World History Notes
Macedonia
- Geography
- Macedonia had rough terrain and a cold climate
- The people lived mostly in mountain villages instead of the city-states like Athens had
- Not seeing eye to eye
- Most of the Macedonian nobles referred to themselves as Greeks
- Once again the Greeks thought that the Macedonians were barbaric and not as civilized as the Greeks
- What other civilization did the Greeks treat this way? Spartans
- Changes
- After the Peloponnesian War several Greek city-states were very weak
- Economically
- Militaristically
- Then 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
- After the Peloponnesian War several Greek city-states were very weak
- Macedonian Leadership
- Phillip IIwas the king of Macedonia around 360 BC
- Only 23 would he become king
- Brilliant general
- Was able to train peasants into warriors
- His dream was to take over Greece and avenge the Persian Invasion of Greece in 480 BC
- Invade Persia
- Phillip IIwas the king of Macedonia around 360 BC
- Phillip’s Tactics
- Phillip organized his army into phalanxes of 16 men across by 16 men deep
- All 256 med had to work together for this formation to work correctly
- After the phalanx had broken 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 warn the Greeks of the threat of Phillip and told them to prepare and army
- However, the city-states of Greece couldn’t come up with united response
- Finally Athens and Thebes decided to standup to Phillip but it was too late
- Greek independence was lost to King Phillip of Macedonia
- New Leader
- Next of Phillip’s agenda was to invade Persia
- However, he was never able to do this
- At his daughter’s wedding, he was stabbed in the back to death by one of his former guardian
- His son immediately proclaimed himself the king of Macedonia, His name was Alexander, later known as Alexander the Great
- Alexander the Great
- Was taught by Aristotle
- Spread Hellenistic culture
- Very intellectual, 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 priests were spared from becoming slaves
- 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 40,00 men to meet Alexander at Anatolia
- Alexander decided to attack first 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 to 70,000 men
- Alexander knew he was out numbered 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
Questions:
- Do you think that Alexander should have punished the people of Thebes so harshly? Why or Why not.
- Start you answer then write at least a paragraph explaining your reasoning.
No because the people of Thebes didn't want for him to take over their city. I think that it is unnecessary for him to kill all of the innocent people and selling all of the survivors into slavery. I wouldn't even keep the priests cause there is no way that god is going to forgive you for killing all of those innocent people. It is not right to show your powers off by killing people.
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