Transcript Leadership and Alexander the Great

Leadership and
Alexander the Great
Alexander in World History
What Makes a Good Leader?
Political Leadership in Classical
China
Central authority for a vast territory
Political Leadership in
Classical China
Single legal code for empire
Power of the bureaucracy
Respect for authority (Confucian
belief system)
What did the state provide?
Political Leadership in
Gupta India
Political Leadership in
Gupta India
Regionalism
Uniform law code
Social order based on strict social
structure (religion, military, taxation)
What did the state provide?
Political Leadership in
Mediterranean Societies (Greece, Rome and
Persia)
Diversity of political forms
Democracy, aristocratic
assemblies, republic, empire…
What did the state provide?
Political Leadership in
Mediterranean Societies (Greece, Rome and
Persia)
Political Leadership in
Mediterranean Societies (Greece, Rome and
Persia)
Political Leadership in
Mediterranean Societies (Greece, Rome and
Persia)
So what gave these Empires
Legitimacy?
Great Individuals
What makes someone great?
Alexander the Great- The
Basics
356 BCE- 323 BCE
Macedonian
Son of Philip II
Taught by Aristotle
Tolerant of non-Greeks
Military genius
Believed he was descended
from the gods
Alexander the Great- Debates
over his Character
Charismatic, visionary OR cruel and unstable
megalomaniac?
Curious dreamer OR Paranoid alcoholic?
Cold blooded imperialist OR Benign Multiculturalist?
Brilliant warrior and strategist OR Hellenic
cultural ambassador?
OR all of the above?
Motivation
Pursuit of Glory
Attain divinity and surpass heroes of myth
Belief in his own invincibility (guided by omens)
Pan-hellenic invasion of Persian empire to rid world
of tyranny and oppression (revenge of Persian
invasion of Greece150 years earlier)
Personal longing to see the ocean that was believed
to encircle Europe and Asia at the edge of the earth.
As a Military Commander
Used strategy to compensate for fewer
numbers.
He never asked anyone to do something he
would not do himself.
He led his men into battle every time.
Was almost fatally wounded many times.
Refused to drink water if all soldiers could
not.
Alexander on the Battlefield
Alexander’s Conquests
Throne following his father’s assassination
Expanded Macedonian borders north to Danube and
west to Adriatic
Used Thebes as an example and Athens and other
Greek cities followed
Moved west towards Persia through Asia Minor
(Turkey)
Tyre (Lebanon), Egypt, Babylon, Persepolis, Persia,
Bactria (Afghanistan), Samarkand (Uzbek.)
In five years, he expanded his empire east by 2500
miles.
Alexander’s Conquests
Leadership Wears Thin
Adoption of Persian dress by Alexander
Married Persian dancer named Roxanne
Arranged (forced) marriages of Greeks and
Persians to reconcile the two cultures.
Forced to turn back before India but took the
long (unknown) way home via water losing
many soldiers.
Alexander the GreatAccomplishments
Expanded Macedonia– created an empire
that covered over two million square miles.
Founded 70 cities- many on trade routes thus
increasing east-west trade. Alexandria in
Egypt (library)
Established a new coinage for trade.
Diffusion of Hellenic customs over much of
the Mediterranean and Asia.
Alexander the GreatAccomplishments
Created a cultural and economic common
market open to trade, social and cultural
exchange with Greek as the lingua franca.
Attempted ethnic fusion through marriage and
adoption of Persian culture at home.
Adapted and created new military techniques:
phalanx and use of cavalry.
Improved knowledge of geography and
natural history.
Accomplishments
Alexander the Great- Legacy
Macedonian imperial domination
facilitated cultural hegemony of Greece.
Spread of Hellenism: architecture, food,
science, dress…
Alexander originated the concept of
"one world" without racial or territorial
delineation.
Alexander the Great- Legacy
Inspired Caesar, Cleopatra,
Louis XIV, Napoleon
He is remembered in legend
having been both feared and
worshipped from Iceland to
China.
The Byzantines made him a
Saint and the
Mohammedans included him
in the Koran. The 13th
century Malian oral history of
Sundiata refers to him.
Conclusions
Classical empires compared:
Leadership in Classical societies:
Was Alexander a great leader for the
times?