Alexander The Great Legacy

Alexander the Great will forever be remembered in history as one of the greatest conquerors of all time. There are many historians that agree with the contention that Alexander’s success can be greatly attributed the legacy left to him by his father, Philip II of Macedon. Philip’s accomplishments enabled Alexander to begin his reign with a large powerful army, an established throne, a vast empire, domination over Greece and a people with a great sense of nationalistic pride (Worthington 2003, 95). Had it not been for aforementioned inheritance it is doubted that Alexander would have been able to accomplish even half of what he did during his reign, for the Macedon that Alexander inherited was the making of his father (Bosworth 1998, 6). However,

The land was mountainous, which made communication and travel difficult and prevented the Macedonians from utilising the rich resources that were available to them such as silver, gold and copper (Worthington 2003, 70-71). From the very beginning of his reign Philip set out to transform his nation. Philip united Upper and Lower Macedon, and through a series of battles, maintained power over many Greek city-states (Worthington 2003, 76). Philip recognised the need to ensure a stable economy and continued development in Macedon, using imperialistic policy as means to accomplish this, a realisation and lesson passed on to his son. Philip reorganised his army, introducing a key element known as the sarrissa (long spear) (Worthington 2003, 72) and utilised the development in siege machinery; both of which proved to be fundamental to many of Alexander’s successes. Over the course of Philip’s reign, Alexander realised the importance of continually campaigning the army as a way to unite them, as well as a means to prevent economic decline (Worthington 2003, 95) thus even long after Persia was defeated, Alexander kept his army on the move. This strategy was employed by Alexander in an effort to maintain control, and thus contributed to Alexander’s continual imperialistic ventures. It was only after the army mutinied in India that Alexander ceased his military policy

Many of Philip’s accomplishments enabled Alexander’s success and fuelled his desire for expansion. However, there was also a subtle aspect of Philip’s influence, for Alexander regarded his father as “the best measure by which to judge himself” (Doherty 2004, 17). It said about Alexander that when he was young he complained that if his father were to continue conquering then there would be nothing left for him (Harris 1974, 115). Tarn (as cited by Harris 1974, 116-7) claims that Alexander's advance to the east was quite logical, as it was inevitable granted Philip’s success in battle that Alexander to try and prove himself to be greater. Nearchus (as cited by Ehrenberg 1974, 97) describes Alexander as always trying to “accomplish some new and unusual deed.” Doherty asserts that Philip had wished to dominate, but not conquer Greece as he was already changing the focus of his direction towards the east (Doherty 2004, 19) perhaps it can be said that Alexander’s ventures were an act to prove himself more capable than his father in achieving his