It is said that he was born from Zeus himself,
a demi-god in the flesh. He tamed an unbreakable wild stallion that
full-grown men feared to approach at the age of 12, and that horse would carry him to military
victory after military victory until his untimely death at the age of 32. He was tutored by one of the ancient world's
greatest thinkers. His name says it all- Alexander The Great. But how much about Alexander is really true,
and what's fiction? And ultimately, with a whopping zero instagram
followers, can we truly say he was all that great? Haters and historians alike will tell you
that Alexander the Great was born in 356 BC to the Macedonian king Phillip II and his
wife, Olympias. A true Greek however knows that Alexander
was actually the love child of Zeus himself, who had a nasty habit of popping down to earth
and taking various animal shapes to con women into sleeping with him. In many ways, Zeus was the original frat boy. Alexander's father was already an impressive
figure - a brilliant military leader and politician both. Through force of arms and political maneuvering,
he turned Macedonia into a military and cultural power house- which was a pretty impressive
feat because in the ancient world, Macedonia was basically the backwoods of Greece. Phillip's ambitions though weren't limited
to his strengthening of Macedonia, and he had a dream that would be handed down to his
son, Alexander- to conquer the mighty empire of Persia. To date, Persia had been a world superpower,
premier in many fields of science and philosophy, it was backed by a formidable military which
tried again and again to destroy the stubborn, and defiant, Greeks. To dream of conquering this mighty nation
was to put it lightly, a very optimistic dream. At the age of 13, Alexander was personally
tutored by Aristotle, a man so famous that even if you know nothing about his teachings,
you definitely recognize the name. One of the ancient world's greatest minds,
Aristotle fostered a curiosity in the young prince, and sharpened an already formidable
intellect. Alexander learned philosophy, medicine, politics,
and art from Aristotle- and also that he should treat non-Greeks as if they were slaves. Thankfully, when Alexander would begin his
military conquests later in life, he would discard this belief, and this would help establish
his mighty, if short lived empire. In 340 BC, Philip went off to attack Byzantium,
and left the young Alexander in charge of things at home. Alexander used the opportunity to prove that
even though he was just a teenager, he was destined to be a great leader, and gathered
the army for a successful attack against the Maedi - a people who lived in what is now
the southeastern Baltics. Two years later Philip returned home, determined
to unite Greece under one banner, and went to war against a coalition of Greek city-states
led by Thebes and Athens. In that battle Alexander led the cavalry to
a triumphant defeat of the legendary Sacred Band of Thebes, a fighting force made up of
150 pairs of lovers. This victory catapulted an already popular
Alexander to new heights of popularity with the Macedonian military. Alexander would need that popularity too,
as a year later Philip divorced Alexander's mother, and then in a feast to celebrate his
new marriage, Philip got into a fight with Alexander over his new wife. Alexander and his mother fled for fear of
their lives, though Philip and Alexander were soon reconciled and he was allowed to return
home. When Philip was assassinated shortly after
though, Alexander was not the clear heir to the throne, and he rallied the support of
the military to help him kill his potential rivals. Solidifying his grip over Greece, Alexander
then attended an assembly of Greek city-states which had already been called for by his father. The Greeks were finally going to make good
on the ancient dream of conquering Persia, and the assembly unanimously voted to make
Alexander supreme commander of Greek forces. Before crushing Greece's ancient rival though,
he needed to secure the Greek peninsula. Alexander spent some time bringing wayward
city-states into the fold- often by military force- as well as waging campaigns against
the Thracians to the north. While in battle though, rumors of his death
circulated back in Greece, and the city-state of Thebes used the opportunity to revolt. As many other Greek city-states favored Thebes
over Alexander, support for the fledgling rebellion flowed in- especially from Athens. Upon hearing of the brewing revolt, Alexander
forced a hard march on his troops, traveling an astounding 240 miles (386 km) in just two
weeks to the gates of Thebes. The Thebans however refused to rejoin Alexander
and he was forced to lay siege to the city, ultimately burning it to the ground and selling
off any survivors into slavery. With the rest of the city-states terrified
at the treatment of Thebes, they quickly fell in line, and in an act of generosity which
would earn him some favor with the Greeks, he forgave Athens' betrayal. Leaving behind three garrisons, Alexander
was now free to take on Persia. By comparison, Greece was tiny versus mighty
Persia, but Alexander was confident that his men were better trained and equipped. His superior troops would outweigh Persia's
superior numbers. That theory would be put to the test in 333
BC, when Alexander's forces met with a massive Pesian army led by the new king, Darius III. Alexander's belief that his superior troops
could win out over superior numbers was well-founded. The Persians had largely become complacent
in the last century, and their military forces suffered from a noticeable lack of discipline-
as well as a lack of cavalry. Alexander by comparison fielded an army comprised
of archers, javelin throwers, infantry, and heavy cavalry. His mastery of what was in that day combined
arms warfare saw him utterly crush the Persian forces laid out against him. With defeat inevitable, the Persian king fled
the battlefield with the few forces that he could muster into a hasty withdrawal. Darius III was so hasty in his retreat that
he even left behind his own wife and family, and his mother was so ashamed of him that
she disowned him publicly and adopted Alexander as her own son. This gesture would be paramount to Alexander's
cementing of his grip on what was formerly the Persian empire. Over the next few years Alexander would continue
his push east and south, striking deep into the Persian empire and taking Egypt. Time and again Darius sued for peace, and
Alexander rejected each overture. At last, he forced a confrontation with Persia's
king at Gaugamela in 331 BC, and faced off against another large Persian force. The fighting was intense, each side knowing
they were fighting for total victory and the fate of Persia. Ultimately though, Alexander's forces would
be triumphant, and once more Darius fled the battle. This time though, his own men caught and killed
him for his cowardice. Alexander however proved to be honorable,
and upon finding Darius' body, he gave the former Persian king a royal funeral. Some sources also state that he punished the
murderers for daring to strike down their king. With Darius dead, Alexander was free to claim
the throne of Persia for himself- except another Persian leader, Bessus, had already claimed
the throne for himself. This would prove to be what historians call,
a slight miscalculation. Alexander's forces pursued Bessus and his
army until finally Bessus' own troops captured him and handed him over to the Greeks. Bessus was tortured and then killed, and Alexander
was finally king of Persia. The empire that had threatened Greece for
centuries was now at last, itself a Greek territory. In order to secure his hold on Persia, Alexander
granted large amounts of freedom to Persian territories, even allowing them to govern
themselves in exchange for loyalty to him. He did not force conversions of Persian culture
or religion, the way most rulers did back in his day, and instead actually adopted many
Persian customs for himself. This made him very popular with the Persians,
although it made him just as unpopular with his own Macedonian troops. One of his generals and close friends, drunkenly
insulted Alexander's adoption of Persian culture, and in a fit of rage, Alexander killed him. This proved to further drive a wedge between
him and his native Macedonians. Feeling that further conquests would help
stabilize his political situation, and further feeding his appetite for glory, Alexander
rallied his forces once more and marched on India. Many tribes surrendered to Alexander without
a fight, and in exchange he once more granted them many freedoms that other conquerors wouldn’t
have given them. In 326 BC though, Alexander faced King Porus
of Paurava, whose army was less experienced but packed a superweapon- the war elephant. Initially the war elephants sowed fear and
devastation upon Alexander's army, but the big beasts were vulnerable to Alexander's
lightning-fast cavalry. The elephants were brought down and Alexander
secured defeat. His troops though, completely exhausted, refused
to continue with Alexander's plan to push further into India and seize all of it. Instead, Alexander wisely chose to let his
troops rest. Though the Greeks had been enriched greatly
off Persia's vast wealth, they resented the Persians after centuries of warfare. Knowing he would never hold on to his new
empire unless he could unite the two sides, he forced the mass marriage of his Greek officers
to Persian princesses, hoping that their sons and daughters would be explicitly loyal to
him. This move turned out to be even more unpopular,
and many Greeks threatened to mutiny until Alexander replaced them with Persian officers
and soldiers. Not wanting to be left out of future spoils,
his troops backed off their threats to mutiny, and in an attempt at reconciliation, Alexander
threw a fantastic banquet for all and returned all military titles and honors to the mutinous
officers. Alexander’s conquest of Persia and forays
into India helped spread Greek culture and influence across the ancient world, as well
as bringing some of the best of Persian thinking to the Greek world. The unity that his conquests had brought to
two of the greatest people of the ancient world would spur the Hellenistic age, and
Alexander founded many of the ancient world's most important centers of cultural and scientific
development. Among many of his accomplishments was the
setting of a silver standard for currency, which facilitated trade all across his former
empire. His liberating of huge amounts of wealth from
the former Persian empire's treasury also greatly boosted trade and wealth across the
Mediterranean, and a period of prosperity settled over the region. Alexander's empire proved to be short-lived
though, following his mysterious death at the age of 32 made him one of history's shortest-lived
rulers. Some believe that he was poisoned by a political
rival- of which he had many both on the Greek and the Persian side. Others though believe that he died due to
malaria which he contracted during his travels in India. Whatever the cause of his death, Alexander
proved to be the only thing holding the fragile empire he had created together, and following
his passing it immediately began to fall apart at the seams. His generals began to war amongst themselves
in a bid to become the new supreme ruler. Ultimately it's unknown if Alexander could
have really held his empire together even if he had lived. His conquests had brought together many disparate
peoples under one banner, most of them who did not share a common culture. Even while alive his empire strained and groaned
under the pressure of revolution, and it was only his political shrewdness along with savagery
against his political enemies that kept it together while alive. How long this could have lasted though remains
in doubt, and ultimately it's likely even if he had not died from disease or poison,
it would have eventually imploded anyways. For more crazy stories about history’s world
leaders go watch “Genghis Khan - Greatest Conqueror Ever” And as always don't forget
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