Genius

by Zyrus Graf

Created on: April 21, 2010

Why is the Macedonian General and King, Alexander the Great, so great? An intriguing question to say the least and one that can be answered by his sheer military genius. He alone pulled all of the Greek man power he could and single handedly conquered the Persian Empire, the Egyptians, and formed the largest empire the world had ever seen connecting the Greeks to the people of India. For his entire life he was bred to fight as a son of the King of Macedonia, who was King Philip II.

His childhood was one of being bred for war and basking in the glory of a great King, which he was to become. His many teachers taught him Greek philosophy as well as literature and military tactics. One of these teachers was none other then Aristotle. His father furthered his knowledge in the areas of warfare and politics. His mother, who was Olympias of Epirus, bred him psychologically to believe that he was not the son of Philip but a demi-god and that of Zeus’ bloodline. In 337 BC Phillip was elected the leader of the Greek invasion force that was to attack the Persian Empire the next year.

After the assassination of his father in 336 BC at his daughter’s wedding, Alexander acquired the throne and set plans to take revenge for his father’s death. His father’s death left him with a goal that set his sights on a glory never achieved in ancient times. He set his sights on the conquest of the enemies of the Greeks, the Persians. He spent two years planning and gathering soldiers for his grand scheme and set out for the first battle in 334 BC. The most peculiar thing though that still has historians wondering is if he planned for a grander scheme then just conquering the largest empire in the ancient world.

With the army he took along Botanists, architects, engineers, as well as artists and historians. His first stop in the Persian Empire was that of the coast of Ionia, which is the western coast of modern day Turkey. He took his army to the site of the City of Troy as propaganda, because the Greeks defeated the Asian Trojans in the Trojan War, so as to say that the Greeks are here and ready to take more. His first major battle against the Persian in Asia was at the river Granicus which ended in the victory of Alexander. He then led his men swiftly through Asia Minor and took the eastern coastal cities of Ionia.

After the long and grueling campaign he turned his sights onto Gordium and attempted a try at the fabled Gordian knot. The legend behind the knot was if a man could untie it he would conquer all of Asia. When he cut the rope instead of untying it, he gained public appeal that gave him many new recruits from the conquered cities now under his control. The next time he fought a Persian army was in the mountain pass at Issus in Northwestern Syria. The Persian King, King Darius III, personally lead the army of about 600,000 men easily outnumbering Alexander and the Macedonians.

Alexander and the Macedonians won through a well devised plan and Darius fled the field leaving his mother, wife, and children behind to be slaughtered. Alexander allowed them to live out of respect of their royalty. He then swept into the eastern edge of the Mediterranean coastline and absorbed all major cities except for the island city of Tyre. He then set siege to the city and conquered it several months later. He then swept farther down and took the city of Gaza after a two months siege.

As Alexander marched his army into Egypt he was seen as a liberator by the Egyptians and met hardly any resistance. The Egyptians began to call him a god and he turned this and asked them not to call him that. So instead they called him Alexander the great and worshipped him. After solidifying his hold on his newly conquered lands he set his sights on Babylon, the capital of the Persian Empire. He led his army to the plains of Gaugamela, in modern day Iraq.

Darius had his army lead a spear attack and divided the Macedonians and their allies into two and tried to destroy one wing at a time. Alexander led his cavalry to the aid of the other wing when under general Permenio when Darius was pressing on that side. Alexander thus won the battle by driving Darius away yet again after Darius separated the Macedonian wings. He then rode on towards and occupied the city of Babylon and then took the capital of the Persians, Persepolis.

To solidify the power he had now acquired Alexander then married a Persian noble woman which politically made him part of Persia. He then marched into India and fought against the natives of India. Alexander left the world at the age of 33 from a severe fever in the year of 323 BC. Alexander left us with a genuine style of military campaigning that was admired by great military minds later after his death such as Julius Caesar and Hannibal. He also left the ancient world with an outbreak of Greek architecture and philosophy that further developed the nations of the Middle East today.

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