Alexander The Great by Mallika Yedla

1.          As a soldier in Alexander's army, I believe him to be a fantastic military leader and conqueror, however, he is also a horrid excuse for a human being. He is widely known as a great military leader because he has been able to conquer an astoundingly large number of lands and groups of people in since he has become our leader. I have heard from many reliable sources in the army that he commits innumerable atrocities against both his enemies and his own people. For example, in a Greek city called Bactria, there lived some people whose ancestors were Greek priests that had worked with the King of Persia one hundred fifty years ago. The living descendants of the priests were some of Alexander’s most loyal people, and they greeted him with much happiness when he visited Bactria with us. That is, of course, until Alexander had each one of them murdered in cold blood by us, his army, for their ancestors’ collaboration with our enemy, Persia. Alexander is bipolar, vicious, even with his close friends, and abusive of alcohol. I have been in his army for several years know, and I know this to be true, for I have seen it myself on several occasions. One time, I was told a story about a person named Black Cleitus. Cleitus had fought alongside Philip, Alexander’s father, and after Philip died, he fought alongside Alexander. Black Cleitus even saved Alexander’s life once. Because they were so close, Alexander promoted Cleitus into a more powerful position, governor of Bactria. At the celebratory dinner of Cleitus’ new appointment, Alexander became highly intoxicated, and started saying nasty things about Philip, his father. Cleitus became upset and told Alexander that the only reason he had his glory was because of his father, Philip. This made Alexander murderously angry, and the next time Cleitus made a comment, Alexander fatally wounded him with a javelin. Alexander has alarmingly little control over his temper, mainly because of his alcoholism. One time, while he was intoxicated, he made the decision to make us raze an entire city, Persepolis, to the ground. I do not believe that it is wise for him to be making these huge decisions while drunk, but I am just a lowly soldier, so my thoughts do not make a difference.
2.            Speaking from the perspective of a soldier, the blending of all the cultures that are now under Alexander's rule helped the empire greatly. After we conquered Persia, Egypt, India, and Greece, we blended all of their cultures together and created one culture, called Hellenistic culture. Hellenistic culture is mainly influenced by Greek culture, and everyone has to speak a dialect of  Greek called Koine, but major aspects of the other cultures are blended in and have positive effects. Alexandria, Egypt is the main Hellenistic city, and it is a busy, successful center of trade and commerce that is greatly improving the economy. Alexandria's population is extremely diverse, and rich traditions and culture have developed there. Philosophy, science, and the arts have been flourishing since the inception of our Hellenistic culture. The philosophical teachings of Plato and Aristotle continue to influence our culture, but new schools of thought are being developed. The new schools of thought that philosophers are introducing are there to help teach people how to live their lives and tell us what values to have. Egypt and Greece are the main influences in the sciences, and there has been a lot of growth lately! We are using a book written by Euclid, called Elements, to learn about geometry, and Archimedes is making new physics discoveries everyday. Our Greek astronomers are learning more about the planets, sun, and earth all the time, but they have trouble with accepting new ideas, in my opinion. In the arts, a new style of sculpture is developing. Sculptors have nearly stopped trying to make humans look perfect, and are starting to make them look more natural and realistically flawed. Alexander, our leader, has married a Persian and started to wear Persian clothes. He encourages us soldiers to marry people from other cultures and make the population more diverse. Basically, I believe that  the Hellenistic ways have helped us grow and develop our ideas and culture.
3.            Alexander is comparable to Adolf Hitler. Both men are considered by many to be both great and terrible. Alexander is considered great because he conquered an extremely large number of lands and people, and he led his army well. Hitler is considered great because, after World War I, when Germany was destroyed and in debt and had to rebuild itself, Hitler took charge and brought about great, positive change for the nation of Germany. Because of his work, he won many honors, and was even named the Time Magazine Man of the Year. However, after a while, he started to impose his personal beliefs on the world. He believed in a pure race of humans, where no people of the Jewish faith existed. He got together a large group of followers, called the Nazis, and began slaughtering innocent Jewish  men, women, and children by the millions. He was a powerful leader and an extremely influential figure in society. Eventually, he caused one of the most terrible and bloody wars in history, World War II, and over sixty million people died. Time changed most people's opinions of Hitler. Where before he was thought of as a glorious leader who was working hard to rebuild Germany, he was eventually thought of as an insane, cruel killer. Alexander did not hesitate to kill in order to achieve his goals and neither did Hitler. Both men were terrific as leaders and strategists, and were able to accomplish many amazing things during their lifetimes, but they were terrifying, vicious people that were eventually hated. 

Adolf Hitler

Alexander Fighting while Riding a Horse

Works Cited

"Alexander's Empire." Holt McDougal Online. Houghton, Mifflin, Harcourt, n.d. Web. 26 Sept. 2013. <http://my.hrw.com/tabnav/controller.jsp?isbn=9780547521084>.

 Ancient-Greece.org. Ancient-Greece.org, n.d. Web. 26 Sept. 2013. <http://www.ancient-greece.org/history/helleninstic.html>.

Gabriel, Richard. "Alexander the Monster: Historians Say the Battlefield Atrocities of the Macedonian King Were Part of His Brilliant Military Strategy. But Were They Really Born of His Personality?" 2013. MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History. N.p.: n.p., 2013. pg.38. Gale Power Search. Web. 23 Sept. 2013.

 San José State University Department of Economics. San José State University Department of Economics, n.d. Web. 24 Sept. 2013. <http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/watkins/alexandergreat.htm>.

"The Spread of Hellenistic Culture." Holt McDougal Online. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, n.d. Web. 26 Sept. 2013. <http://my.hrw.com/tabnav/controller.jsp?isbn=9780547521084>.

Walbank, Frank W. "Alexander the Great." Britannica High School. N. pag. Print.