Alexander The Great Essay -- essays research papers

Alexander the Great is said to be one of the greatest conquerors of all time, and yet, his significance in battle showed up late in his life. His early years were spent in poverty, and as the years progressed, his dream of being a war hit man grew dimmer and dimmer.Ironically, while he was later hold upn as a war hero, he was still feared by all because of his reputation as a drinker and murderer. But first, his background. He was born in 356 BC. His parents were Philip, the brother of King Perdiccas III of Macedon, in Northern Greece. His mother was Olympias, daughter of King Neoptolemus I of Epirus, in modern Albania. He also had a younger sister, Cleopatra (not the famous Egyptian queen).However, this family was not as ordinary as one might think. In fact, his parents perfectly hated each other. Philip had complied with Macedonian tradition and had a some wives. Soon, one of his wives had a baby which had mysteriously become disabled after birth. It was said that the handicap was due to poisoning from Olympias. Olympias sometimes told Alexander that Philip wasn&8217t his real develop, but this probably wasn&8217t true.After all, Philip certainly did seem to care for Alexander as if he was his real son. He even appointed Aristotle himself as Alexander&8217s first and only tutor. Yet, there weresome things about Alexander that made Philip angry. He hated the fact that his was very skinny and the fact that he had a high-pitched voice. Still, Alexander felt lucky to have this man as his father and mentor. In 359 BC, when Alexander was three, Philip&8217s Brother, King Peridcaas III, died. It was originally planned that his son, Amyntas, was tosucceed him with Philip as his regent, but Philip usurped his nephew&8217s throne and made himself King Philip II. In a few decades, he proved to be a stronger king and he eventually conquered most of Greece. When he was in his teens, Alexander&8217s father came to him one twenty-four hour period and told him that he had to leave to fight in a war. Thus Alexander, being his regent, would have to serve for the time being. While his father was away, Alexander led an military expedition to a wild region of modern day Bulgaria. Here, he found a race of wild barbarians, whom he later subdued. He, then, established his first city, Alexandropolis, at the site of this defeat. This made his strength apparent to everyone and ... ...y from Roxane for a long period of time. His men refused to go any further, however, and he turned back to go home. On the march home, he fought many cities, and took an arrow in the chest, but lived.On a later visit to Persia, he found that many of his Governors had abused their power. He had them execute and, in an attempt to reunite the two civilizations, he married the old King&8217s daughter, Barsine, while stillmarried to Roxane. His best friend, Hephaestion, married Barsine&8217s sister, Drypetis. He even gave some Persians high rankings in his army. But these attempt s failed and even the marriages broke up.In the fall of 324 BC, Alexander&8217s best friend, Hephaestion, died.Alexander was heartbroken and in the pursuance summer, Alexander became ill and died on June 13 in Babylon at the age of 32. Modern historians have long suspected that he died from Malaria, but, recently, it has been suggested that Typhoid Fever was the culprit. Today, we know Alexander as one of the greatest generals, leaders, andconquerors of all time, and we know that this was his main goal in life... To beremembered, not as a villain, but as his childhood dream.....A war hero.