Alexander the Great

HS150 World Civilizations I
Assignment 02
April 3, 2013                      
                                          Assignment 02 -   Legacy of Alexander the Great

One of historys most puzzling figures is Alexander the Great. Historians even though they were relying on the same sources, ended up creating different views. Some thought he was a barbaric, power hungry man; while others view him as someone who was evolving the world and wanted to share his culture.
At age twenty he became king due to his father Philip II being assassinated. Alexander turned his fathers dream of invading the Persian empire into his own mission. In 331 B.C.E. alexander moved into the territory   He rounded up an army of some 37,000 men and entered Asia Minor.   During the battle, in spring of 334 B.C.E., at the Granicus River,   he had become victorious with his first confrontation with the Persians. Alexander however, did not stop there. By the following spring the entire western half of Asia Minor was under his control.
His next battle,   the battle of Issus   was brought on by the forces of Persian King, Darius III.   It took place on an attenuated field in 333 B.C.E. where force in numbers did not matter. There attempted victory was unsuccessful in stopping Alexanders army.  
Alexander took control of Palestine, Egypt and Syria and founded his own city by the winter of 332 B.C.E. after he had taken up the title of Pharaoh. The city he named “Alexandria” after himself, which became a Greek administrative capital in Egypt. Today is is still one of the Mediterranean world’s most important cities.  
Alexander continued Northwest of Babylon and fought another victorious battle in Gaugamela in 331 B.C.E. (what was known as the territory of the ancient Mesopotamian kingdoms).   Once passing through Babylon Alexander proceeded to the dominate the Persian capitals of Susa and Persepolis. It is here that he took possession of the large quantities of Persian Gold and Silver...