Sikandar Azam
Alexander the Great, the great conqueror of the ancient world, was born in 356 BC in the yellow capital of Macedonia.
His father, King Philip II, was truly a man of extraordinary ability and insight. Philip created a large organization in the Macedonian army. And turned it into a high-level fighting force. He used this time for the first time to conquer the northern parts of Greece.
He then moved south and occupied most of Greece. Later, Philip formed the Association of Greek Civil States, of which he was the head. He began preparing to invade the vast Iranian empire in eastern Greece. In 336 BC, when the invasion began, Philip was assassinated at the age of only 46 years.
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Alexander was twenty years old at the time of his father's death.
However, he succeeded to the throne without any difficulty. Philip paved the way for his son's succession and equipped young Alexander with advanced military training. His mental training was also carefully arranged by Philip. The great scholar Aristotle was credited with being the greatest scientist and philosopher in the world.
People in Greece and the northern territories that Philip conquered knew that Philip's death was a great opportunity to throw off the cloak of subjugation. However, two years after his accession to the throne, Alexander re-conquered both territories. He later turned to Iran.
For two hundred years the Iranians had established a great empire over a vast area extending from the Mediterranean to India.
Although the Iranian Empire was not as prosperous as in the past, it was still an invincible rival. The world's most powerful and richest empire.
In 334 BC, Alexander invaded Iran. He had to leave part of his army to take over the administration in Macedonia. Only 35,000 troops remained with him, with whom he invaded Iran.
It was much smaller than the Iranian army. Despite this shortfall, Alexander continued to defeat the Iranian forces. There were three reasons for its success. Philip's army was far more trained and organized than the Iranian army. Alexander II was a man of extraordinary ability, probably the greatest warrior in history. Third, his personal courage played a major role.
Although he led his troops from the rear at every step, he led his own cavalry. It would have been a dangerous move in which he was injured several times, but the reward for his magazine was that he was playing his part in the loss. He never asked them to take risks that he could not pass on. The effect of this moral example was immense.
Alexander with his rulers first entered Asia in Czechoslovakia and defeated the Iranian forces there. Then he turned towards northern Syria. There, at Ice, he defeated a large Iranian military contingent. He went further south. After a difficult siege of seven months, he conquered the Phoenician city of Tire in what is now Lebanon.
During the siege, he received a message from the Shah of Iran that he was willing to make a peace treaty with him in exchange for half of his kingdom. Parmenio, one of Alexander's generals, found the offer acceptable, saying that if I were Alexander, he would accept it.
Yes, I would have accepted if I had been Parmenio. Alexander replied. Occupied Gaza after siege.
He conquered Egypt without any attack, so he stayed in Egypt for a while to rest his troops. He was only twenty-four years old when he drowned Pharaoh and proclaimed himself a god. He returned to Asia with his armies. ۔
After this conquest, he marched on Babylon and passed through the important Iranian cities of Susa and Persia.
In 330 BC, the Iranian king Darles III was assassinated by his own officers, unlike his predecessor, Rodarless the Great, so that he would not lay down his arms before Alexander to save his life. However, Alexander defeated and killed Darles's successor. In the three-year war, it occupied all of eastern Iran and entered Central Asia.
By subjugating the entire Iranian Empire, Alexander could return to his homeland and organize his empire.
But his desire to conquer the world was not satisfied. It continued to advance towards Afghanistan. From there he entered India via the Hindu Kush. In western India, he achieved several victories. He wanted to advance towards East India but his soldiers were tired of the constant bloodshed. He refused to go any further.
Alexander the Great had to return.
On his return to Iran, Alexander spent the next year organizing his empire and army. It was a large organization. Alexander believed that Greek civilization was the true civilization in the true sense of the word. That was the view of the whole Greek world. Even Aristotle had the same view, even though he had completely defeated all the Iranian armies.
Alexander realized that the Iranians were by no means a savage nation, but that individually the Iranians were as intelligent and worthy of respect as the Greeks. He then decided to merge the two parts of his empire into a united Greek-Iranian. He laid the foundation of the civilization and kingdom of which he was the head. As far as we can guess, he sincerely wanted to recruit a large number of Iranians into his army.
He also organized a spectacular East-West wedding ceremony in which thousands of Macedonian soldiers were formally married to Asian women. He was married to an Asian princess of his own, but he also married the daughter of Darius.
It is clear that Alexander planned to achieve more victories with his organized army. We know that he intended to invade the northern parts of the Arab and Iranian empires.
He also planned to invade India or conquer Rome and the western Mediterranean. Whatever his plans, we know that he has not fought a war since. In early June 323 BC, Alexander suddenly fell ill in Babylon and died just ten days later. He was only 33 years old then.
Alexander did not choose a successor. After the death of Swas, mutual squabbles for power began. In this battle, Alexander's mother, wives and children were all killed. Eventually his kingdom was divided among his generals.
Since Alexander was invincible in his life and the young man died, there is a lot of speculation about what would have happened if he had lived. If he had invaded the western islands of the Mediterranean with his troops, it is likely that he would have succeeded.
In that case, all of Western Europe would be completely different. Such speculations are certainly interesting, but they have little to do with Alexander's influence.
Alexander was probably the most dramatic character in history. There is a kind of charm hidden in his life and personality. Various facts about his life are also dramatic. While many myths are attributed to him.
It was his goal to become the world's greatest fighter. He was also entitled to this honor. As a general, he was a high-ranking official. In his 11-year military career, he never lost.
But at the same time, he was an intellectual. He was a student of myth and gained insight from Homer's poetry. Undoubtedly, based on his idea that non-Greeks are not savage nations, he surpasses many Greek philosophers of his time in his breadth of ideas.
But in other respects he was just as surprisingly narrow-minded. Although he risked his life several times during the war, he never believed in his successor. It was this negligence that led to the great split of his empire immediately after his death.
Alexander was a man of many talents. On several occasions, his attitude towards his conquerors was very generous and conciliatory.
On the other hand, he was also a selfish man with a strong temper. On one occasion, while intoxicated, he killed a close friend of his. Who once saved his life.
Like Hitler and Napoleon, Alexander left a lasting impression on his descendants. However, Alexander's influence proved to be less than that of the two, due to the limited means of travel and communication of the time, which restricted the spread of his influence in the world.
Overall, the most important effect of Alexander's conquests was not to bring the Greek and Middle Eastern civilizations closer together, which benefited each other. During Alexander's lifetime and later, Greek civilization spread rapidly from Mesopotamia to Syria, Judah and Egypt. Before Alexander, Greek civilization flourished in these areas. It was Alexander who gave this civilization the opportunity to flourish in India and Central Asia as never before.
However, the influence of civilization was not a one-sided process. In the centuries immediately following Alexander's death, it was the Hellenic civilization that had Greek and deep Eastern influences and which eventually influenced Rome.
During his lifetime, Alexander laid the foundations of more than twenty new cities. The most important of these is the city of Shakdar Yeh in Egypt, which soon became one of the most prominent cities in the world and became the cradle of knowledge and civilization.
In addition, the Afghan cities of Herat and Kandahar also found a place in the list of important cities.
There are also great similarities between Hitler, Napoleon and Alexander in terms of their overall effects. The impression is that the effects of the other two will be less lasting than those of Alexander. On this basis, it has been placed in the list before these two. However, the depth of its effects seems to be younger than both.
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