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
- Peace?
- After two major battles lost, Darius III was ready to give up some land in hopes that Alexander would stop his conquest
- The Macedonian advisors told Alexander to take the offer, but Alexander refused
- Alexander’s goal was to conquer all of the 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 named 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, they were wrong
- He invaded certain areas of India and successful defeat them there as well
- Only problem Alexander struggled with was the law 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
- Alexander’s troops had been fighting for a very long time and traveled very far:
- Governor?
- When Alexander had reached Babylon, he announces that he wants to unite hi empire by building me cities
- What happens after big promises or vows in this time era?
- They die
- He 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 Hellenistic culture
- At the time of his death, Alexander had conquered a vast amount of land
- General fought over who go 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
I believe that Alexander was a very barbaric person and he deserved to die for all of the horrible things that he did. It is necessary to keep your troops fighting for 11 years and not go back home until all of the troops are tired and don't want to do anything. I think that he should have stopped killing people when he killed King Darius III. Alexander should have took the land the Darius III was offering to him.
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