9/20/12

[2Tony]

• MACEDONIA • macedonia had rough terrain and had a cold climate
• • the people lived mostly in mountain village instead of the city states like athens had.
• •most of the macedonia nobles referred to themselves as Greeks
• •the greeks were barbaic and not as civilized as the greeks
• •greeks treated sparta like this also
• •after the pelpponessian war several of the greek city states were very weak; econnomically and militaristically.
• •when there is weakness or a struggle there is usually a predator or someone else to take advantage of the opportunity, in this case it was macedonia
• •leadership - very popular king was Phillip the second; became king around 360 BC, was 23 when he became king, brilliant general, was able to train peasants into warrios, his dream was to take over Greece and avenge the persian invasion of greece in 480 BC, and to invade persia.
• •Phillips tactics - orgainized his army into phalanxes of 16 men across by 16 men deep, all 256 men had to work together for this formation to work correctly, and after the phalanx had broke through the enemy's line he would then send in calvary to crush the disorgainized or retreating opponents.
• •conquest for greece - an athenian named demosthenes tried to warn the greeks of the threat of phillip and told them to prepare an army, however the city states of greece couldnt come up with a united response, finally athen and thebes deicded to standup to phillip but it was too late, greek independence was lost to king phillip of macedonia.
• •new leader - next on phillips agenda was to invade perisa however it never happened because at his daughters wedding was stabbed to death by one of his former guardsmen. his son immediatly proclaimed himself the king of macedonia, his name was alexander and later became known as Alexander The Great.
• •alexander the great - was taught by aerostotale, spread hellenistic culture, very intulectual, kept a copy of the iliad under his pillow to remind him of the heroic of achilles in the trojan war. alexander wanted to show his power early and when the people of thebes rebelled he destroyed their city and took 6,000 lives. the survivors were sold into slavery only the preist were spared from becoming slaves.
• •invasion of persia - alexander was now ready to invade persia now that greece was secure, alexander marched with 35000 men to attack perisa. persian runshed 40000 men to meet alexander at anatolia. alexander decided to attack first and with his calvary very effective and defeated the persians.
• •invasion continues - that victory alarmed the persian king darius the thired. his repsonse to the attack was to raise a huge army ranging between 50000 and 75000 men. alexander knew he was outnumberedd so he called for a suprise attack with his best troops and ordered them to go straigth to the persian king. the persian king fled and so did his army.
• MACEDONIA
• Peace? - after two major battles lost, darius the third was ready to give up some land in hopes that alexander would stop his conquest. the macedonian advisors to alexander told him to take the offer but alexander refused. alexanders goal was to conquer all of the persian empire.
• continuing to conquest - alexander still wanted to kill king darius the third of persia so he pursued him. this pursuit made him a great conquerer but bad at governing the land he conquered. he eventually found king darius dead, one of his own men had killed him.
• are we there yet? - many thought that once darius was dead alexander might stop the conquest but they were wong. he invaded certain areas of india and succesfully defeated them there as well. only problem alexander struggled with was the low morale of his army.
• low morale - alexanders troops had been fighting for a very long time and traveled very far, had fought for elven years, and had traveled 11,000 miles in bad conditions. very disappointed, alexander agreed to return them home.
• government - when alexander had reached babylon he announced that he want to unite his empire by building new cities roads and harbors to conquer arabia. what happens after big promises or vows in this time era? death, alexander became seriously ill with a fever and died at the age of 32.
• legacy - married a persian princess. he even wore a persian dress and presided over a mass marriage of 80 of his men to persian women. very interesting cultural impact - spreading the hellinistic culture. at the time of his death alexander had conquered a vast amount of land. generals fought over who got the power of the empire.
• generals - evenetually these three generals of alexander got control of his conquered land. antigonius becamse the king of macedonia and took control of the greek city states. ptolemy seized egypt, took the title of pharoh, and began a dynasty. seleucid got control over the old persian empire. he didnt take the democratic approach with him, the rules had all the power not the people.