Why Alexander Was Not so Great

Alexander the Great was one of the greatest minds of his time. He created and destroyed one of the largest empires ever conceived at the time, he made massive improvements in the way that we as a people looked at science and literature, however, he also destroyed the lives of thousands of innocent peoples creating a political vacuum that would split his previous vast nation into three separate empires each one governed by a separate leader This speaks to the fact that after Alexander died to a fever at the age of thirty he had not created any government or infrastructure to sustain his vast empire which leads to its demise This speaks to the fact that after Alexander died to a fever at the age of thirty he created nothing that lasted. Nothing that stood the test of time, he had no infrastructure, no real government, and no loyal followers. Instead he ruined the lives of thousands of innocent civilians by murdering and destroying entire cities and populations making them his own. He inspired so many leaders like Julius Cesar and Napoleon Bonaparte to be "great" like he was and rein down destruction just like he did. For instance Cesar burnt down The Great library of Alexander in the name of Alexander to prove his loyalty. This infectious obsession with Alexander caused so much unorthodox hate in the world, and lead to thousands of people dying for no real cause. Yes of course Alexander the Great never lost a battle. He lead his men like a king, however in the span of his short rule he wasn't even able to loose with the fantastic army that his father Philip II created. This is the reason, in my opinion, that Alexander made it as far as he did in the world. The way that he led his men was disgusting, never fighting with honor he was always drunk in a sorry attempt to lead his men was almost killed. The cross country marches that he forced his soldiers to endure caused the lives of many of his men, and he did not even march with them. His people were forced into mutiny or were forced to die. This is why I do not feel like Alexander the great deserves to be great, but instead deserves to be called terrible and a bad influence on society as of any time.

It is clear to me that in the time of Alexander, greatness was not measured in feats of science or literature, but  instead "measured success by the number of body-bags used" (Worthington 1). In my opinion this holds true in so many ways for Alexander the great in particular. The fact is that society at the time valued his feats as great because he conquered so much land and led his troops to "glorious" battle that in the end creates his, and his peoples, demise. This is most likely why Alexander the Great was portrayed as such a fantastic person. Also the many books that were written for and about Alexander distorted the views of the people, for instance, Alexander Romance depicted fantasized adventures that Alexander had with his soldiers. Some of these even depicted him turning into mythical creatures and leading his soldiers to glorious battle where they could die with honor. This innately was not what what many of the people that Alexander thought but as time shows, his image as distorted into what many thought was greatness. This distortion of belief is why many of the late followers of Alexander like Napoleon and Cesar thought of him as such a godly power. A man who never lost a battle, and died at the height of his power. This is one of the reasons we have such of a distorted view of Alexander, he did not have time to ruin the empire that he created, so time would do the job just as well.

I believe that both time and distance effect the way we see people and things from the past. As a prime example I can bring up mister Thomas Midgley, Jr. who was at the time a praised inventor of the gasoline additive tetraethylled famed to make gasoline cars run more efficiently on the leaded gas than those who were unleaded. This was inherently true, however the known environmental hazards of using the leaded gas were terrible, but were looked over by Midgley because of the ridiculous amount of income he was earning. He even got the Nobel prize for chemistry. However, eighty years later, we now know that the leaded gas was so bad for out environment that it is almost completely credited for the puncture in our ozone and lexposing an entire generation of Americans to dangerous lead. This discovery would soon ruin Midgleys reputation as a chemist far more than anyone could imagine of course because he knew about the dangers of tetraethyllead but did nothing to stop its emission. This is a perfect non Alexandrian example of why time and  distance effect the way we look at others. In Alexanders case it was almost the opposite. Alexander was disliked by some of his men, and some of his people, but loved as a military genius in the long run.

To conclude, I do not believe that Alexander the Great was, or deserves to be called, "Great" because of the mistreatment of his people, the killing of innocents, and the commitment of war crimes. I feed confident that society at the time viewed Alexander as great because he killed so many people and conquered so much land, and this to me is not great. I also know by comparison to Midgley that time and distance effect the way we see people as a whole.

Sources:

"Alexander the Great." Britannica School.Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 2014. Web. 29 Sep. 2014. <http://school.eb.com/levels/high/article/106078>.

"Alexander romance." Britannica School.Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 2014. Web. 29 Sep. 2014. <http://school.eb.com/levels/high/article/5621>.

Emmons, Jim Tschen. "Alexander the Great." World History: Ancient and Medieval Eras. ABC-CLIO, 2014. Web. 29 Sept. 2014.

Knox, Skip. "Alexander the Great." Alexander the Great. Boise State University, n.d. Web. 25 Sept. 2014. <http://europeanhistory.boisestate.edu/westciv/alexander/14.shtml>.

Worthington, Ian. "How "Great" Was Alexander? [P.1]." How "Great" Was Alexander? [P.1]. Ancient History Bulletin, 1999. Web. 28 Sept. 2014.<http://www.utexas.edu/courses/citylife/readings/great1.html>.