Alexander III ( 20.7. 356 BC Pella - 10.6. 323 BC
Babylon), The Great (actually a man of 1.60 m to
1.65 m according to Plutarch). Some suppose that he
died in Babylon from Malaria, coming from the words
“Mala Aria” or bad air as the Romans described the
cause of this disease. Other say he died from
encephalitis by the West Nile virus. The Macedonians
were considered a kind of semi-barbarians by the
other Greeks, but finally Alexander helped to expand
the Greek civilization that was already weak after
so many wars.
All mortals should live like one, united, and
peacefully working towards the common good. You
should regard the whole world as your country, a
country where the best govern, with common laws, and
no racial distinctions. I do not separate people, as
many narrow-minded others do. I am not interested in
the origin or race of citizens; I only distinguish
them on the basis of their virtue. For my part, I
consider all, whether they be white or black, equal.
Alexander The Great.
Darius leaves with horror the battlefield. He
cannot believe that his huge army cannot resist the
small army of the young Alexander. What is less
known is that Alexander had to fight against Greek
mercenaries fighting for Darius. From a Lecture:
“The battle opened with Alexander leading the heavy
cavalry over the river and charging the left wing of
the enemy. This furious assault caved in that
section of the Persian line and caused them to
waver. Alexander received a deep thigh wound in the
process. Meanwhile, other parts of the Macedonian
line were not doing as well. The phalanx entered the
river under a hail of spears, and upon reaching the
opposite bank it was assailed from above by the
Greek mercenaries of the Persian center. But
Alexander’s assault had carried with it the right
portion of the phalanx and when the Macedonian
center could not make contact, the phalanx broke in
two. The Greek mercenaries pushed forward in the
furious fighting and forced the Macedonians back
into the river. The outcome of the battle was
momentarily in doubt until Alexander was able to
clear the left and wheel his cavalry to strike the
Greek mercenaries in flank and rout them.“ Many
Athenians, Thebans, or Greek mercenaries of the
Persian army who were againsts Alexander the Great
died. The most famous was Demosthenes.
Surprisingly his death probably was helpful in
that his idea of a Universal Culture would reduce
the influence of Greek culture. Philip II Macedon
asked Aristotle when he was 39 years old to be the
teacher of Alexander. Aristotle was not only one of
the greatest scientists ever, he had also a great
influence indirectly on Alexander; even if Alexander
was 13 years old when Aristotle started his work as
his teacher. I believe that in the 3 years which
Aristotle remained in Macedonia he was able to
influence his student before he returned back to
Athens where he established his own Academy, the
Lyceum. Alexander understood that science and
knowledge is not only important for the strength of
his army. Alexander therefore included in his army
also scientists, engineers and historians. According
to Plutarch Alexander had a violent thirst and
passion for learning, which increased as time went
on…He was a lover of all kinds of reading and
knowledge, and it was his delight, after a day of
marching or fighting, to sit up half the night
conversing with scholars and scientists. Alexander
provided financial support (and protection) for
Aristotle's Lyceum that he opened returning back in
Athens. Did Aristotle tell Alexander that the
Persian Empire was so weak because it was only
necessary to kill Darius, the Persian Emperor, to
conquer Persia?
With the advent of World War II, yet another
transformation took place. The scientist, who had
before only concerned himself with the development
of advanced equipment, then started to involve
himself in operational matters, advising soldiers on
how operational problems should be handled. This was
the beginning of what came to be called operational
research, or operational analysis, which grew in
such a tremendous fashion since the development of
the electronic computer which allowed the
mathematical testing of virtually any complex
situation, real or unreal, provided it can be set
out in qualitative terms. This concept seems,
however, to be another one of those ancient ideas
which have disappeared from view. There are some
that consider the philosophers who accompanied
Alexander the Great in his conquests to be the
precursors of today's operational analysts. Ulysses
R. Gotera Impacts of Science and Technology on War
Alexander the Great at an age of 20 started 334
BC the war against Persia. 35000 Macedonian and
Greek “professional” soldiers in battles at the
Granikus, Issus defeated the Persian armed forces of
Darius III. Alexander stormed the fortified city
port of Tyre in modern Lebanon, seizing the city
after a siege of seven months (Alexander had a dream
that Heracles invited him into Tyre and Aristander's
interpretation was that to take Tyre it requires a
Herculean effort). The punishment of the population
was terrible: 8000 men killed (2000 crucified on the
beach and left to decompose) 30000 women and
children taken as slaves.
Darius offered Alexander 10000 talents and
territory to Alexander to stop the war. Parmenion a
friend of Alexander said “I would accept if I were
Alexander”. Alexander's reply: “So would I, were I
Parmenion”. Alexander captured Gaza and in quick
succession occupied Egypt.
Cyrene, the capital of the ancient North African
kingdom of Cyrenaica, submitted to Alexander soon
afterwards, extending his dominion to the lands of
the city of Carthage, where his troops set up a
ruling aristocracy (and from whom ultimately the
great General Hannibal would emerge to test the
Roman Empire some 200 years later)
Alexander drew up reinforcements and with an army
of 40000 infantrymen and 7000 cavalry, marched on
Babylon. Crossing the Euphrates and the Tigris
rivers, he met the Persian King Darius once again,
who had drawn up a new army outnumbering Alexander's
forces.
At the Battle of Gaugamela, on 1 October, 331 BC,
Alexander once again beat Darius, who fled and was
killed by two of his own generals. The city of
Babylon then surrendered and Alexander occupied the
Persian capital city of Persepolis. Within three
years, Alexander had occupied a huge stretch of
land, and all resistance crumbled before his
ruthless Nordic army. His empire extended along and
beyond the southern shores of the Caspian Sea,
including modern Afghanistan and northward into
central Asia.
The basic unit, or speira, in
Alexander's army. The 256 men are ranked in
close order, 16 deep. In a charge, the spears,
“sarisa”, of the first five ranks projected
forward to break the enemy ranks - the rest of
the men held their spears skywards to deflect
arrows or other projectiles. Image from P.
Connolly, The Greek armies, 1978 Alexander also
used a cavalry of 2000 men divided in groups of
250, each heavily armed. The commander of this
army was Black Cleitus. It was reported that
small army's move faster and the army of
Alexander the Great did over forty miles a day
during the pursuit of Darius in 330 BC. Armies
as large as Arrian records - assuming they could
survive at all - would have been incredibly
slow. King Darius marched from Babylon to his
base camp near in Issus within three months - a
distance of 1200 kilometers or 750 miles at
least. It seems that Napoleon somehow succeeded
to move his army so fast that this was one of
the most important reasons for his military
success. A Greek soldiers carried 60-70 pounds
on his back. With soldiers carrying one-third
the load that would be normally hauled by
animals, an army of 50000 men required 6000
fewer pack animals than it would have needed,
along with 240 fewer animals to haul the feed
for the other animals. By requiring the soldier
to carry his own equipment and food, Alexander
created the lightest, most mobile, and fastest
army the world had ever seen. In eleven years
Alexander's army covered 11000 miles.
In order to complete his conquest of the remnants
of the Persian Empire, which had once included part
of western India, Alexander crossed the Indus River
in 326 BC, and invaded the Punjab region, following
the footsteps of the Indo-Arians of some 1200 years
previously.
Alexander's army rebelled and refused to go any
further, seeing no point in marching endlessly on,
getting further and further away from their homes
without any respite in sight. Sensing that he had to
get his men home quickly, Alexander then pulled off
another incredible feat. He constructed a fleet of
ships then and there and sailed down the Indus
river, reaching its mouth in September 325 BC. He
then sailed with his army to the Persian Gulf and
returned overland across the desert, arriving in
Babylon in 323 BC.
On this return journey Alexander contracted fever
and died in Babylon.
Alexander probably was responsible that also his
generals did support science. Before in 332 BC
Alexander founded a new city in Egypt - which he
called Alexandria. This city would later became the
literary, scientific, and commercial center of the
Greek world. After the Macedonian conquest the
center of learning shifted from Greece to
Alexandria. There, where Middle Eastern and Greek
culture overlapped, Babylonian astronomy and Greek
philosophy interacted to produce the sophisticated
science of the Hellenistic Age. (Alexander in Egypt)
And out of the remarkable Panhellenic
campaign,
victorious, brilliant in every way,
celebrated far and wide, glorious
as no other had ever been, glorified,
the incomparable: we are born;
a vast new Greek World, a great new Greek
world.
We, the Alexandrians, the Antiocheans,
the Seleucians, and the innumerable
rest of the Greeks of Egypt and of Syria,
and of Media, and Persia, and the many
others,
with our extensive empire,
with the varied action of our thoughtful
adaptations,
and our common Greek, our spoken Language,
we carried it into the heart of Bactria, to
the Indians.
Konstantin Kavafis
In 146 BC, Macedonia and Greece became direct
Roman provinces after a short-lived rebellion by the
Macedonians, and in 64 BC, the Seleucid empire was
conquered by the Roman general Pompey and became a
Roman province.
Alexander was responsible that the Greek language
become a common language (koine). The Bible was
first written in Greek and this probably helped in
the expansion of the Christian religion.
343/2 |
Macedonia |
Aristotle
teacher of Alexander. |
338 |
Battle of Chaeroneia |
Philip
and his son victorious against the army of Thebes and Athens |
336 |
Assassination of Philip II |
. |
334 |
Expedition of Alexander to Asia |
Battle of Granicus |
333 |
Cilicia |
Battle of Issus, Defeat of King Darius III |
332 |
Siege of Tyre |
Alexander is the new Pharaoh of Egypt |
331 ? |
Alexandria / Egypt |
Foundation of the city
Alexandria
(there are at least 31 more cities with the same name founded) |
331 |
Tel Gomel (Gaugamela) near Mosul |
Battle of Gaugamela (Darius uses War
Elephants from India) |
330 |
Persia |
Sack of Persepolis. Death of Darius III
|
329 |
Samarkand |
Murder of Clitus |
327 |
. |
Alexander marries Roxane.
Execution of the nephew of Aristotle, the historian
Callisthenes |
326 |
Pakistan, India |
Campaign against the Indian Army of Porus,
Battle of the Hydaspes River ,
The Indo-Greek Kingdom ,
Greco-Bactrian Kingdom |
325 |
. |
March through the Gedrosian desert after an army revolt. |
324 |
Persia |
Alexander at Susa:, wants to be considered as a god. Death of
his friend
Hephaestion |
323 |
Babylon |
Alexander after 10 days with fever dies Philip III Arrhidaios
and
Alexander's son declared his followers |
323 |
Greece |
Mainland Greeks revolt against the Macedonian Regent Antipater, |
322 |
Greece |
Battle of Krannon:
Demosthenes
and Aristotle die after leaving Athens; |
321 |
. |
Perdiccas
is killed, Ptolemy
I the new regent of Egypt |
317 |
Macedonia |
Philip III Arrhidaios is killed by Olympias. |
310 |
Macedonia |
Alexander
IV Aegus of Macedon and Roxane are
killed by Cassander. |
301 |
Cilicia |
Battle at Ipsus. Death of Antigonus and the end of the power of
Demetrius Poliorcetes. |
|