T D van Basten (Grea Military Leader in History) - Ancient Greece: The Legacy of Alexander the Great

Alexander III of Macedon, better known to the world as Alexander the Great, was one of the most powerful rulers of the ancient world. During his time, he amassed the largest amount of land that the Greek empire would ever see. He seemed to capture land with ease and managed to spread the culture and language of the Greek empire far and wide, ushering in what is referred to as the Hellenic Period.

Born the son of King Philip II of Macedon and his main wife, Olympias, Alexander had a privileged upbringing. While much about his childhood has been lost to the proverbial sands of time, we know that he had a very close relationship with his mother and a rather tumultuous relationship with his father, as his father was gone a good deal of the time, conquering lands and their women.

It was during the time of his father that the various Greek city-states came together under a single ruler. Dubbed the League of Corinth, it was comprised of all the regional city-states and Philip II was the sole leader of the League. He was, unfortunately, unexpectedly assassinated at his daughter's wedding, which threw the League and Macedonia into a bit of chaos. His death resulted in a lack of leadership for the League of Corinth.

Alexander, who was only about 20 years old and had received a high quality, world renowned education from Aristotle, as well as a number of successful military campaigns, was worried that due to the suddenness of his father's death there may be counter claims to the throne. Alexander was not sure what his step mother was planning with regard to succession, but Alexander was taking no chances. He didn't want to take the chance of his claim to the throne being challenged by a half-sibling. Rallying the support of the Macedonian military, Alexander was able to take the throne. In order to ensure there would be no further counter claims, he had all living relatives that might be heirs killed, including his siblings.

Once in control of Macedonia, Alexander set his sights on the rest of the known world. He first started by subduing the rebelling city-states within the League of Corinth before setting his sights upon the Persian empire of Darius III. It took two decisive victories, but ultimately, Alexander prevailed over Darius and was able to subsequently take control over the entirety of Persia. During this time, he became quite enamored with Persian customs and began to integrate them into his life and rule, much to the dismay of his military fellows.

After he had taken Persia, Alexander, who was now about 26 years old, had no intentions of stopping there. It was his intention to conquer the whole of the known world, which, to the Greeks of that time, was the edge of India. Despite his young age, he had the skill and confidence to have the strength to make this dream a reality. He regrouped his forces and walked into the area that is now Pakistan pretty much unchallenged. He found, however, a different story once he got into the hills of the region. There he met with formidable opposition and he and his forces took heavy casualties in the successes they had in northern India.

Having had enough war and having been away from their families for too long, Alexander's men mutinied before they could cross into the mainland portion of India. They demanded that they return to Persia. Though he tried to change their mind, they would not bend. He had no choice but to acquiesce to his troops and he led them back to Babylon. It was the year 326 BC and Alexander was 30 years old.

Back in Babylon, Alexander had every intention of regrouping and going back out to complete his capture of India and move towards the African subcontinent. However, he would never leave Babylon again. Though there is speculation as to the causes of his death, we do know that he died in 323 BC, at the early age of 32. Upon his death, his massive empire began to unravel. Grecian city-states that had only tenuously agreed to his rule immediately revolted. Infighting in the Near East amongst his generals causes regular war and power shifts. Infighting at home as to the proper successor also led to Macedonia descending into a civil war. These tensions would not really end until the Romans came to power and began the spread of their empire.