Alexander was not just your average joe. He accomplished many things at a very young age in 11 years. He started his empire from greece, defeated the persians and many other kingdoms, and ended up in India where he would be forced to go back. His kingdom, now about 2,000,000 square miles long, was now all his. He had accomplished 10x more than kingdoms could in a hundred years! But does he deserve his name, Alexander the Great? He killed 100,000 soldiers and/or civilians in his conquests, but for a good cause? Was he justifiable for his actions?
According to the text, The Campaigns of Alexander¹, his army was crossing a desert of sand with the sun already blazing on top of them. All of them were tormented by thirst, and a group of light infantry was sent out to search for water. When they came back with the water, they tipped it into a helmet and gave it to Alexander. Alexander took the water and dumped it on the ground in front of all his men to be fair. It wouldn’t be fair for only one person to get a drink and not anybody else. This showed that Alexander was justifiable, because he was a good leader, and was fair and loyal to all his people.
Also according to The Campaigns of Alexander¹, when Alexander came across the bank of Hydaspes, the border of India, he realized that he couldn’t cross because of Porus’s elephants. He moved his troops in all different directions so Porus would be puzzled. At night they made war cries in all different directions as they crossed the river. Porus moved his elephants to those locations, but he had been fooled as those were just decoys. Now Alexander was on the other side of the river. The damage the inflicted on the elephants was so great, that now they were trampling their own people. This proves that Alexander was justifiable because even though he killed many people, his tactics were unlike any others and he was gaining territory for greece.
According to a chart showing Alexander’s legacy², his kingdom was 2,000,000 sq miles long after his death. He also made other accomplishments such as:
-founding 70 cities
-made greek official name of jordan for 1,000 years
-made hellenistic period in the Middle east and western Asia for 300 years
These prove that Alexander was great because he founded his empire in 10 years, and accomplished much more than what people would in the future.
All these reasons prove that Alexander was great because it took kingdoms hundreds of years or more to become empires, and with Alexander's strategy, he did in less than half the time, 11 years! Even after his death, people still respect him today.
- Lucius Flavious Arrianus, The Campaigns of Alexander, circa 130 CE
- Various Sources
