What Makes Alexander Successful

Alexander spent a great deal of his life in the company of his army, inherited from his father, Philip. With so many years shared between the troops and Alexander, it was crucial to Alexander’s success that his men trust him, follow him, and fight for him without question. In the early years of Alexander’s career as ruler of Macedonia and leader of the army, his determination for conquest was shared by his men. Alexander led his troops into many successful battles and triumphs, such as the Battles of Gaugamela, Issus, and Granicus. In each of these places, Alexander’s leadership skills were tested, and they prevailed. His ability to inspire his troops was fruitful and made stronger with each success. However as Alexander pulled his army further …show more content…
Alexander’s soldiers were nervous of his attack plan as they were aware of how many men Darius had under his control, and so went to Alexander and “begged him to attack Darius by night, that the darkness might conceal the danger of the ensuing battle. To this he gave them the celebrated answer, “I will not steal a victory,”…” . To some of Alexander’s men this was interpreted as arrogance, and understandably so. But to others, this confidence in their victory was heartening and encouraging, and so they trusted Alexander. The Battle of Gaugamela and Darius’ death soon after marks the end of the Persian Empire, but even with Alexander’s added confidence, it was not an easy win. In particular, Alexander was presented with a difficult decision in the midst of battle: Parmenio sent a messenger requesting Alexander’s aid, forcing him to choose between assisting his men and chasing after Darius, who had the potential to get away if not pursued. Alexander, loyal to his men, chose to call off his pursuit of Darius and help Parmenio. “Commanding both horse and foot to halt, he exclaimed: "The victory is snatched out of my hands, and Darius is more fortunate flying, than I am pursuing!"” . This action not only displays Alexander’s obvious confidence that he …show more content…
Here, Alexander entered into battle with Porus, the king of India, the outcome being the Macedonians as victorious and Porus taken prisoner. However Alexander gave Porus back control of his own kingdom “as satrap under himself” as Alexander intended to venture further east across the Hyphasis River due to hearing the land was fertile and good. But Alexander failed to notice the mood of his army: “… the spirit of the Macedonians now began to flag, when they saw the king raising one labour after another, and incurring one danger after another” . This attitude could have also been influenced by Alexander’s recent executions of Parmenio and his son Philotas after hearing of their alleged involvement in a plot to kill him. “These actions rendered Alexander an object of terror to many of his friends…” and would certainly not have boded well for his reputation amongst his troops. Upon hearing that his army was fed up with their expedition of conquering all the land they could, Alexander made an impressive speech to his men in an attempt to get them to reconsider moving onwards. He professed that “if any one desires to hear what will be the end to the warfare itself, let him learn that the distance still remaining before we reach the river Ganges and the Eastern Sea is not great…” , tried to bribe them with the ideas of riches and spoils once they had completed their conquest of Asia, and