Alexander the Great - Empire Builder
Section 4
p. 128-131
1. The Peloponnesian War had weakened both Athens and Sparta. Philip I dreamed of taking over Greece first, then Persia.
2. Macedonia lies just north of Greece. They considered themselves Greek, but were looked upon as uncivilized by the Greeks.
3. Philip became king in 359 BC at 23 years old. He organized his army into phalanxes 16 men across and 16 deep. They used 18-foot pikes to pave the way for cavalry strikes through enemy lines.
4. Demosthenes tried to warn the Greeks of the threat posed by Philip. He urged the Greeks to unite against the Macedonians but they would not agree on policy.
5. Macedonians win the Battle of Chaeronea. Philip’s 18 year-old son Alexander led a cavalry charge that helped to win the battle
6. Philip planned to invade Persia next but never got the chance. He was assassinated at his daughter’s wedding.
7. Philip’s son Alexander had the support of the army and proclaimed himself king at 20 years old. He will become called Alexander the great.
8. He had learned science, geography, and literature from Aristotle and carried a copy of Homer’s Ilia with him
He learned to use weapons, ride a horse, and command troops as a young man
9. When Thebes rebelled, he destroyed the city and sold the survivors into slavery.
Other Greek city-states gave up the idea of rebellion
10. In 334 BC Alexander leads 35,000 soldiers across the Hellespont into Anatolia. A Persian army of 40,000 came to defend their empire.
11. The two forces meet at the Granicus River. Alexander led his forces in a offensive attack and smashed the Persian defenses
12. At the Battle of Issus. Alexander realized he was outnumbered and ordered his troops to break through a weak point in the Persian lines and charge straight at Darius. Darius fled to avoid capture.
13. In an attempt to make peace, Darius III offered Alexander control of the western part of his empire. Alexander rejected the offer and marched into Egypt, a Persian territory. There he was crowned pharaoh.
14. He founded the city of Alexandria on the mouth of the Nile.
15. Alexander then moved west to Mesopotamia. At the Battle of Gaugamela, a small village on the ruins of ancient Nineveh, Alexander launched a phalanx attack followed by a cavalry charge. Darius again panicked and fled. The battle ended Persia’s power.
16. Alexander plundered the cities of Babylon, Susa, and Persepolis. Over the next three years, Alexander pushed east into Asia.
17. In 327 BC Alexander enters the Indus Valley. He defeats an Indian army that included 200 elephants at the Hydaspes River.After the victory Alexander’s soldiers request to return home and a disappointed Alexander agrees.
18. One year after his return Alexander becomes ill with a fever and dies one month short of his 33rd birthday. The empire was divided among Alexander’s three strongest generals. Antigonus– became king of Macedonia. Ptolemy– became a pharaoh in Egypt. Seleucus– took most of the old Persian Empire.
19. A blend of Macedonian, Greek, Persian, Egyptian, and Indian cultures resulted
This would come to be known as Hellenistic culture.