Alexander the Great

2 Pages 567 Words

Alexander the Great
By: Lynn
E-mail: moninghoff@yhoo.com

Who is “Great”? In history there are few people who can be termed “Great” and even fewer who deserve to be called so. Alexander, the son of King Phillip of the Macedonians, was one of these truly “Great” people. He not merely ruled the largest know empire, was declared a God, lead his troops in battle, and conquered foreign cities, his first being at the age of sixteen, but he did it all within a thirteen year time period. Not only did he do all of this, but also it was done within thirteen years. When Alexander became the new King of Macedonia, many believed him to be to young to rule. They felt that he didn’t have the experience needed to be their new leader. They had no way of knowing of the many things that he would come to accomplish in such a short time period. Alexander’s first great accomplishment occurred when he was just sixteen years old. At this time, his father went away to war leaving Alexander to serve as a regent of Macedon. During his father’s absence, Alexander led an expedition to a wild region that is now known as modern day Bulgaria. Once there, he subdued the rebellious barbarians and established his first city, Alexandropolis. On the return from his trip, King Philip was so impressed by his son’s achievement that he appointed him a general in the royal army. (www.mrdowlings.com) When Alexander turned his attack towards Persia, his forces were much smaller than his opponent’s. Alexander’s army conquered Persia anyway, by winning a series of battles in which his troops were better trained and organized than the Persian army. His soldiers also admired Alexander because of his personal participation in the battles. He led his soldiers into battle instead of remaining behind the lines as was common for military leaders to do at that time. This allowed the troops to see that Alexander was sharing their danger, and was not asking the...