What happend after Alexander

Summary
Demetrios was the inheritor of Alexander’s Empire after the Emperor’s death. However, when news of Alexander’s death touched the ears of conquered regions, revolts exploded. All the family of Alexander; the nieces, nephews, uncles, aunts, and cousins all tried to capture there own piece of the kingdom. Like a huge soap opera marriages quickly took place, alongside divorces, murder, and adultery. On a world view, newly freed kingdoms organized against Demetrios who was now growing an ever more powerful army and nation. His political influence steadily grew, but as his army grew, so did the armies of his rivals. However, sickness would take Demetrios’ life; one of the many Ptolemy’s of the time would take his place. Ptomly the second, was not as ambitious as Alexander. He only extended his political and territorial reach to aggravate or embarrass his rivals. His life would also be cut short by illness and Alexander the fourth would take his place. Alexander the fourth, like his grandfather, was incredibly ambitious and an intelligent man. His succession as king did not bring civil war or the collapse of the government, on the contrary to earlier successions. Alexander drove away invaders from the west, as his siblings and extended family fought for dominance over kingdoms. Their cockiness and self-centeredness only brought the collapse of their kingdoms.

Quotation
“In the mean time they had, by their self-centeredness and obduracy, effectively wrecked their own empire” (Grainger 193).

Reaction
Alexander’s death only brought a snowball effect of revolts and a lot of drama. Each year a new war would break out between recently conquered nations and kingdoms. Everyone tried to take what they could from what was left of the empire, like the homeless in the play “A Christmas Carole.” Every member of a family played its part in the wars, and countless murders after the death of a single man. But for all of their greediness they got nothing in return but mass chaos and civil war. It was as if the entire world wanted to conquer the entire world, what was left was the death of many and the gain of nothing.

Summary
Alexander made a name for himself during the beginning of the Persian conquest. His enemies were extremely fearful of his army and his cruelty. Alexander would burn down the villages in Persia with all of its citizens in the village. The western part of Persia was completely taken over by Alexander. The king of Persia and the village leaders remaining had a meeting on what to do with the villages taken over. The meeting united the armies of Persia into a massive army rivaling the army of 1 million during the Greco-Persian war. The Persian elites, the immortals, were trained tougher. Persia also stretched its reaches to northern Africa and hired mercenaries. The Persian army would soon find out their numbers meant nothing against Alexander’s cunning and brilliance. The army bit by bit would be wiped out, the king and his generals would have their heads cut off. After the war, Alexander set his eyes on a rising new power, India.

Quotation
“Egypt and Persia surrounded Alexander’s new goal, India. Its army was said to harbor some of the greatest warriors of all time, during the ancient era”(Grainger 121).

Reaction
The author wrote of India’s ferociousness, the army was as massive as the Persian army. But the worst thing about them was that they were nearly unknown by Alexander and his loyal army, the Greeks and Macedonians never reached India or even faced any of their soldiers. Alexander took a huge risk of invading the country without even knowing who his enemy was. India was, however, his final destination; he would not go any further. His ultimate dream caused his ultimate death.

Alexander's ambitions

Summary
When Alexander became king he was bombarded with the enemies of Macedonia. His father left for him a powerful empire to hold his own against these enemies. To the West was the nemesis of Greece for countless generations, Persia. To destroy the Persian Empire and to do neither what Greeks nor any Macedonians has ever done, Alexander must create a stable and even more powerful military then his father did previously. He makes allies with countries neighboring the Persian Empire. His tactics were quick cruel and ingenious. Alexander would show his cruelness by burning entire villages to the ground if they did not yield to him. His ingenious was shown through his deceiving Persian Empires, and being able to hide an entire army out of sight from the Persian Empire.

Quotation
“He surly realized from the start he was dealing with a territory in which no Greek or Macedonian has ever been able to cope….”(Grainger 78)

Reaction
This quote is important because it represents what Alexander was doing his entire career as an emperor of Macedonia; he faced off powerful nations to which no Greek or Macedonian faced. This quote, if read deeply, may show his ambitious character. It also shows his means to try what most have either failed to do or were to scared to do, he faced off against some of the most dominant forces in the ancient world and nearly came on top of all of them.

Second Roar post

Summary
Under King Philips rule, Macedonia quickly conquered its neighbors. Its main rivals were the southern Greek states, primarily Athens. The wars Macedonia waged would catch the immediate attention of Greeks most powerful city-states, Sparta and Athens. Athens was the yang to Macedonia’s yin. The two states would be fierce rivals under Philips rule, and would wage wars that would determine the future of Western and southern Greece. It would take some years until Macedonia controlled all of Greece, but not without the death of King Philip. His son Alexander became his successor. Alexander from the beginning had a tight grip on the kingdom of Macedonia. He was young, and presumed inexperienced, but his fathers most trusted commanders stood behind him. Neighboring nations underestimated him, and were baffled to be meet merciless attacks from Alexander.

Quotation
"Alexander was brought up in the Macedonian Court. He had observed and learned from his father, he also replaced his father as head of command more than once." (Grainger 67)

Alexander was raised to become a war king. He already had experience a number of battles, and was also a commander during the fights. His fathers life was an enitre influence to his own life.

Questions
Why wouldn't the southern and western Greek states band together and fight off the growing Macedonian empire?
What was the point in King Philip signing a peace treaty with Athens when he knew the two sides would be in war within a week?
What was going through the minds of soldiers and families within Macedonian and the countries it fought?

First pages of, Alexander the Great Failure

Summary
The story begans with a very short summary of Alexander's father, Philip the second. Phillip was the first king to put Macedonia on the map. His achievement was nearly unmacthed, his empire spread into other Greek city-states. King Philip was an influence for the next generation, he left in his wake an accomplishment that was hard to compete with. His son Alexander would not only compete with it, but surpass it to such an extant his name is recalled to this day. But his empire was doomed to fall as it slowly grew.

Quotation
"...the downfall of his empire was doomed from the start as he could never be statisfied with what he had..." John Grainger 3.
Th quotation is important because that one sentence will be the main idea of the book; the unstatisfacory feelings of Alexander, the mistakes he made because of his greed, and what he paid because of his actions.

Questions
King Philips empire isnt thoroughly explained, why is that?
What happens after the death of Alexander, besides the fact the empire breaks down?
What became of Alexanders' family members before, during, and after his empire existed?