On his father King Philip's II death he was elected King of Macedon, having been prepared for that leadership role by his father. He also assumed his father's title of Hegemon (leader, not ruler) of Greece, and kept enough of the Greek states on side to retain that leadership against the states which wanted to withdraw.
He then followed up his father's planned assault on the Persian Empire, leading a Macedonian and Greek army into Asia Minor, subdued the eastern Mediterranean countries, defeated the Persians in three set piece battles, and went on to conquer central Asia and western India.
His leadership faltered on a few notable occasions. The most significant was when, moving on to the rest of India, his army revolted and decided to go home (just as well as he would have run into Chandra Gupta who was coming the other way conquering the Ganges basin).
He set about integrating the Persians into his Greek army, and establishing stable governance. He was planning to conquer the western Mediterranean at the time of his death.
His leadership was unique - hence the title 'the Great'. He led from the front in battle, but also had the vision of how an empire should be led administratively. Later leaders aspired to be as great as he - Caesar, in a third rate province in Spain, bemoaned the fact that at the same age Alexander owned half the known world. He set out to remedy this, conquering Gaul and the Germanic tribes, invading England, defeating his rivals at home, and at the time of his assassination, was about to embark on a campaign to conquer the Asian empire once held by Alexander (by now the Parthian Empire).
His leadership faltered on a few notable occasions. The most significant was when, moving on to the rest of India, his army revolted and decided to go home (just as well as he would have run into Chandra Gupta who was coming the other way conquering the Ganges basin).
He set about integrating the Persians into his Greek army, and establishing stable governance. He was planning to conquer the western Mediterranean at the time of his death.
His leadership was unique - hence the title 'the Great'. He led from the front in battle, but also had the vision of how an empire should be led administratively. Later leaders aspired to be as great as he - Caesar, in a third rate province in Spain, bemoaned the fact that at the same age Alexander owned half the known world. He set out to remedy this, conquering Gaul and the Germanic tribes, invading England, defeating his rivals at home, and at the time of his assassination, was about to embark on a campaign to conquer the Asian empire once held by Alexander (by now the Parthian Empire).
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