‘My boy, you must find a kingdom big enough
for your ambition. Macedon is too small for you’, the words of King Phillip II
of Macedon were prophetic as he addressed his son Alexander after he had tamed
a fearful horse at the age of just 10.
Alexander would grow up to be one of the
world’s most legendary military commanders. Born into an era of petty tyrants
and brutality Alexander the Great used the exceptional education he received –
from, among others, Aristotle – and used it to marshal his forces in nearly
impossible battles. He emerged victorious over the course of 13 years of
battles from which was forged one of the largest empires the world has ever
seen.
Alexander the Great was born in 356 BC to
King Phillip II of Macedon and his wife Olympias. Following his father’s
assassination Alexander succeeded him to the Macedon throne and the 20-year-old
King ruthlessly murdered all his rivals to the crown. This ruthlessness would
contribute to Alexander conquering most of the known world with an empire that
stretched for 10,000 miles and encompassed the Mediterranean, most of Europe
and touched the borders of India. Alexander the Great was prone to fits of
savage tempers and in later life he succumbed to megalomania
Although not exactly what one would call a
diplomat, he was a military genius who used guile, ingenuity and lateral
thinking to defeat often vastly superior forces. His greatest victory was at
the Battle of Gaupamela in 331 BC in what today is Iraq.
The Greek language was also a tool that
Alexander the Great wielded with great purpose. Prior to the expansion of his
empire there were hundreds of little spoken languages, when he imposed the use
of Greek, it created a common language that fostered the expansion of culture,
commerce and hegemony amongst the conquered lands.
Above all else Alexander the Great was a
commander because of his sheer bloody-minded arrogance and his belief in his
own superiority. He knew he was right and through his charismatic dominance he
controlled, after all he firmly believed he was a direct descendent of
Achilles. This belief was instilled in him from an early age by his father and
his tutors at school, church and in the military.
When he died in 323 BC, in suspicious circumstances
at the age of just 32, he left behind a huge empire in which a cultural
revolution had started but which was always on the brink of a fall into chaos.
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