Alexanders Conquests Essay Example For Students

Alexanders Conquests Essay The Conquests of Alexander the GreatAlexander was the son of King Philip II of Macedonia born approximately on July20th in 356 BC. His mother was Olympias, a young princess from Epirus. Alexander wasa remarkable person who loved to recite Homeric poetry. At age fourteen his father senthim to study science, mathematics, and philosophy with Aristotle of Stagira. Alexanderlooked up to Aristotle like a father, and it can later be seen that Aristotle gaveAlexander the knowledge it took to be one of the greatest rulers in history. Alexander wasa man of extremes and contradictions. At times he would have intense spurts of energyand then long sulks. He showed extreme generosity and at the same time murderouscruelty against former friends. One would guess given common knowledge that hisinsecurities most likely were originated in his childhood; perhaps the relationship with hisAfter the assassination of his father, King Philip II, Alexander was in direct line totake over as ruler. Alexander wa s to go down in history as the father of the Hellenicworld, the unopposed leader of the Greek world, and last but not least the Great, atitle given for his numerous victories. The mobile elite was Alexanders Companion Cavalry consisting primarily of thecream of the Macedonian aristocracy. The backbone of the army was the phalanx.2 Thephalanx was six infantry brigades, capable of fighting a compilation of different types ofwarfare, but specializing in set-piece battle in an eight-deep hedgehog formation with fiveand a half meter-long spears. The phalanx was the main weapon of warfare; yet, therewere also specialist units: skirmishers, archers, and light infantry with mountain training. There were also units comprised of non-Macedonian Greeks whom, fighting forAlexander, helped justify Alexanders claim to be the General in Chief of the army ofAlexanders Army also had very important back-up units. These units carried asiege train consisting of mobile siege towers, stone-throwing catapults, and javelinthrowers. Also comprised in the back-up units were engineers, bridge-builders, sappers,and surveyors. To further insure a well developed army there needed to be non-combatantpersonnel as well. They comprised of doctors, scientists, botanists, astronomers,philosophers, seers, and an official historian record all of the conquests. With this unifiedand flawless army Alexander would be able to conquer many lands with great speed andIn the same aspect that most of our armies of today say prayers for a victory inbattle so was Alexanders belief that a homage must be paid to a god for good luck. In thebeginning of his journey, Alexander rode up to the city of Troy where he enter ed thearchaic temple of the goddess Athena. Here he made a promise that if successful, hewould return to little Ilion and build a gigantic temple to Trojan Athene in gratitude forher help. This visit would give him the additional benefit of the spirits of the Ancients inAlexander and his army swiftly marched the plains along the Sea of Marmara. Atthe same time Darius, the King of Persia, was busily setting traps in plans to stop thepursuit of Alexanders army. Darius had a plan to stop them, he would station severalthousand Greek mercenaries near the Dardanelles. The Persian army had vast resourcesand great gold reserves to hire army after army to defeat Alexanders pursuit. The leaderof the Greek mercenaries, Memnon of Rhodes, decided to burn the countryside to cut offAlexanders supplies. The Persian leaders decided against this idea and decided to fightAt dusk, Alexander approached the river in battle formation. On the opposite sidewere the Persians lining the bank ten thousand stro ng. The Persian plan was just to hold Alexander off and prevent him from crossing the river. Alexanders senior generalParmenio counseled Alexander that they should hold off until the time was right. Alexander refused and within minutes the blaring trumpets roared as they marched oninto battle. Alexander launched a small attack of fifteen-hundred men to make thePersians believe the real battle had started. They fell for it and soon the Persians had lostthe majority of their men along the banks. Alexander then proceeded in sending in hiselite cavalry squadrons down into the river and across into the face of his enemies. Several of the Persian officers tried to kill Alexander himself, in the attempt eight werekilled, including Dariuss son-in-law. The Greek mercenaries, meanwhile, who were among the Persians best troopswatched the battle at the river Granicus. The Persian cavalry retreated and among themidst came Alexanders companion cavalry heading straight for them. The phalanx wasset up and war against the mercenaries ensued into the night. The mercenaries were cut inhalf before finally surrendering. They were then sent in chains to hard labor for life in thesilver mines of Thrace. This was Alexanders way of sending a grim message to any otherGreeks considering joining the Persians.5Memnon, now Dariuss commander-in-chief of Western operations, was settingup once again in anticipation of Alexanders arrival. With him were the Athenianmercenary commanders Ephialtes and Thrasybulos, two men who had been onAlexanders hit list for quite some time. This time they believed they had the bestdefenses to defe at Alexanders army. Their town was a fortress fortified by a huge wallwinding up into the hills above Boldrum. It had two or three main gates and the lowground was protected by deep ditches; it also had forts above the harbor and out in thebay was a fleet of four hundred ships. This place was so fortified that it was almostimpossible to get in. Fortunately Alexander who had just about any type of weaponimaginable of this period used his siege-technology6 to gain entrance. Alexander attacked on the flat ground first on the east side of town. His armyattempted to get in through the wall but this soon failed. Alexander then used his siegetechnology to wage war and gain entrance. Memnon launched a massive raid at dawn toovertake Alexanders army. This was almost a stalemate until Alexanders reserve armycame in and inflicted heavy losses, and Ephialtes was killed. Memnon realizing his defeatretreated and evacuated his forces by sea, setting fire to everything they could not takewith them on the ships. Alexander emerges victorious again. Although Alexanders troops had suffered severe losses they still pursued on. Computer Forensic Sample EssayAlexander achieved his goal and captured the great city of Persopolis yet he wasnot yet satisfied. He still wanted Darius dead or alive. In July Alexander pursued in aquest to find Darius. He marched on in the sweltering heat across the Great Salt Deserttowards Afghanistan. Finally after a long an arduous journey, Alexander reached a placecalled Thara in which he learned that Darius had been overthrown by his owncommanders the night before. Eager to still pursue Darius, Alexander pressed on throughthe Ahuran pass. By the time Alexander caught up with the Persian leaders, they werealready fleeing. At the same time they stabbed Darius and left him there for dead. One ofAlexanders soldiers met up with him and gave him some water. Darius conveyed amessage to Alexander thanking him for his honorable treatment of his mother and familythroughout all this. Darius was dead by the time Alexander got there. Alexander coveredthe body with his cloak and was shocked by the premature death of the King of theAlexander would go on through many different cities conquering anything in hisway for the next three years. In the spring of 327 BC Alexander and his troops invadedIndia.12 They first went to Taxila and met some opposition; but in a few minutes KingAmbi of Taxila welcomed Alexander to his new conquest. Alexander stayed here shortlyand then pressed on to the Battle on the Jhelum River. The opposition was the Indianarmy led by Rajah Porus consisting of 30,000 men. Alexanders army pressed on acrossthe river Jhelum and soon through a tough battle defeated Poruss army. The mostpersonal loss of this war was Alexanders beloved horse Bucephalus who died fromwounds in battle. It was here that Alexander named the town after his war-horse. The majority of Alexanders army, tired from battles and homesick, decided theywould not push any further into the rest of India or in their time the ends of the Earth asthey knew it. Alexander, after giving the idea serious thought, decided that he needed totake over the rest of India before heading home to Macedonia. The army agreed and theymoved out plowing through city by city until they made their way back to Susa in 324BC. In the journey from Susa to Babylon Alexander met with some Chaldean wise menwho told him that their god Bel had told them that for the king to enter the city at thistime would be fatal to him. They urged him not to go westward now but to go eastwardinstead. Alexander bypassed Babylon for a while but the sceptic Anaxagoras told the kingto disregard the curse and press through in despite the curse. Anaxagoras was soon put todeath after Alexander learned of his plot to get him to enter Babylon and be killed. Whilein Babylon, Alexander developed a strong distrust with his friends and he started drinkingvery heavily. Alexander drank to forget himself for two days and then he developed araging fever. With this fever he became delirious and thirsty, so he drank more. In the en dhe died from this ravaging fever on June 10th 323 BC at the age of thirty-two. The fevermost likely was brought about by strychnine poisoning in the unmixed wine or possiblyby liver failure due to extreme drinking. Nevertheless a great man had died and with hima legacy for all the world to remember: Alexander the Great King of the World.13Bibliography:Bamm, Peter. Alexander the Great: Power as DestinyNew York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1968Chambers, Mortimer. The Western ExperienceNew York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1974Dupuy, Trevor Nevitt. The Military Life of Alexander the Great of MacedonNew York: Franklin Watts, Inc., 1969Fox, Robin Lane. Alexander the GreatPenguin Publishing, USA., 1994Green, Peter. Alexander of Macedon 356-323 B.C.: A Historical BiographyUniversity of California Press, 1992Hammond, N.G.L. The Genius of Alexander the GreatUniversity of North Carolina Press, 1997Higgins, Andrew. To Buoy Itself Up, Besieged Macedonia Is Grasping at HistoryWall Street Journal: Fri day, April 9, 1999; front pageMercer, Charles. Alexander the GreatNew York: American Heritage Publishing Co., Inc., 1962Rice, E. E. Alexander the GreatSutton Publishing, Inc., 1997Wood, Michael. In The Footsteps of Alexander the GreatBerkeley: University of California Press, 1997