Alexander the Great Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Alexander the Great - Research Paper Example By the time Alexander ascended to the throne of Macedonia, the main cities of Greece were already brought under the Macedonian rule and so Alexander came up with a strong and experienced military force in the land. At first, he established as the general of the Greece and then he ventured to expand the empire to the other side of the world. He started his expansion of the empire by attacking Asia Minor in 334 B.C. The ten years of expanding the empire, up to his death, marked as the craftsmanship of this Macedonian king. The whole Persia under Darius III came to be under Alexander the Great. The attack of Alexander in India (336 B.C.) witnessed the greatness of the emperor by giving the land to the earlier king. The near mutiny of his troops made him back to Macedon. The death of Alexander in 323 B.C. in Babylon witnessed the end of Macedonian dreams to conquer the remaining countries of the ancient world. BBC says, â€Å"Alexander led his army a further 11,000 miles, founding over 70 cities and creating an empire that stretched across three continents and covered around two million square miles† (BBC). All the places he conquered were put together in an ‘international network of trade and commerce’. The language and culture of the Greek spread across the conquered places and there was the interchange of the culture- the Greek and the conquered countries. This research gives a small description of the conquests of Alexander the great and tries to analyze how Alexander’s conquests affected the countries with Hellenistic attributes. So the paper takes the thesis statement, Alexander’s the great conquests affected the countries in many ways. Alexander’s Conquests It was after ascending into the throne of Macedon in 336 B.C., Alexander III took part with the desire of his father in expanding the territory of the country. His father, Philip II, had already made the Greek countries under Macedon through military and diplomatic measures. So he had already paved the way for his son to ride on. The new king Alexander at the age of 20 started his attempts to conquer the other countries. It was amazing for researchers to believe that Alexander could take control the major parts of the ancient world. His empire coved the countries like Egypt, Syria, Palestine, Armenia, Persia, Afghanistan and India of the ancient world. All those places that came on the way from Macedonia to India became under the control of Alexander the great. (See appendix 1) William J. Duiker and Jackson J. Spielvogol had given the brief account of Alexander’s invasion in their book, The Essential World History. It is stated in the book that, in the year 334 B.C. his army, consisting 37,000 men entered Asia Minor and soon the entire western half of the country came under Alexander. The attack of Alexander suddenly alarmed the Persian ruler, Darius III and he wanted to stop the movement of the Greek army. The battle of Issus was a fe arsome one between these two armies and finally the Greek became victorious. This success made him