Alexander the Great by Zander

A painting of the Battle of Issus.

            Alexander the Great was one of the most well known war lords.  His empire was one of the biggest in the world. When he was 16, he became king after his father was assassinated. Before he was king, he was a general in his father’s army.  He was already famous for victory in some battles.  His father Philip II made Macedonia great.  He conquered all of Greece and made Macedonia a threat. Alexander the Great ruled for just 13 years.  In that time, he made one of the greatest empires on the planet with is cunning strategies and vast armies.

The Karnak Temple, when Alexander the Great
became a pharo, he had to add on to it.

One of Alexander’s most famous conquests was Persia. Alexander's army crossed the Cilician Gates in 333 BC and defeated the main Persian army under the command of Darius III at the Battle of Issus in November.  When he crossed, he led an army of 48,100 infantry, 6,100 Calvary, and 120 war ships. Darius fled the battle, causing his army to collapse, and left behind his wife, his two daughters, his mother Sisygambis, and a fabulous treasure. He offered a peace treaty that included the lands he had already lost and a ransom of 10,000 talents for his family. Alexander replied that since he was now king of Asia, it was he alone who decided territorial divisions. I think that he had the right to say that he was the king of Asia, but he could have made a compromise. In  332 BC, he was forced to attack Tyre.  He captured after a long and difficult siege. Alexander massacred the men of military age and sold the women and children into slavery. I don’t think that he made a good choice. He should have let them live and join his army.  I think that people shouldn’t be able to enslave woman and children.  All they were doing was trying to stay alive. Concurring Persia in 10 years is a great feet and made it possible for Alexander to spread his border all the way to India.

Alexander the Great having trouble with his Chariot. 
That is actually me!!!

  Alexander the Great's most notable achievement was contouring India.  But he would have spread more, if he had not met some unexpected difficulties.  Alexander the Great had to defile some of the hill clans that lived in Kunar and Guraeus Valley. He got wounded by a crossbow bolt in the shoulder, but he kept on fighting. What is different about how armies fight now as opposed to then, was that the kings and Generals, led the charge. So they died alot more than now. In India, Alexander's army fought with King Porus of Punjab.  They fought so fiercely in Hydaspes in 326 BC, that Alexander made the king an alley, because they fought so well.  At Hyphasis River, Alexander’s army mended.  They said that they didn’t want to fight any more.  So Alexander was forced to stop his plan forward and take the land to the south. Alexander the Great conquered so much, that he finally had to stop, because he was getting spread too thin.

A picture of how the Macedonian millitary fought.

 There is allot of mystery as to how Alexander the Great died. But for sure, he died in the Palace of Hebuahadnezzer in June 323 BC. Some of the contributing factors are that a few months before his best friend died. He could have died of small pox, or Typhoid, or he could have been assassinated. One of the mythical ploys was that he was drinking and that his son, who was filling his glass, slipped poison into it. Another mystery was where was his tomb?  It is said to have traveled to Alexandria.  But when archeologists excavated the tomb at the supposed location, they found someone else's body there, not Alexander's. When Alexander died, the Macedonian empire stopped growing.  He was one of the greatest military strategists and led one of the greatest empires in the world.          

Alexander the Greats death marks the end of the Macedonian Empire. He conquered all the way from Greece to India.   When he died, it all fell. His favorite general and his son had to fight over the throne. That made some civiler wars in which both of them died.  After the civil wars destroyed Macedonia, the Romans started there empire and took over most of the territory and had there time.