Sandhills Community College Alexander the Great Re Essays - Film

Sandhills Community College Alexander the Great Re Essays - Film Sandhills Community College Alexander the Great Research Paper Shianne Buie Professor Leake HIS 111-SN 1 April 16th, 2017 Famous playwright William Shakespeare once wrote , " S ome men are born great, some achieve greatness, and o thers have greatness thrust upon them . " In many ways, Alexander III of Macedon falls into all three of those categories. (History Channel) During the course of his life Alexander was filled with remarkable achievements and today is known as one of the most memorable rulers in history. Due to his impressive expansion of the Greek empire, admirable intuition as a politician and th e l oyalty he inspired in his men , Alexander the Great has earned himself the title as one of the most accomplished leaders of all time. Alexander III was born sometime in July of 356 BC to t he rulers of Macedonia, King Phillip II and his wife Olympias who, along with the entire kingdom, had very high hopes for the child. While the prince would indeed go on to be recognized as one of the greatest military geniuses of all time and amass the largest empire the ancient world had ever seen, he needed some guidance first. From the time he was very young, Alexander was being groomed to one day take over the kingdom and so he spent quite a good amount of his childhood in the company of tutors. He was taught how to fight, ride like any future soldier but was also educated in subjects such as s cience, literature and philosophy by none of than the famous philosopher Aristotle. Having this man as his teacher opened the prince ' s mind to countless possibilities and hopes for his future. There is actually good reason to believe that the philosophers teachings are part of the reason behind Alexander ' s unwavering desire for the expansion of his own empire. Alth ough the matter of circumstance did also play a large part in the series of events that would befall him in life. When the prince was just nineteen his father, Phillip II, was assassinated by his bodyguard captain at a feast for his daughters wedding. Alexander himself wasted no time in gaining the support he needed to claim the throne and once he had the backing of the generals and troops he had once fought alongside, he was proclaimed king. Though still quite young, the youth had already proven himself to be more than capable of defending the kingdom in his fathers absence so most had no problem accepting him as king. Shortly after ascending the throne, Alexander started out on the conquest of the Persian Empire, which would become recognized one of his greatest achievements. Being able to overthrow an empire as strong as Persia was no small feet, Alexander had to be a skilled tactician, intelligent and have loyal troops in order for everything to work out. If he had been lacking in any one of these areas then the entire battle may have gone a different way and the world we know today might've been completely different. Thankfully the young king had all the tools necessary to succeed in this endeavor and the outcome wound up in his favor. Since Persia had always been fierce rival of Greece, Alexander gained even more favor with his people once he proclaimed himself the new king after defeating all the opposing forces. He would then go on to overthrow Asia Minor, Egypt, India, Mesopotamia and other countless territories. The fact the Alexander managed to accomplish so much in only thirteen years as king showcases just was an incredible leader he was. In order to conquer so many empires, all while assuring his newfound subjects were content and never really attempted to rebel, Alexander had to be a truly gifted politician. Now in most parts of history once a nation had been taken over, their culture became all but lost, their r eligions were banned and the citizens were usually treated cruelly, sometimes they were even killed. However this wasn't the case with Alexander, he seemed to embrace the different cultures of each land he conquered and even incorporated some aspects into his own. Needless to say the