, Alexander III succeeded him as the King of Macedon. Alexander III was no regular king - he was a superb army commander and was taught by the philosopher Aristotle, who died a year after his death. 

Alexander III is also known as Alexander the Great - and most often, he is called that. His first action was to establish an uncontested power and rule in Greece. Thebes, a city state that rebelled against Macedon, was destroyed because of their rebelliousness. He had initiated the Balkan Campaign, which was mostly against rebellious vassal states under Macedon.

His father, Philip II was already planning to invade Achaenemid Persia -  most of the known world and the largest empire of history at that time - but he had died. So Alexander with a large army crossed the Hellespont, a strait separating Europe and Asia, and he met a slightly smaller Persian army at the Battle of the Granicus River, the first major battle in his war against Persia.

The Battle was tough and was situated on the riverbanks of the River Granicus. Alexander's battle was sort of a lucky one for Alexander - he had made a brave but risky charge and he almost died himself, but eventually won the battle. After that, he took over Asia Minor (Turkey), Ionia, and the rest of Anatolia. He defeated the walled city of Halicarnassus and from there went to the city of Gordium in central Anatolia and he cut the famous Gordian Knot.

The Gordian Knot was a legendary knot at the time. It was believed whoever could untie it would inherit all of Asia. Alexander cut the knot with a knife or sword. He was about to then go towards Syria and the Levant (a part of the Near East, near the coast of the Mediterranean Sea).

There he met in battle a large Persian army under the Persian king himself Darius III. The Persians had a significant number of soldiers compared to the Macedonians. Darius was near the center of his huge army. The Persian flank (that is, the side of an army) advanced towards the Macedonian flank, which was struggling, but the Macedonian opposite flank and middle attacked the centralPersian army, and Darius III fled from the battlefield when it already looked dire for him.

Some of Darius III' family was left behind and captured by Alexander, though treated well. The Battle of Issus was the second decisive great victory aaginst the Persians, and after the battle the Macedonians began taking over the Levant.

The capture of the Levant was not without diffuculty for Alexander and his army. Though many cities surrendered, the Phoenician city of Tyre refused and though they stood an impressive time, the Macedonians eventually destroyed the city of Tyre. Darius had actually offered a peace treaty to Alexander including a large lot of Persian land and lots of talents of precious metals, but Alexander refused.

Alexander then moved on to Egypt. Egypt quickly surrendered and they accepted him there as their ruler. Alexander also founded Alexandria there, a city that remains to this day. In 331 BC, he went north for Assyria and Upper Mesopotamia under Persian influence, and the heartland of the Persian Empire.

In the Battle of Gaugamela, Alexander scored a decisive victory against a huge Persian army under Darius III too. The Persian army was huge and had many soldiers and horsemen of all the nations Persia conquered. Similarly to the Battle at Issus, the Persians had attacked the Greek flanks, but made their central line disconnected and Macedonia under Alexander lead a decisive attack against the central Persian army and the Persians fled.

Again, Alexander was victorious and he continued to take the important Achaenemid cities, such as Babylon. Darius fled to the north towards the city of Ecbatana. From Babylon, Alexander went to Susa, a Persian city, and then fought another Persian army at the pass of the Persian Gates, where Alexander defeated the enemy and he then had access to the central Persian cities like Persepolis. 

Persepolis' palaces were destroyed, in an act of vengeance Alexander did because of the Persian raze of the Acropolis of Athens. Alexander continued  to chase Darius and take over the further a way lands of Media, Parthia, and later as far as Bactria and Scythia - far away lands to Greece. Darius III was killed by his own assistant Bessus and Alexander III continued to finish off Persia. Alexander continued to attack Northern India, where he did have some success but also diffuculty when fighting the Indian leader Porus.

Afrerwards, he decided to return to Babylon. He returned to Babylon with lots of casualties and soon died in Babylon at a young age of 32, having conquered the known world. The Macedonian Empire after him would crumble and separate.

That's all for today!

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Topic: Subregional History

Why did I choose this topic?

Subregions are large areas on this world that are big but not as large as continents. Subregional history can be interesting, as people and nations interact in a large but still relatively small area.