Macedonia:
- Macedonia had rough terrain and cold climate-- very much like Athens, except cold.
- People lived in more mountain villages instead of city-states like Athens.
- Most of the Macedonian nobles referred to themselves as Greeks. The Greeks thought that Macedonians were barbaric and not as civilized as Greeks.
- Sparta was the other civilization Greece treated like crap.
- After the Peloponnesian War several Greek city-states were very weak: Economically, 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.
- Macedonian Leadership: Phillip II was the King of Macedonia around 360 BC.
- He was only twenty three years old when be became king.
- He was a brilliant general and was able to train peasants into warriors.
- His dream was to take over Greece and avenge the Persian Invasion of Greece in 480 BC. He invaded Persia.
- Phillip's Tactics: He organized his army into phalanxes of sixteen men across by sixteen men deep.
- All two hundred and fifty-six men had to work together for this formation to work correctly. After the phalanx had broke through the enemy's line, he would then send in cavalry to crush the disorganized or retreating opponents.
- Conquest for Greece: An Athenian orator named Demosthenes tried to war the Greeks of the threat of Phillip and told them to prepare an army.
- However, the city-states of Greece couldn't come up with a united response.
- Finally, Athens and Thebes decided to stand up to Phillip but it was too late. Greek independence was lost to King Phillip of Macedonia.
- New Leader: Next on Phillip's agenda was to invade Persia. However, he was never able to do this.
- At his daughter's wedding, he was stabbed and stabbed to death by one of his former guardsman.
- His son immediately proclaimed himself the king of Macedonia, his name was Alexander, later known as Alexander the Great.
- Alexander the Great
- He was taught by Aristotle, spread the Hellenistic culture, and was very intellectual. He kept a copy of the Iliad under his pillow to remind him of the heroic 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 six thousand lives.
- The only survivors were sold into slavery, only priests were spared from becoming slaves.
- Invasion of Persia:
- Alexander was now ready to invade Persia, now that Greece was secure.
- Alexander marched with thirty-five thousand men to attack Persia.
- Persians rushed forty thousand men to meet Alexander at Anatolia.
- Alexander decided to attack first and, with his cavalry, was very effective and defeated the Persians.
- Invasion Continues:
- The Victory alarmed the Persian King, Darius III.
- His response was to raise a huge army, ranging between fifty thousand to seventy-five thousand men.
- 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.
- Daily Blog!!!!!!
- Do you think that Alexander should have punished the people of Thebes so harshly? Why or Why not?
- No.. I mean, maybe some of them didn't want to rebel? I think his reasoning behind the punishment was out of line-- punishing them because he wanted to show who was boss, but if they were being little brats, then brats get in trouble. While murdering them all and selling the rest wasn't the best move, maybe, it could have been the only one brought up to him. And when it comes to loyalty down the line, I'm sure if Thebes was rebuilt and the people moved in, they would be less willing to be devoted to him than they might have previously been had he taken a different course of action.
- Do you think that Alexander should have punished the people of Thebes so harshly? Why or Why not?
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