Alexander the Great’s military conquests began at the age of sixteen, when the Thracian Maedi revolted against Macedonia in the absence of his father, King Philip II of Macedonia.
Alexander responded quickly, driving them from their territory and colonized it with Greeks, founding a city named Alexandropolis. Upon Philip’s return, Alexander was dispatched with a small force to subdue revolts in southern Thrace.
Still occupied in Thrace, he ordered Alexander to muster an army for a campaign in Greece. Concerned that other Greek states might intervene, Alexander made it look as though he was preparing to attack Illyria instead. During this turmoil, the Illyrians invaded Macedonia, only to be repelled by Alexander.
After the murder of his father, nineteen year old Alexander ascended the throne. Even though Alexander was the feudal king of Macedonia, he didn’t obtain automatic control of the Corinthian League. As the various states launched independence movements, Alexander sent his army south and forced the region of Thessaly into acknowledging him as the leader of the Corinthian League.
By 336 B.C, he reissued treaties with the Greek city-states that belonged to the Corinthian League and was granted full military power in the campaign against the Persian Empire. He then conquered the Thracian Triballians in 335 B. C, thus securing Macedonia’s northern borders.
When Thebes planned a revolt, he led its massacre, believing that the destruction caused would serve as a warning to other city states. His assumption was correct and the other states accepted his supremacy or chose to remain neutral.
In 334 B.C, Alexander embarked on his Asiatic expedition, arriving in Troy, where he defeated the Persian king Darius III twice. Besieging Gaza on his way, he easily achieved his conquest of Egypt and in 331 B.C, created the city of Alexandria, a hub for Greek culture and commerce.
Later that year, Alexander defeated the Persians at the Battle of Gaugamela. With the collapse of the Persian Army, Alexander became “King of Babylon, King of Asia, King of the Four Quarters of the World.”
Alexander’s next conquest was eastern Iran, where he created Macedonian colonies and in 327 B. C, seized the fortress in Ariamazes. In 328 B. C, Alexander defeated King Porus’ armies in northern India.
Respecting Porus’ bravery, Alexander reinstated him as the King and gained his alliance and forged eastward to the Ganges but headed back when his armies refused to advance any farther and was wounded by Malli warriors on the way back.
In 325 B. C, after Alexander had recovered, he and his army headed north along the rugged Persian Gulf, where many fell prey to illness, injury and death. In a bid to retain his leadership and recruit more soldiers, he replaced several of his unfit Macedonian soldiers with Persian men. This move was opposed by his soldiers and he ended up gaining their resentment.
While considering the conquests of Carthage and Rome, Alexander the Great died of malaria in Babylon on June 13, 323 B.C, at the age of 32. After Alexander died, his empire collapsed and the nations within it battled for power, leading to the disintegration of his empire.