There have long been true legends about the victorious military campaigns and resounding conquests of Alexander the Great, who remained in history as Alexander the Great. But what was the famous commander and conqueror really like? How could he subjugate Greece and destroy the rebellious Thebes? How did he lose his best friend through his own fault, and what did it cost him? Why did he go crazy, having captured half the world, and how did his so bright but so short life end?
He was born and immediately became a legend
Alexander was born in 356 BC. According to legend, it was on the night when Herostratus set fire to the temple of Artemis. Later, the Greeks said that the temple burned down because the goddess was very busy at that time, helping to give birth to someone who would later be named Alexander the Great. This man’s life was very similar to this famous fire, just as vivid and incredibly fleeting.
The father and mother of the future tsar and the great warrior did not like each other. Both had a huge impact on my son, but from different sides. His mother was fixated on greatness and convinced the boy that his real father was the ruler of Olympus, Zeus, and not a mere mortal earthly king. The father was so busy conquering Greece that he did not pay attention to the child at all. But a great teacher, Aristotle, was hired to educate him. This is how the great warrior was brought up with the mind of a philosopher, to leave an indelible mark on history later.
Interestingly, the main version of Alexander’s death is poisoning. Alexander’s teacher had a reinforced concrete motive: in one of his campaigns, Macedonian executed Aristotle’s beloved grandnephew, the ancient Greek scientist and philosopher Callisthenes of Olynthus. Alexander’s teacher fueled these speculations by committing suicide after his death. But that was much later. The prince studied all sciences under the guidance of his great teacher. Few people know that Alexander was particularly fascinated by poetry.
How did he begin his reign?
When the boy turned 16, his father appointed him regent during his absence, during one of the many military campaigns in Greece. The rebels decided to take advantage of this and raised an uprising, thinking that the boy would not be able to suppress it. A huge mistake. Alexander simply pulverized all the rebels, defeated their army, and renamed the rebellious city Alexandropol. Later, dozens of cities named after Alexander appeared in the conquered territories.
Alexander, historians say, was jealous of his father’s military successes. Also, some of them claim that the mother of the Macedonian, Olympias, organized a conspiracy against her husband to put her beloved son on the throne. It is also suspected that Alexander himself took an active part in this. Visit. A F R I N I K . C O M . For the full article. There is no documentary evidence for this, however, as well as refutations. Anyway, at the age of 20, Alexander became king of Macedonia. He began his reign by physically eliminating his political opponents and competitors for the throne.
At that time, the kingdom was on the verge of collapse; the treasury was empty, and the state was exhausted by wars. Despite this, Alexander canceled all taxes. He also decisively suppressed all the dreams of Greek cities about independence, wiping off the face of the Earth all those who dared to rebel against his rule. So Alexander began his victorious march around the world.
Conquered half the world
Alexander’s famous Eastern Campaign took him all the way to India. Alexander gathered an army of 12,000 infantrymen and almost 2,000 horsemen, and they were joined by an army previously assembled by his father Philip and the Greeks, who were carried away by this idea, behind which loomed a rich booty. In general, according to historians, the army of the newly-made Macedonian king numbered about 50,000 soldiers. With these forces, he marched on Persia.
The invasion was successful. The Persians tried to defeat the insolent Greeks at sea. The idea was reasonable: they had a powerful fleet, but the Macedonians had nothing. Alexander understood that he was in danger of defeat at sea and came up with a very elegant idea. Macedon captured all the Persian naval bases, reaching Egypt and making their fleet their own. After that, Alexander returned to Greece and defeated the Persian king Darius and his army in the famous Battle of Gaugamela. The loot was fabulously rich. Alexander was proclaimed king of the world, and the victory was celebrated in such a way that the royal palace was burned down in the process. It was the happiest year in Alexander the Great’s short life.
The Macedonians, led by Alexander, did not stop there. The Persians thought that the king would remain in captured Babylon and would be engaged in strengthening his empire, contenting himself with the conquered wealth. But Alexander dreamed of greater plans. He went further East. On the territory of modern Afghanistan, in the Kabul region, a city was founded, named Alexandria of the Caucasus.
Why are you crazy
The Macedonians, loyal to their king, followed their commander further and further East. Here, gradually, Alexander began to become more and more paranoid. He had been bombarded with denunciations before, but before that, the commander had unconditionally trusted his inner circle. Immediately, with each denunciation he read, the tsar’s suspicion began to increase. And finally, he began to “uncover” conspiracies. During the investigation, Macedonski “reached out” to one of his closest associates, Filota. He was the leader of the most elite military unit of the Tsarist army.
Alexander held an open court. Despite the unconvincing nature of all the accusations, the tsar insisted on the death sentence. Philota’s father was the famous general Parmenion. Macedonian could not let this man live, not unreasonably fearing revenge on his part, and sent a murderer to him. The campaign continued. On the Macedonian way, the local satraps did not greet the conqueror very hospitably. The fire of the guerrilla war was getting hotter and hotter. The tsar responded to the riots by terrorizing the civilian population. Cities were often burned to the ground, and residents were slaughtered, including infants. Modern historians estimate this genocide at about 200,000 victims, but there may be many more.
On the territory of modern Tajikistan, Alexander’s army went to war with the Scythian tribes. Historians know about that battle only from Greek sources, and they claim that the Macedonian won, then retreated to more convenient positions for themselves. Researchers believe that this is, to put it mildly, a lie.
Several unwise decisions by Alexander gradually destroyed his relations with his closest comrades, with whom he began his victorious campaign to the East. The king surrounded himself with foreigners, and they accustomed him to their traditions. They greeted him, as is customary in the East, by prostrating themselves. Alexander began to demand the same from his Macedonians, but they did not understand. The problems started. On the one hand, the tsar was right: he had to rule not Greece, but the whole of Asia, and it was logical to adopt the customs of the locals. It was customary for those to deify the rulers. It is unclear exactly where and at what specific moment Alexander crossed that fine line between reasonable political calculation and megalomania.
The Macedonians believed that the king had gone mad. At the feasts, the comrades-in-arms made fun of the Persians, who spread out like a carpet in front of the Macedonian. At one of these drinking parties, a drunken Alexander killed his best friend Clete in a fit of anger. I must say that the Macedonians, led by their king, have been feasting every day since the capture of Babylon. They got drunk to the most terrible state. On one of these days, a drunken brawl broke out over a dispute about Alexander’s divinity. Clitus was a Macedonian foster brother; he had saved his life in battle more than once and sincerely did not understand his claims to divine status. The king grabbed the spear from the guard and mortally wounded his friend in the stomach.
The next morning, Alexander, who had sobered up, was full of remorse. He hadn’t eaten or drunk in 3 days. He was crying all the time over Clete’s lifeless body. It wasn’t even remorse; it was the genuine hysteria of a man who had completely lost all control over himself. However, having recovered, the tsar again showed his military genius and continued the victorious seizure of new territories. Having subdued Sogdiana, Alexander treated the locals quite mercifully this time. He realized that brute force alone was not enough to retain power. The tsar ordered all his military leaders to marry the daughters of local nobles and did it himself, taking Roxana as his wife.
Alexander led his army further. Macedonians at this stage had already stopped understanding where and why they were going. The king knew for sure that he dreamed of conquering India. Then he came across a phenomenon that shocked him incredibly: war elephants. Despite the great sacrifices, the Macedonians still won.
In the summer of 325 BC, Alexander’s army rebelled. People refused to go any further. They just wanted to enjoy the fruits of victory, living peacefully in their homeland, and not endlessly fighting with some barbarians in a foreign land. The tsar was forced to turn back, and he did not forgive his people for this. Upon his return to Babylon, Macedonian replaced many of his closest associates who helped him conquer half the world with Persians. The Macedonians could not stand it and rebelled. Alexander suppressed him with incredible brutality.
Soon after, the king died suddenly. He was only 33 years old. The debate about whether this was a murder and who committed it is ongoing to this day. Macedonian’s grandiose plans were not destined to come true: to build a port and fleet in the Persian Gulf, go from there to Africa, take Carthage and carve his head out of Mount Athos, so that a small town stood in front of him, as if in the palm of his hand. Almost all the fabulous wealth conquered by Alexander in Persia was spent on these colossal projects.
Many believe that if Alexander hadn’t died then and completed what he started, the world today would be a completely different place, where Western antiquity would have joined with the East. However, all these ideas come from the West, and they are based on idealized ideas about Alexander the Great. The truth is that the great commander, without any doubt, was a very cruel man who completely lost his mental health by the end of his short life. Such a ruler would hardly be able to unite two worlds so different from each other. Alexander the Great was a god of war, not peace.
