Conquests of Alexander the Great. History Assignment.

Conquests of Alexander the Great
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Conquests of Alexander the Great
To this date, Alexander the Great remains the only individual to have conquered the largest empire and in the shortest time. In 13 years, Alexander amassed an empire that spanned more than 3,000 miles. What makes Alexander’s achievements so great is that he reached them at a very young age. Also, given the period in which Alexander conducted his conquests, it is almost unbelievable that one person could achieve all that he did. However, Alexander’s remarkable achievements are slightly attributed to his father’s accomplishments. Without his father’s conquests of the majority of Greece, Alexander would not have the military might that enabled him to conduct his conquest of Persia.
During Greek civilization, Macedonia was regarded as a backwater kingdom (Fox, 2004). However, when King Philip II came into power, he invaded and conquered all the Greek City-States,
save for Sparta. Philip took advantage of the continued infighting between the Greek City-States. In the end, he accomplished what years of squabbling had failed. He united Greece (Fox, 2004). However, Philip’s ambitions were far greater than his ancestral Greece. He wanted to conquer Persia. For years, Greece and Persia had been enemies. As Persia’s powers and riches declined, Philip saw an opportunity to conquer what no other Greek King had been able to. However, just as he prepared to leave for his conquest, he was assassinated (Stoneman, 2004).
Alexander became king. He declared that he would continue his father’s plans. However, before doing this, he had to secure his position as King (Fox, 2004). Therefore, he executed all his enemies and ended all rebellions. In 334 BC, Alexander marched his army across the Hellespont and into Asia minor. In May of the same year, he defeated Persian satraps at Granicus and liberated the cities of Ephesus and Sardis. At Ephesus, he offered to rebuild the Temple of Artemis, but the city residents refused him (Stoneman, 2004). In 333 BC, Alexander and his army defeated a large army led by King Darius III. After this victory, Alexander proceeded to sack the cities of Sidon and Baalbek before laying siege to the island city of Tyre. Alexander was so determined to conquer Tyre that he built a causeway on which he erected his siege towers (Stoneman, 2004).
In 331 BC, he conquered Egypt and founded the city of Alexandria (Bosworth, 1993). While in Egypt, he was proclaimed a son of the god Zeus-Ammon. Even after conquering Egypt, Alexander did not impose on the Egyptians Greek ideas and religion. Instead, all he expected was continuous shipments of grain for his troops. After leaving Egypt, Alexander met King Darius III again at Gaugamela. While here, Alexander was faced with overwhelming odds. However, despite this, he managed to defeat King Darius III, who then fled the field of battle. Without any hesitation, Alexander proceeded to sack the cities of Susa and Babylon. In 330, Alexander marched his troops to Persepolis. Here, he was met by Persian resistance, which was led by Ariobrzanes and Youtab ...