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ALEXANDER THE GREAT.   Term Paper ID:28011 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Evaluates the ruler's motivating forces, skills & accomplishments as a military leader.... More...

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Paper Abstract: Evaluates the ruler's motivating forces, skills & accomplishments as a military leader. Paper Introduction: ALEXANDER THE GREAT: THE MAN AND HIS ACCOMPLISHMENTS This research paper summarizes and evaluates Alexander the Great's skills and accomplishments as a military leader and his shortcomings as well as the political gifts which formed part of his complex personality. Alexander (356-323 B.C.) earned the title the Great primarily because of his remarkable military exploits. His accomplishments as a ruler proved to be largely transitory. His lasting legacy was the preservation and spread of Hellenistic culture which his conquests made possible, but which never ran very deep in Persia and regions further to the East. A king at 19 and dead of fever at 33, Alexander in a relatively brief span of time conquered most of the then known world, often in the face of insuperable odds, during the course of campaigns which involved arduous marches over 17,000 miles. He was ab Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. Instead, he acted less like a conqueror and more like he was the Kingof the Medes and Persians and points east. He was an exceptionally courageous and inspiring leaderof men in arms. . During the course of his conquests, Alexander displayed considerablepolitical astuteness which enabled him to exploit weaknesses among hisadversaries and to attract allies to his cause. He treated Athens leniently because he knew he would need itsfleet to counter the large Persian naval threat. Alexander The Great. . In some cities, he appointed Macedonianswith the Persian title of satrap, but Hornblower said that since in mostcities "Persia had supported oligarchies . . and bybeing prepared to secure to them their old traditions" (87). A few of his Greek settlements survived for centuries. Over time Alexander and his rule became more and morePersianized. Darius had selecteda flat plain which favored the deployment of his chariots and cavalry;however, Alexander developed a fighting square, which enabled hisformations to fight and turn in all directions and to avoid becomingenveloped. Alexander cut with his sword the Gordian knot. Alexander became King of Macedonia in 337 after Philip wasassassinated. He knew how toexpand the power and logistical base of his small conquering force byaccommodating to local customs. The Genius of Alexander The Great. Herecovered and wished to push onto to the River Ganges, which Aristotle hadtold him was the eastern extremity of the Asian land mass. Alexander's forces were victorious but the fighting was ferocious.Alexander himself was nearly killed. "Upset at Issus." Military History 11 Feb. Warfare in the Ancient World. The retreat by waterdown the Indus River went smoothly; but when Alexander tried to lead a partof his forces back to Persia through the Gedrosian desert, 6 , men werelost during a 6 day march in which Alexander, to show he was still willingto share the privations of his men, refused to drink water. He sent many of themhome. G. Hammond said "Alexander [brought] into his entourage and society andhis cavalry a steady flow of Asiatic aristocrats" (123). In his youth, Alexander was trained as a warrior and displayed at anearly age extraordinary competitiveness and capacity for leadership andcourage which he displayed in 338 when he led the decisive cavalry chargeat Chaeronea. Ernest, and Trevor R. Chapel Hill: U of North Carolina P, 1997.Hornblower, Simon. A king at 19 and dead of fever at 33, Alexander in a relatively briefspan of time conquered most of the then known world, often in the face ofinsuperable odds, during the course of campaigns which involved arduousmarches over 17, miles. he did everything possible to conciliate Persianopinion" (121). He led an immediate cavalry charge across theriver. He spent the next two years eliminating opposition to hisrule within palace circles and quelling revolts in the Balkans. His mother and Philip's third wife,Olympias, was descended from Priam, the King of Troy, and from the Greekhero Achilles, who was believed to be the son of the goddess Thetis.Hammond said that Alexander always had "a profound belief in the Olympiangods," [whom] "he hoped to rival or even surpass" (7). . In theface of Alexander's pell-mell charge, Darius lost his nerve and fled thebattlefield, thus ensuring another Macedonian victory at the Battle ofIssus. Alexander set updemocracies" (271). Maihafer said that for one of the fewtimes in his life, "Alexander was both outsmarted and outmaneuvered" (65).However, he quickly recovered his aplomb. However, his campaignnearly came apart in northern Syria where Darius, the Persian Emperor,moved his main force into a blocking position just north of and astrideAlexander's lines of communications. In some ofthose campaigns, Alexander confounded his enemies by making river crossingson rafts of straw and outflanking mountain redoubts in the Hindu Kush.Dupuy and Dupuy stated Alexander's "accomplishments in mountain warfare andagainst irregular forces have never been equalled" (52). Alexander The Great. The Pillars of Empire Crumble (331-33 ) Revictualled, Alexander marched from Egypt into northern Mesopotamiawith an army of about 47, where he met a Persian army of perhaps fivetimes that size at the Battle of Gaugamela (Lucas 18). Trans. At the Battle of Hydaspes inMarch 326, Alexander surprised the warriors of a local potentate King Porusand his 2 war elephants on the plains of Punjab. Hammond said"[by] these actions . Alexander attacked and exploited gaps in the Persian line andused skillfully a tactical reserve to counter Persian attacks on hisflanks. He was an inspiring and courageous leader of men. However, hismagnificent Macedonian officers and men refused to advance another step.According to Stoneman, "they found Alexander's continuing ambitionincomprehensible and his demands unreasonable" (69). He took a detour to Gordium wherelegend had it that whoever could separate a shaft from the yoke of anoxcart on an ancient Phrygian palace of King Midas would become Lord ofAsia. He appointed many Persians to key positions. New York: W. London: Routledge, 1997.Wilcken, Ulrich. 1995: 62-69.Robinson, Charles Alexander, Jr. Final Dreams Last Years (324-323) Finally back in Persia, Stoneman said Alexander "was no longerthinking of his kingdom as a Macedonian one" (77). Hefounded the city of Alexandria, which became a great repository of Hellenicculture for centuries. The Greek World 479-323 B.C. He forced the Greeks to declare himHegemon. London: Penguin Books, 1986.Hackett, Sir John (Ed.). His reach finally exceeded his grasp, an all toohuman failing. He could have returnedhome. The Conquest of the Coasts (334-332) In 334 Alexander crossed the Hellespont with a relatively smallforce, Macedonian-led but containing many Greeks, consisting of 43, infantry and 6, cavalry (Maihafer 63). In 332 Alexander entered Egypt in triumph where he was welcomed as asavior from the detested Persians and made Pharaoh (or ruler-god). Almost all original sources were lost. The bulk of his remaining Macedonian core and his new allies followedhim in a number of campaigns in 33 -328 into the desolate wastes of easternand northern Persia, Hyrcania and Parthia, and then on into parts of modernAfghanistan, Bactria and Sogdiana. After reconnoitering the Persianlines, he secured his flanks, and attacked at what he correctly perceivedto be their weakest point, their left-center. His lasting legacy was the preservation and spreadof Hellenistic culture which his conquests made possible, but which neverran very deep in Persia and regions further to the East. Virtually unopposed, Alexander captured the fabulously wealthyPersian capital of Persepolis and Babylon. Above all he learnt from Aristotleto put faith in the intellect" (5). Philip emphasized constant drill, maneuvering and strict discipline.He reorganized his battle formations to include the concept ofconcentration of force first developed by the Theban general Epaminondasthrough his oblique order of battle. After Alexander captured Darius' mother,wife and children at Issus, Darius offered to cede him the western PersianEmpire plus the equivalent of $3 million. Later, Callisthenes was implicated in another plotagainst Alexander, the Conspiracy of the Pages, and was eventuallyexecuted, probably because he objected to the practice of proskynesis. Planning furthercampaigns in the Arabian peninsula and elsewhere, Alexander contractedmalaria in Babylon and died of fever in 323. In theirattacks. Works CitedDupuy, R. and internal revolutions" (9). Free of any politicalideology other than his belief in the superiority of Greek civilization andhis own destiny, he was ruthless toward his enemies but surprisinglymoderate toward many individuals and peoples he conquered. W. His accomplishments as a ruler proved tobe largely transitory. According toStoneman, "direct evidence for Alexander's career is thus scarce orproblematic" (6). Conclusion Driven by an unbounded lust for glory, belief in his own destiny anda restless drive to explore and conquer the unknown, Alexander will remainan enigma to historians. In oneassault on a fortified city, Alexander was wounded in the lung. Hammond said "the influence ofAristotle on Alexander was profound. Persian satraps decided not toretreat but rather to confront Alexander with makeshift positions at theGranicus River. His innovations in military tactics enabled his forces tooutmaneuver and repeatedly defeat the much more populous and wealthierPersian Empire in five years. With no male heir and noarrangements for his succession, his empire eventually disintegrated. Alexander rejected the offer.Wilcken said "the victory at Issus produced a great change in Alexander,"who began to refer to himself as King or Lord of all Asia. In Asia Minor, Alexander had takenadvantage of ancient religious beliefs. In 328 in Samarkhand, at a drunken party Alexander and one of hisofficers, Cleitus, who had saved Alexander's life at Granicus River, gotinto a quarrel during the course of which Cleitus made disparaging remarksconcerning Alexander's Asian policy and his divinity. In a pragmatic stepdesigned to consolidate his empire, he ordered 91 of his remainingMacedonian officers to marry Persian women while he married the Sogdianprincess, Roxane. During this campaign, Alexander's dreams of unconditional victoryover the Persians began to mature. From the Indus to the Persian Gulf (327-324) Alexander's campaign in the East from Persia to India involved vastdistances between strong points and hostile populations in between.Alexander's new approach to ensure proper logistic support was to spreadhis newfound wealth to win the support of local chieftains and to establishnew fortified settlements to protect his rear and to protect his baggagetrains. Alexander was as much a master of the siege gun as wars of movement.Although most cities fell to him without a fight, he carried out successfulsieges against the Persian naval bases of Miletus and Halicarnassus; andlater, during his rapid march down the Phoenician coast, he usedconsiderable ingenuity in capturing an offshore fort at Tyre by building acauseway. Macedoniacould not at that point match the wealth of Persia. The Macedonians had a highly militarized state centered around theKing, his Companions (officers) and his Men under Arms. The History of Alexander The Great Volume I. Historians' Views of Alexander Robinson said "Alexander, quite clearly, has not fared well at thehands of history" (2). Modern historians have striven forgreater balance, some emphasizing his ruthlessness, others his militaryexploits and still others his success in spreading Greek civilization. Dupuy. he would always have searched beyond forsomething unknown, and if there had been no other competition, he wouldhave competed against himself" (Fox 13). By the mid-4th century,Athens, which had been weakened by the Peloponnesian Wars and internaldecay, had passed its peak of power. "he would not have remained content withany of his conquests . The Encyclopedia of Military History. At the same time,according to Stoneman, there was "an increasing paranoia and absolutenessin his demands for loyalty" (52). According toHammond, "Alexander was to inherit the most formidable army in Europe"(15). However, according to Fox, "the hellenization of Iran was notdeep or wide enough for permanent results" (493). The Macedonians used combined arms,artillery (siege guns and archers), cavalry, and foot infantry. He then went on to achieve even moreremarkable victories in the remote, forbidding and hostile mountainous andarid regions of Central and South Asia. With a multinational army of about 75, Alexander invaded thewestern part of India through the high mountain passes west of Kabul anddescended into the valley of the Indus River. His premature death prevented him fromrealizing his ambitious dreams for further conquests and consolidation ofhis empire. Alexander The Great. Stoneman said"Alexander needed absolute loyalty and support, and would stop at nothingto get it" (55). Stoneman said "this stageof Alexander's expedition coincides with a marked change in his personalhabits and means of rule" (52). Wilcken said "he wished to reconcile them to the newrule, by taking into account their national characteristics . That yearrepresented a sharp break in Alexander's career. . London: Methuen, 1983.Lucas, James (Ed.). C. However, after about 331, his dream of anEurasian empire caused him to succumb to megalomaniac tendencies and tolose touch with his own supporters in his army and at home, many of whombecame disenchanted with him. New York: Military P, 1988.Maihafer, Harry J. According to Hackett, the Battle ofGranicus River "highlights Alexander's ability to size up a situationquickly and his readiness to deliver a direct coup de main when nothingmore subtle was required" (111). The Roman historian Arrian captured Alexander's yearningspirit when he said in 15 A.D. He was able to do so in part because heinherited from his father, King Philip II of Macedon, a superbly trainedand disciplined army, a burgeoning alliance with Greek city-states and asense of mission. New York: Facts on File, 1989.Hammond, N. New York: Harper & Row, 1986.Fox, Robin Lane. Sensing a gap in the Persianline, Alexander swung through it and rolled up the Persian center. Norton, 1967.----------------------- 12 The New Great King Alexander then launched campaigns into the Caspian Sea and Oxus Riverareas of Central Asia at first in pursuit of Darius and then to explorethose regions and conquer various hostile tribes. Later, as he drovedown the coast of Asia Minor, his court historian Callisthenes, noting thefavorable confluence of weather on his military operations, said "Alexanderis made out to be a superhuman divine being, to whom the elements dohomage" (Wilcken 95). He made a pilgrimage to the oracle of Ammon in Siwahin the Libyan desert where he received a much disputed message whichreportedly identified him as the son of Ammon, recognized also as the Greekgod Zeus, a myth in which Alexander apparently believed and which in anyevent his followers propagated. . He was also thoroughly grounded in Greek poetry, philosophyand politics by his tutor, Aristotle. By his prudenttreatment of local populations, Alexander ensured that his troops could besupplied locally. . In 33 , a conspiracy against his liferesulted in the execution of one of his senior aides Philotas and thelatter's father Parmenio who were probably innocent. .. In 324 Alexander dismissed 1 , Macedonian veterans,issued his unpopular decree allowing exiles to return to the Greek city-states and demanded that the Greeks worship him as a god. Greeks and Persians During the century and a half after Athens and Sparta defeated thePersians in 49 -479 B.C., the Greek city-states exercised hegemony over theGreek mainland and most of the Aegean Sea area. . According to Hammond, the unity of theGreek city- states had been shattered by "a century of internecine wars . Alexander overrode the advice of his senior generalParmenio to rest and regroup. AfterChaeronea, Philip succeeded imposing an uneasy peace on all the Greek city-states other than Sparta and induced them to join a Hellenic League whichsubscribed to the cause of a war of revenge against the Persian Empire.When some of them became restive after Philip's death, Alexander put down arevolt in Thebes which he destroyed. With these forces, Philip defeated barbarian tribes in theBalkans, such as the Illyrians and Thracians, then turned his attention tothe Greeks. Richards. In a rage Alexanderslew Cleitus with his sword and thereafter was consumed for several dayswith deep remorse. Command: A Historical Dictionary of Military Leaders. Assaulting forces were armed with 16 foot long lances or sarissas.They attacked on an angle and were lined up in a delta-shaped, wedge-formation, suppported by dense phalanxes eight rows deep, armed with pikesand shields. Earlier classical histories varied from hagiography toearly Greek accounts which condemned him for his Persianization and hisself-divination. Providence: Brown U, 1953.Stoneman, Richard. L. Hewas astute politically, but his pursuit of superhuman power eventuallyturned into megalomania. Through the use ofclever flanking movements, river crossings and various techniques whichstampeded the elephants, Alexander defeated Poros whom he spared out ofdeference to his conduct in battle and converted into a vassal. ALEXANDER THE GREAT: THE MAN AND HIS ACCOMPLISHMENTS This research paper summarizes and evaluates Alexander the Great'sskills and accomplishments as a military leader and his shortcomings aswell as the political gifts which formed part of his complex personality.Alexander (356-323 B.C.) earned the title the Great primarily because ofhis remarkable military exploits. He gave Darius and his familyroyal burials. . Lucas said victory went to the Macedonians not only because they hadthe better battle plan nor even entirely because of Alexander'simprovisations but also due to their "sheer hard fighting" ability (3 ). G. Alexander then proceeded down the western coast of Anatolia,liberating Greek populated cities. Once more, Alexander smashed through the Persians and Darius fled.Eventually, Darius was murdered by some of his own supporters. Alexander pursued a sound strategy in capturing the ports and fortsalong the Mediterranean coast so as to neutralize the Persian fleet beforehe sought out the Persian host in the interior. Philip II (393-336) effectively achieveddominance over the Greeks by defeating them at the Battle of Chaeronea in338. As Persian dress, court and other customs,including the practice of proskynesis, the paying of obeisance to the newKing through bowing, scraping and special kisses, became commonplace,Alexander's Macedonians gradually became disaffected. He had Persepolis burned in 33 to avenge the Greek score with their traditional Persian enemy. . Alexander was an extraordinarily gifted warriorand military genius. To fight in these inhospitable regions,Alexander developed new tactics in countering guerrilla warfare and inmounting attacks based on lightly armed, highly mobile units. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.