Alexander the Great: Rise and Fall of an Empire

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Alexander the Great was the founder of one of the biggest empires in the world as of today. Alexander III was born to Phillip II, king of Macedon, in the year 356 BC during the third year of Phillip’s reign. His mother, Olympias, was the princess of Epirus and Phillip’s fourth wife. He gained his kingship at the age of twenty years old during 336 BC when his father was assassinated by Pausanias, one of Phillip’s own gaurds.(Renault 10) Being the eldest son, he immediately took the throne and began his reign as one of the most well known conquerers in the world. His vast empire fell after his death in 323 BC almost instantly. There are three reason as to why it fell apart so quickly: His troops hated him, after his death there was a major problem …show more content…

But, they were mistaken when Roxanne, one of Alexander’s wives, revealed that she was pregnant with his only child. Until the birth of this child, Alexander’s younger brother ,Phillip III of Arrhidaeus, would rule in place and would stay the ruler if the child were female (Wilken 601). This plan failed however, when Olympias, Alexander’s mother, killed Phillip III in rage. However the people were not mad, as they never wanted him as a king in the first place because they thought he would be a horrible king. This left young Alexander IV with no regent to help him with his empire. However, before he could even reach the appropriate age he was poisoned along with his mother Roxanne because the people despised anyone who was not purely Macedonian and did not want one of those people on the throne. This created a humungous power struggle. To solve this the kingdom was split into four different sections and then given to Alexander III’s four generals who then took their portion and left quickly. This made it easier for the Romans to conquer Alexander’s empire because there was already a separation. “[The empire] had been created at hyperspeed, and it did in hyper speed what other ancient empires held together by dynamic personalities had done: it fell apart.” (Baur

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