4b- 6. Was Alexander the Great a "good leader"? Compare/Contrast with Pericles.

There is a difference between a great leader and a great ruler. To be a great leader, it takes charisma, strategy, and, of course, followers. In order to be a great ruler, one must always have his people's needs in mind, and he should always be fair to everyone that he reigns over. I believe that Alexander while Alexander was a great leader, he was not the best ruler. I see the vice versa with Pericles. He wasn't much of a leader, because there weren't too many movements that he lead his people on. However, he kept Athens thriving during his rule, and his citizens seemed to like him, so I would say that he is a fairly good ruler. Alexander lead an army to the ends of the Earth (somewhat literally), and was victorious for most of the journey. He had this thing about him that just made him likable and someone who could relate to his followers. It was easy for him to get people to do what he wanted, so he did. But you can see that after he conquered a place, he wasn't very worried about how they would thrive when he left. That evidence is there just from seeing that he never left a clear heir for his empire. Pericles, on the other hand, had lead Athens through some very tough times, and tragically died from a plague. This is where the two men are similar. Neither of them had a set successor because illness came and unexpectedly ended their rules. It's kind of ironic how that all played out, actually. No matter how powerful Alexander was, no matter how reliable Pericles was, it was sickness that caused them to lose it all in the end. Overall, I would say that Alexander was a great leader, but he could've worked a bit more on ruling his empire, instead of expanding it.