AP World History
#8—Crash Course World History
Alexander the Great
1. Alexander of Macedon, born in 356 BCE, died in 323 BCE at the ripe old age of _32_____.
2. Alexander was the son of King __phillip________ II, and when just 13 years old he tamed a horse no one else could ride named Bucephalus, which impressed his father so much he said: “Oh thy son, look thee at a kingdom equal to and worthy of thyself, for Macedonia is too little for thee.”
3. Let’s to look at Alexander of Macedon’s story by examining three possible definitions of greatness.
First, maybe Alexander was great because of his ___accomplishments______________. He conquered a lot of territory. He destroyed the _Persian_________ Empire. He conquered all the land the Persians had held including Egypt, and then marched toward __India________, stopping at the Indus River. Also, Alexander was a really good general, although historians disagree over whether his tactics were truly brilliant or if his army just happened to have better ___technology______________, specifically these extra long ____spears______called sarissas.
That said, Alexander wasn’t very good at what we might now call empire__________-building. Alexander specialized in the tearing down of things, but he wasn’t so great at the building up of _institutions________________ to replace the things he’d torn down. And that’s why, pretty soon after his death, the Greek Empire broke into three empires, called the Hellenistic Kingdoms.
Each was ruled by one of Alexander’s generals, and they became important dynasties. The Antigones in __greece________ and Macedonia, the Ptolemies in __egypt________, the Selucids in __persians________, all of which lasted longer than Alexander’s empire.
A second greatness: maybe Alexander was great because he had an enormous __________ on the world after his death. After Alexander of Macedon died, everyone from the Romans to Napoleon loved him, and he was an important __military________ model for many generals
Alexander the Great
1. Alexander of Macedon, born in 356 BCE, died in 323 BCE at the ripe old age of _32_____.
2. Alexander was the son of King __phillip________ II, and when just 13 years old he tamed a horse no one else could ride named Bucephalus, which impressed his father so much he said: “Oh thy son, look thee at a kingdom equal to and worthy of thyself, for Macedonia is too little for thee.”
3. Let’s to look at Alexander of Macedon’s story by examining three possible definitions of greatness.
First, maybe Alexander was great because of his ___accomplishments______________. He conquered a lot of territory. He destroyed the _Persian_________ Empire. He conquered all the land the Persians had held including Egypt, and then marched toward __India________, stopping at the Indus River. Also, Alexander was a really good general, although historians disagree over whether his tactics were truly brilliant or if his army just happened to have better ___technology______________, specifically these extra long ____spears______called sarissas.
That said, Alexander wasn’t very good at what we might now call empire__________-building. Alexander specialized in the tearing down of things, but he wasn’t so great at the building up of _institutions________________ to replace the things he’d torn down. And that’s why, pretty soon after his death, the Greek Empire broke into three empires, called the Hellenistic Kingdoms.
Each was ruled by one of Alexander’s generals, and they became important dynasties. The Antigones in __greece________ and Macedonia, the Ptolemies in __egypt________, the Selucids in __persians________, all of which lasted longer than Alexander’s empire.
A second greatness: maybe Alexander was great because he had an enormous __________ on the world after his death. After Alexander of Macedon died, everyone from the Romans to Napoleon loved him, and he was an important __military________ model for many generals