In the history of mankind, there have been many overlords who commanded large armies to conquer the west and create an unprecedentedly large empire, such as Caesar, Genghis Khan, Timur, Ottoman, Napoleon...
However, if we want to talk about who is the originator, teacher, and role model that these tyrants are extremely admired, I am afraid that only Alexander can be proud of this.
Alexander III (July 20, 356 BC – June 10, 323 BC) was the third king of the Macedonian Empire, who had made a great ambition to conquer the whole world (the world known to the Greeks) from an early age, and his father Philip II was a hero who unified ancient Greece, and whenever Philip II conquered a new region, young Alexander, instead of being pleased, would cry and say, "Father, can't you leave some land for me to conquer?" ”
When Alexander, who was only 20 years old at the time, became the new king of the empire, he immediately and impatiently divided all his territory, property, and slaves to everyone, and everyone was puzzled, and Alexander left behind the bold words of the ancient saying: "I only leave myself hope that will never be extinguished!" It will give me the whole world! ”
In 334 BC, Alexander the Great commanded a Macedonian expeditionary force composed of 30,000 infantry composed of warriors of the ancient Greek federations and more than 5,000 Macedonian and Thracian cavalry, and embarked on the journey of conquering the world without hesitation!
In the world as the ancient Greeks knew, the Persian Empire was a dominant existence, the historic ancient Persia not only had a vast territory and a large population, but also had always been the enemy of Greece, and in history, ancient Persia had launched two wars of unprecedented aggression against Greece, both of which were claimed to be millions, but they were all defeated by Greece. Therefore, Alexander, who unified Greece and regarded himself as the lord of The Greek allies, rightfully regarded Persia as the first goal of the expedition.
The war between the Macedonian army and the Persian army was an "asymmetric war" in the ancient world, and the two sides were extremely asymmetrical in the number of troops, the Greek army was less than fifty thousand, and the Persian army was claimed to be million or even two million! But it was this Macedonian army, which was less than a fraction of Persia, that repeatedly played the opposite "asymmetrical results"!
At the Battle of Issus, Macedonia defeated 600,000 Persian troops; at the Battle of Gaugamela, the Macedonian army fought against the million-strong army personally led by the Persian king Darius III, but darius left the army and fled...
The Macedonian army annihilated hundreds of thousands of Persian troops with three-figure casualties, which is an incredible record in the history of human warfare!
Macedonia's victory over Persia fully verified that the strength of the army lies in the superb military quality, the science of strategy and tactics, and the cleverness of the art of command, and by no means in the sheer number of people, or even in the advanced and sophisticated weapons!
Alexander's army soon conquered the Persian Empire, which the Greeks had found impossible, and then went south to conquer the adjacent Indus Valley, and destroyed the more ancient Egyptian Empire. Of the four ancient civilizations, Macedonia occupies three, leaving only one more brilliant China.
So there has always been a curiosity: if Alexander had learned that there was a China in the East that was far richer than Persia, would he continue to lead his crusades? In the face of the Seven Heroes of the Warring States, who were strong and strong at that time, and had many generals, what were the chances of victory for the Macedonian army?
First, in Alexander's time, the known world of the Greeks did not include China, unlike the Persians, Indias, and Egypt they were familiar with, that is, whether they were interested in China's wealth and life was the primary factor.
You know, even in the expedition to Persia and India, the Macedonian soldiers always wanted to "return home", repeatedly dragging Alexander's pace of continuing to move forward, Alexander had to take the practice of ordering officers and soldiers to marry local women and start a family, so that "wherever the Greeks go, there is the new Greece." However, China is too far away, and whether Alexander's army has the "motivation" to continue the expedition is really a question.
If Alexander had a way to encourage his army to continue the crusades, it was certain that the land of China would face an unprecedented crisis.
Some people may say: At that time, China was full of famous generals, and they had all been in the battlefield for a long time, as long as a Qin state appeared, it was enough to resist the Macedonian army!
So, let's analyze what advantages Alexander's army had that the ancient Eastern armies did not have.
The reason why the Macedonian army was able to achieve such a great victory was first of all that Alexander the Great was a god and had extraordinary command ability, but the more important factor was that the Greek army had a very high military quality.
The ancient Greek world is different from any other region, they adopted an ancient democracy, ensuring that every Greek warrior is highly proud and self-conscious in spirit, and even some warriors from ancient families will associate the ancestors of the family with the gods in ancient Greek mythology, so that the individual can play to the extreme of the collective, which is completely different from the eastern world army represented by Persia.
Another magic weapon of the ancient Greek army is the "scientific spirit", which is also the traditional advantage of ancient Greece and Rome, which has been inherited and continuously developed by later Generations in Europe and the United States for thousands of years.
As early as ancient Greece, it paid great attention to mathematics, geometry, physics and other natural sciences, and wonderfully applied them to a series of military fields such as tactical research and development, weapon development and battlefield command. Alexander the Great himself was not only an excellent military commander, but also a scholar with high-end knowledge in a variety of disciplines, and his initiator was the world-renowned great thinker and philosopher Aristotle.
The Greek army is not only of high quality individual soldiers, but also the art of group coordination is even more remarkable, which is unmatched in ancient times. Ancient Greece has long been popular "heavy infantry phalanx" tactics, each warrior is well equipped with bronze armor and round shields, the formation of the phalanx is varied, the soldiers work closely together, when they raise their shields to form a defensive lineup, the shields are combined with each other to form a strong fortress like tortoiseshell. In the case of this tactic to the extreme, the shield array can even drive a carriage!
In the Macedonian period, the ancient Greek infantry phalanx technology has been greatly developed and evolved, the emergence of the famous "Macedonian phalanx", not only maintains the traditional ancient Greek infantry phalanx of solidity, the attack power is greatly enhanced, the soldier holds a shield, the other holds a giant spear up to 5 meters long, and the front row of soldiers together form a dense spear array, attack must be taken, defend must be achieved!
At the same time, Macedonia also had a world-class cavalry force at that time, and the "King's Friend Cavalry" composed of Thracian knights of the same origin as the originator of human cavalry, Scythian, was able to compete with the strongest cavalry in Persia.
In the face of such an opponent, if it was the most powerful Qin army in the Warring States era, what would be the result?
The Qin army has a numerical superiority, and the quality of the warriors is also first-class in the Warring States, but it should be known that Alexander's army is also constantly "growing" in the process of conquering Persia and India, and can integrate millions of Persian, Indian and other various Central Asian tribal armies (the core is of course the Greek army), so in terms of numbers, the Qin army is not necessarily superior.
Speaking of factors such as army quality, tactics, and weapons, although the Qin army has advantages in front of the six countries, in front of the Macedonian army, we really have no confidence to say that we will win. You know, even Persia, a very powerful cavalry country at that time, did not have much resistance in front of the Macedonian cavalry, not to mention China, which never paid attention to cavalry, you know, the first State of Zhao in China to form a cavalry unit, when King Zhao Wuling was only a teenager.
Of course, as I said just now, war is not only about the superiority or inferiority of weapons, but also about the advantages of time, place, and people, and if the Qin army can make full use of the geographical advantages, it can actually drag the Macedonian army back.
Moreover, the Chinese nation has always had the tradition of "brothers in the wall, foreign insults", if there is such a powerful foreign enemy invasion, the seven heroes of the Warring States will temporarily put aside their grievances, join hands to resist foreign enemies, the major celebrities will join hands to attack, what thirty-six plans, Sun Tzu's art of war, monkeys steal peaches, kick the crotch, all in one brain, I believe that even if the Macedonian army is strong, it will eventually be difficult to defeat the four hands with two fists, and will be annihilated by each.
Although history does not assume, the Chinese nation can stand for thousands of years and prosper for thousands of years, and it is by no means something that an Alexander can easily conquer!