Alexander the Great - Research Paper Example

?How Alexander the Great conquest affected all the territories. Introduction The word ‘great’ did not attribute all the rulers but a few who actuallydeserved the title. Alexander III (356- 323 B.C.) was the great ruler who deserved the term very well. Beginning as the king of Macedonia, he became a great emperor at his thirties and his territory stretched from the Ionian Sea to India. He is considered to be the conqueror of the largest empire in the ancient history. Alexander has to his credit being tutored by the great philosopher Aristotle. “ During their three years together at Mieza, Aristotle taught him ethics and his own views on politics and on the geography of Asia, and perhaps some metaphysics; later he wrote for him a treatise on the art of ruling, and perhaps another on colonisation” Tarn 2). The impact of the teachings of Aristotle came into be effective in his later life as the conqueror. It was assassination of his father; Philip II of Macedon in 336 B.C. that made him the king of Macedonia. By the time he ascended to the throne of Macedonia, the main cities of Greece were already brought under the Macedonian rule and so Alexander came up with a strong and experienced military force in the land. At first he established as the general of the Greece and then he ventured to expand the empire to the other side of the world. He started his expansion of the empire by attacking Asia Minor in 334 B.C. The ten years of expanding the empire, up to his death, marked as the craftsmanship of this Macedonian king. The whole Persia under Darius III came to be under Alexander the Great. The attack of Alexander in India (336 B.C.) witnessed the greatness of the emperor by giving the land to the earlier king. The near mutiny of his troops made him back to Macedon. The death of Alexander in 323 B.C. in Babylon witnessed the end of Macedonian dreams to conquer the remaining countries of the ancient world. BBC says, “Alexander led his army a further 11,000 miles, founding over 70 cities and creating an empire that stretched across three continents and covered around two million square miles” (BBC). All the places he conquered were put together in an ‘international network of trade and commerce’. The language and culture of the Greek spread across the conquered places and there was the interchange of the culture- the Greek and the conquered countries. This research gives a small description of the conquests of Alexander the great and tries to analyse how Alexander’s conquests affected the countries with Hellenistic attributes. So the paper takes the thesis statement, Alexander’s the great conquests affected the countries in many ways. Alexander’s Conquests It was after ascending into the throne of Macedon in 336 B.C., Alexander III took part with the desire of his father in expanding the territory of the country. His father, Philip II, had already made the Greek countries under Macedon through military and diplomatic measures. So he had already paved the way for his son to ride on. The new king Alexander at the age of 20 started his attempts to conquer the other countries. It was amazing for researchers to believe that Alexander could take control the major parts of the ancient world. His empire coved the countries like Egypt, Syria, Palestine, Armenia, Persia, Afghanistan and India of the ancient world. All those places that came on the way from Macedonia to India became under the control of Alexander the great. (See appendix 1) William J. Duiker and Jackson J. Spielvogol had given the brief account of Alexander’s invasion in their book, The Essential World History. It is stated in the book that, in the year 334 B.C. his army, consisting 37,000 men entered Asia Minor and soon the entire western half of the country came under Alexander. The attack of Alexander suddenly alarmed the Persian ruler, Darius III and he wanted to stop the movement of the Greek army. The battle of Issus was a fearsome one between these two armies and finally the Greek became victorious. This success made him move towards south and he conquered Syria, Palestine and Egypt in 332 B.C. After conquering these places Alexander again turned towards east and all the places in his way fell before him. In 331 B.C. he confronted another great battle against Persians at Gaugamela. It was an important battle as far as Alexander was concerned. The Greek came to be victorious and this made Alexander enter Babylon and then proceeded to the Persian capitals at Susa and Persepolis. This marked as the unmatched supremacy of the Macedonian king to his ascend to the tern ‘great’. Everything fell before Alexander and the Greek took hold of the large quantity of gold and silver from these places. After conquering these places his next attempt was targeted to Darius III. When Darius was killed by his own man Alexander became the ‘Great King of the Persians’. He established a rule there and then he moved towards east and North West to the plains of India. Alexander’s army entered north western India in 326B.C. The destructive battle at the river Hydaspes was very brutal and finally Alexander won the war. Even though he had desire to move further and conquer other parts of India the mutinous army forced him to go back. He reached Babylon and in 323 B.C. the never unyielding emperor fell in the hands of death. The reasons for his death were mainly fever, wounds that were affected during conquests, and the excessive alcohol (Duiker& Spielvogel 95-96). The long saga of victory came to be ended at the age of 32. It seemed to be amazing for the whole world that a person within the age of 32 could take hold of the major parts of the ancient world. The battles of Alexander were all great and moreover, the treatises with many of the conquered places were also the examples of great diplomatic calibre. This also acted as a catalyst in his life to be called as ‘the great’ in the world. Alexander and Egypt When Alexander attacked Egypt and the nearby countries, the Egyptians were under the rule of Persians. They ruled Egypt from 534 to 332 B. C. The arrival of Alexander was welcomed in Egypt. He was considered as their saviour from Persian rule and he was proclaimed as Pharaoh. It was Alexander who found the city Alexandria and he could not stay long in Egypt as the Persian king Darius had raised another army against Alexander. After defeating Darius completely Alexander moved to Indian plains. After Alexander’s death his generals took hold of his countries. Egypt was seized by Ptolemy, the commander of Alexander’s personal guard and found the dynasty Ptolemaic in Egypt (Brier & Hobbs 30). So it can be said that the last rulers of Egypt were Greeks and the last of Ptolemaic was Cleopatra, who got entangled in Roman politics and finally ended up her life by suicide. The invasion of Alexander thus produced the independence of the Egyptians from the clutches of Persians. After ascertaining the rule of the Greek in Egypt, there was firm relationship between these two countries in trade and commerce. How Alexander’s conquest affected Persia After the conquest of Alexander, most of the Persian countries became demonstrably part of the Hellenistic world. Anew culture was imposed upon the regions which were conquered by the Greeks. The term barbarian was used to denote people who are not Greeks. Another impact was that “Greek became the new language of governance, commerce, business, and communication” (Hayes & Mandell 27). The same book speaks that in many cities of the east ‘the Greek city state(the polis) was organised around certain political institutions and physical features.’ Moreover some aspects of being Hellenized was essential for the native people to withstand in the Geek rule. Alexander decided to attack Persian Empire because of its geographical features and diversity. It expanded from Egypt to Indus River and from the Caspian Ocean to Indian Ocean. In the year of 334 B.C., Alexander crossed the great Hellespont and conquered king Darius III, the great Persian king. When he destroyed the capital Persepolis that recorded as the end of Persian Empire and his attack pushed the land in to severe economic crisis. During the time of the conquest Alexander captured ancient treasures from Persepolis and distributed his soldiers. As Grendelfreak comments; “When Alexander burnt the Persian capitol Persepolis it symbolized the destruction of the Persian dynasty and put a vast sum of money into circulation, which affected the economy for centuries” (Grendelfreak). This economic disaster haunted the nation for centuries and it also paved the way for significant political transactions in the region. Analyzing the cultural consequences of Alexander’s Persian attack, one can find that a kind of cultural unification is occurred in Persia after his great conquest. As an initial step of cross cultural relations Alexander recruited number of Persian civilians to his army. Alexander’s administrative reforms paved the way for creating a kind of hostility between Persian and Macedonian soldiers. A mixed form of culture is established in Persian territories and people who lived in these areas began to practice some Greek customs and manners. A vivacious and innovative culture emerged from the merging of Greek and Eastern customs (Classical Greece). It is significant for a researcher to notice about the changes that happened in the field of trade and business after Alexander’s Persian conquest. New ways including water and land were started for trade and commerce throughout the territories of Persia. After the death of Alexander, his followers caught the administration of land that conquered by Alexander. During the end of 275BCE, it was consolidated in to three powerful Hellenistic monarchies such as the Ptolemaic Dynasty, Seleucid Dynasty and the Antigonid Empire. In his book entitled Evolution and the Future of Mankind, Lawrence Wood rightly comments that; “He initiated the era of the Hellenistic monarchies and created a single market, if not politically at least economically and culturally, that extended from Gibraltar to India” (Wood 268). Another notable result is that the language of Greek became the language of international trade and business. The city of Alexandria became the centre of trade and manufacturing and one can relate these changes in to the social and cultural life of the people who lived in that period. Historians have recorded that this city had promoted social, cultural, economic exchanges in the later events of the world. So the Greeks attack on Persia had affected much and it had reflected in many of the sculptures in the ancient Persian provinces. Alexander and India Alexander had to struggle a lot to win India as the new ‘climate’ was peculiar for the westerners. The attack of the king Porus and his army on elephants was a hard task for Alexander. Even though Alexander won the war he had to pay heavy causalities for it. It was said that Alexander had given back the conquered places to the king Porus back on seeing the bravery of the king. The attack of Alexander in India had not much affected the land as a whole. The battle was limited to northern western side of India. But some relations it had with the Hellenistic world. There was a direct contact with Mediterranean civilization and with India. The direct effect of Alexander’s war with India was that “it opened up communication between Greece and India and paved away for a more intimate intercourse between the two” (Prakashan 94). More over some slight effects are there in other fields. The attacks of the Greek necessitated the unification of country. Many smaller states became larger states and all these states had tried to keep a strong army to protect them from foreign invasion. The Indian states followed the Greek structure in the army. The Gandhara style of sculpture, prevalent in the Northern part of India, was an offshoot of the Greek invasion in India. The influence of Alexander to the later world The influence of Alexander was great not only to the conquered places but to many countries those emerged as a great power in later years. The conquests of him in many places led for the unification of the state. Many considered having a strong military so as to protect their country from alien forces. The conquests of Alexander made way for the development of trade and commerce between East and West. The silk route linked the West with East and the traders came to India and the nearby countries. The westerners came to know more and more about the East. This had reflected in the words of many travellers and this finally paved way for colonisation. The invasion of Alexander had led the Romans to construct a great empire in the world. “It was Alexander’s way, however- that of working through national groups, inevitable in an empire like this, comprising many different states and subject peoples- which led eventually to the Roman Empire being called one people” (Taylor & Francis 17). The Romans realised how the people of Greek under Alexander united and conquered the ancient world, and the same was used in Rome to build the Roman Empire. In all the places Alexander had conquered the aspects of Hellenism had taken its seeds there. Alexander’s conquest was such great that many modern countries had taken up him as the model for expanding the territories. Conclusions Historians have underlined the greatness of King Alexander many times in their researches and studies. The phrase ‘greatness’ is absolutely suitable for King Alexander because he was not only a conqueror ,but his invasion restructured the social, political and cultural life of a particular nation that he captured. The most important thing is that Alexander came so near to fulfilling his ambition to conquer the whole world and form a universal Empire, his success provides new meaning and political definitions for other conquests that recoded on the pages of the history. This research on the invasion of Alexander the great and the impacts on the territories which he conquered have made a clear notion that in all levels the term ‘great’ suits to Alexander III of Macedonia. A man’s ardent desire to conquer the world had nearly accomplished by strenuous work and team spirit. He was not brutal but rather kind and diplomatic in his attempts. The invasion of Alexander the great was great and remarkable in the history of mankind. Works Cited BBC. Alexander the Great (356 - 323 BC). 2011. Web. 23 May. 2011. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/alexander_the_great.shtml Brier Bob., Hobbs A. Hoyt. Daily life of the ancient Egyptians. Illustrated edn. Greenwood Publishing Group, 1999. Print. Classical Greece. Alexander’s Empire. Classical Greece. n. d. Web. 23 May. 2011. http://www.lmoskal.net/worldhistory/whtext/ch05/5.4.pdf Duiker, William J., Spielvogel, Jackson J. The Essential World History. 6th edn. Cengage Learning, 2010. Print. Grendelfreak. The political and cultural consequences of Alexander's conquests. HeavenGames LLC., 1997–2011. Web. 23 May. 2011. http://rtw.heavengames.com/history/civs/the_political_and_cultural_conse/index.shtml- Hayes, John H., Mandell, Sara. The Jewish people in classical antiquity: from Alexander to Bar Kochba. Westminster John Knox Press, 1998. Print. Prakashan, Upkar. Indian History Ancient India. Upkar Prakashan, n. d. Print. Taylor & Francis. Race relations in ancient Egypt. Taylor & Francis, n. d. Print. Tarn, William W. Alexander the Great, Volume 1. illustrated, rev.edn. CUP Archive, 1979. Wood, Lawrence. Evolution and the Future of Mankind. iUniverse, 2010. Print. Appendices: Appendix-1 Alexander the Great: empire. Alexander the Great: empire. Map. Encyclop?dia Britannica Online. Web. 22 May. 2011. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/media/1816/Alexanders-empire-at-its-greatest-extent Read More