Macedonia
- Geography
- 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 very weak:
- economically
- militaristically
- when there is weakness of 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 very weak:
- Macedonian Leadership
- Phillip II was the king of Macedonia around 360 BC
- he was only 23 when he became 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 II was 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 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 name Demosthenes tried to warn 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 united response
- Finally Athens and Thebes decide 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 in 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
- was taught by Aristotle so he was very smart
- spread Hellenistic culture
- very intellectual, kept a copy of the Iliad under his pollow 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 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 march with 35,000 men to attack Persia
- Persians rushed 40,000 men to meet Alexander at Anatolia
- Alexander decided to attack first and with his cavalry, very effective and defeated the Persians
- Invasion continues
- That victory alarmed the Persian King, Darius III
- his response was to raise a huge army ranging between 50,000 to 75,000 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
- Do you think that Alexander should have punished the people of Thebes so harshly? why or why not? state your answer then write at least a paragraph explaining your reasoning.
- No, I don't think that he should have punished them so harshly. That would be like if someone didn't follow the rules at school or at home, then they would have to be a slave. In my eyes that's inhuman. I don't think anyone should ever have to be a slave to anyone. It's no way to have to live life. I understand why he would punish them, but he shouldn't have to kill 6,000 people and then make the survivors slaves. He could have approached the situation a lot differently and handled it in a better way.
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