History Blog Post #1

 1)      I believe that Alexander the Great is great, because he was an excellent student, a great leader, and has an amazing legacy. At the very young age of 13 Alexander was educated under one of the world's most famous philosophers, Aristotle. During his education with Aristotle, Alexander was intrigued by the sciences taught to him, but unfortunately politically he thought that non-Greeks should be treated as slaves after learning about Greek life. He soon was thrust into the ancient world of politics and war when his father, King Philip II of Macedon, was assassinated. Alexander was one of the world's youngest rulers at the time, which is an accomplishment in itself. King Philip died before he had the chance to conquer Asia Minor, but Alexander took it upon himself to do so and establish his rightful place on the throne. When he conquered the Persian Empire, Alexander disguised himself as a sultan. When Alexander did this, he unintentionally blended both Persian and Macedonian clothing to essentially start the creation of a new culture which would be established as the Hellenistic culture. After conquering the Persian Empire Alexander journeyed south towards Egypt. Alexander was worshipped as a pharaoh in Egypt, and because of the power the people of Egypt gave him; he helped solve the problem of the flooding of the Nile River. It was assumed by Britannica that because he was educated by Aristotle, that he was an amazing problem solver, which shows that if needed then he could solve problems that his subjects had. After establishing his reign in Egypt, Alexander journeyed on to India. He made it to the Hyphasis River before his army wanted to return home, because they had traveled so far for so long that they were tired both physically and mentally. Alexander the Great conquered so much land, and established a large empire in such little time, which is another reason as to why he is so great. Another reason why Alexander is so great is because during all of his travels he fought many battles, but he never lost one. My last and final reason that Alexander is call "Alexander the Great" is because of the legacy he left after he died. When Alexander combined the clothing of Macedon and Persia, like I said before, he essentially started the beginning of the Hellenistic culture. The Hellenistic culture is the blend of Ancient Greek, Egyptian, Indian, and Persian cultures. This culture evolved the regions and areas ruled by Alexander, and their cultured expanded and trade flourished. This culture was almost like a universal language for the ancient people of the ancient world, and this made everything much easier, especially communication. To summarize, yes, I believe that Alexander the Great deserves to be called great, because he had a expansive knowledge, an undefeated army, a feared reputation as king and general, and his legacy was one gifted into history.

 2)      One can learn that the values of society change when your views of greatness change, and this is because what is great is not always right, and what is right is not always great. For example, during the World War II, Adolf Hitler killed innocent Jewish people for the sole reason that he disliked them. The Jews at the time were an abomination, and people who believed Hitler thought it was great that they were being killed, because the main reason they thought it was great was because Hitler was feeding the public lies. By being a follower you see that society is great, because you were getting rid of, metaphorically, the gum on the bottom of your shoe.  If you were a Jewish person at the time then you would think that what Hitler was doing was wrong, because you didn’t do anything. Unfortunately being truthful about your identity as a Jew wasn’t great because, ultimately you were being shipped off to your death. Your opinion would be that society is terrible, because you did no wrong doing, yet they hate you for no valid reason. My other example is when two little kids are put in two different rooms, each with a cookie, but one of the cookie’s recipes called for salt instead of sugar, but neither kid know this. Both kids represent the population of people, or just an individual. The cookie represents an event, object, and/ or idea. The way that the kids think about the cookies is how people think about society and what causes its greatness or badness. Let’s say that Kid A has the sugar cookie and Kid B has the salt cookie. Both Kids take a huge bite out of their cookies, and Kid B realizes that the cookie tastes funny or terrible and immediately wants to spit it out and never have it again and thinks whoever baked this cookie is the worse person on the earth (pretend they’re like 4, 4 year olds are dramatic). On the other hand Kid A wants more of the cookie; because it was the best thing he/ she ever tasted and thinks whoever baked this cookie is the best person in the universe. Both kids’ views of the cookie are different because it contained different ingredients (events/ change in event) and therefore shaped their views on how great it is. One can learn the right and wrongs of society based on their views of greatness, as exemplified in the first example, and also one can learn the greatness of things based on what happens in society.

 3)      I researched Franklin Delano Roosevelt for this question, because it shows how even if time and distance are factors in opinions, doesn’t mean it changes them. President Roosevelt was blamed for the deficit and attempt of seizing a dictatorship, by creating The New Deal, and not helping the wellbeing of the people. When President Roosevelt put the Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) into place he was making many people angry, because all he did was raise the unemployment rate and create poverty and increase hunger in the United States. Even thought he had his great moments such as ending The Great Depression, he still had the aftermath to deal with, and both views now and then vary, because he could’ve made it worse by raising taxes and creating all these new bills. Also he could’ve made it better, because he created social security, which is still in use now, and cured the disease Polio, because he himself had Polio, but didn’t want to make it a big deal and suffered and stood strong for his country. In summary, I think that time and distance can affect one’s perception of popularity, because it depends on what you know, what you learn, and how you use that knowledge.

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