Who Is Alexander The Great A Good Leader

Alexander the Great

Alexander the Great
Introduction
Freeman (2011) narrates that Alexander the Great was a Macedonian King who lived from 356 BC to 323 BC. His parents were Queen Olympia and King Philip. Aristotle, the philosopher, tutored the young Alexander until he attained the age of 16 years. After his father was assassinated, Alexander was elevated to the throne of kingship in 336 BC as his late father’s successor. He was lucky to inherit an experienced army and a strong kingdom. He then used his generalship to launch the Pan-Hellenic project which had been started by his father. The project was meant to lead the Greeks in conquering Persia. He conducted an invasion of Achaemenid Empire in 334 BC. He became the ruler of Asia Minor and set forth a campaigns-series
that went on for a period of a decade. Through a series of battles that were decisive, Alexander was able to break the Persian power. The battles that were the most notable included the battles of Gaugamela and Issus. Subsequently, the youthful King succeeded in overthrowing King Darius III of Persia. As a result, the First Persian Empire became an area under his jurisdiction. This expanded his empire that now stretched from the Indus River to the Adriatic Sea. As a result of being tutored by Aristotle, Alexander was able to lead the Companion Cavalry at only 18 years. In addition, he helped King Philip to defeat the Theban and Athenian armies at Chaeronea. Following the death of King Philip, the Macedonian Army fully threw their support behind Alexander and ensured that he eliminated his foes. Consequently, he became the leader and king of the Corinthian League. This is when he went ahead and conquered both Egypt and Persia thus enlarging his territory (Heckel & Tritle, 2011).
Rufus (2009) explains that though he was young, Alexander is held in high regards in history as one of the military leaders that were brilliant. He is also among the rulers who were regarded as the most powerful. He became the commander of Cavalry at 18 years, a king at 20 years, a conqueror at 26 years and an explorer at the age of 30 years. He explored the Indian Frontier when he was thirty years old. His extreme youth is not adequately explored by either the modern literature or the ancient sources.
After he had defeated the Persian Empire, Alexander opened the way for the spread of the settlements of Greeks far into the east. There may be no existent evidence to show that the policy of Hellenization was promoted by Alexander himself. However, it is doubtless that there was a penetration of the Greek culture into the western parts of Asia thanks to Alexander’s conquests. This saw western Asia become part of Greece for the first time in world history. Though it was unintended, this is Alexander’s achievement that is the most historical and certain (Budge, 2013).
Budge (2013) continues to point out that the legacy of Alexander includes the diffusion of cultures that was engendered by his conquests. One of such diffusions includes Greco-Buddhism. In addition, the king founded some cities, twenty in number. These cities were named after him. An example is Egypt’s Alexandria. The spread of Greek culture due to the development of Greek colonists’ settlements in the east by Alexander gave rise to a Hellenistic civilization that was new. The Byzantine Empire’s traditions depicted the Hellenistic aspects even in the 15th Century. The aspects were also evident until the 1920s by the presence of people who spoke in Greek in the eastern and central parts of Anatolia. As a classical hero, Alexander became legendary in the Achilles’ mold. Notably, he prominently features in the myth and history of non-Greek and Greek cultures. In fact, he became the yardstick with which military leaders measured themselves. Nonetheless, his tactics are still taught by military academics the world over. He often features among the people considered to be the all time most influential in the world together with Aristotle, his teacher.
The military genius of Alexander is never disputed. He inherited a fine army from his father and tremendously improved it. He achieved this by adding allied forces to the army. Further, he utilized specialists of weapons, employed the knowledge of engineers and strengthened the arm of cavalry. He was invincible in set battles and even siege warfare. Calculated speed characterized his movements. Moreover, he had flawless communication, intelligence and logistical operations. On top of all that, he had unrivaled improvisation ability. Yet, his strategy was a careful one. He did not immediately strike deep into Asia. Rather, he took his time, two years approximately, to secure the Levant and the coast of Asia Minor. This strategy would ensure that the naval forces of Persia would not interfere with his passage to Europe. Slowly but sure, he captured the west of the Persian Empire. He then drove into the Iranian Plateau and Mesopotamia (Hammond, 2007).
According to Heckel & Tritle (2011), Alexander’s progress was only checked by three setbacks. The first of these is that his officers declined to march eastwards along the Indian frontier. The second one is that his troops from Macedonia rebelled against the inculcation of the troops from Asia into the ranks. This happened after he had returned to Babylonia. Thirdly, he horribly lost his soldiers in the Makran Desert as they were marching back to the Persian Gulf from India. The personnel had defeated all their enemies. Unfortunately, the lack of food and water at the Makran Desert proved too much to defeat! Some of them thereby succumbed.
The legend, Alexander, became a leadership model for most rulers and leaders.
Every ruler or leader would want to be as great as Alexander. After discovering that they would never succeed in competing with the legend, emperors, generals and kings resorted to emulating him and his leadership techniques and qualities. Examples of these leaders were Charlemagne, Severus Alexander, Caracalla, Nero, Pompey the Great and Antiochus the Great. As an achievement metaphor, Alexander’s career is felt even in the modern societies. However, this ruler who turns out to be the secular figure that is the most historically famous enjoyed little admiration during his lifetime. There exist not sufficient details about his personal traits. Be that as it may, it is undoubted that Alexander was a brave soldier and a shrewd leader who was quite inspirational. He never entertained an iota of opposition from any quota or person. He was even ruthless to his own personnel in case any of them showed disrespect to him. All that said, it should also be noted that the legend was honest and fair to all those who were skillful and courageous. He died at the age of 32 in 323 BC in Babylon (Rufus,
2009).
Conclusion
Though he died at a considerably tender age, Alexander the Great left an impact that has become the point of reference for any leader. His contribution to the field of military knowledge is immense. A lot is borrowed from his tactics and leadership style in teaching military subjects. He was real in his actions and that makes him the more important. Therefore, it would be prudent for any leader or ruler to have a deep insight into the leadership approach that was applied by the king. This would enable them to make good leaders out of themselves in this contemporary world filled with a myriad of leadership challenges.

References
Budge, E. A. (2013). The History of Alexander the Great: Being the Syriac Version of the Pseudo-Callisthenes. Cambridge University Press.
Freeman, P. (2011). Alexander the Great. Simon and Schuster.
Hammond, N. G. L. (2007). Sources for Alexander the Great: An Analysis of Plutarch 's 'Life ' and Arrian 's 'Anabasis Alexandrou '. Cambridge University Press.
Heckle, W. & Tritle, L. (2011). Alexander the Great: A New History. John Wiley & Sons.
Rufus, Q. C. (2009). Selections from the History of Alexander the Great. BiblioBazaar.