Invasion of Persia
-Alexander was now ready to invade Persia now that the Greece was secure.
-Alexander marched with 35,000 men to attack Persia.
-Persian rushed 40,000 men to meet Alexander at Anatolia.
-Alexander decide to attack first and with his cavalry, very effective and defeated the Persians.
-That victory alarmed the Persian king, Darius III.
-His response was to raise a huge army ranging between 50,000 and 75,000 man.
-Alexander knew he was outnumbered so he called for a surprise attack with his best troops and ordered them to go straight to the Persian king.
-The Persian king fled and so did his army.
Peace?
-After tow major battles lost, Darius III was ready to give up so land h=in hopes that Alexander would stop his conquest.
-The Macedonian advisors to Alexander told him to take the offer, but Alexander refused.
-Alexander's goal was to conquer all of he Persian empire.
Alexander in Egypt
-Alexander was welcomed into Egypt as a liberator even though Egypt was a Persian territory.
-Was even crowned a pharaoh
-Alexander name a city, Alexandria after himself, very common for him to do.
Continuing the conquest
-Alexander still wanted to kill king Darius III, of Persia so he pursued him
-This pursuit made him a great conquered 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, there were wrong.
-He invaded certain areas of India and successful defeat them there as well.
-Only problem Alexander struggled with was the low morale of his army.
Low morale
-Alexander's troops had been fighting for a very long time and traveled very far: had fought for 11 years, had marched 11,000 miles, in bad conditions, deserts and even monsoon rains.
-Very disappointed, Alexander agreed to return home.
Governor?
When Alexander had reached Babylon, he announces that he wants to unite his empire by building new cities, roads and harbors and conquer Arabia.
What happens after big promises or vows in this time era?
He became seriously ill with a fever and died at the age of 32.
Legacy
-Married a Persian princess
-he even wore Persian dress and presided over a mass marriage of 80 of his men to Persian women.
-very interesting cultural impact- spreading Hellenistic 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
Eventually these three generals of Alexander got control of his conquered land.
Antigonus became the king of Macedonia and took control of the Greek city-states
Ptolemy seized Egypt, took the title of Pharaoh, and began a dynasty.
Seleucid got control over the old Persian empire. He didn't take the democratic approach with him, the rulers had all the power not the people.
Overall opinion of Alexander the Great.
I think he was a great leader because he could control a lot of army and could be able to over take other rulers. He had a successful life with all of his conquers. I think he was a barbaric person because he was able to get his men to work hard. He was able to attack different ways to conquer.
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