Alexander the Great

3 Pages 788 Words

Alexander the Great was the king of Macedonia, conqueror of the Persian Empire, and one of the greatest military leaders of all times. Even at an early age, Alexander showed that he would a great leader. Through all his victories and conquests, he has become a great hero and has had a large impact on history. Alexander, born in 356 B.C. in Pella, the ancient capital of Macedonia, was the son of Philip II, king of Macedonia. Alexander's tutor, Aristotle, taught him from age 13 to 16 in medicine, science, and philosophy. When the time came, he was well prepared to take over the throne. In the summer of 336 B.C. Philip was assassinated, and Alexander became the new ruler of Macedonia. He soon showed his power when the large city of Thebes revolted in 335. He charged the city with mighty force and took 30,000 people as slaves. Alexander’s next attempt was to defeat Persia because he could never be the dominant force in Europe as long as the Persian ruler Darius was still living. After beating Persia the second and final time in 332, Darius, who managed to survive, fled to the mountains. He died in the mountains when one of his own men killed him. With Darius dead, Alexander was crowned King of Persia and became known as the king of all Asia. Babylon surrendered after Gaugamela, and the city of Susa was soon conquered. In midwinter, Alexander forced his way to Persepolis, the Persian capital. After plundering the city of its treasuries and taking other rich “booty”, however he burned the city during a drunken rage, which completed the destruction of the ancient Persian Empire. His empire now extended along and beyond the southern shores of the Caspian Sea, including modern Afghanistan and Baluchistan, and northward into Bactria and Sogdiana, the modern Western Turkistan, which is also Central Asia. It had taken Alexander only three years, from the spring of 330 B.C. to the spring of 327 B.C., to gain control of this vast empire. In or...