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Alexander The Great Essay

Decent Essays

Alexander the Great was known to be a fierce man, whose main focus was his thirst for conquest to expand his empire, but according to Hammond, Alexander was a “statesmanlike vision”, whose charming personality and intellect earned him the appreciation and respect of his subjects (Hammond, Preface). To his advantage Alexander used intellect and personality to overcome nationalism and racism to build his great empire, proving his devotion and leadership qualities. In N.G.L. Hammond’s book, The Genius of Alexander the Great, Hammond refrains from writing about Alexander’s achievements, conquests, and struggles throughout his career from a biased point of view. Hammond’s main purpose for writing this book is to evaluate the life of Alexander in …show more content…

Although enemies of both Alexander and Attila would agree that both were barbaric and brutal when in combat, their strategies of conquering others differed in many ways. Alexander’s main focus was bloodshed and to expand his empire, and to do so he would exhaust his army for approximately eight years. One of Alexander’s biggest conquests was the Battle of Granicus, fought May 334 BC and also one of the battles he came closest to failure and death. Alexander’s second in command, Parmenion made critical suggestions to strike against the Persians, but Alexander attacked immediately, catching the Persians off guard. The casualties for the Persians compared to the Greeks were outstanding and being the brutal king he was Alexander slaughtered and enslaved those who weren’t killed (Hammond, 115). Unlike Alexander, Attila preferred to be more cautious on his conquests and use political maneuvers and maintain as many allies as he could get rather than risking Hun forces. While both conquerors had different motifs, they were both brilliant when it came to strategizing on the battlefield. Just as Alexander the Huns were at a disadvantage when it came to modern day weaponry. So they had to depend on their rapid movements to catch their enemies off guard (Judge, 195). Both conquerors were experts at organizing their armies to preform certain battle maneuvers, making up their forces, and managing their army during the

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