Alexander the Great: History, Facts & Accomplishments

His Conquests 

The immense success enjoyed by Alexander the Great was greatly influenced by his ability to plan tactically and implement decisions that his opposers did not expect. To a great extent, he got his inspiration from Achilles as he considered himself a great warrior, selected by the gods. It is why when the Persians under estimated him, he faced them in battle and won. It is also why he managed to conquer many other regions around the world and ruled as a respected and revered leader. It would therefore be prudent to analyze his conquests, his empire’s legacy and the impact he had on the numerous regions he conquered. 

Alexander came into power after the death of his father Philip who the Greeks had once considered to have been chosen by the gods. They similarly believed that he had been abandoned by these gods when he was later killed (Judge & Langdon, 2016) . Nonetheless, Alexander took up the leadership of people who somewhat underestimated his ability to be a strong leader. His upbringing acted as a foundation for the tactics he adopted as he stood extremely talented in political and military matters. He had been tutored by Aristotle, a great philosopher with immense knowledge to pass along. It is why Alexander’s talents were greatly exhibited through his military and political talents. As part of Achille’s lineage through his mother, Alexander would easily develop confidence in himself and would use this to create and maintain the loyalty of the army after he took over leadership and resorted to killing anyone who was opposed to his leadership. 

Philip had left a foundation for Alexander to build his leadership on even when some would have considered this foundation to have been week. It is why Alexander opted to recommence the Persian invasion that had been set in motion by his father Philip II (Judge & Langdon, 2016) . His victory as somewhat influenced by the overall notion that he was not a great leader and his potential was therefore greatly under estimated. Persia was advantaged in size which meant that such a conquest was of great risk for Alexander. Considering the aforementioned and the lack of confidence from those he left behind, one would have concluded that Alexander would have lost to the Persians. Nonetheless, he had tactically planned and ensure to advance an army comprised of Macedonians from his home town and Greeks, who he had conquered along the way. He quickly advanced against the Persians with this army further supported by his great political and military tactics. He won this first major battle of his life against the Persians at the Granicus River in 334 B.C.E (Judge & Langdon, 2016) . He was tactful to the extent that he would anticipate the moves that would have been made by his opponents and planned plausible responses which eventually worked. This made it somehow hard for those he met in battle to figure out his plans and found it had to win against him. Even when another leader would have taken pride in such a victory against the Persians to celebrate for an extended period, Alexander resorted to take advantage of the progress he had made and decided to move on to Asia. 

His battle plan was founded in heroic conquest which pushed him to defeat his enemies to help build his name as a hero in Greece and across the world. When he proceeded into Asia, Alexander also ruled the region and credited his victory to the gods. He had immense faith in his religion to the extent that he believed it was the will of the gods that he ruled Asia. Compounded by the fact that he was greatly inspired by Achilles, Alexander viewed no defeat in his path. He moved on along into Syria, Palestine and Egypt ensuring to influence these regions culturally while ensuring to pull those that led these regions close to him. He ensured that when he conquered Egypt, he took control of the Mediterranean coastline to guarantee that the Persians did not use it as the access through which they would invade Greece. His power and influence were great to the extent that the ruler of Persia, Darius the II surrendered and offered Persia to Alexander (Judge & Langdon, 2016) . He however declined the offer and moved along into Afghanistan, conquering as many nations as he would. Those who fought by his side had grown weary from being away from their homes for too long and decided to go back to Greece. He would go with his soldiers and conquer Persia again but his heroic journey would end in Persia. 

The Legacy of his Empire 

Alexander took immense pride in the Greek culture and ensure to inculcate its concepts into regions, cultures and governments he conquered. Politically, he wanted to ensure that he merged his governance of Greek and Persia after conquering them which is why he developed and advanced a unique way of doing this. Across the regions he had conquered, including Asian and Egypt, Alexander placed Persian and Greek officials in important and influential administrative positions. He also ensured that his armies were well-spread across the Asian region to help create Greek-based connections. He also wanted to merge the Greek and Persian cultures which is why he married numerous Persian wives and also expected the same for his officials. He also implemented many of his Greek religious aspects into his vast empire (Judge & Langdon, 2016) . As he ruled, he expected that he would stand as a role model for his subjects to emulate Greek cultural aspects such as truth, wisdom, virtue and excellence. This cultural influence was greatly felt in Asia as many of these cultural aspects were adopted in the region. He also ensured to commercialize Asia by developing the rivers Tigris, Euphrates and Indus (Judge & Langdon, 2016) . He turned them into commercial waterways that linked the entire Asia. For Egypt, Alexander contributed immensely in the commercialization of the region and founded Alexandria which would later on develop into and educational hub. A significant population of Alexandria spoke Greek and the area was eventually identified as an influential area for inquiry and learning (Judge & Langdon, 2016) . It is an indication that both Egypt and Asian greatly benefited from the introduction of the Greek culture as was done by Alexander. Asia learned deep seated aspects of the Greek culture such as wisdom and excellence while Egypt, though Alexandria, managed to advance through knowledge and inquiry. 

It is undeniable that Alexander the Great was an astute and immensely talented leader. He managed to take control of Greece at a young age and employed tactics that made people loyal to him even through fear. His conquest was experienced in vast places across the world including Asia, Egypt and Afghanistan. His leadership style leaned primarily towards his culture and religion which is why he desired that those he led adopted aspects from his culture. As he took control of regions like Asia and Egypt, he ensured that these areas benefited immensely from his leadership. He commercialized the entire Asia through the rivers Euphrates, Tigris and Indus, for Egypt, he founded the city of Alexandria which would later on be identified as a renowned region for learning and inquiry. Despite his final years being characterized by a leader who had given up to some extent, his previous actions greatly benefitted his empire which deserved him to be identified as Alexander the Great. 

Reference 

Judge, E., & Langdon, J. (2016).  Connections: A world history  (3rd ed., p. 489). Pearson Education.