Alexander the Great: Fierce Military Leader and Strategist
Alexander the Great managed to sweep through Asia and eastern Europe with the fierceness of a lion and the bravery of a tiger. He was believed to have been a son of the gods. Alexandra was exceptionally clever and a military genius. His military battles gave him great prestige, wealth, and fame, making him one of the greatest kings to have led in history. Macedonia's success is highly linked to its strategy, its intelligence, its weapons and its qualified men, factors which resulted in the military's whole victory.
The Brilliant Alexander and Intellect
The degree of the king's intelligence quota was simply unprecedented. He dedicated himself to knowledge and teachings of Aristotle from which he managed to impressively expand his intelligent horizons. He had a deep respect for Aristotle’s wisdom having been taught by him and therefore, the intelligence made Alexandra have an ability for outsmarting his rivals (Martin & Blackwell, 2013). He significantly loved books and strived to expand his knowledge for his and people's benefit. The city of Alexandra was built as his legacy which did house pronounced library materials of the ancient world consisting of many scrolls and books of all types of literature.
Knowledge in Military Tactics
Through the utilization of massive volumes of literary resources around him, he had the ability to sharpen tips of spears forming the basis of his knowledge of the tactics he had concerning the military. He deeply studied and researched the ancient kings and generals and noted the way they accomplished their success and the failures they made and thus came to learn the use of wisdom in an effort to better himself as a king. He used his knowledge to conquer and command especially in the invincible Asiatic empires. Through his military, the boundary expansion of the empire he ruled came to be a phenomenal legacy. Renault et al. (2004) indicate that within a period of five years, he managed to expand his kingdom eastward by 2500 miles. Therefore, Alexandra the great was a fruitful military commander having left the legacy of the unbeatable king of the ancient Greek.
The Impact of Alexander the Great
Alexander the Great had a profound influence from Asia to Mediterranean cities such as India, Persia, and Egypt. His empire expanded significantly impacting his Hellenism culture to many cities. Martin & Blackwell (2013) note that the expansion of trading routes between Asia and Europe did not only increase trading activities but also permitted unprecedented religious and cultural exchanges to occur in places such as the Persian Empire and India. The Alexandria Egyptian city, furthermore, became the heart of commerce and culture. The city having been found by him made him become the Egypt capital under the Ptolemaic dynasty. Through the control he had over Persian Empire, his kingdom economically flourished in a dramatic manner. A primary component of Hellenistic culture related to the widespread expansion of the Greek language. It rapidly became the trading language and used in commerce by many merchants and it turns out to be significantly beneficial as traders could easily converse. Alexander created a novel cosmopolitan world which fostered an identification of an individual rather that city-state. Schools like Epicureanism and Stoicism emerged forming an integral aspect of the Greek culture.
Stable Cities and the Development of Trade
Stable cities with the conducive environment were created which facilitated trade. Trade was highly valued and thus maintaining stability was not an option. In Egypt for instance, Chinese silk was a vital product and highly demanded and therefore led to the development of trading routes in Egypt like the Silk Road. Along the Silk Road, there were massive developments of caravan cities like Palmyra and Petra which have thrived to the current world. Additionally, in Egypt, the Harbor of Alexandria Great translated into a key hub for the sea trading. The Egyptian and the Greek religions became fused and impacted on the Egypt religion. Notably, as Renault et al. (2004) report, the Greek religion influence did to a greater extent transform the Mediterranean region. However, the negative impact that was associated with his unification in Mediterranean was the increased slave trade in the region. The wealth that was quickly realized in the region created a small percentage of elite people who introduced the slave plantation which grew crops for profitability purpose (Martin & Blackwell, 2013). They required massive labor and thus slaves were deployed to attend causing the development of slavery.
The formation of new political systems led to the division of the empire into three fundamental territorial states; Macedonia, Seleucid Empire and Ptolemaic in Egypt. The expansion of these kingdoms further led to the spread of the Greek culture. Alexandra’s influence in India was also a notable aspect as there was stabilization of political landscape in the region. There was the emergence of Mauryan Empire in India after stability was realized in Indus River Valley. The changes noticed in India together with the widespread of Hellenism culture, caused significant shifts in the religious thoughts. Hellenism culture had an influence on the Buddhist culture. Indeed, the spread of Buddhism religion from India emanating from Mauryan Empire to central Asia and eastern part of china cannot be left untold. Buddhist ideas were spread by the monks along the Silk Road and a significant number of Chinese were converted (Renault et al. 2004). However, the firm religions of Zoroastrianism and Persian Empire were properly established in the westward and thus little impact of Buddhism was realized.
References
Martin, T. & Blackwell, C. (2013). Alexander the Great (1st ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Renault, M., Renault, M., Renault, M., & Renault, M. (2004). The Novels of Alexander the Great (1st ed.). California, Rutgers University Press
