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Example research essay topic: Alexander The Great Persian Empire - 1,437 words

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... Persian provinces. After two years he reached and subdued Bactria and Sogdiana; he now controlled all that belonged to Darius. As the campaign of Persia was ending, Alexander s plan expanded. Originally his purpose had been simply to destroy the Persian army. He had decided to take over the whole Persian empire, and he went on to achieve this without losing a single battle.

If Alexander thought of the Persian empire at all, he thought of it simply as a source of wealth. However, as he took o ver more and more territory, he saw that he could not hold the empire without governing it. To govern it effectively, he had to merge it with the Greek world. Alexander proved to be as skillful at statecraft as he was at military matters Since his main concern was to keep the empire functioning, Alexander tolerated many local religious, and social customs. He even, to some extent, permitted each country to keep its national institutions. At the same time he introduced Hellenic ideas.

The most important being the Greek city state. As Alexander traveled and conquered he founded many cities, most of which bear his name (Alexandria) The first and most famous one was an Egyptian city, which later (a century) became the center of the Hellenistic world. As his empire grew Alexander saw that Asia could not be administered simply as a colony of Greece. Somehow he had to bring Persians and Greeks together into a single unit.

In 327 B. C. , partly for political reasons, Alexander married a Sogdian Princess, Roxanne. Three years later he married the elder daughter of Darius in a purely political union. This wedding was a communal affair: at the same time, on Alexander s order, 80 of his top-ranking officers married 80 Persian girls of noble birth.

Further to consolidate his empire Alexander drafted Persian cavalry into his own army and ordered 30, 000 Persian boys to be trained in Macedonian combat techniques. He adopted Persian dress for himself and for a time even tried to get his soldiers to follow the Persian custom of prostration before the king. His Macedonian captains did not take well to this as this custom was implying worship, and Alexander was not a god in the eyes of his soldiers. All of these changes brought his newly conquered empire together. Alexander mainly wanted his Persian captains to feel that they were the equals of the Macedonians and wanted the Macedonians to accept this equality. Most of Alexander s ideas for consolidating the Greek and Persian peoples made little impression on his Macedonian companions.

They were soldiers, not political scientists. His concept of empire did not fit their own crude ambitions and they had no sympathy for his desire to govern responsibly. Basically they felt that he was setting himself above them, spoiling the old comradeship-in-arms which was a well defined characteristic of the Macedonian army. Realizing that his soldiers were doubtful in following his authority, Alexander himself began to change. His soldiers reported that he became more violent in times of explanation; meaning he became upset if someone couldn t see something his way. increasing loneliness of a growing impatience with those who could not understand the Alexander of 324 was not the Alexander of 334.

Alexander became obsessed about losing the support of the gods and that his Macedonians would grow weary of their expedition. He became increasingly suspicious of his close friends and switched from emotions of fear and intense anger. Despite the resent experiences, Alexander turned south and he and into India. Nearly two centuries before, in the reign of Darius I, the Persian empire had included part of that subcontinent. Determined to recapture it Alexander crossed the Hindu Kiss mountains, followed the Kabul River down to the Indus River and crossed overland to the Hydaspes River. It was here where Alexander would fight one of the most difficult battles of his entire career.

His opponent was the Indian King, Porus, whose army was several times larger than Alexander s and superbly trained. It included war elephants which reduced Alexander s striking power because his horses would not go near them; however Alexander devised a technique that transformed them into a hazard to their own masters. The elephants were positioned fifty feet from the Indian front line. Alexander launched a two-phase cavalry charge against the horsemen and chariots on Porus s own wing first.

When Porus committed horsemen from both wings to an attack against what he thought was Alexander s entire cavalry, hiding horsemen would suddenly appear having Porus s horsemen in a trap. These tactics enabled Alexander s infantry, who had been specially trained for the purpose, to deal with the elephants when the enemy was in a state of confusion. Alexander s men would strike the elephants with two headed axes, making them run around uncontrollably crushing friend and foe. Although victory was inevitable for Alexander, Porus was determined to see it through until he suffered a serious shoulder wound. He, like Darius was forced to retire his elephant from the battlefield. After the battle Porus requested that he meet with the victor.

Upon his reconvienience, Alexander asked Porus how he wished to be treated. Porus responded; Treat me, Alexander, like a king. Alexander was delighted by his response. Despite the victory, Alexander suffered personal loss. Bucephalus, Alexander s famous steed died of wounds suffered in battle. He was thirty years old, but the two had been through crisis and triumph for most of their lives.

A city, Bucephala, was founded in the horse s name on the west bank of the Jhelum. Alexander, just inside modern India, had every intention of crossing the Bea's River. Like most men of his time, he believed that the Indian continent was a small peninsula jutting eastward that reached to a body of water, called simply Ocean, that supposedly encircled the world. Alexander expected to reach Ocean and explore it as the climax of his long campaign. However, his soldiers had heard rumors of vast deserts and fierce warriors with great armies of elephants lying ahead. Veterans who had crossed the Hellespont eight years before felt that they had marched their limits and wanted to return to Macedon.

Alexander waited three days for them to change their minds. When he was convinced that they would not, he agreed to start home. In the spring of 323 B. C. he reached Babylon, and began at once to regroup his army and plan an invasion of Arabia. But in June a fever struck him and on the thirteenth of June, 323 B.

C. , not even 33 years old Alexander died. For thirteen years Alexander remained unbeaten in his campaigns in Persia, Egypt, and India. His battles against enemy forces were all foresight and his brilliant tactics were executed to achieve victory after victory. Alexander s fear of being overcast ted by his fathers shadow was just, but his conquests dwarfed those of his father. Alexander, driven by brilliance and his view of a Hellenistic world, seized every opportunity to go one step beyond his father. Those steps brought him a great empire that he governed fair and honorable.

He treated his captures with both dignity and respect which enabled him to maintain order for so long. He brought with him the Greek culture that he so strongly believed in, and spread that culture all over Asia in the cites that bear his name; Alexandria (s). Nevertheless, the ingeniousness tactics and strategies that he created brought him great success which he rightfully deserved. Bibliography Bowra, C.

M, Classical Greece, Virginia: Time-Life Publishing, 1977. Da vis, M. Dale, Civilizations in History, Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1986. Engels, Donald W, Alexander the Great and the Logistics of the Macedonian Army, Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1978. Marsden, E. W. , The Campaign of Gaugamela, Liverpool: University Press, 1964.

McNeill, William H. , A World history, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1979. O Brien, John Maxwell, Alexander The Great: The Invisible Enemy. New York: Routledge Publishing, 1992. Renault, Mary, The Nature of Alexander, New York: Penguin Books, 1975. Robinson, Charles Alexander, The History of Alexander The Great, Providence, Rhode Island: Kraus Publishers, 1953. C.

C. Bowra, Classical Greece, (Time-Life Publishing) 1977. pg 160. John Maxwell O Brien, Alexander The Great: The Invisible Enemy, (Routledge Publishing) 1992 pg. 166. John Maxwell O Brien, pg. 82. John Maxwell O Brien, pg. 70.

Mary Renault, The Nature of Alexander, (Penguin Books Publishing) 1975, pg. 134. Charles Alexander Robinson, The History of Ale xander The Great, (Kraus Publishing) 1953, pp


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