|
ALEXANDER THE GREAT
356-323 BC
According to
Napoleon, Alexander was one of the
seven greatest generals in history.
Alexander of Macedonia, or Alexander III, was born in Pella, Macedonia.
Here you
will find
Alexander the Great's timeline.
IN A NUTSHELL
Alexander conquered the entire
then known world in a decade, which included the
ruling
Persian Empire.
And here is the map
The Conquests of Alexander the Great 336-323 BC
There are many legends
about Alexander, so it's important to keep fact and fiction
apart.
ALEXANDER'S FAMILY
AND FRIENDS
His
father, Philip II, was assassinated when Alexander was
20 years old. Philip was the 18th king of Macedonia. Alexander
became his successor in 336 B.C.
Interesting tidbit: 336 B.C. was also the year in which
Darius
III became king of the
Persian Empire.
Alexander's mother was not Angelina Jolie (you wish) but Olympias.
Olympias was the princess of Epirus. Here is a
map of Epirus. And if you watched
the
movie Alexander closely, you know that she was the kind of gal who
knew what she wanted.
Then
there was Aristotle. Aristotle was Alexander's tutor during his
childhood.
Alexander's main male lover was Hephaestion, one of
his bodyguards. When Hephaestion died, Alexander arranged a
humongous funeral.
Alexander's firstborn son was Heracles by Stateira (Barsine).
Unfortunately for Heracles, he was illegitimate.
Roxana became Alexander's wife in 327 B.C. They had a son
together, Alexander IV.
Macedonian General Antipater was in charge
of everything in Macedonia while Alex was gone fighting.
Antipater died in 319 B.C.
CONTROVERSY -
DID ALEXANDER
ORDER THE
ASSASSINATION OF HIS FATHER?
The majority of historians doesn't think so.
ALEXANDER'S
ARMY
Alex's army was rather small. He had at his disposal 5,000
cavalrymen and 30,000 infantrymen. Not being fear inspiring in
size, the army's strength lay in its discipline and
organization. Mastering the
phalanx with its arrangements of
long pikes, Alexander's army whooped Persians en
masse.
ALEXANDER'S BATTLES
In 338 BC and alongside his father Philip, Alexander fought in
the
Battle of Chaeronea.
Map of the Battle of Chaeronea 338 BC
Thanks to his father, Macedonia had
become a dominant power in Greece by the time he succeeded to the
throne in 336 BC.
After becoming king of Macedonia, Alexander gained
several victories over the northern barbarians who had
attacked Macedonia, and destroyed Thebes, which, in
conjunction with Athens, had taken up arms against the
Macedonians upon receiving the news of Philip's death.
Alexander moved swiftly and thoroughly.
He then prepared for his invasion of Asia, an operation his father
had already envisioned back in the days.
334 BC - Alexander passed the
Hellespont.
Early summer of the year 334 B.C. -
The battle on the banks of the river
Granicus brought
Alexander his first victory over Darius III and the Persians. Darius was not overly concerned,
but he should have been.
Map of the Battle of the Granicus 334 BC
In 333 BC, the battle at
Issus looked like a
cakewalk for Darius, because he commanded an army of some 600,000
men. Just a little later, Darius was fleeing for his life. His army was
defeated; his mother, wife, sister, and children had been captured by
Alexander.
Map of the Battle of Issus 333 BC - Movements to the Battlefield
Map of the Battle of Issus 333 BC - Initial Situation
Map of the Battle of Issus 333 BC - Decisive Action
Interestingly, Alexander didn't pursue Darius after the battle
at Issus. Instead, he decided to spend January through July
332 B.C. in front of the closed gates of the city Tyre.
Similar to Darius III, the
citizens of Tyre were not too alarmed when Alexander was besieging their city. Tyre was located on a cozy
little island half a mile away from the mainland, framed by
sturdy walls a hundred and fifty feet high. Plus, Alexander
didn't have a navy.
Alexander decided to build a causeway across the channel and,
in addition, he borrowed a
Phoenician navy. That did the trick
and Alexander's troops were able to breach Tyre's
walls. The citizens of Tyre paid dearly for their resistance - some 8,000
were slaughtered right away, 2,000
were impaled, and 30,000
were sold into slavery.
On this occasion, Alexander
put to work the highest siege towers ever used in the
history of war so far. (source)
And here are the maps of the Siege of Tyre.
Map of the Siege of Tyre 333-332 BC
After
a short rest in Jerusalem, Alexander went on to Egypt
where he founded the city of Alexandria. The year? 332 B.C.
Alexander moved on to Babylon with an army of some 47,000
men. With Darius III still at large, Alexander was itching for
battle.
THE
BATTLE OF GAUGAMELA
On
October 1, 331 B.C., it
followed the
Battle of Gaugamela which turned out to be the end of
the Persian empire. Darius III fled to Bactria where he was
killed.
Battle of Gaugamela (Battle of Arbela) 331 BC
Map of the Battle of Gaugamela 331 BC -
Initial Situation
Map of the Battle of Gaugamela 331 BC -
Decisive Action
BABYLON'S SURRENDER
Alexander scored once more in the year 331 B.C. when Babylon, Persian's winter capital, was smart enough to surrender. Alexander
loved the city of Babylon and decided it would become
his new capital.
THE BATTLE OF HYDASPES
The
Battle of the Hydaspes in 326 B.C. was the last of the
four major battles in Alexander's conquest.
Map of the Battle of the Hydaspes 326 BC - Crossing of the River
This battle proved to be a bit
tricky for Alexander because he had to fight India leader Porus,
who not only was a very strong opponent but who also had 200 war
elephants at his disposal.
Map of the Battle of the Hydaspes 326 BC - Combined Arms Attack
The Battle of Hydaspes became yet
another victory for
Alexander.
ALEXANDER THE GREAT
Click image to enlarge
Alexander's troops refused to march towards the Ganges, and he
commenced the descent of the Indus. On his march he attacked and
subdued several Indian tribes, among others the Malli; in the
storming of whose capital Mooltan, Alexander was severely wounded.
Alexander directed his admiral, Nearchus, to
sail round from the Indus to the Persian Gulf; and lead the army
back across Scinde and Beloochistan.
324 BC - Alexander returned to Babylon.
Alexander's death
Babylon, the year
323 B.C. - Alexander suffered from malarial fever
and died. He left a gigantic empire, which reached from Europe
to Asia Minor, Asia, the Middle East, and Egypt.
His dead body was transported into Egypt and buried in Alexandria.
On his death being known at
Greece, the Athenians, and others of the southern states,
take up arms to shake off the domination of Macedon. They
are at first successful; but the return of some of
Alexander's veterans from Asia enables Antipater to prevail
over them.
Alexander's
successors
Alexander's
brother Philip ruled Macedonia but only until 317 B.C. because
his mother then murdered him.
After Philip, Alexander Jr. succeeded to
the throne and made it until 311 B.C. He was then murdered
by Cassander, one of his father's generals.
Son
Heracles was murdered as well. That was
in 309 B.C.
Thus,
Alexander the Great's family tradition of ruling came to an
end.
WHO TOOK OVER?
Alexander's generals continued to rule instead. They were also
called the
Diadochi. Here you can check the
map of
the Diadochi.
306 BC - After a long series of
wars with each other, and after all
the heirs of Alexander had been murdered, his principal
surviving
generals assume the title of king, each over the provinces
which
he has occupied.
The four chief among them were
Antigonus, Ptolemy, Lysimachus, and Seleucus. Antipater was
now dead, but his son Cassander succeeded to his power in
Macedonia and Greece.
General Antigonus got himself set up to rule over Asia
but was killed in the
Battle of Ipsus in Phrygia, Asia Minor,
in 301 B.C. by Seleucus and Lysimachus.
One
general down, four more to go.
Cassander took over Macedonia and Greece.
Lysimachus
went for Asia Minor and Thrace.
Seleucus took Babylon,
Media, Syria, Persia, and everything eastward of the Indus
River. Ptolemy took Egypt, Libya, Arabia, Palestine,
Coele-Syria and became ancestor of Julius Caesar's sweetheart Cleopatra.
280 BC - Seleucus, the last of
Alexander's captains, is assassinated. Of all Alexander's
successors, Seleucus had formed the most powerful empire. He had
acquired all the provinces between Phrygia and the Indus. He
extended his dominion in India beyond the limits reached by
Alexander.
Seleucus had some sparks of his great
master's genius in promoting civilization and commerce, as well as
in gaining victories. Under his successors, the Seleucidae,
this vast empire rapidly diminished; Bactria became independent, and
a separate dynasty of Greek kings ruled there in the year 125, when
it was overthrown by the Scythian
tribes.
Parthia threw off its allegiance to the
Seleucidae in 250 B.C., and the powerful Parthian kingdom, which
afterwards proved so formidable a foe to Rome, absorbed nearly all
the provinces west of the Euphrates, that had obeyed the first
Seleucus.
Before the battle of Ipsus, Mithridates,
a Persian prince of the blood-royal of the Achaemenidae, had escaped
to Pontus, and founded there the kingdom of that name.
Besides the kingdom of Seleucus, which, when limited to Syria,
Palestine, and parts of Asia Minor, long survived; the most
important kingdom formed by a general of Alexander was that of
the Ptolemies in Egypt.
The throne of Macedonia was long and
obstinately contended for by Cassander, Polysperchon, Lysimachus,
Pyrrhus, Antigonus, and others; but at last was secured by the
dynasty of Antigonus Gonatas. The old republics of southern Greece
suffered severely during these tumults, and the only Greek states
that showed any strength and spirit were the cities of the Achaean
league, the AEtolians, and the islanders of Rhodes.
It went downhill with Macedonia. In
168 B.C., Macedonia became dependent upon Rome and in 146
B.C., it became a Roman province. Syria became a Roman
province in 64 B.C
And here is a map of Macedonia in
Roman times
MACEDONIA IN ROMAN TIMES
Click to enlarge
ALEXANDER THE GREAT
TRIVIA
This
Greek newspaper reports that Macedonia renamed its Skopje
airport "Alexander the Great."
Article here.
|
