Building the Macedonian Empire

Philip Builds Macedonia’s Power  Peloponnesian War weakened Greek city-states  Philip II of Macedonia wanted to take control of Greece and then Persia  Macedonia had tough climate of mountains and a cold temperatures  Lived in mountain villages instead of city-states  Macedonians viewed themselves as close to Greeks (but the Greeks viewed them as barbaric foreigners)

Philip’s Army  359 BCE Philip became leader of Macedonia  Built a professional army from peasants  Organized troops into phalanxes  Had a strategy to using the phalanxes to pave way for cavalry strikes through enemy lines

Conquest of Greece  Some early warnings of Macedonia’s power went unheeded  338 BCE Athens and Thebes joined forces against Philip but it was too late  Macedonians defeated the Greeks at battle of Chaeronea, which ended Greek freedom and independence  336 BCE Philip killed at his daughter’s wedding and his son, Alexander took the throne

Alexander the Great Takes Care of Greece and Defeats Persia  Even though he was only 20 when he ascended the throne, he was well-trained and ready to lead (remember he had been taught by Aristotle)  When Thebes tried to rebel he crushed it, thwarting future rebellions  334 BCE went to attack Persia  Victorious at Granicus  Darius III reacted by building a larger army to face the Macedonians near Issus but Alexander surprised him and beat him  This victory gave Alexander control of Anatolia

Alexander in Egypt  Darius tried to negotiate peace settlement but it was rejected  332 he marched into Egypt, where he was welcomed as a liberator  Alexander was crowned pharaoh and founded the city of Alexandria

Conquering Persia  Alexander then moved again at Persia  They met at Gaugamela (near Nineveh)  Alexander won again- and again Darius III fled (he was later found dead in a province south of the Caspian Sea)  This allowed the Macedonians to march unopposed through Persia and captured Babylon, Susa, and Persepolis (giving the Macedonians great wealth)  A fire destroyed Persepolis

Alexander in India  327 BCE crossed into the Indus River Valley  Powerful Indian army blocked his path. He eventually won but morale was low because it was such a difficult fight  Alexander agreed to go back home  He couldn’t govern in the end because he died of illness one year after returning

Alexander’s Legacy  After his death, the empire was split among his three strongest generals  Antigonus became king o Macedonia and took control of the Greek city-states  Ptolemy seized Egypt, took the title of Pharaoh, and established a new dynasty  Seleucus took the old Persian Empire, which became known as the Seleucid empire  His empire managed to blend Greek, Egyptian, and Eastern customs

Crash Course Video  Crash Course Video on Alexander the Great Crash Course Video on Alexander the Great