Jean-Daniel Kretzen

Alexander the Great Alexander of Macedon was born in 323 B.C. He was the son of Phillip the II, king of Macedon. His mother’s name was Olympia, a princess of one of the tribes of Macedon. He was born on one of the stormiest nights in the history of Macedon. His father got roaring drunk on the night of his birth, feasting with his lords while his wife gave birth to his heir. The birth was successful and Phillip was presented with his first male heir. When Alexander was 14 years old, his father started expanding his kingdom by invading Greece. It was at the battle of Chesera that Alexander’s tactical genius and personal courage first came to light. He led the cavalry charge that broke the flank of the Greeks and saved the battle for the Macedonians. After the battle, Phillip said these, now famous, words to his son-“My son, you will have to find a country bigger than Macedon for yourself, for Macedon is not big enough for your ambitions.” After Phillip had consolidated his hold on Greece, he named Alexander his official heir. He also married another woman from Greece. At age 23, Phillip was assassinated and Alexander became king of Macedon. He immediately started the invasion of Persia, the plans for which had already been laid down by his father. Just to contemplate an invasion of Persia was staggering, since they had almost half a million men, whereas Alexander only had an army of 45,000 men.After landing in Asia, Alexander was immediately engaged by an army of Darius III, king of Persia. Alexander defeated the army and started pushing deeper into Persia. Darius III engaged Alexander at Issus. Alexander’s army was outnumbered at least 4 to 1, since he only had 40,000 men and Darius had almost 300,000 men. Alexander however, was not deterred. On the morning of the battle, Alexander had his infantry pull up in 3 great blocks. Alexander personally led his cavalry in a flanking maneuver, crushing the right flank of the Persian army, and almost cutting through to Darius himself. However, he had to turn around and help his infantry before they were crushed. Darius escaped, but Alexander took Babylon and declared himself king of Persia. He immediately sent his men out after Darius, and started to merge Greek and Persian cultures. He stayed in Babylon for 2 years before chasing after Darius. He chased Darius all the way to the Indian border, where one of Darius’s generals assassinated him. Alexander was grief stricken to find Darius dead, since he just wanted to take Darius back with him to Babylon. Alexander sent the body back to Babylon for a royal funeral while he and his men pushed on to India. After their first battle with the Indians, that Alexander’s army won, Alexander himself wanted to push on and conquer India, but his troops rebelled. They wanted to go home, since they have not seen Macedon in ten years. Alexander reluctantly turned back to Babylon. While in Babylon he started to make plans to conquer Armenia and Pontus. However, he took fever and died. The real reason for Alexander’s death is unknown. Some historians say he died of a fever, malaria or alcohol poisoning. The reason Alexander deserves his title is not solely for his conquest, which lasted 12 years and covered 22,000 kilometers. One of the reason Alexander is also known as the Great is that he merged Greek and Persian cultures, and spread Hellenistic ideas and culture to most parts of the world, enriching and changing the course of the world.