In today's world, the cultures of various countries are intertwined, and economic and trade exchanges are frequent, and a state of global integration has gradually formed. But to talk about the beginning of the fusion of civilizations, it is necessary to go back to the beginning of the Hellenistic era.
But this glorious era stemmed from one war after another under Alexander's leadership, the most popular of which was the crusade against Persia.
This was a typical war in which the weak triumphed over the strong, and Alexander's military talent and mind were evident.
How did Alexander grow to this point? Faced with the ten thousand Persian noblewomen who were captured, what choice did Alexander make? This also affected the empire built by such a huge military genius, why did it collapse in just a dozen years?
The rise of small states
Alexander was born in Macedonia. Macedonia is a marginal state in Greece, and this margin refers not only to its geographical location, but also to the attitude of the Greeks towards Macedonia.
Because of the terrain and climate, the main way of development in Macedonia is agriculture and animal husbandry, so macedonians are physically strong and brave and warlike
。 However, as a civilized city-state, Greece was highly developed in literature and art, and various philosophical ideas blossomed. Against this backdrop, the Greeks naturally did not regard the Macedonians, who advocated force, as their kind.
Under such conditions, the overall level of development in Macedonia is relatively backward, and there are very few historical records about Macedonia. For a long time,
Macedonia can only survive on other countries, and because it is not good at politics, the country is also in chaos
。 This situation did not end until Alexander's father, Philip II, came to power.
Philip II traveled as a hostage and learned a lot about advanced culture. After he usurped power and seized the throne, he made great efforts and carried out drastic political, economic, and military reforms. It was also under his leadership that Macedonia gradually got rid of its previous backward situation and became a powerful country. In order to consolidate power,
Philip II married Olympias, Alexander's biological mother
。
Legend has it that on the night of the candles in the cave, Philip II dreamed that his wife's body was sealed by a lion motif, while Olymples dreamed that he was struck by lightning, burned by fire, and then gradually extinguished.
Such legends also put a mysterious aura on Alexander. In ancient Greece, such mysterious signs must have been a hint from God to the world
。 Then, as Alexander was born and grew, his extraordinary talents and brilliant mind gradually appeared, and people became more and more convinced that he was the reincarnation of God.
But Alexander and Philip II did not have a good relationship. Simply put, Philip II later found true love and was eager to give everything to his sweetheart, and Alexander's position was in jeopardy. Because of his sympathy for his birth mother and his disgust for his father's change of heart, the relationship between Alexander and Philip II was very tense.
But Philip II was assassinated before he could hold the throne to his sweetheart.
Of course, some people say that this may have been planned by Alexander and his mother, but in any case, Alexander justifiably sat on the throne.
The old king will go, and the new king is a young man, which makes many people have a disobedient heart, wanting to tear off a piece of meat when the new king has just ascended to the throne, and the strength is weak and the foundation is unstable. Apparently these people underestimated Alexander's talents.
After Alexander ascended to the throne, in the name of the death of his father Philip II, he reduced the taxes of ordinary people and the army. Such a move quickly won the hearts and minds of the people
。 And when his political opponents were impatient, Alexander executed a number of ministers who threatened his rule on charges of treason.
For some small countries that wanted to take this opportunity to gain independence from Macedonia, Alexander sent troops to suppress them on the charge of collaborating with the enemy and treason, and soon quelled the rebellion with his own iron fist. This combination of rigidity and flexibility soon stabilized the situation in Macedonia quickly and maintained prosperity.
The establishment of the Empire
When everything in the country settled down, Alexander began to think about expanding outward. A year before Philip II's death, he had the idea of conquering Persia. Despite the strained relationship between Alexander and Philip II, the ambitions of father and son can be said to be in the same vein.
Alexander then inherited Philip II's legacy and set his sights on the mighty Persian Empire
However, to attack the Persian Empire, some preparations were also needed. First of all, the army must be famous.
Philip II had just died, and the cause of death was assassinated, which was just a good idea
。 Thus, this charge was pressed against the Persian Empire.
The second is to clear the way forward. Macedonia and Persia are not contiguous. If you want to attack Persia, it is inevitable that several countries will be weak, the supply of grain and grass is very problematic, and at the same time, it is always necessary to guard against sneak attacks from other countries, and it is too difficult to fight with the Persian Empire, which is dozens of times stronger than itself, under such conditions. thereupon
In order to ensure the smooth flow of troops, Alexander decided to conquer several small countries along the way first, one was to train troops by hand, and the other was to expand his army
As Alexander marched eastward, Alexander's army encountered less resistance than expected. It turned out that the powerful Persian Empire relied on its own strength to carry out various oppressions of the surrounding city-states, and in order to preserve its own country, the countries had to submit to the Persian Empire and pay taxes. The people's lives were miserable, and the arrival of Alexander gave them hope.
Alexander's goal was directed at Persia,
Some city-states, in order to escape the oppression of Persia, voluntarily surrendered to Alexander
。 On the way to Persia, Alexander's army had already clashed with the army of the Persian Empire, and most of the Persian Empire's army was defeated, which also gave Alexander greater confidence.
The king of the Persian Empire, Darius III, recognized the gap between the two countries in one defeat after another and tried to ask Alexander for peace, but Alexander refused this request and continued to march eastward. After a journey of asceticism,
In the summer of 330 BC, Alexander reached the Caspian Sea, only to learn that Darius III had been assassinated by his men, and that the Persian Empire, which had lasted for nearly two hundred years, had since collapsed.
In fact, despite the sheer size of the Persian Empire, it also brought many problems. The most obvious is the political, cultural, and religious disunity of the localities, and in order to protect its own faith, there are occasional uprisings in the Persian Empire, and in order to quell the rebellion, the Persian Empire has invested many troops. At the same time, the Persian Empire also had to fight abroad, and under the joint action of the inside and outside, the persian empire was very empty.
In the Persian Empire, the members of the royal family also continued to carry out various open and secret struggles because they coveted the huge imperial territory, and constantly cultivated their own forces.
At the time of the Great War, the forces of all sides were scattered and could not carry out centralized and unified command, which was also one of the important reasons for the failure of the Persian Empire.
Although the Persian Empire had collapsed, Alexander did not stop his crusade. With the victories of one war after another, Alexander's goal was no longer just to take revenge on Persia, but to try to build a much larger empire and become the supreme power holder of this empire.
And so it went on for a few more years.
By 326 BC, there was a sudden outbreak of epidemic in the army, and the warriors were already very disgusted with war because of the years of conquest, and they wanted to go home and live a new life
。 In desperation, Alexander could only stop the pace of the crusade. By this time, this world-oriented conquest had lasted for nearly a decade. Alexander eventually also established the powerful Macedonian kingdom.
Return to Persia
Alexander led his army back to Persia, and he did not forget that the original purpose of the expedition was Persia.
After returning to Persia, Alexander did not kill his captives in anger, but had other considerations
。 During his 10-year-long expedition, Alexander saw the advanced cultures of many other city-states.
So the man, who had already turned his gaze out of the city-state to the empire, hoped to have an opportunity to integrate the cultures of the city-states, to give birth to a more advanced and splendid civilization, or at least to pull the city-states similar to the former Macedonians out of ignorance.
He made a very bold decision to marry the daughter of Darius III
。 Naturally, this behavior provoked a wave of opposition, but Alexander did so anyway. Not only that
He also held a banquet, inviting more than 10,000 noble women captured in the Persian Empire, and ordered that the soldiers must choose a woman and marry them
Many of the generals complained about the order. To them, these Persian noblewomen were mere prisoners of war, ready to take their lives if they wished. Prisoners of war are lowly, they can play, why marry them, but also as a proper wife?
An officer unceremoniously objected, saying that he would not do so, and was executed by Alexander's order. In desperation, they obeyed Alexander's orders and chose a suitable wife
In Alexander's view, at the moment of conquest of the other city-states, the people of the other city-states were already his people, and naturally there was no need to make any difference.
Such a mind and foresight is truly amazing. Marrying these nobles, on the one hand, can promote the integration of cultures, on the other hand, it can effectively prevent the restoration of the remnants of Persia
As it turned out, Alexander's choice was correct. Alexander's crusade spanned three continents, Europe, Asia and Africa, and the cultural differences between them are naturally self-evident. After the war, the isolation of various places was gradually broken, and their exchanges were no longer limited to city-states and city-states, but collided with completely different cultures.
The collision, exchange and integration of cultures between various places and the mutual reference to advanced achievements have directly promoted the development of the entire empire and also produced many new sparks. And these ideas and cultures still shone brightly after the fall of Alexander's empire, leading the development of future generations of culture.
However, Greek culture dominates, so it is called the beginning of the era of Greek culture. This was an era that was inaugurated by Alexander
Pity god jealousy of talents,
Alexander died in 326 BC at the age of 33
。 There is also controversy about his death, some say it was malaria, others speculate that he died of poisoning. We have no way of verifying the truth. However, Alexander had gone too far in a hurry, so he had not yet had time to appoint an heir to his vast empire.
Alexander left no heirs, and his brothers were incompetent, so after Alexander's death, his officers took a fancy to the vast empire. They had all fought for the empire, and the former dynasty had passed away, so naturally they would not succumb to their former colleagues, so they divided one side and fought separately. huge
The great Alexander Empire was thus torn apart and collapsed, which made people sigh with emotion.
Some say Alexander was a Ming Jun, while others say he was faint and belligerent. He had unquestionable military talent, broad vision and mind, but he led the country into the quagmire of war again and again, constantly conquering
。 We cannot evaluate the good or bad of its title, but can only preserve as much historical facts as possible, and the benevolent see the benevolent and the wise see the wise.