Alexander's Empire

Vocabulary

• Philip II- A ruthless politician and a brilliant general and was king of Macedonia at the age of 23.
• Macedonia- Located north of Greece, has a colder climate and a rough terrain. Has mountain villages.
• Alexander the great- king Philip's son who conquered most of Greece and Persia.
• Darius III- the Persian king at the time of Alexander the great

Notes

• Philip wanted to avenge the Persian invasion of Greece
• Greeks looked down at the Macedonians as uncivilized foreigners who had no great Philosophers, sculptors, or writers.
• Macedonians had shrewd and fearless kings
• King Philip
• Became a king 359 B.C 
• turned rugged peasants into well trained soldiers
• Organised a Phalanx with 16 by 16 men with 18 foot long pikes to break through enemy lines
• Cavalry would then attack
• Prepared to invade Greece
• Conquest of Greece
• Demosthenes tried to warn Greece to prepare for Philip, but Greece never found a policy
• in 338, Athens and Thebes joined against them
• Philip defeated Greeks at the battle of Chaeronea, ending Greek independence
• Greece is now under control of Macedonia
• Alexander the Great
• King Philip was stabbed at his daughters wedding at 336 by a former guard member
• Alexander immediately proclaimed himself as king
• 20 years old
• well educated by Aristotle
• Kept the Iliad under his pillow
• Destroyed the city of Thebes when they rebelled, scaring all of Greece to not fight back
• in 334 B.C, he led 35000 soldiers across the Hellespont into Anatolia
• 40,000 Persians tried to stop this
• they met at the Granicus River
• Smashed the Persian Defenses
• Darius raised an army of 75,000 to 50,000 men
• Alexander sent his finest men to charge at Darius, and he fled. Victory.
•  Alexander now controlled Anatolia
• Darius wanted Peace, but Alexander attacked
• He was welcomed into Egypt as a liberator, and was made Pharaoh.
• In Egypt, he built Alexandria at the mouth of the Nile
• the Persian king assembled 250000 men
• Alexander led a massive Phalanx  and Cavalry, and Darius fled
• Alexander ended the power of Persia
• He later occupied Babylon, Susa, and Persepolis
• Burnt Persepolis to the Ground
• Other Conquests
• Alexander kept moving east, to the edge of the continent
• in 326, He conquered India
• Agreed to turn back because his soldiers were losing Morale
• Alexander wanted to unify his empire and conquered Arabia, but died at age 32 because of a fever
• Power struggle over the conquered land by Macedonian Generals
• Antigonus became king of Macedonia
• Ptolemy- Egypt
• Seleucus- Persia, which became known as the Seleucid kingdom
• Ignored democracy, monarchy
• (questions 1,3,4,5 tomorrow)