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It is said that he was born from Zeus himself,
a demi-god in the flesh.
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He tamed an unbreakable wild stallion that
full-grown men feared to approach at the age
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of 12, and that horse would carry him to military
victory after military victory until his untimely
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death at the age of 32.
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He was tutored by one of the ancient world's
greatest thinkers.
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His name says it all- Alexander The Great.
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But how much about Alexander is really true,
and what's fiction?
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And ultimately, with a whopping zero instagram
followers, can we truly say he was all that
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great?
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Haters and historians alike will tell you
that Alexander the Great was born in 356 BC
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to the Macedonian king Phillip II and his
wife, Olympias.
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A true Greek however knows that Alexander
was actually the love child of Zeus himself,
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who had a nasty habit of popping down to earth
and taking various animal shapes to con women
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into sleeping with him.
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In many ways, Zeus was the original frat boy.
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Alexander's father was already an impressive
figure - a brilliant military leader and politician
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both.
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Through force of arms and political maneuvering,
he turned Macedonia into a military and cultural
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power house- which was a pretty impressive
feat because in the ancient world, Macedonia
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was basically the backwoods of Greece.
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Phillip's ambitions though weren't limited
to his strengthening of Macedonia, and he
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had a dream that would be handed down to his
son, Alexander- to conquer the mighty empire
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of Persia.
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To date, Persia had been a world superpower,
premier in many fields of science and philosophy,
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it was backed by a formidable military which
tried again and again to destroy the stubborn,
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and defiant, Greeks.
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To dream of conquering this mighty nation
was to put it lightly, a very optimistic dream.
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At the age of 13, Alexander was personally
tutored by Aristotle, a man so famous that
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even if you know nothing about his teachings,
you definitely recognize the name.
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One of the ancient world's greatest minds,
Aristotle fostered a curiosity in the young
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prince, and sharpened an already formidable
intellect.
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Alexander learned philosophy, medicine, politics,
and art from Aristotle- and also that he should
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treat non-Greeks as if they were slaves.
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Thankfully, when Alexander would begin his
military conquests later in life, he would
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discard this belief, and this would help establish
his mighty, if short lived empire.
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In 340 BC, Philip went off to attack Byzantium,
and left the young Alexander in charge of
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things at home.
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Alexander used the opportunity to prove that
even though he was just a teenager, he was
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destined to be a great leader, and gathered
the army for a successful attack against the
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Maedi - a people who lived in what is now
the southeastern Baltics.
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Two years later Philip returned home, determined
to unite Greece under one banner, and went
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to war against a coalition of Greek city-states
led by Thebes and Athens.
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In that battle Alexander led the cavalry to
a triumphant defeat of the legendary Sacred
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Band of Thebes, a fighting force made up of
150 pairs of lovers.
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This victory catapulted an already popular
Alexander to new heights of popularity with
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the Macedonian military.
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Alexander would need that popularity too,
as a year later Philip divorced Alexander's
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mother, and then in a feast to celebrate his
new marriage, Philip got into a fight with
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Alexander over his new wife.
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Alexander and his mother fled for fear of
their lives, though Philip and Alexander were
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soon reconciled and he was allowed to return
home.
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When Philip was assassinated shortly after
though, Alexander was not the clear heir to
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the throne, and he rallied the support of
the military to help him kill his potential
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rivals.
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Solidifying his grip over Greece, Alexander
then attended an assembly of Greek city-states
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which had already been called for by his father.
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The Greeks were finally going to make good
on the ancient dream of conquering Persia,
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and the assembly unanimously voted to make
Alexander supreme commander of Greek forces.
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Before crushing Greece's ancient rival though,
he needed to secure the Greek peninsula.
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Alexander spent some time bringing wayward
city-states into the fold- often by military
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force- as well as waging campaigns against
the Thracians to the north.
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While in battle though, rumors of his death
circulated back in Greece, and the city-state
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of Thebes used the opportunity to revolt.
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As many other Greek city-states favored Thebes
over Alexander, support for the fledgling
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rebellion flowed in- especially from Athens.
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Upon hearing of the brewing revolt, Alexander
forced a hard march on his troops, traveling
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an astounding 240 miles (386 km) in just two
weeks to the gates of Thebes.
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The Thebans however refused to rejoin Alexander
and he was forced to lay siege to the city,
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ultimately burning it to the ground and selling
off any survivors into slavery.
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With the rest of the city-states terrified
at the treatment of Thebes, they quickly fell
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in line, and in an act of generosity which
would earn him some favor with the Greeks,
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he forgave Athens' betrayal.
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Leaving behind three garrisons, Alexander
was now free to take on Persia.
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By comparison, Greece was tiny versus mighty
Persia, but Alexander was confident that his
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men were better trained and equipped.
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His superior troops would outweigh Persia's
superior numbers.
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That theory would be put to the test in 333
BC, when Alexander's forces met with a massive
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Pesian army led by the new king, Darius III.
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Alexander's belief that his superior troops
could win out over superior numbers was well-founded.
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The Persians had largely become complacent
in the last century, and their military forces
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suffered from a noticeable lack of discipline-
as well as a lack of cavalry.
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Alexander by comparison fielded an army comprised
of archers, javelin throwers, infantry, and
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heavy cavalry.
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His mastery of what was in that day combined
arms warfare saw him utterly crush the Persian
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forces laid out against him.
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With defeat inevitable, the Persian king fled
the battlefield with the few forces that he
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could muster into a hasty withdrawal.
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Darius III was so hasty in his retreat that
he even left behind his own wife and family,
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and his mother was so ashamed of him that
she disowned him publicly and adopted Alexander
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as her own son.
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This gesture would be paramount to Alexander's
cementing of his grip on what was formerly
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the Persian empire.
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Over the next few years Alexander would continue
his push east and south, striking deep into
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the Persian empire and taking Egypt.
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Time and again Darius sued for peace, and
Alexander rejected each overture.
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At last, he forced a confrontation with Persia's
king at Gaugamela in 331 BC, and faced off
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against another large Persian force.
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The fighting was intense, each side knowing
they were fighting for total victory and the
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fate of Persia.
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Ultimately though, Alexander's forces would
be triumphant, and once more Darius fled the
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battle.
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This time though, his own men caught and killed
him for his cowardice.
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Alexander however proved to be honorable,
and upon finding Darius' body, he gave the
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former Persian king a royal funeral.
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Some sources also state that he punished the
murderers for daring to strike down their
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king.
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With Darius dead, Alexander was free to claim
the throne of Persia for himself- except another
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Persian leader, Bessus, had already claimed
the throne for himself.
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This would prove to be what historians call,
a slight miscalculation.
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Alexander's forces pursued Bessus and his
army until finally Bessus' own troops captured
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him and handed him over to the Greeks.
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Bessus was tortured and then killed, and Alexander
was finally king of Persia.
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The empire that had threatened Greece for
centuries was now at last, itself a Greek
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territory.
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In order to secure his hold on Persia, Alexander
granted large amounts of freedom to Persian
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territories, even allowing them to govern
themselves in exchange for loyalty to him.
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He did not force conversions of Persian culture
or religion, the way most rulers did back
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in his day, and instead actually adopted many
Persian customs for himself.
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This made him very popular with the Persians,
although it made him just as unpopular with
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his own Macedonian troops.
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One of his generals and close friends, drunkenly
insulted Alexander's adoption of Persian culture,
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and in a fit of rage, Alexander killed him.
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This proved to further drive a wedge between
him and his native Macedonians.
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Feeling that further conquests would help
stabilize his political situation, and further
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feeding his appetite for glory, Alexander
rallied his forces once more and marched on
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India.
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Many tribes surrendered to Alexander without
a fight, and in exchange he once more granted
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them many freedoms that other conquerors wouldn’t
have given them.
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In 326 BC though, Alexander faced King Porus
of Paurava, whose army was less experienced
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but packed a superweapon- the war elephant.
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Initially the war elephants sowed fear and
devastation upon Alexander's army, but the
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big beasts were vulnerable to Alexander's
lightning-fast cavalry.
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The elephants were brought down and Alexander
secured defeat.
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His troops though, completely exhausted, refused
to continue with Alexander's plan to push
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further into India and seize all of it.
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Instead, Alexander wisely chose to let his
troops rest.
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Though the Greeks had been enriched greatly
off Persia's vast wealth, they resented the
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Persians after centuries of warfare.
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Knowing he would never hold on to his new
empire unless he could unite the two sides,
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he forced the mass marriage of his Greek officers
to Persian princesses, hoping that their sons
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and daughters would be explicitly loyal to
him.
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This move turned out to be even more unpopular,
and many Greeks threatened to mutiny until
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Alexander replaced them with Persian officers
and soldiers.
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Not wanting to be left out of future spoils,
his troops backed off their threats to mutiny,
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and in an attempt at reconciliation, Alexander
threw a fantastic banquet for all and returned
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all military titles and honors to the mutinous
officers.
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Alexander’s conquest of Persia and forays
into India helped spread Greek culture and
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influence across the ancient world, as well
as bringing some of the best of Persian thinking
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to the Greek world.
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The unity that his conquests had brought to
two of the greatest people of the ancient
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world would spur the Hellenistic age, and
Alexander founded many of the ancient world's
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most important centers of cultural and scientific
development.
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Among many of his accomplishments was the
setting of a silver standard for currency,
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which facilitated trade all across his former
empire.
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His liberating of huge amounts of wealth from
the former Persian empire's treasury also
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greatly boosted trade and wealth across the
Mediterranean, and a period of prosperity
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settled over the region.
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Alexander's empire proved to be short-lived
though, following his mysterious death at
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the age of 32 made him one of history's shortest-lived
rulers.
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Some believe that he was poisoned by a political
rival- of which he had many both on the Greek
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and the Persian side.
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Others though believe that he died due to
malaria which he contracted during his travels
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in India.
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Whatever the cause of his death, Alexander
proved to be the only thing holding the fragile
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empire he had created together, and following
his passing it immediately began to fall apart
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at the seams.
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His generals began to war amongst themselves
in a bid to become the new supreme ruler.
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Ultimately it's unknown if Alexander could
have really held his empire together even
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if he had lived.
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His conquests had brought together many disparate
peoples under one banner, most of them who
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did not share a common culture.
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Even while alive his empire strained and groaned
under the pressure of revolution, and it was
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only his political shrewdness along with savagery
against his political enemies that kept it
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together while alive.
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How long this could have lasted though remains
in doubt, and ultimately it's likely even
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if he had not died from disease or poison,
it would have eventually imploded anyways.
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For more crazy stories about history’s world
leaders go watch “Genghis Khan - Greatest
00:10:30
Conqueror Ever” And as always don't forget
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