Alexander DBQ Notes

Was Alexander Really Great? Aristotle taught Alexander the Great, who was king of Macedonia what he knew about philosophy. Alexander was a great military leader and tactician while he was king. He built the largest empire in ancient times by starting 70 cities. He was a great military leader, king of Macedon, and Greek leader. He proved that he deserved to be called Alexander the Great. Seeing a map of Alexander's empire is one of the easiest ways to see that he was a great leader. There are many parts to this empire, and it goes from Macedonia to Asia. You can see that there are more than one city called Alexandria if you look closely. Alexander's empire had a lot of cities with this name because many of the cities he took over were named after him. He quickly took over all of this land in just 11 years. Alexander took over the Persian Empire, which was something not many kings could do at his age. Alexander's creativity as a military leader is another way that we can see how great he was. In the battle between Alexander and Porus, he showed how smart he was as a commander by moving his troops around so that Porus would move like Alexander. There were a lot of elephants in Porus' very large army. As long as Porus kept moving his troops with Alexander's, he kept moving his own. Alexander's army eventually moved all the way around Porus' until they completely surrounded him. At this point, Alexander moved his army forward and won the battle, even though Porus's army had a lot of elephants. Alexander was a strong military leader, but he was more than that. He was a leader who asked the same things of himself as he did of his men. The story of Alexander and the helmet of water shows this. Alexander and his men were walking through a very hot and dry desert, so the story goes. It is important to remember that he walked with them and not just watched them walk while he rode a camel or something. Some of his men went off to find water. They found a small amount, which they brought back to Alexander to drink. After that, Alexander dumped out the water. People in his army knew from this action that he didn't see himself as more than a soldier and that he didn't think he had any rights that he could have easily had. Alexander the Great didn't just get that name by chance. He was a great military leader who cared about and was loyal to his men. It took him only 11 years to build the largest empire in ancient times. People may think of him as one of the best military leaders of all time, but he was also a soldier.