Alexander the Great

Paper Summary:

The paper discusses whether Alexander's victories were inevitable or not and if Darius could have been successful in defeating him. The paper explains that there is no doubt that Alexander the Great had a tremendous impact on the world. The paper shows how Alexander's uncanny grasp of human behavior, combined with his apparent belief that he was, if not immortal, at least touched by divinity, made him an extremely formidable opponent. The paper concludes that because he was so formidable, it is highly unlikely that Darius would have been able to prevent Alexander from taking over the Persian Empire.

From the Paper:

"However, what if Alexander's desire to conquer the world had been thwarted? There can be no doubt that the face of the modern world would be dramatically changed if Alexander had not conquered the Greek city-states, and then gone on to conquer the known world. Since his death more than 2000 years ago, there has been a tremendous amount of discussion about the impact of his victories. In contrast, relatively little attention has been paid to discussing whether Alexander's victories were inevitable. Instead, the inevitability of Alexander's success has been treated as if it was a given. This attitude overlooks two critical facts."

Sample of Sources Used:

• "Darius III," The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed. 2005. New York: Columbia UniversityPress. On-line. Available from Bartleby.comhttp://www.bartleby.com/65/da/Darius3.html, accessed June 5, 2006.The Columbia Encyclopedia is an encyclopedia published by Columbia University and isamong the most complete encyclopedias ever produced.
• "Darius III," Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2006. Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. On-line. Available from Encyclopaedia Britannica Premium Servicehttp://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9028780?source=RSSOTD, accessed June 5, 2006.The Encyclopaedia Britannica is the most comprehensive English-language encyclopedia, and its articles are written by experts in their fields.
• Diodorus. World History. C. Bradford. Welles, translator. Darius' accession. On-line. Available from Livius.orghttp://www.livius.org/aj-al/alexander/alexander_t66.html, accessed June 5, 2006.Diodorus of Sicily was a Greek Historian who wrote from about 60 BC to 30 BC, and compiled a history of the world.
• Lendering, Jona. 2005. Son of Ammon. On-line. Available from Livius.orghttp://www.livius.org/aj-al/alexander/alexander08.html, accessed June 5, 2006.Jona Lendering is the major contributor for Livius.org, a website on ancient history. In addition, Mr. Lendering is a teacher and the author of 7 books.
• Untereker, Jed, James Kossuth, Bill Kelsey. 1996. Alexander in Persia. Williamstown, Massachusetts: Williams College. On-line. Available from Williams College http://wso.williams.edu/~junterek/persia.htm.Purporting to be Alexander the Great's homepage, this student-created website provides acomprehensive but compact overview of the life of Alexander the Great.

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