Was Alexander really that "great"?

1)      Was Alexander really that “Great”? I believe that he appeared to be that great, but in reality he wasn’t because he was never really in Macedon, his father should've been called great instead of him, and he didn't treat his army the way he shoud have. Why was he given this title if he was actually an atrocious man? Even though he conquered some 3,000 miles of land and was the King of Macedon, that shouldn’t be the only reason to call someone great. If someone is considered to be great, then they would be able to conquer all that land while making choices that benefits everyone, and not just themselves. But a reason why he was thought of as great, is because he did all of this at a young age, probably around 20 to 25. He also was the only one who could tame and ride the horse Buchephalus. This name meant “ox-head”. This horse was King Phillips horse, and he claimed the horse was “too tough to break to riding”. So he was going to sell the horse. Alexander then asked if he could have a chance to tame the horse. His father gave him one and he succeeded. This may be a reason he was looked at as “great”.  While being considered a son of god by some people, other people hated him for his cruel ways. Some citizens in Macedonia didn’t like him that much because he was rarely ever in Macedon. He was too busy conquering other empires, so he was hardly ever in Macedonia. Since he wasn’t there to rule them, he put Antipater in charge. So the question is, who was the real King of Macedon? I feel that Alexander seems awfully selfish. He does what he wants and doesn’t really care about what he’s doing to other people. I think the main reason Alexander was great was because of his father, Philip. Since Philip did most of the work, like growing Macedon, building a strong army, and had ideas and battle plans . Philip did that, not Alexander. His father’s plans were to conquer Persia, but he got assassinated before he could do that. When Alexander got his father’s title, as King of Macedon, his first plan was to conquer Persia. A reason they wanted to conquer Persia because it “was the greatest empire the world had yet seen, extending from Central Asia to Libya”. After he did that he got power hungry and decided he wanted to conquer more lands, like the Mediterranean and Egypt. Something that I found kind of surprising was that he didn’t change any local administration in the areas he conquered. He kept them the same and didn’t bring in any of his own. He left things pretty much the same, although he might have had some Macedonian citizens’ act as governors. But a not-so-good thing was that he didn’t realize was that his soldiers were getting tired from all this fighting. All they did was fight and they didn't get many breaks. Alexander didn’t have much peace while he was in control. He didn’t want to stop. He wanted to keep going and going. He didn’t think about the soldiers who were actually fighting for something that Alexander wants, but maybe some didn’t want it. His army beared with him, until they were moving farther and farther away from home. When Alexander told his army that they were going to try and get India, they thought it was a step too far. His army was very tired and they could not do much more. They wouldn’t obey any of Alexander’s commands. He tried to persuade them into fighting, but soon realized it was no use and it was time to head back home. Since Alexander wanted soldiers who could fight, he actually threatened his original soldiers by telling them that he would change them out for Persian soldiers. None of the original soldiers liked the thought of that, so they were like well alright we will do it. In Persia people actually bowed down to him and treated him like a god. In Macedonia-Greece, they did not do that. Because of this, Alexander liked Persia, and the east, better. He actually started dressing like them too. When he came to Macedonia-Greece, people were like what are you doing. This is another reason why he was not a good king. Greeks and Macedonian people believed that they should only be bowing down to people/gods who are not alive. Persians actually bowed down to Alexander. Greeks and Macedonians did not think this was right. Even thought he might be considered a good general, he was not a good king at all. They were questioning who Alexander really was, just like we are questioning if he should really be called great now.

2)      If a country likes their leader, and their leader is not a good person, then that means their country may not be a good country or it might mean they value different things than other countries do. In Germany, some people actually thought Hitler was a good man. People have said that because of (anti-social) Jews, Germany had lost its moral code and had become debased and de-cultured. Apparently Hitler never meant to kill the Jews, but just to keep them somewhere that was not Germany. He also cared for animals and banned animal experiments. People also saw him as a man of God and he said his movement was Christian. Him and Mahatma Gandhi were apparently in alignment; “they both recognized the evil force they were up against”. These are the good reasons on why he did what he did. He had a bad childhood, and that is probably a reason why he did this horrible thing. Like I said before, some people didn’t think he was horrible at all, some may have considered him a great person. A reason that Hitler did all of this might be to get revenge to the bad childhood he had. Adolf Hitler couldn’t get into art school or architecture school. A reason for this was that he wasn’t creative. He didn’t come up with extraordinary masterpieces. He didn’t have any friends, and he didn’t have any interest in women. He then got bored with his life, so he decided to live in the opposite world of his—in the world of imagination. People in Vienna lived very much like Hitler. They tended to look for simple answers. Vienna had many different organizations whose followers believed and “imagined they can solve the world’s problems”. One of these “problems” was the racial mixing in Germany and Austria. There was a Viennese magazine called the Ostara. This magazine said that blond Germanic people were a “Master Race” and they were “destined to rule the world”. So the Jews and other races were viewed as enemies of this race. Anti-Semitism was the hatred of Jews. Hitler then became obsessed with this, this explains why he did everything he did (Schlesinger, 23). The government in Austria saw him as weak and they said he was unable to bear arms, so they wouldn’t take him into their military. After he got rejected, he went back to Munich. He was attracted to Munich, Germany because of their artistic life, and so he thought he might be able to find a career there (Schlesinger, 24-26). He saw that there was a war going on in Germany (World War I), and so he was very glad that this happened. He actually had been waiting for a war since he was a young kid, when he was playing with his toy soldiers. He was glad that was finally something that he could really be involved in. Since Austria didn’t want him, he went to the German military. He got in and was an excellent soldier. The German’s ended up losing the war. When Hitler came back to Germany, the whole city had changed. He didn’t really know what to do. There was an opportunity to be a part of a newly established moderate representative government in the army. Adolf thought he was fit for the job because he “had a passionate hatred of foreigners and communists” (Schlesinger, 33). He got an official job as an education officer. He promoted nationalism and discouraged socialism for soldiers. There were many political organizations and Hitler was sent to observe them. One day he came across the German Workers Party. They had the same thought that the magazine had—that Germans were the master race and Jews and other religions “threatened their purity”. I believe that most likely only the Germans thought this, everywhere else in the world thought these people were crazy. Soldiers were normally not allowed to join any political parties, but since they wanted to fix Germany and their army, they let him. He was then elected to the executive committee and was put in charge of propaganda. The party wasn’t popular at all. Not many people knew who they were. Hitler then decided to take all the parties money and make an advertisement for a huge meeting. Around 70 people showed up for the meeting and Hitler’s speech was a huge success. All Hitler’s speeches were very persuasive. “Hitler was probably the hero of the second world war and the 21st century. A man of ethical courage, a man of spiritual perception and good intent. A spiritual soul who cared – cared about all life forms, all cultures, about goodness and Light and ultimately about Truth.” This is a thought that some people believe to be true. Some people think he’s great, and some people don’t. Everyone has their own opinions and that’s just how it is.

Adolf Hitler

3)      Walt Disney didn’t actually succeed right away. A newspaper editor actually fired him because “he lacked imagination and had no good ideas.” That’s shocking since now he is known for all these animations and creations. No one thought he was good then. While he was making The Alice Comedies, he ran out of money and his company ended up going bankrupt. But that didn’t stop him. He then went to Hollywood to start a new business. His brother was already in California so he helped him out and gave him some money to start his business. Soon after that, they got a call from New York for the first Alice in Cartoonland (The Alice Comedies) featurette. From there, they went to the top of Hollywood society.  Although he didn’t give up, he kept going. Time and distance do impact someone’s popular perception. They thought Walt Disney couldn’t do much, and didn’t have any creativity, but now he’s thought as one of the most creative people to live. I think it depends on the further you go, the better or worse people think about you. Someone’s opinion about Walt Disney might have been different then, but if they see what he has done now, their opinion may have changed. 

Walt Disney

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