Alexander the Great (356 BC to 323 BC), the ancient king of Macedon, founder of the Alexander Empire (336 BC to 323 BC). Napoleon praised him as "the greatest military genius in history", and Engels also praised "Alexander as the greatest military strategist and outstanding genius general in the world."
Alexander once studied with the famous Greek philosopher Aristotle and received Greek cultural education since childhood. He loved Greek culture and dreamed not only of conquering the world, but also of Hellenizing the world. At the age of 16, he followed his father in military campaigns and learned a lot of combat techniques and military knowledge. After he inherited the throne, he followed the example of Greece and implemented political and military reforms: weakening the power of clan nobles, strengthening the power of the monarch, reforming the currency system, and rewarding the development of industry and commerce; creating a standing army including infantry, cavalry, and navy, and forming a dense and deep formation of infantry. The combat formation is called the Macedonian Phalanx, with heavy infantry in the middle and light infantry on both sides. Each phalanx is also equipped with heavy cavalry composed of noble children as the forward and wing protection of the phalanx. Through these reforms, Macedonia quickly became a military power.
In 334 BC, Alexander led an army of 35,000 men and 160 warships to march towards Persia and began an expedition to the east. At that time, the Persian Empire was extremely weak, and Alexander easily conquered the Asia Minor Peninsula with a fierce offensive. In 333 BC, Alexander's army defeated the Persian army at Isou, opening the door to Syria and Phoenicia.
In 332 BC, Alexander marched south, captured Syria, and entered Egypt. He was declared by the Egyptian priests as the "Son of Amun" (King). He proclaimed himself Pharaoh and built the city of Alexandria at the Nile Gate. As a memorial to his great achievements.
In 331 BC, Alexander led his army to a decisive battle with the main force of the Persian army at Gaugamela on the east bank of the Tigris River. Persia was defeated and Darius III fled. Alexander took advantage of his victory to capture Babylon, the Persian capitals Susa and Persis, and the Mede capital Ecbatana. In the spring of 330 BC, Darius III was killed by his generals, and the Persian Empire fell. Alexander conquered all of Persia. An Alexander Empire was established across Europe, Asia, and Africa, with Babylon as its capital. Its territory started from Greece and Macedonia in the west, to the Indus River Basin in the east, to the first waterfall of the Nile River in the south, and to Yaoshashui (today's Syr Darya River) in the north.
In 327 BC, Alexander continued to march eastward, passing through Parthia (Parthia), Aria, and Transjanana, and then went north over the Hindu Kush Mountains to reach Bactria (Bactria). ) and Sogdiana. In 325 BC, he invaded India and occupied the Indus River Basin. He also attempted to conquer the Ganges River Basin, but after years of long-distance fighting, the soldiers were exhausted, infected with malaria and poisoned by poisonous snakes, and the soldiers refused to move forward. Alexander had to withdraw his troops from India in July 325 BC. In 324 BC, the Eastern Expedition ended.
In 323 BC, Alexander died suddenly, and the huge empire established by military conquest also collapsed. After a long period of melee, many independent kingdoms were formed within the original empire. Among them, the three kingdoms of Macedonia, Egypt and Seleucid were the largest. Later, these countries were successively destroyed by Rome.
The Alexander Expedition was a predatory expedition that lasted 10 years and traveled more than 10,000 miles. It looted and burned some ancient cities in Asia, and robbed thousands of working people into slaves, using barbaric and cruel methods. Destroyed many Eastern civilizations.
With its unique offensive and long-distance mobile combat methods, Alexander's Eastern Expedition left an important page in the history of world wars. He went deep alone, focused on offense, and conducted hundreds of river crossings, city sieges, and battles in mountains, deserts, and plains. He defeated enemies more powerful than himself in quick battles many times. He is unique in the use of various arms, especially the use of cavalry, coordinated operations of the army and navy, selection of march routes, formation of combat formations, combat command and logistics support.
Alexander’s empire ushered in a new era, the Hellenistic era (323 BC to 3 BC). This is a new culture formed by the fusion of Greek culture, Near Eastern Egyptian civilization, and Persian civilization. The later Romans created Roman civilization based on comprehensively absorbing the achievements of Hellenistic civilization.