Alexander the Great Conquerer

         Alexander the Great was not great, because he only conquered large amounts of land and did nothing to improve it. Alexander managed to conquer Egypt and almost half of Asia but his success ended there. The overtaking of  peaceful and stable civilizations like Persia caused huge amounts of unrest and Alexander did nothing to eradicate the problems he made. Instead of spending time establishing order over new territories Alexander continued conquering. Alexander also had very little trust in his close friends and was responsible for many of their deaths because of his paranoia and overly strong and unchanging opinions. Finally, after Alexander conquered areas of land he often had to keep it under military control as rebellions were so common. As soon as Alexander died his empire completely disintegrated. Historically Alexander has been portrayed as a godlike hero whose brilliant leadership freed oppressed nations and allowed them to advance. In many cases, such as in the Persian satrap of Bactria, Alexander destroyed the already existing towns and cities and did not bring any development or advance Alexander the Great's Little Star. 

18th century painting of Alexander and his wife Roxane by
Pietro Rotari. This interpretation used the popular belief that
Roxane and Alexander fell in love, while Alexander actually
married Roxane because she was part of the Bactria-Sogdiana
nobility who were currently fighting agains him 

            Alexander the Great’s conquests began when he decided to free Greek cities from Persian control. After Alexander managed to reconquer the Greek cities and get them back under his control he decided to continue conquering Persia instead of returning to Macedonia and working on fixing many of the issues in the already existing, such as unrest among the Greek city states. Alexander’s main motives of these conquests were to simply become famous and obtain more money for Macedonia Life of Alexander. At the time of Alexander’s conquest of Persia during the Achaemenid Era the empire was extremely wealthy and advanced Persian Empire. After many deadly battles that resulted in the deaths of over a hundred thousand Persian civilians and soldiers Arrian: Alexander the Great at the Battle of Issus. Alexander took over Persia. Around one-hundred and fifty years of unrest and fighting followed this take over until the Persians pushed out the Greeks and became free again. Even though Alexander was very liberal with most of Persia and even adopted Persian dress and married a Persian women he was simultaneously burning and sacking ancient Persian cities, such as Persepolis, and violating ancient cultural boundaries, such as the founding of the city Alexandra-Eschate between Sogdiana and Scythia which, traditionally, was blurred together with no clear boundary Alexander the Great's Little Star. This caused many months of fighting that resulted in huge losses on both sides. After Alexander conquered Persia he then went on to conquer Phoenicia, even though they were not a threat to his empire. Most cities surrendered but the fortified island city called Tyre refused. After a seven month siege that cost Alexander many men the city was defeated. Alexander lost so many soldiers because he ordered them to build a land bridge in range of the cities weapons. As Tyre had put up a strong resistance Alexander punished its citizens by killing thousands of the inhabitants and enslaving the rest Diodorus Siculus: Alexander the Great’s Siege of Tyre (Ca. 60–30 BCE).  Another instance of Alexander’s cruel treatment of conquered people was in Thebes. After the Greek city revolted Alexander sold its inhabitants into slavery and burned it to the ground The Beginning of Alexander's Empire. The lives of many innocent people were destroyed by Alexander and his army through unnecessary slaughter and destruction. . 

Coin showing Alexander portrayed as Heracles on the heads side and
Zeus on the tails side, which could be possibly referring to Alexander's
belief that he was a demigod and the son on Zeus.
ancienthistory.abc-clio.com/Search/Display/1846225

Another fault of Alexander was his dogmatic opinions and little trust in his friends. Alexander could also sometimes be careless with his life and his soldiers’ lives as he believed that he and his army was unstoppable Alexander the Great (356-323 BCE). On Alexander’s return to Persia from India almost three quarters of his army died due to lack of resources Life of Alexander. Alexander also frequently argued with his friends and officers. As over-drinking was a common occurrence in Alexander's court many fights ended in violence and, in some cases, the person he argued with was actually killed. One of Alexander's top commanders, Cleitus, got into an argument with Alexander over a song that made fun of Macedonian soldiers that had lost battles against the Persian's. Alexander enjoyed the song but it offended Cleitus. According to Plutarch during the argument Cleitus brought up the point that many of the experienced officers thought that Alexander's campaigns were wasteful and were not worth the many soldiers lives he had lost Plutarch: Alexander the Great Kills Clitus, Life of Alexander. Eventually Alexander became so angry that Cleitus was questioning him, that he killed Cleitus without thinking of the consequences. Even though the death of Cleitus upset Alexander it possibly made him more arrogant and self- centered  Life of Alexander. A few months before Cleitus's murder Alexander also had his father's top general Parmenio killed along with his son Philotas because he did not believe Philotas was trustworthy and Parmenio had too much power Alexander the Great: Hunting for a New Past?. After these two deaths Alexander's friends became afraid of him and more distant as they no longer trusted Alexander. Alexander made this situation worse as he began to adopt Persian customs and tried to force his friends to do so also Alexander the Great's Little Star.  It is very possible that the collapse of Alexander's empire was caused by the deteriorated trust in his friends.

Though Alexander the Great’s empire was one of the largest empires ever he failed to keep it together without scaring citizens into submission by destroying their cities and killing their families.  Even though Persia and other conquered regions were still in turmoil Alexander continued on to India until his men revolted and refused to go any further. Alexander had to destroy many cites to keep areas of empires under control, like Tyre, Gaza and Thebes. After Alexander's death his empire was split into pieces between three of his generals. One of the reasons why the empire was never peaceful and did not stay together is because Alexander did treat not all his conquered people fairly. Rulers of more successful empires like Cyrus the Great, the founder of the Persian empire, treated all their subjects equally instead of giving preferential treatment to a select few. Alexander adopted Persian dress, but at the same time abandoned his Greek culture instead of combining it with Persian and other cultures Alexander the Great: Hunting for a New Past?. As few centuries earlier, when Cyrus the Great conquered much of the same land he experienced much less conflict and created a more stable empire as he let his citizens continue living the same way they always had. Unlike Alexander, Cyrus did not sack or destroy cities. Many different cultures admired him as he appealed to everyone by being liberal. Even though Cyrus died earlier in life, either in battle or in his sleep, he empire still stayed together and even expanded throughout future generations in stead of collapsing like Alexander's empire Cyrus the Great. Another possible reason of the collapse in Alexander's empire goes back to the trust Alexander lost in his friends. Alexander had an heir, Alexander IV, but he ruled for a very short time with no control before being assassinated by one of Alexander's generals.  Instead of trying to continue Alexander's legacy and allow his son to rule, all the generals that Alexander had considered friends fought amongst each other for the empire Alexander the Great's Little Star.

          The legacy of Alexander the Great can no longer be considered flawless or the perfect way to rule. Alexander is not the greatest leader of all time, as a leader must be more receptive to ideas to be fully great. Alexander had too little trust in his friends which, combined with his unchanging opinions, resulted in the fall of his great empire. Alexander also conquered too much land too quickly, without stopping to fix problems he had caused or to stabilize overtaken areas. Perhaps Alexander the Great should have his name changed to Alexander the Great Conquerer, as conquering was the only area he was successful in when it came to creating an empire.

Works Cited

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Cartledge, Paul. "Alexander the Great: Hunting for a New Past?" History Today, vol. 54, no. 7, July 2004. History Today, www.historytoday.com/paul-cartledge/alexander-great-hunting-new-past. Accessed 27 Sept. 2016.

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Holt, Frank L. "Alexander the Great's Little Star." History Today, vol. 38, no. 9, Sept. 1988. History Today, www.historytoday.com/frank-l-holt/alexander-greats-little-star. Accessed 24 Sept. 2016.

Plutarch. "Life of Alexander." Penelope.edu, Chicago University, penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Alexander*/3.html. Accessed 29 Sept. 2016.

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