Macedonia
- Geography
-had rough terrain and a cold climate
-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 Greeks 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
- Leadership
-PHILLIP II was the kind of Macedonia around 360 BC
-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
- His Tactics
-Phillip organized his army into phalanxes of 16x16
-all 256 men 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 an 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 on Phillips agenda was to invade Persia
-however, he was never able to do this
-at his daughter’s wedding, he was stabbed I the back by one of his former guardsman
-his son immediately proclaimed himself as the kind of Macedonia. His name was later known as ALEXANDER THE GREAT
- Alexander the Great
-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 Greece was secure
-He marched with 35,000 men to attack Persia
-Persian rushed 40,000 men to meet Alexander at Anatolia
-He decided to attack first and with his cavalry, very effective and defeated the Persians
-that Victory alarmed the Persian Kind, Darius III
-his response was to raise a huge army ranging between 50,000 and 74,000 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 Kind
-the king had fled and so did the army
Daily Blog:
Do you think that Alexander should have punished the people of Thebes so harshly? Why or Why not?
I don't think Alexander the Great should have punished them so harshly. It doesn't seem like the people actually did anything wrong except the one person that killed his dad which yes, i can see why he'd be mad about that but I don't think he needed to punish everyone for it and kill 6,000 people. I think the people understood that he was the leader sure he probably needed to gain their respect but I'm sure that beings he was so smart, he could have done it in a better way. I think killing the people would just want to make everyone else rebel against him even more. I'm glad he at least let the preists go but that really wasn't proving to anyone that he was a good man, not even God/the gods. He's still going to hell.
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