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Alexander the Great?

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  Quote Master Liang Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: Alexander the Great?
    Posted: 26-Dec-2008 at 19:04
 It can be said that Alexander the Great is one of the best military commanders that have ever lived. to have conquered such a vast empire, stretching form Macedonia to the Indus river, is not an easy task. the resulting fusion of Greek and Persian cultures was a result of all these lands being under one domain. which brings me to my question, would the empire that Alexander had founded remained in tack had he lived longer then he did. I for one don't think so. the fact that his empire splintered so quickly after his death shows that he did not know how to pick the right people to govern his lands. so what do you think did was Alexander as skilled in politics as he was in warfare. if he had lived longer would his empire have lasted as a united whole?  
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  Quote Guests Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26-Dec-2008 at 22:58
Possibly, if he could have retained the Persian administrative machinary.
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  Quote Master Liang Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27-Dec-2008 at 01:06
Machinary? please explain.
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  Quote IDonT Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27-Dec-2008 at 03:13
That is one of the great what if questions of history.  What if Alexander had lived.

The Hellenistic culture of that time period had similar staying power as the Chinese culture.  If Alexander had lived, could he had forged a new Greek based civilizational identity that could have last to the present day?

The first emperor of China did it in less than 15 years. 
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  Quote Master Liang Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27-Dec-2008 at 03:40
Originally posted by IDonT

That is one of the great what if questions of history.  What if Alexander had lived.

The Hellenistic culture of that time period had similar staying power as the Chinese culture.  If Alexander had lived, could he had forged a new Greek based civilizational identity that could have last to the present day?

The first emperor of China did it in less than 15 years. 


though arguably his job as some what easier, even though china at that time was politically splintered they(the Chinese) still had many cultural similarities with each other. which was not the case for Alexander and his men. the lands that he conquered had many different people form different cultural back grounds. 
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  Quote Penelope Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27-Dec-2008 at 03:47

There was no clear successor when Alexander died due to him dying unexpectedly, so it was only natural that the empire would fragment. Also, though he may have been the greatest of conquerors, he was nothing like his father Philip The Great, whom was a genius when it came to both administration and diplomacy.

The direct use of force is such a poor solution to any problem, it is generally employed only by small children and large nations.
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  Quote edgewaters Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27-Dec-2008 at 08:40
Originally posted by IDonT

The Hellenistic culture of that time period had similar staying power as the Chinese culture.  If Alexander had lived, could he had forged a new Greek based civilizational identity that could have last to the present day?

Well ... he pretty much did that already, that's why they call what follows the Hellenic Period. Hellenic culture spread through most of the region he conquered and Koine Greek came to be the lingua franca into and throughout most of the Roman period.

But whether he could have forged a unified state ... I don't think so. Alexander's empire was a little too ambitious, a little overstretched. Persia's administrative bureaucracy was very good, but even it had limits - and of course, imposing it on places like Greece, Egypt, Judea etc would prove difficult. The fractionalism of the cultures involved cannot be understated. Had he lived, Alexander probably would have gone down in history as a widely resented tyrant - and when he finally died, a very bloody age would have followed.

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  Quote Truthisnotrelitive Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27-Dec-2008 at 09:37
i agree that alexander was too ambitious. if his campain had of been more methodical, and had invested more time in marrying the greek culture with the newly conqoured culture before charging of to extend the borders of the empire, his power would of been more secure. who knows, if he had not been such a war mounger, then prehaps he would of lived long enough to raise a son, and ensure a proper heir to the empire. 

by the way i know this is changing the subject a little, but i remember hearing talk of the discovery of his burrial place/tomb. Has there been any dicovery of his tomb in recent times? i know i should just google the question, but i though i'd just ask anyway.


Edited by Truthisnotrelitive - 27-Dec-2008 at 09:38
a man sees as he wishes
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  Quote Master Liang Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27-Dec-2008 at 15:35
I think that because of Alexander's warmongering, there is an equally good chance that his newly created empire would have rebelled against him while he was still very much alive. the scenario I'm imagining here is that Alexander takes his army in to another foreign land while his generals back home raise a rebellion.    
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  Quote IDonT Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27-Dec-2008 at 21:49
Originally posted by Master Liang

I think that because of Alexander's warmongering, there is an equally good chance that his newly created empire would have rebelled against him while he was still very much alive. the scenario I'm imagining here is that Alexander takes his army in to another foreign land while his generals back home raise a rebellion.    
 
The Qin was not a saint either.  That is why his empire barely lasted after his death.  What lasted were his reforms and the idea of one nation "all under heaven", draconian though it was.  I think Alexander, if he had lived, could have, and was in the process of, putting his own reforms that combine Greek and "other" peoples into a one nation group, with one language, and one identity.  
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  Quote edgewaters Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28-Dec-2008 at 10:37

Originally posted by IDonT

The Qin was not a saint either.  That is why his empire barely lasted after his death.  What lasted were his reforms and the idea of one nation "all under heaven", draconian though it was.  I think Alexander, if he had lived, could have, and was in the process of, putting his own reforms that combine Greek and "other" peoples into a one nation group, with one language, and one identity.  

Well, the diversity in Qin Shi's empire was not nearly so great. Those groups came from a common cultural sphere, even if there were separate ethnicities and dialects. The gulfs between the cultures within Alexander's empire were much wider. Uniting the traditions of Athens, Jerusalem, and Thebes was something even the Romans struggled with, even after centuries of Hellenization - and that's only a thin westerly slice of Alexander's empire. To this day the area remains the most fractitious nexus of cultures on the planet, bar none.

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  Quote Master Liang Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28-Dec-2008 at 21:35
exactly not to mention the fact the to east the Mauryan empire was taking shape at that time,and regardless of whether or not Alexander could have beaten them or not, they would have been a huge thorn on the side of the new multicultural empire. 
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  Quote Penelope Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01-Jan-2009 at 04:56
Ah, Chandragupta Maurya, the first person to actually unify India. No one can argue with the fact that he was the first genuine Emperor of India.
The direct use of force is such a poor solution to any problem, it is generally employed only by small children and large nations.
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  Quote rcscwc Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28-Oct-2009 at 04:10
Originally posted by Penelope

Ah, Chandragupta Maurya, the first person to actually unify India. No one can argue with the fact that he was the first genuine Emperor of India.
 
He was GREAT. He started from a literal rags to a vast empire powerful enough to subdue the remnants of Greek staraps. As a result, Greeks got absorbed into Hinduism or Buddhism. Such feats have not been achieved frequently.
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  Quote opuslola Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28-Oct-2009 at 10:52
Yes, you may very well compare him to;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammed_II

http://www.quotationspage.com/subjects/history/
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  Quote opuslola Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29-Dec-2009 at 10:47
By the use of the word "him" in my above post, I meant, of course, Alexander the Great!
regards,
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  Quote Moustafa Pasha Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08-Jan-2010 at 10:19

Mehmet II the Conqueror was a great SULTAN who consolidated the Ottoman Empire by deestroying the corrupt Byzantines.In contrast Alexander the great was a homosexual obssed by his will to conquer new counties.
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  Quote Patrinos Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08-Jan-2010 at 15:06
Originally posted by Moustafa Pasha


Mehmet II the Conqueror was a great SULTAN who consolidated the Ottoman Empire by deestroying the corrupt Byzantines.In contrast Alexander the great was a homosexual obssed by his will to conquer new counties.

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  Quote opuslola Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08-Jan-2010 at 15:23
But, the very dimensions of the "ultimate rule" by both empires is basically the same!

It may have not all happened under one ruler, but happen it did!

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  Quote Guests Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09-Jan-2010 at 13:24
Hard to say. He didn't seem to have direction.
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