On June 10, 323 BC, Alexander the Great, the most famous conqueror in history, died in Babylon, the new capital of his empire. Those familiar with history know that his empire soon fell into civil unrest because of his death. His widow and descendants were killed more than a decade later by rebellious local governors, and his empire was carved up by new usurpers on all sides.
However, Alexander the Great's influence on the world has not been erased, but rather has only begun to some extent.
<h1>Countless kings will fall on the stars of the God of War</h1>
Road map of Alexander's Crusade
Alexander first left an indelible mark on human history with his short but brilliant military career.
In 336 BC, at the age of 20, he took over the throne of Macedonia, the emerging European power, from his assassinated father, Philip II. This was followed by a series of stormy lightning-like military operations that extinguished the revolts of the Greek city-states in the south and the Thracians in the north. The demeanor of a generation of world-class generals has been revealed.
In the famous Battle of Caronia Alexander led an army from the left flank to break the Greek front
Alexander the Great then crossed the sea in 334 BC on an expedition against the Persian Empire, then the world's number one power.
Although his father had promoted the Macedonian army from a barbarian army imitating the Greek style of warfare to one of the world's best professional armies during his tenure. But in the eyes of everyone, this expedition is still fierce.
The Persian Empire not only had the largest army in the world, and almost all the proven mature tactics of the time, but also had the deep pockets that other countries were amazed by. Before Alexander's crusade, Athens, Sparta, and Thebes, which had risen successively, had all crossed the sea to attack the Persian Empire. However, these powerful armies, which were popular for a while, were all fruitless in the face of the strategic depth and silver bullet tactics of the Persian Empire. Even Alexander's father, Philip, once sent an expedition across the sea to fight, but the Persians, who held three-fifths of the world's wealth at that time, were suppressed in the bridgeheads along the coast and could not move.
The Persian army that suppressed the Greeks by strategic depth and overall strength
However, Alexander, with strong military qualities and will and determination that no one had before, led an army of less than 50,000 people and successfully entered The territory of Persia.
First, in 334 BC, the Battle of the Granicas River annihilated almost all of the Persian field armies in present-day Asia Minor. Then, in the Battle of Issus in 332 BC, hundreds of thousands of troops were directly confronted by the Persian prince, and the opponent was crushed. The unforgiving Alexander then refused the Persian king's humiliating request for peace, pursued the Mesopotamian plains into the Two Rivers Valley, and completely eliminated the remnants of the Persian Empire's field army in the Battle of Gaugamela in 331 BC.
Mosaic floor painting of the Battle of Issus unearthed in Pompeii
In just four years, the young monarch had acquired what is now Asia Minor, Syria, The Island of Cyprus, Palestine, Egypt, and Iraq.
In the years that followed, the Macedonian army, which continued to advance eastward, under his leadership, occupied the Gyeonggi region, the core of the Persian Empire. He always bravely charged in the crucial first line position, rushing through all kinds of traps arranged for him by his opponents, and breaking through the opponent's carefully organized army again and again. Finally, follow the escape route of the Persian king Darius III and enter the area of today's five Central Asian countries. Through years of arduous fighting, today's Iran, most of the five Central Asian countries and Afghanistan were conquered one by one.
After that, the Macedonian army that had entered the Indus Valley, led by him, defeated the Indian king Porus, who had an army of 100,000 troops, thus fixing the farthest point of the empire's territory in the Punjab region that now spans India and Pakistan.
Alexander the Great, who always took the lead at critical moments
Such a successful military resume has made many leaders or generals who also have great martial arts in later generations regard Alexander the Great as their idol and goal.
Caesar and Cleopatra The latter dynasty was founded by Alexander's general Ptolemy
Julius, who was also a famous general in the Western world. Caesar, after viewing the statue of Alexander himself in his early years, was determined to become angry. When he finally led his troops into Egypt, which had once been the territory of the Macedonian Empire, he did not forget to go to the mausoleum of Alexander the Great to pay homage to his idol.
A map of Alexander leading an army to besiege the city in a Byzantine manuscript
Also idolizing Alexander the Great was Heraclius, the famous military emperor of the Byzantine period. When the resurgent Persian Empire reached the vicinity of the capital Constantinople in the 7th century, Heraclius, led by Alexander the Great, launched a fierce Jedi counterattack. The Byzantine armies that followed him in their counterattack against Asia defeated the Persians who resisted layers of resistance near the old battlefields of Issus and Gaugamela, where Alexander the Great had achieved fame on the eve of the sun. In the end, the Persian Empire was severely damaged, and Heraclius himself became a god of war.
Alexander in the codex of the Ilkhanate era
In the parts of Asia that Alexander once conquered, his prestige was also revered. In the legendary writings of the Arab conquerors, the Macedonian king's hooves have even stepped into Tibet and China. The golden family killed from the Mongolian plateau also learned of the deeds of Alexander the Great, and issued an exclamation of the unique day of the world. As a result, they suffered a crushing defeat in front of the Delhi Sultanate army in India. Overjoyed, the monarchs of North India issued a large number of silver coins for their victory and added themselves the honorific title of "Alexander II".
Alexander the Great in Persian manuscripts of the 15th century
Even in the eyes of the Persians, the biggest victim of Alexander's crusade, Alexander was a military wizard. In the legendary epic The Book of Kings, Alexander the Great appears as the heir to the Persian Empire. In the time of the Mongol-ruled Ilkhanate or the Turkic Timurid Khanate, the Persians did not forget to render Alexander the Great in hand-copied books.
The Portuguese conqueror Albuquerque was also a fan of Alexander
Albuquer, the Portuguese conqueror of the early 16th century, was also one of Alexander's fans. While attacking Aden in the Arabian Peninsula for a few days, he met an elder who had made overtures to him in Alexander's biography. The naval man was thrilled to receive a condensed Persian version of Alexander's biography.
Napoleon was the heaviest of Alexander the Great's fan groups
In modern times, Europeans with rising military power still have Alexander the Great in mind. Both Frederick the Great of Prussia and Napoleon the Emperor of France regarded Alexander as their spiritual mentor.
Famous military theorist The founder of armored warfare, General Fuller
When the hands of the time entered the 20th century, there would still be Alexander die-hard fans such as the Englishman Fuller, active on the stage of world military history. He himself was not only the founder of the theory of armored warfare and mechanized warfare, but also a master of systematic study of alexander the great's military career.
It can be seen how deeply Alexander, as one of the most generals in history, had a deep influence on his successors.
Alexander the Great personally commanded the siege
<h1>An ancient version of the age of globalization</h1>
Alexander's Map of the Macedonian Empire
You may be surprised how the Macedonian Empire, in just a few moments, allowed Alexander the Great to have such a profound influence more than 2,000 years after his death. This needs to start with the governing philosophy of Alexander the Great himself.
Since the Macedonians were originally a less civilized people, they were for a long time based on the Greek city-states in the south. Their nobility was edified for generations in the glory of ancient Greek civilization, learning the latter's technological progress, tactical organization, and philosophical art.
Yet the ancient Greek culture under the city-state system was clearly stretched thin on how to govern a vast empire. Thus, Alexander's father chose the Persian Empire's model of governance in a series of military and political reforms. He organically kneaded the Macedonians, Greeks and Thracians in the territory. This also gave the Kingdom of Macedonia the ability to mobilize for war beyond its neighbors, laying a solid foundation for Alexander's success.
Alexander's father, Philip II
With the victory of successive large-scale battles, Alexander the Great's army continued to occupy the vast interior of Asia, and he naturally chose the persian empire to build his empire like his father. Although the upper echelons of officials and military generals were replaced by Macedonian nobles or Greeks, their deputies and civil officials at the grass-roots level retained the original locals.
Since the Persian Empire had always been a multi-ethnic superpower, it was more tolerant of local autonomy and national self-care. Alexander's empire also operated directly on this model, and the Greek culture that began to be popular in management had an unabated influence throughout Asia through his army and empire. This led to the Hellenistic era as we know it today.
Map of Alexandria from 30 BC
Alexander also built a large number of cities named after himself in the core areas of various places, near the traffic passes. These cities of Alexandria derived eastward from Egypt in North Africa to the fringes of nomadic cultures in Central Asia and the Indus Valley region. Some of these cities became the most important cities in the region in the long years that followed. These include present-day Alexandria in Egypt, Herat in western Afghanistan, Kandahar in the south, Khujand in Tajikistan, and so on. Although many cities changed their names in the years that followed, their importance never changed.
In addition, some of the former major cities, such as Babylon in Iraq, Samarkand in Central Asia, Damascus in Syria, Kabul in Afghanistan, and Rawalpindi in Pakistan, also became cosmopolitan cities where Greek culture flourished during this period. In addition, the Greeks had already brought their urban civilization to Barcelona in Spain, Marseille in France, Sicily in Italy, and the Crimean Peninsula in the Black Sea. This led to a new era in which Greek and Greek culture were mediumd, rapidly established after the death of Alexander the Great. Just like today, in the era of globalization with English as the medium.
The famous Silk Road actually reached its peak in the Hellenistic era
It was in this era that the Silk Road, which was admired by posterity, was officially opened. Chinese silk began to enter Europe, and grapes brought to Asia by the Greeks also entered Xinjiang in the western region. The seafaring Greeks also explored the seas, successfully connecting the Red Sea coast of Egypt with the coast of India. They sailed to today's Mumbai, Sri Lanka, and even Guangzhou, China. Huge wealth flows and trade booms turned Alexandria at the mouth of the Nile and Chalasseini in the Persian Gulf into world-renowned trading centers.
Economic and cultural prosperity has also contributed to the development of science and technology. Scientist Helen also explored the world's first steam engine device in this era, and Archimedes in Sicily continued to calculate various brain-burning material problems in the meditation of how to use levers to lift the earth.
Helen's original steam engine unit
From the 1st century BC onwards, with the rise of the Roman Empire in Europe and the emergence of new empires in the interior of Asia, the Greek kingdoms that had separated from Alexander's empire had withdrawn from the stage of history. However, the new powers continued to adopt and retain the cultural and economic achievements of the Hellenistic era in large quantities, and continued this globalized prosperity.
The Kushan Empire, which ruled Afghanistan and India, is one of the best examples. They continued to maintain trade with the Han Dynasty and Rome on land and sea, and participated in global competition in Greek and Greek currencies. The Parthian nobles on the Iranian plateau also prided themselves on their knowledge of Greek culture. After their army defeated Crassus, one of the Three Romans, at the Battle of Calais, the king, who had received the news, was watching a Greek drama with the rulers of neighboring Armenia. It's like people today enjoying Hollywood movies in their home theaters.
Taps in the Parthian era Greek style is evident
The collision of cultural dissemination has made Asian philosophers and thinkers also absorb traditional Greek philosophical thinking. The spark of their ideas will produce one after another of the great results that we know or have heard of. These include Christianity, which was born out of traditional Judaism, and Manichaeism, which was born out of traditional Zoroastrianism. The realistic carving art that the Greeks were best at also became the carrier of the world's first Buddha statues in northern India. In this respect, Alexander the Great's influence on our world today is far beyond our imagination.
The early Gandhara Buddha statue in India was based on the Greek art of carving
It was in this era of tolerance, relaxation and freedom, that the combination of Greek culture, which was personally adapted to Alexander the Great, with the achievements of civilization across Asia, gave birth to new cultures in various regions. Thus, the peoples and nations that grew up on the basis of these new eras all looked at Alexander's influence on the land beneath their feet from different perspectives.
Alexander ascended the throne in medieval manuscripts
So don't be too surprised when you find all kinds of true fans of Alexander in the vast sea of history. Whether he was a Roman nobleman, a tribal leader, or an Asian monarch, or a modern general...
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