Alexander the Great: Vision Beyond Conquests - Essay Example

?(Add (Add (Add Alexander the Great – Vision Beyond Conquests Introduction The of Alexander the Great bringsinto mind a special experience of a winning spirit as there is no other name as prominent as his in the history of wars and valor of great personalities. The legendary Macedonian name that glittered the glory of apex world conquest had only a span of thirty three years of life; however, Alexander, was from all angles, an outstanding individual example of excellence in one’s own field, and rather interestingly, his own was the greatest ever known quest for expedition and invasion of new lands and the political expansion of his empire’s unchallenged area. During the years of his fearless and ferocious life span, Alexander conquered almost a quarter of the earth’s total land surface area in a very young age. The world knows him only to be the war heroic icon; however, the actions and initiatives he had undertaken for the battles and the strategies he had framed for them reflect the political structure of the then western countries and the subsequent changes in the trends of administrative as well as cultural aspects in the past. This essay will focus on the merits and influence of the Great Alexander’s imperial majesty through an evaluation of events and incidents and their positive effects on the world history of politics and culture consisting of ancient European and West Asian provinces centered by the Roman regime. A comprehensive study of his warfare tactics and military surveillance strategy hopefully gives the best effect of the required material literature. The Making of a Conqueror Alexander, who was born to King Philip II of Macedonia and Princess Olympia in 356BC, was much luckier than a normal prince to see his father’s consecutive victories and continuous strive for administrative excellence. An otherwise wise Alexander was a genius in all the fields he had been trained by Aristotle, the great Greek philosopher. In his early teenage itself, he became a scholar of science, medicine, literature and philosophy, which later helped him in turning to a complete military think-tank. The incredible achievement streak of Alexander’s imperial life had a rather fantastic inception with his successful undertaking of his father’s army against the rebels of Thrace through a swift and successful power demonstration. Alexander’s thirst for supremacy over the entire European provinces then led him through conquering Greece and Illyria before he set his aim on Asia Minor. All through the battles fought against the powers across the southern belt of Asia Minor, Alexander had to face the resistance of the Greek army and entered the invincible Gordium. It is said that, “Alexander knew the legend that the man who could untie the ancient knot was destined to rule the entire world” (Alexander of Macedonia). Based on this fundamental approach, Alexander captured the power of Persia and began the expedition to the Asian mainland with an invasion through the Issus pass in northwestern Syria. The major credits from his philosophical abilities and the definite levels of leadership skills helped him unite and raise the morale of soldiers of the armies of all the countries he conquered. Marching towards the Persian Empire was not easy for him as expected with Darius’ mammoth number of soldiers blocking his way, but at the end of the Battle of Issus, success turned the Macedonian way. From then, the path became easy for him to Syria and Phoenicia except for a considerable amount of resistance from the city of Tyre, which he eventually defeated and continued the expedition towards Egypt. The Spiritual Line The entry to Egypt was in fact the most specific period of Alexander’s time, as he had a spiritual route to the Egyptian culture. The passionate natives even believed him to be the divine ruler descended as their God’s own son. According to certain findings, “Alexander no doubt won great popularity with the Egyptians by conducting proper, although purely Macedonian, sacrifices for the god Apis, a diety who had been scorned a few years before by the Persian Artaxerxes” (Fraser, 47). After ordering that a city be made in his name in the bank of the Nile, Alexander visited the oracle at the temple where he was assured by the priest that his destiny was to take the power of the entire world. This might be the spirit behind his ethical approach in the further wars in the Asiatic region in which he declined the encouragement of his men to fight in deceptive ways, especially, attacks in the nights. Another incident of his relent was the one that followed the killing of his bosom friend Cleitus in a drink-party brawl. As spiritually and culturally influenced by the Asian rulers, Alexander demanded a change in the way he was offered respect by the Europeans and any resistance of which caused him feel insulted. His rage was so harsh on such instances that he executed Callisthenes, the nephew of Aristotle. Sudden attacks and spontaneous war-booting tactics were always considered the peripheral backups for his success. In most battles he fought, he could surprise his enemy wings with his unimaginable speed and the ability to go in pursuit of his quick decisions for which he was believed to have a divine support for his valor. End of a Legendary Era Alexander’s world capturing run extended to India by 327 BC where his expectations failed largely due to the unfavorable conditions posed by an unforeseen geographical diversity of the mainland with its supportive defense portals of nature in the form of large rivers and huge mountains. However, after several attempts and at the end of fierce battles, the Macedonian force entered India through Punjab, ruled by King Porus. The following years of his regime were of a declining trend with the challenges from internal issues of co-alliance army and from the diversity of battle fields. He was wounded severely in an attack by an Indian village called the Malli during his siege of Indian tribal areas. The battle almost closed by 325 BC when the wounded Alexander’s team marched towards West Persia. His final decision was to send back his countrymen with honor and hospitality for having stayed with him during his conquest spree along the inter-continental power stride. By the end of his days, he was more philosophically tuned and wanted a new army of mixed breed of Persian and Macedonian unity that would extend his royalty for generations to follow. The everlasting legend of Alexander the Great began when he succumbed to his illness on 7th June, 323 BC by leaving the fruit of his lifetime struggle for ruling the world without a successor for his empire that stretched from Europe to Central Asia. Alexander’s Influence on World Politics The world’s greatest warrior and the most skilled military leader ever, Alexander had very high regards for the Greek culture and the philosophical teachings of Aristotle. He was a dictator by all means, but never a man of destruction – that made his title ‘The Great’. The topmost quality observed about his administrative style was his broadmindedness and willingness to accept and adopt the people and culture of all the provinces he occupied during his expedition. A wonderful example of his kingly approach for his enemy kings was that he always allowed them to continue the kingship after their surrender to his supremacy. The world considers his as a great founder of the new world with his strategies of war and construction of cities in the captive provinces standing as the evidences of this belief. Even in calamities caused by the wars and during heavy human loss, Alexander remained successful in his mission imaginably tougher than a herculean task. According Stewart, “to be founder of Alexandria(s), successor to the pharaohs and the Great King of Persia, and overlord of Indian rajahs were quiet different things and demanded radically different modes of self-presentation” (Stewart, 86). The prime factor of his potential as a political brain depended much on his skills of acute leadership and the fearless approach to lead from the frontline with undoubted rationality towards the traditions and expectations of the people he subdued. On a wide angle of view, his efforts to unify the Macedonian team with different people and their culture can be seen as a manifesto of his efforts for integrity of power to administer with ethics of constructive social restructuring. Most identically, the carriage of Greek as the main language across the larger proportion of his boundless empire was his iconic effort of bringing together people through the freedom of expression and to a great extent, inter-continental unity. The greatness of Alexander is thus worth all praise for his battles for the oneness of world countries in such an early period. Unity in World Economy The development of a worldwide economy system from the ancient period can be attributed to the efforts of Alexander the Great, owing much to the great insight of the world champion warrior. His ways along the battles later became pathfinders for many European countries in their search for setting up business in Asian regions. According to the assumption of Briant, with Alexander invading the Persian empire the commercial face of the world obtained a rapid change - especially the conquest of Tyre and foundation of Alexandria opened a new chapter in the world trade and his administrative system with due consideration for native population’s interest created opportunities for opening new ports and water ways to support the trade (173). As a standing example, introduction of coins as tokens of exchange value of money was a remarkable achievement of Alexander. It was the indicator of his world leadership insight with which he thought the world could be united even by a uniform currency - a thought that still survives with the European Union’s struggle for the stronghold of their currency to be the world’s economic identity. Alexander’s Cultural View Expansion of the land area under conquest was not the only motive of Alexander; rather, he focused on the possible unity of the world population by a uniform culture. By introducing Hellenism, Alexander influenced the differently associated population with the Greek literature. As such, a social imposition of self-consciousness that demanded the discrimination of non-followers of Greek culture guaranteed the spread of his cultural insights. As he had the most powerful military leadership ever, he was successful in accomplishing this motive. As Marvin considers, Alexander tried to impose ‘a progressive civilization’ upon other societies by force for the first time in world history (15). Such an attempt to spread the culture of Greece was indeed paving way for neighboring countries to learn the Greek language. All these processes collectively opened the window for the first thought of an intellectual way of social life – as a clear evidence of Alexander’s philosophical influence on the ancient cultural world. The construction of cities, especially Alexandria, was the phenomenal start of a literature-guided cultural world. With progress in lifestyle, a trend of cosmopolitanism evolved with enterprising thoughts of people to travel and trade beyond their native lands. As a major change, the Greek cultural dominance brought the thoughts of scientific approach with great ancient scientists like Euclid, Archimedes and Ptolemy developing theories on mathematics and geography. Conclusion The saga of the great conqueror from Macedonia with an inseparable love for Greek culture is full of wars and military strategies for generations to cherish. In an overview, the most outstanding feature of his biography would be the vigorous dreams he had possessed for the expansion of his imperial regions; however, the thoughts and the application of his scholastic lessons in the administration of an enviously large are of empire. The values he added for transcontinental cultural exchange and social progress at such a young age marks him out as matchlessly great personality. If the bloodsheds and the ferocity totally found in the battles are kept aside, Alexander’s attempts were the front runners for the finding of a modern civilization era by all means. As the new world has taken its route in almost all field of modernity from the ancient achievements of this great emperor, he must surely be called ‘Alexander the Great’. Works Cited Alexander of Macedonia. “Alexander the great Alexander of Macedon biography: King of Macedonia and conqueror of the Persian empire.” (n.d). Web. 30 March 2012. Briant, Pierre. “Alexander and the Persian empire, between ‘decline’ and ‘renovation’: History and historiography.” Alexander the Great: A New History. Eds. Waldemar Heckel & Lawrence A. Tritle. USA: Blackwell Publishing, 2009. Print. Fraser. The World of Philip and Alexander: A Symposium on Greek Life and Times. Ed. Elin C. Danien. Philadelphia: UPenn Museum of Archaeology, 1990. Print. Stewart, Andrew. Faces of Power: Alexander's Image and Hellenistic Politics. England: University of California Press, 1993. Print. Toynbee, Arnold & Marvin, F. S. “Alexander and Hellenism.” The Evolution of World-Peace. US: Ayer Publishing, 1921. Print. Read More