Who is Alexander? Part II

[Continued from Part 1 - Who is Alexander?]

Alexander heads for Asia at twenty-two, leaving Macedonia in the hands of his father’s trusted general Antipater as Regent. He sets out with an army of about 40,000 infantry and 5,000 cavalry. The gods are with him all the way. The first opposition happens in a tiny corner of Asia Minor, on the banks of the Granicus River. Darius III, King of Persia, King of Kings, believes that his presence is not required and merely delegates the confrontation to a mercenary in his service, a Greek on top of that, called Memnon. Well, Memnon, although a highly skilled general and Alexander’s most formidable opponent, is defeated. Nothing can stop Alexander now from taking one city after another, one port after another, all along the west coast of today’s Turkey. 

A year later, Alexander will face King Darius in person at the Pinarus River near Issus. The Persian army was huge compared to the Macedonian, but it was outmaneuvered during the first minutes of the battle. King Darius panics and flees into the backcountry. By leaving the battlefield, Alexander automatically emerges victorious. 

Both kings meet again, two years onwards, in a decisive confrontation on Persian soil near Arbela, a place better known as Gaugamela. It is a fight worthy of David and Goliath, where Alexander, with his 50,000 men, stands up against Darius’ troops, which may be 250,000 and has been exaggerated to 500,000. Whatever the numbers, his opponent counted many times more soldiers than his own force! From the tactical point of view, the battle proves to be such prowess that it is still taught at the Military Academy of West Point today. Alexander attacked an empire that was ten times bigger than his! 

Alexander’s accomplishments reached far beyond winning battles. He took on the organization of the entire enterprise, working out the logistics, relentlessly inspiring his army, and caring for all involved. Everyone looked up at him for guidance. 

Alexander’s empire extended from Greece to India and from Uzbekistan to Egypt at the height of his power. His army and baggage train in Asia must have counted at least one hundred thousand men. This mass of people inevitably included merchants, peddlers, blacksmiths, tailors, stone cutters, shipbuilders, entertainers, carpenters, cooks, architects, masons, road builders, and whores. Alexander managed to take his dismantled ships and catapult towers with him on the road so he could assemble them whenever needed. The word prefab was invented only eons later. 

The king moved all these people through the scorching deserts of the Karakum and the Gedrosian. He took them over the snow-capped mountains of the Zagros and the Hindu Kush. Also across swift-running rivers such as the Euphrates and Tigris, Oxus and Jaxartes, Indus, and entire Punjab. Just try to picture that crowd of soldiers, horses, followers, and equipment trudging through uncharted territories. It is dazzling! 

Alexander organized a government adapted to each and every land and tribe he conquered. He founded cities at strategic trade-road crossings, many of which still exist today. His task was absolutely colossal, and Alexander always was the driving force. Alexander also was a visionary, one we would love to have around today. He welded the world into one country.

Neither his Macedonians nor the Greeks were ready to comprehend the grandeur of his conquests, their vastness or scale. He made excellent use of the accumulated treasuries kept in the Royal Persian vaults, minting vast amounts of gold, silver, and bronze coins. The coins had Alexander’s image stamped on them, which was a somewhat new concept for until then, only gods were worthy of such a favor. The Alexander coins were known and accepted all over the empire. It was the euro of antiquity! 

Finally, there is Alexander’s legacy, i.e., the impact of Greek fashion, culture, and art on the occupied territories – a phenomenon that went down into history as Hellenism. From Athens to the Indus, the official language was Greek and remained so for nearly one thousand years until Islam took over with the use of Arabic. We owe it to Hellenism that the first statues of Buddha were made, that the first Library of Alexandria in Egypt was created, and that the Romans rose to power. Christianity spread so smoothly thanks to the usage of Greek, and the Renaissance is nothing less than a renewed connection with Hellenism. 

All of Alexander’s cities were built according to the Hippodamian plan with right-angled streets, including familiar buildings like temples, gymnasiums, agoras, theaters, and stadiums. Alexander’s love for games, sports competitions, and theatre contests with playwriters and actors traveling thousands of miles is another tradition that was continued for centuries deep into Central Asia and India. 

Our world would not be what it is today had it not been for Alexander. No other man in history impacted the world as much as Alexander the Great. Nobody conquered and ruled at the level of Alexander’s high standards, and nobody ever will.

Please consult my book for the full story of his conquests and achievements: "Alexander the Greatwas here, and so was I.”