Alexander And His Army example essay topic

502 words
Alexander was successful because of his willingness and ambition to be the best that he could be as a leader. In the beginning of his success, him and his army were deprived of money so he sought quick and decisive battles to gain money and supplies from the conquered territory. Because of Alexander's ambition to be on the top, he thought of countless ways to be victories in battle, Alexander "won a smashing victory in characteristic style: He led a cavalry charge across the river into the teeth of the enemy on the opposite bank, almost losing his life in the process and winning the devotion of his soldiers. The coast of Asia Minor now open, Alexander captured the coastal cities, denying them to the Persian fleet (Craig, 105)". Another reason what Alexander was so successful was because of his greediness.

Craig states that while Alexander was in Tyre, Darius offered him his daughter and his entire empire west of the Euphrates River in exchange for an alliance and an end to the invasion but Alexander wanted the whole empire. So Alexander's greediness motivated him to create more battles. Alexander seemed to be a very curious type of person. Alexander was filled with plans for the future, "for the consolidation and organization of his empire; for geographic exploration; for new cites and roads, and harbors; perhaps even for further conquests in the west (Craig, 107)". As history has shown it, Alexander was one of the greatest generals the world has seen, "he never lost a battle or failed in a siege, and with a modest army, he conquered a vast empire. He had rare organizational talents, and his plans for creating a multinational empire was the only intelligent way to consolidate his conquests (Craig, 107)".

Also, Alexander established many new cities, which these cites promoted commerce and prosperity and introduced Hellenistic civilizations into new areas, as stated in Craig. Alexander's most important consequences of his conquests was when he came to Persepolis, the Persian capitol, which held splendid palaces and the royal treasury, "this bonanza ended his financial troubles and put a vast sum of money into circulation, with economic consequences that lasted for centuries (Craig, 107)". Also, as part of his grand scheme of amalgamation and conquest, "he married the Bactrian princess Roxanne and enrolled thirty thousand young Bactrian's to be trained for his army (Craig, 107)". Another consequence of his conquests was that Alexander was so fearless and always motivated to move on to new and better things, that he forgot that not everyone is like him. After Alexander and his army conquered the lands around the Indus River, he pushed in hopes of reaching the river called Ocean that the Greeks believed encircled the world, but finally his men refused to go on because they were tired and went back home to the Persian Gulf as it states in Craig, to celebrate their victories.