Alexander The Great- Was it Worth It?

               Beginning in his early 20’s, King Alexander III of Macedon (more commonly known as Alexander the Great), spent his entire life on an escapade that resulted in his conquering of most of the known world. Having invaded countries from Egypt to India, and  everything in between, it was clear that Alexander had been a very successful king and military leader. However, there were many losses in his journey. There were hardships due to starvation and dehydration, exhaustion, mental and physical setbacks, and numerous other issues. Alexander near well lost his mind before finally losing his life to a virus that he was never able to overcome (Alexander The Great). After he died, the empire collapsed, because Alexander had no one true heir. Through all of the victory and success, there was much failure and loss. The question here is, was it all worth it? Or should he have stopped his mission after getting even with Persia?        

            To understand Alexander’s motive for this extreme takeover, we have to take a look at not only his past, but at the past of his home, in Greece. The Persian Empire had always been an enemy of the Greeks, because about 150 years before Alexander, Persia had invaded and embarrassed the city-state of Athens, getting rid of their fleet of ships, and sending that part of Greece into a downward spiral of increasing poverty. (In The Footsteps Of Alexander The Great) Alexander claimed his main motive for his invasion of Persia to be for vengeance upon this deed. (Alexander The Great, Wiki) But if this was true, wouldn’t he have stopped at this point?          

   It is said that power is the sort of thing that you can only want more of, especially when it is obtained all too easily. After Alexander had successfully defeated Persia in his efforts to avenge his ancestors, Egypt became the next target. The Egyptians had also been long-time enemies of Persia, and they welcomed Alexander as a pharaoh when his army invaded. (Alexander The Great) This event, no doubt, made Alexander feel even more powerful than he had originally felt, and it compelled him to want more. However, while Alexander was off taking over the rest of the known world, acting as the son of a god, it seems as though he had forgotten all about how things are being handled in the empire that he had already obtained. He managed to put generals in charge of each area, but those generals then began to get the idea that they were the real rulers of that part of the country, and that’s how it was going to stay, even after Alexander’s untimely death (In The Footsteps Of Alexander The Great).          

              After he had conquered the area which is now seen as modern-day Afghanistan, some of Alexander’s men believed that he was growing a bit incompetent. At one point, he had gotten in a drunken rage and ended up killing one of the men in his army that was very close to him. (In The Footsteps Of Alexander The Great) He felt remorse for it after he was sober, but this event was a major turning point in Alexander’s command. More and more of his men started to turn against him, and the first plot for his murder had been discovered. These men were later tortured to death, but no doubt it changed the way Alexander thought about his actions ahead of time. (In The Footsteps Of Alexander The Great)           

So throughout his whole journey, Alexander The Great accomplished many great feats and gave glory to many other brave men. However, his death resulted in much confusion in his empire, which seemed to fall along with him and cause much violence and chaos in those areas., some of which is still evident in today’s society.(Alexander The Great) Though his original plan was just to seek revenge against the Persian empire, (Alexander The Great, Wiki) much more had resulted. Maybe if Alexander had kept his boundaries a bit smaller, the chaos that resulted from the fall of his empire would not have happened. In his case, lack of control was most likely his biggest fault.

Bibliography:

1. Alexander The Great Wikipedia Page
2. Video: "In The Footsteps Of Alexander The Great" Hosted by Michael Wood, produced by PBS
3. "Alexander the Great." Macedonia FAQ. Web. 10 Mar. 2011. <http://faq.macedonia.org/history/alexander.the.great.html>.