0:00:00.270,0:00:02.340
- Did you know that Alexander the Great

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had a habit of renaming[br]cities after himself,

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and in one case, he even named a city

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after his beloved horse.

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Stick around to learn all[br]about Alexander the Great

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in honor of his birthday.

0:00:13.720,0:00:16.887
(gentle plucky music)

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Hello, and welcome to "World[br]History Encyclopedia."

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My name is Kelly, and[br]in honor of the birth

0:00:26.280,0:00:28.950
of Alexander the Great on either the 20th

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or 21st of July, 356 BCE,

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we're going to be answering the questions,

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who is Alexander the Great?

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Why is he so famous and[br]was he ever defeated?

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Happy birthday, Alexander.

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Don't forget the easiest way to support us

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is by giving this video a thumbs up

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0:00:54.196,0:00:57.613
(plucky music continues)

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Alexander the Great, also[br]known as Alexander III

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of Macedon became king of[br]Macedon after the death

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of his father, King Philip II, in 336 BCE.

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Alexander is known for[br]both his military might

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and his diplomatic skills,[br]which aided in his expansion

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of the Macedonian Kingdom[br]to an empire of a size

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his father had not even dreamed of.

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Alexander is recognized as[br]a key figure in the spread

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of Greek culture and language[br]throughout the ancient world.

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And his death sparked

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the beginning of the Hellenistic period,

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which spanned from 323 to 31 BCE.

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After his death, his[br]campaigns became legendary,

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and later Greek and Roman generals learned

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from his successes and failures

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and were influenced by his tactics.

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When Alexander was young,[br]he was taught to fight

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and ride by Leonidas of[br]Epirus and how to read, write,

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and play the lyre by[br]Lysimachus of Acarnania.

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When he was 13 or 14, he was tutored

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by the Greek philosopher,[br]Aristotle until he was 16/

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Perhaps due to Aristotle's teachings

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which encouraged tolerance,[br]Alexander never forced

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the Greek culture on those he conquered,

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but simply introduced it to them.

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Despite his father, Philip[br]II laying the groundwork

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for Alexander to be successful,

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Alexander claimed all[br]the credit for himself

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and chose to call himself a son of Zeus,

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claiming to be a demigod,[br]modeling his behavior

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after his two favorite[br]heroes, Hercules and Achilles.

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This claim was in part due to Olympias,

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Alexander's mother claiming[br]that his was a virgin birth

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and that she was miraculously[br]impregnated by Zeus.

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Alexander's childhood friends,[br]Hephaestion, Cassander

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and Ptolemy would all[br]become lifelong companions

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and generals in his army.

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And Aristotle's great[br]nephew, Callisthenes,

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who was also a friend, would[br]become the court historian

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and follow Alexander on campaign.

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At 18 years old in 338 BCE[br]at the Battle of Chaeronea

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fought between the Macedonian Empire

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and the Greek allied city states,

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Alexander's military skill[br]was first noted when he turned

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the tide of the battle[br]for a Macedonian victory,

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and afterwards the Greek city states

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were brought under Macedonian rule.

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In 336 BCE, just two years[br]after the battle of Chaeronea,

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Philip II died and[br]Alexander assumed the throne

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as King of Macedon.

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Alexander wasted no time in[br]embarking on the extensive

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campaign that his father[br]had been planning,

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the conquest of the Persian empire.

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(gentle plucky music continues)

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As King, Alexander the[br]Great moved into Asia Minor,

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modern day Turkey in 334,[br]BCE, with 32,000 infantry

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and 5,100 cavalry.

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And in May of 334, he[br]fought the Persian satraps

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or governors at the Battle of[br]Granicus and was victorious.

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According to Alexander, he[br]then liberated the cities

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of Sardis and Ephesus from Persian rule.

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Although, his word liberated[br]has been understood

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as the conquest of these cities.

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In 333 BCE, Alexander fought[br]the Persian King Darius III

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at the Battle of Isis, a battle famous

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for its depiction on the Alexander Mosaic.

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Alexander defeated Darius's larger force

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and he then sacked the Phoenician cities

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of Baalbek and Sidon and[br]in 332, he laid siege

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to the island city of Tyre.

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The siege of Tyre is a famous[br]example of his commitment

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to victory and his ruthfulness.

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In order to bring his siege[br]engines within striking distance

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of Tyre's walls, he had his[br]army build a land bridge

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out to the island, which[br]is how the island city

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became linked to the land[br]as the site still is today.

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And in response to the[br]stubbornness of the inhabitants

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of the city refusing to surrender,

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he slaughtered most of them

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and then sold the survivors as slaves.

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In 331, he moved to Egypt and conquered it

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and founded the city of Alexandria there,

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named after himself, of course.

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Alexander had a habit of naming cities

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after himself and even[br]his horse Bucephalus,

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but we'll get to that later.

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Alexander marched his army[br]across the desert to the oasis

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of Siwa so that he could[br]visit the Oracle of Zeus Ammon

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that presided there.

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Alexander knew of the infallible[br]reputation of the oracle

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who had been consulted by the[br]hero's Heracles and Perseus.

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Alexander asked the[br]oracle whether his father

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was truly Philip II, and the[br]Oracle declared his true father

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to be Zeus Ammon.

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There was no military[br]value to marching to Siwa

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and losing some men to the desert.

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It was either to satisfy his megalomania

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or a cleverly calculated[br]PR stunt to spread the myth

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of him being a demigod or both.

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We will never know.

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The next phase of Alexander's conquests

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is known as the Persian campaigns.

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In 331, Alexander met Darius[br]III in battle, once again.

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This time at the battle of Gaugamela,

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which is also known as[br]the battle of Arbela.

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Alexander was victorious again.

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Darius fled the battle,

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and then Alexander took the[br]cities of Babylon and Susa,

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which both surrendered to him.

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It's safe to say that[br]Alexander was on a roll.

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In the winter of 330,[br]Alexander and his army

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marched to Persepolis and[br]defeated the Persian hero,

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Ariobarzanes and his[br]sister Youtab Ariobarzane

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at the battle of the Persian Gates,

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and after Alexander was victorious,

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he set Persepolis on fire,[br]probably in a drunken folly.

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In the summer of the same[br]year, Darius was assassinated

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by his cousin and General Bessus,

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which Alexander thought was deplorable.

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After the death of Darius,[br]Alexander crowned himself

0:07:06.120,0:07:09.060
the King of Asia, gave Darius the burial

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of a Persian emperor and[br]then marched his army

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into Bactria what is now[br]modern day Afghanistan.

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If you haven't noticed by[br]now, this man does not stop.

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Between the years 330 and[br]327, Alexander campaigned

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in Bactria and Sogdiana[br]and won every engagement.

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And in 329, he destroyed[br]the city of Cyropolis,

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defeated the Scythians and[br]founded another city named

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after himself, Alexandria[br]Eschate on the Jaxartes River.

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It was around this point that Alexander

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began to portray himself[br]not just as a liberator

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of cities, but as a God.

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He adopted the title that the rulers

0:07:46.830,0:07:50.190
of the first Persian[br]empire used shahansha,

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which means king of kings.

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And the Persian custom of proskynesis,

0:07:54.450,0:07:57.210
which meant that those who[br]addressed him had to kneel

0:07:57.210,0:07:58.920
and kiss his hand.

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To say that his Macedonian[br]troops were unhappy about this,

0:08:02.850,0:08:04.650
is an understatement.

0:08:04.650,0:08:08.100
His troops became increasingly[br]unhappy with his adoption

0:08:08.100,0:08:10.800
of Persian customs and were growing more

0:08:10.800,0:08:12.510
and more uncomfortable.

0:08:12.510,0:08:16.320
So much so that assassination[br]plans were formed.

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Of course, the conspirators[br]and those who committed treason

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or questioned his authority[br]were found out and executed,

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including his close friends, Cleitus,

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who was killed with the javelin

0:08:29.190,0:08:34.050
and Callisthenes who was[br]imprisoned and died in confinement.

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In 327, Alexander married[br]the Batrian woman, Roxana,

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and then set his sights on India.

0:08:40.920,0:08:44.400
The Indian king Ambhi of[br]Taxila surrendered quickly,

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but the Aspasioi and[br]Assakenoi tribes resisted.

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By 326, Alexander had subdued the tribes,

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then fought King Porus of Paurava

0:08:53.400,0:08:57.180
and his war elephants at the[br]battle of Hydaspes River.

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In true Alexander[br]fashion, he won the battle

0:09:00.120,0:09:03.000
and then made Porus[br]ruler of a larger region

0:09:03.000,0:09:04.740
than he'd previously held.

0:09:04.740,0:09:07.950
because of how bravely he[br]and his troops had fought.

0:09:07.950,0:09:11.250
During this battle, his[br]horse Bucephalus was killed,

0:09:11.250,0:09:15.483
and so of course, he named[br]the city Bucephala after him.

0:09:16.920,0:09:20.160
By now, Alexander's troops were exhausted

0:09:20.160,0:09:22.230
and they didn't wanna go any further,

0:09:22.230,0:09:24.270
and it took some convincing.

0:09:24.270,0:09:28.200
But finally, Alexander[br]decided to head back to Susa.

0:09:28.200,0:09:30.330
Half his troops were sent by sea,

0:09:30.330,0:09:33.720
and half he marched through[br]the Gedrosian Desert

0:09:33.720,0:09:37.050
where many died of thirst and starvation.

0:09:37.050,0:09:40.260
Why he chose to do this,[br]we don't really know.

0:09:40.260,0:09:43.920
When he finally arrived back[br]in Susa, he found that many

0:09:43.920,0:09:47.790
of the satraps he left in[br]charge had abused their power,

0:09:47.790,0:09:49.920
so he executed them, as well as those

0:09:49.920,0:09:52.860
who vandalized Cyrus the Great's tomb.

0:09:52.860,0:09:56.460
Alexander wanted to merge[br]the cultures of Macedonia

0:09:56.460,0:10:00.840
and Persia more, so in 324, he[br]held a mass marriage service

0:10:00.840,0:10:04.050
in Susa, where he married[br]Persian noble women

0:10:04.050,0:10:06.120
to senior members of his staff

0:10:06.120,0:10:08.880
and to connect himself to Persian royalty,

0:10:08.880,0:10:11.850
he married one of Darius III's daughters.

0:10:11.850,0:10:14.310
His men rejected this cultural merging

0:10:14.310,0:10:16.680
and his adoption of Persian dress,

0:10:16.680,0:10:20.130
and they really didn't like[br]how he merged the Macedonian

0:10:20.130,0:10:23.310
and Persian army units[br]and promoted Persians

0:10:23.310,0:10:26.130
to high positions, even though it seems

0:10:26.130,0:10:29.040
this was an effective policy[br]in furthering his goal

0:10:29.040,0:10:30.870
of uniting the two cultures.

0:10:30.870,0:10:33.660
So after looking at all these battles,

0:10:33.660,0:10:35.760
which Alexander the Great took part in

0:10:35.760,0:10:37.620
during his short life,

0:10:37.620,0:10:39.900
was Alexander the Great ever defeated?

0:10:39.900,0:10:41.655
No, no, he was not.

0:10:41.655,0:10:45.655
(gentle plucky music continues)

0:10:46.860,0:10:51.240
In the year 324, his closest[br]companion, Hephaestion died

0:10:51.240,0:10:55.320
of a fever and Alexander's[br]grief was inconsolable.

0:10:55.320,0:10:58.380
Arian wrote that Alexander[br]killed Hephaestion's doctor

0:10:58.380,0:11:00.420
because he failed to heal him.

0:11:00.420,0:11:02.850
Alexander declared a period of mourning

0:11:02.850,0:11:06.570
and gave him the funeral rights[br]usually reserved for a king.

0:11:06.570,0:11:11.100
A year after the death of his[br]closest friend and companion,

0:11:11.100,0:11:14.550
Alexander the Great suffered[br]10 days of a high fever

0:11:14.550,0:11:19.550
before he died on June 10 or[br]11 in 323 at the age of 32.

0:11:19.650,0:11:22.320
There are a few competing[br]hypotheses regarding the death

0:11:22.320,0:11:25.140
of Alexander the Great,[br]ranging from poisoning

0:11:25.140,0:11:27.870
or assassination, typhoid or malaria,

0:11:27.870,0:11:31.620
and new hypotheses[br]continue to be suggested.

0:11:31.620,0:11:34.707
More recent suggestions for[br]the cause of Alexander's death

0:11:34.707,0:11:38.790
are the West Nile Virus or[br]Guillain-Barre syndrome.

0:11:38.790,0:11:41.670
Ancient sources say that Alexander's body

0:11:41.670,0:11:44.640
didn't begin decomposing until six days

0:11:44.640,0:11:46.260
after he was proclaimed dead,

0:11:46.260,0:11:48.780
and GBS could be the reason why.

0:11:48.780,0:11:52.080
Alexander may have been[br]experiencing paralysis,

0:11:52.080,0:11:55.260
which meant his body would not[br]have needed as much oxygen,

0:11:55.260,0:11:58.770
so it may have looked as[br]if he wasn't breathing.

0:11:58.770,0:12:00.900
Ancient doctors didn't use the pulse

0:12:00.900,0:12:03.120
to determine if someone was alive,

0:12:03.120,0:12:05.040
but rather if they were breathing or not.

0:12:05.040,0:12:07.920
So when Alexander was confirmed dead,

0:12:07.920,0:12:11.370
he may have not actually been[br]dead for another six days.

0:12:11.370,0:12:14.520
He left no will and named no successor,

0:12:14.520,0:12:17.520
resulting in the wars then[br]waged by his generals,

0:12:17.520,0:12:20.550
which tore apart the[br]empire he had created.

0:12:20.550,0:12:23.070
Out of these two so-called[br]successor states,

0:12:23.070,0:12:26.010
two became powerful[br]states in their own right.

0:12:26.010,0:12:29.430
Ptolemaic Egypt and Seleucid, Persia.

0:12:29.430,0:12:32.640
Do you believe Alexander[br]the Great really was great?

0:12:32.640,0:12:36.570
Let us know why or why not,[br]down in the comments below.

0:12:36.570,0:12:39.630
If you enjoyed this video, make[br]sure to give it a thumbs up

0:12:39.630,0:12:41.130
and subscribe to our channel

0:12:41.130,0:12:43.470
and hit that bell icon for notifications

0:12:43.470,0:12:45.690
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0:12:45.690,0:12:47.592
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0:12:47.592,0:12:51.900
(gentle plucky music continues)

0:12:51.900,0:12:53.160
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0:12:53.160,0:12:55.170
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0:12:55.170,0:12:57.900
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0:12:57.900,0:13:00.727
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0:13:00.727,0:13:04.470
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0:13:12.960,0:13:14.430
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0:13:14.430,0:13:16.623
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