Alexander the Great: Military genius or murderous madman?

Madman

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by Aldo Bonincontro

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Reading with interest the biography of Alexander the Great, I realize that, first of all, he wasn't a military genius and that he had committed various crimes in war and even against his best friends and co-workers, during his incredible conquest of the whole Middle East that features the largest part of his short reign. His many biographers and admirers were often impressed by his great, inexhaustible energy and courage, when he defeated the Persian army that counted 1 million soldiers with not more than 25-30,000 Macedonian and Greek soldiers, but I think they underrated his many weak points at the base of the fast dissolution of his empire after his death.

He was an exceptional commander with a magnetic appeal on his men, but his strong determination in conquering the Persian Empire as a revenge for its attempted invasion of Greece during the previous century and the whole Asia wasn't a strategic and rational plan; most likely, in fact, he would have never begun such enterprise if he had known how large and hostile was Asia. He followed only a great, crazy dream of glory and ambition to accomplish what his father, Philip II, had only projected until the day of his assassination, in 336 B.C..

However, the most important reason for which Alexander wasn't a military genius is that his invincible army had already been created by his father Philip II with the invention of the phalanx. With this massive attack front-line, Philip could easily defeat the coalition of the Greek towns at Chaeronea (338 B.C.) and expand the reign of Macedonia northward, until the Danube. Alexander never changed this model, but he transformed it in a legendary invincible army thanks to his courage at the limits of madness. He was proud of his glory, but he had a deep inferiority complex toward his father, whom he had to overcome at any cost. For this reason, he frequently claimed that his achievements were much greater than his father's ones and he didn't tolerate critiques on this argument, as better shown below.

One day, in fact, at a banquet in which (as usual during his last years) Alexander and most of his court were drunk, his faithful lieutenant Cleitos (who had saved Alexander's life in the Battle of the Granicus, in 334 B.C. and was one of his best friends) quarrelled with Alexander because the latter intended to send him to fight the nomads in the desolate steeps of Russia, where he would have been forgotten while Alexander got the best of glory.

Cleitus tried to oppose this decision and Alexander answered with arrogance that his decision was right because the glory he had just conquered was much more than that of his father. At this point, Cleitus lost his temper and said that Alexander wasn't a legitimate king and that the force of his army was due to his father. At that point, Alexander, drunk and furious (alcohol reduces most inhibitions and eases violent reactions), killed Cleitos on the spot with a sword.

Alexander also executed Parmenius, the general he appreciated the best and his son Philotas, suspecting them of a plot against him.

He killed Callistenes (a writer who was Aristotles' nephew) who said that Alexander would have become famous only after the same Callistenes will have written his history. Moreover, Alexander had killed the doctor who couldn't avoid the death of his lover, a boy named Hephestion and he appeared devastated by this loss.

In war, Alexander alternated clemency with great cruelty; he had just taken the throne, that he repressed a riot of the Greek towns deleting totally Thebes, but he saved Athens, for which he had a great respect due to the great culture of this town (another inferiority complex). Moreover, he totally destroyed Persepolis the capital of the Persian Empire, already conquered, due to his rage for having discovered in this town some Greek prisoners taken by the Persians with their hands cut.

His decision to proceed against India, with the same little and tired army he had with him, was something similar to a delirium of omnipotence, so that his soldiers, although they had always loved him, refused to proceed further and Alexander had to get back across the desert in a dramatic retreat, losing thousands of soldiers.

At the end of his conquest, when he came back in Babylon, he proclaimed to be a god (it was the first time for a Greek king!), son of Zeus and Amon, arousing the surprise of his soldiers and he celebrated a lot of marriages between his generals and as many Persian princesses, in the illusion of unifying better his new empire.

As we can see, from these episodes, Alexander followed a dream at the limits of madness or even beyond. He was extremely emotive, inconstant and superstitious, (always consulting fortune tellers before taking his decisions) and he followed more his instinct than a rational strategy, as Julius Caesar or Hannibal would have done. What worsened his violent reactions was the huge intake of alcohol; he drank more and more frequently at his banquets. On these occasions, he made real drinking competitions with his generals that he wanted to win at every cost because he wanted to be always the winner. This was one of his obsessions.

Just the physical weakening caused by alcohol and insomnia could explain the disease which lead him to death in 323 B.C., although some historians suspect a murder.

For all these facts and considering that every king of that time had an absolute power and could decide what he wanted, I think Alexander was an extremely courageous leader and military commander, but not a military genius and that his mind mustn't have been totally healthy because he didn't know what moderation and prudence were, obsessed by his pride and need of glory at any cost, ready to kill even his best friends if they dared criticize him.

Not by chance, his empire, conquered following his crazy glory dreams, dissolved immediately after his death, divided between his generals. Alexander had not the least spark of wisdom to designate his successor.

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