Alexander the Great – One of the most successful military leaders in history

Alexander the Great

Alexander III of Macedon, Alexandros Philippou Makedonon
(20/21 July 356 BC, Pella, Macedonia — June 10/13, 323 BC, Babylon) (aged 33)
Nationality: Macedonia
Category: Leaders
Occupation: Military leaders, Rulers
Unique distinction: King of Macedonia, Emperor who created one of the largest empires in ancient history, one of the most successful military leaders in history.
Gender: Male

Quotes:
1. There is nothing impossible to him who will try.
2. I am indebted to my father for living, but to my teacher for living well.
3. But truly, if I were not Alexander, I would be Diogenes.
4. When we give someone our time, we actually give a portion of our life that we will never take back.
5. Glory crowns the deeds of those who expose themselves to toils and dangers.
6. I do not pilfer victory.
7. There are no more worlds to conquer!

Achievements and contributions:


Social and professional position:  Alexander the Great was an Ancient Greek king of Macedon, Emperor Military Leader, ruler, and world conqueror.
The main contribution to (Best known for):  Emperor who created one of the largest empires in ancient history, stretching from Greece to northwestern India, one of the most successful military leaders in history who was undefeated in battle.
Contributions:  Alexander the Great, also known as Alexander III of Macedon, was an Ancient Greek king (basileus) of Macedon, an Emperor, who created one of the largest empires in ancient history.
Alexander was a great conqueror, ingenious and the most successful military leader of all time, who never lost a single battle.
His empire, covered more than one million square miles, extending from Thrace to Egypt and from Greece to the Indus Valley.
Alexander not only established a great kingdom, he also spread the Greek Culture and language throughout this empire. By then this era became known as the Hellenistic Age when the culture, ideas and influence of Greece spread throughout the known world.
Alexander the Great is remembered for his military talent, and strategic and tactical ability, such as military organization and proper concentration of superior force at vital points.
He moved forward quickly and vigorously beginning with a few sure victories, gaining new resources, money and even new soldiers.
He conquered Tyre, a city which was on an island in the Mediterranean Sea by building seven months a bridge to this island.
He took the battle right to the centre of the opposing forces, and he threw himself into the very worst of the battle.
He always set an example for his troops. When his soldiers didn’t have water or food, He also starved, when they were walking, he walked also.
Alexander was kind and loyal to the people of Persia. He usually did not allow his soldiers to mistreat the conquered people.
When he had won a battle, he combined the remaining soldiers of the enemy with his army to form a greater army.
Remarkable though his conquests were, Alexander’s lasting legacy was not his reign, but the cultural diffusion engendered by his conquests.
Reign: 336–323 BC
Titles: Hegemon of the Hellenic League, Shahanshah of Persia, Pharaoh of Egypt and King of Asia.
Major works:  Alexander created one of the largest empires in ancient history.

Career and personal life:


Origin: He was born on 20 (or 21) July 356 BC in Pella, the capital of the Kingdom of Macedon. He was the son of Philip II, the King of Macedon. His mother was Philip’s fourth wife Olympias of Epirus.
Education: Alexander received a classical Greek education under the tutorship of the famed philosopher Aristotle. He studied Greek philosophy, art and science, and literature and learned to play the lyre.
Career highlights:  He succeeded to the throne in 336 B.C. and immediately showed his talent for leadership by quieting the restive cities of Greece.
In the spring of 335, he conquered the Thracian Triballians south of the Danube. Alexander completely dominated Greece, invaded Persian-ruled Asia Minor, and began a series of successful campaigns lasting ten years.
In 334 BC Alexander’s army crossed the Hellespont and invaded Persia with approximately 42,000 soldiers from Macedon and various Greek city-states. In the same year, he defeated a Persian army at the Granicus River.
At the Battle of Issus in 333, he defeated another army, this one led by the Persian king Darius III, who managed to escape.
He then took Syria and Phoenicia, cutting off the Persian fleet from its ports. In 332 he victoriously completed a seven-month siege of Tyre, considered his greatest military achievement, and then took Egypt.
There he received the pharaoh’s double crown and founded Alexandria, named for himself, which became a great centre of learning in Egypt.
In control of the eastern Mediterranean coast, in 331 he defeated Darius in a decisive battle at Gaugamela, though Darius again escaped.
He next took the province of Babylon.
He burnt Xerxes’ palace at Persepolis, Persia, in 330.
Following his desire to reach the “ends of the world and the Great Outer Sea”, Alexander crossed the Indus and fought and won an epic battle against Porus, a ruler of a region in Punjab in the Battle of Hydaspes in 326 BC. The creation of the great empire was completed.

Personal life:  

Alexander received much inspiration from his mother Olympias of Epirus, which influenced him later in his life. She often told him that a god fathered him and that someday he would be a great leader and conqueror. She had told Alexander that he was a direct descendent of Achilles, on her side. He would sleep with a copy of Homer’s Iliad under his pillow and often identified himself with the hero Achilles. Later she revealed to him that his real father was Zeus, who had come to Olympias in the form of a snake.
At age 16 and then 18 he showed his military brilliance, helping his father in the war against Byzantium, and winning the Battles of Chaeronea.
When he was 20, Philip was assassinated by his guard plunged a spear into his chest. And around June 336 Alexander succeeded his father’s throne.
Alexander married thrice, Roxana, daughter of a Bactrian nobleman, out of love; Stateira, a Persian princess and daughter of Darius III and Paris, daughter of the Persian king Artaxerxes III, out of political interest.
He had two sons, Alexander IV of Macedon (b. 323 BC) of Roxana and, possibly, Heracles of Macedon (b. 327 BC) from his concubine Barsine.
His enormous empire was divided up among his three generals and later after a series of civil wars, split again into numerous regions.
He was blond and handsome, with one grey eye and one black, brave, strong, extremely athletic but short, with a shrill voice and a slightly tilted head.
Alexander’s most evident personality traits were his violent temper and impulsive nature, which were revealed particularly when he had been drinking and in his later years, he drank heavily.
But generally, Alexander was perceptive, logical, and calculating. He had a great desire for knowledge, a love for philosophy, and was an avid reader
Alexander had many more female companions and had accumulated a harem in the style of Persian kings. But he used it rather sparingly; showing great self-control in “pleasures of the body”.
In 324 BC his closest friend and possibly lover Hephaestion died of a fever, or possibly of poisoning. It devastated Alexander, he fell ill in Babylon after long drinking and died at age 33. BC. Some say he was poisoned and others believe he died of malaria. He was buried in Alexandria, Egypt.
A few months later his wife Rhoxana bore him a son, who was assassinated in 309.

Zest:

After winning a battle for the city of Gordium (333), Alexander allegedly unloosed the Gordian knot by cutting through it. It was believed that the person who unfastened the Gordian knot would rule a vast territory in Asia.
When Alexander incorporated 30,000 Persians into the army, his soldiers grumbled. Alexander arrested 13 of their leaders and executed them. At Susa, he ordered 80 of his Macedonian companions to marry Persian princesses. Besides ten thousand of his soldiers also married Persian women.
For his greater glory, Alexander founded some 70 cities. The most famous is Alexandria in Egypt. In India, when his beloved horse died, he ordered a city to be built named Bucephala.