One of the greatest and most successful generals in all of history was Alexander the Great. He was a brilliant, patient and often devious man that never struck without careful planning. Alexander make decisions with great speed and took extraordinary risks, his success was achieved by his show of sheer force and will to overcome. During his lifetime, he defeated the Persians and Greeks, conquered Egypt and Asia Minor, and secured the Mediterranean Sea.

Alexander was born in 356 BC to King Phillip II and his wife Olympias. In the summer of 336 BC Phillip was assassinated, and Alexander ascended to the Macedonian throne. He found himself surrounded by enemies from near and far, and disposed of these people by ordering their execution. He quickly marched to Thessaly, where partisans of independence had gained ascendancy, and restored Macedonian rule. By the end of the summer he had re-established his position in Greece, and was elected head of the Greek forces for a war against Persia by a congress of states in Corinith.

Alexander began his war against Persia in the spring of 334 BC by crossing the Hellespont with an army of 50,000 troops from Macedonia and Greek City states (Milns, 45)

Unable to claim the Persian throne while Darius was still alive, he perused Darius and in autumn of 331 B.C. he entered Babylon, the winter capital of the Persian kings. In December of the same year he entered the summer capital at Susa. Both cities were taken relatively quickly and without major problems. From Susa he went on to the ceremonial capital at Persepolis. Persepolis graciously gave Alexander a great deal of treasure and wealth that would require 20,000 mules and 5,000 camels to remove. Upon leaving Persepolis, Alexander burned the palace for unknown reasons.

Alexander's men though differently, they felt that they had marched their limits and wanted to return to Macedon. Alexander waited three days for them to change their minds. When he was convinced that they would not, he agreed to start home. In the spring of 323 BC he reached Babylon, and began at once to regroup his army and plan an invasion of Arabia. But in June a fever struck him and on the thirteenth of June, 323 BC, not even 33 years old Alexander died.

Before Alexander was able to reach him, Darius was slain by his own men. With Darius dead, Alexander could now freely move into Egypt. "He had attained his first major objective: the Persian fleet had ceased to exist" (Bamm, 121). Now, at last, Alexander was officially the great king of Persia. In his new role he headed east to take possession of the remaining

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Approximate Word count = 943
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)