Alexander the Great summary

Less than a year after Alexander’s return, Philip was assassinated and, before long, Alexander captured the Macedonian throne by disposing of his rivals and winning over the army with powerful rhetoric.

Remarkably, Alexander began his ambitious rule at just 20 years of age.

Alexander had no interest in wasting time with victory celebrations. He quickly moved on to take the cities of Sardis and Ephesus before reaching the ancient city of Miletus, in what is now southwestern Turkey.

Since Miletus was a base for the Persian navy, it was a vital part of Alexander’s plan. And, since the city initially offered a surrender, it seemed like it would be taken with ease. But word soon came that a Persian fleet was fast approaching, and another battle began.

Alexander’s campaign continued, and by the spring of 333 BC, he and his army had reached central Anatolia.

It was at this point that Alexander received some troubling news: The great Persian general Memnon’s fleet was approaching southern Greece and appeared to be on the verge of launching an invasion.

At this time, all that separated the 23-year-old Alexander and King Darius’s Persian armies was a small Turkish mountain range.

Darius hoped to face Alexander on a large, open battlefield, where his superior number of cavalry could overwhelm him. But, instead, The Battle of Issus took place on a narrow stretch of land near the Pinarus River.

After the Battle of Issus, Alexander continued down the eastern Mediterranean coastline, and after a year’s travel, arrived in Egypt.

He encountered no resistance along the way, for the local population had no love for the Persians, who had been ruling Egypt on and off for centuries.

From Egypt, Alexander set off toward the ancient city of Babylon. But after crossing both the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, he was once again confronted by King Darius’s army, which had set up camp on the plain of Gaugamela.

The stage was set for another of history's greatest battles.

From Babylon, Alexander journeyed through the harsh and snowy mountains of Persia before finally arriving at the Persian Gates, a narrow mountain pass that led directly to Persepolis, the Persian capital.

It was here that the remainder of the Persian army ambushed his men and inflicted heavy losses.

Despite Alexander’s feelings, his army was overjoyed by Darius’s death. Naturally, many of them took this news as the sign that their battles were over and they could now go home.

But Alexander had a new purpose: to make sure Bessus was punished for his cowardly betrayal of Darius.

By 327 BC, Alexander and his army had spent seven years away from Macedonia. He had even married a local nobleman’s daughter, Roxane.

But he wasn’t about to settle down: Alexander now set his sights on India. He believed that, by conquering it, he would be able to go down in history as King of the World.

The march home was a relatively uneventful journey, despite the fact that Alexander almost drowned in river rapids, and his army nearly perished in the Gedrosian desert.

By the time he returned, it had been ten years since he’d left Macedonia, and his empire had become the largest the world had ever seen.

Alexander’s remarkable ten-year campaign did a lot more than just cement Greek culture’s influence on a large portion of Eurasia. These effects certainly outlasted his empire, which began to collapse soon after his death.

Persia and India are just two places that were forever changed by Alexander.