Hello there.

Welcome to another history lesson with me, Miss Roberts.

It's great to see you today for this lesson, which is from our unit about ancient Greece.

We are investigating one very important ancient Greek figure, and that person is Alexander the Great.

This lesson is all about Alexander's conquests, so we are going to find out about the things he did in his military career.

By the end of the lesson today, you are going to be able to describe how Alexander created a great Macedonian Empire through his military conquests.

Let's make a start by looking at some important keywords that you're going to be hearing and using during the lesson today.

So listen carefully to each word first and then repeat after me.

The first word is mercy.

Can you say mercy? Very good.

Our next word is pharaoh.

Can you say pharaoh? Lovely.

Now we've got tactics.

Can you say tactics? And finally we have a place name.

This is a city and the city is called Babylon.

Can you say Babylon? Lovely.

So I'm going to show you what these words mean now, and then you'll be able to hear how they are used during the lesson.

So the first word was mercy.

Showing mercy to someone is treating them kindly, being nice to them when they have power over them.

So instead of being a fearsome ruler, being nice and friendly instead.

The leaders of ancient Egypt were called pharaohs.

The ancient Egyptian civilization started to come to an end at around the time the ancient Greek civilization was at its biggest.

The rulers or leaders of ancient Egypt were the pharaohs.

Tactics, that was our next word.

You may be familiar with this from maybe playing sports or playing other games, online games, or games in person like chess.

Tactics are the plans that armies use in battle to defeat their enemies, but you may use tactics to describe the plans that you would use in a sports match to defeat the opposing team or in a game of chess to defeat the opposing player.

There are many situations where we use tactics.

Finally, the city of Babylon.

This was an ancient city.

It was part of the Persian Empire, and it was located on the Euphrates River.

We're going to see exactly where Babylon was a bit later in the lesson today.

I have split this lesson into three parts.

We're going to work our way through Alexander's conquests.

It makes sense to begin with where were his first conquests.

Then we'll look at what happened in Egypt, and then we'll look at how Alexander's empire grew and expanded.

This picture here is a marble bust of the young Alexander.

Alexander became King Alexander III of Macedon after his father, King Philip II was killed in 336 BCE.

Alexander was an impressive soldier and he was a general in the Greek Macedonian army.

Like his father before him, Alexander wanted to defeat and conquer the Persian Empire.

So in the year 334 BCE, Alexander gathered his troops and set off from the Macedonian town of Pella heading east into the Persian Empire.

Let's just stop here before we find out anymore and check on our learning so far.

The statement says that Alexander was the king of ancient Greece.

Is that true or false? Pause the video while you make your choice.

Have you decided? I think this statement is false, do you agree? That's right.

Alexander was king of ancient Greece.

That's not quite right.

So what can we say instead? I'm going to share two sentences with you now.

Let's see which of these sentences explains that this is definitely false.

A, Alexander was the king of Macedon.

B, Alexander was the king of Persia.

Which of those is right? Have you chosen? It's option A, well done.

Alexander was the king of Macedon, and Alexander became king when his father, the previous king was killed.

So let's continue our journey.

We are in the year 334 BCE, and Alexander has gathered his troops and is heading into Persia.

From Pella in Macedon, Alexander and his army headed east into the Persian empire.

They moved towards a city in Persia called Issus.

Pella and Issus have been labelled for you on the map.

Can you see where they are? We are going to be using this map a lot during the lesson because it shows Alexander's entire route.

We are at the very start of this route as he leaves Pella and heads towards Issus.

Now, as the army moved towards Issus, they conquered lots of other smaller towns and villages along the way.

Whilst conquering these places, Alexander became known for the mercy he showed to the Persian people that were living there.

Showing mercy to people who had been conquered was quite unusual at this time.

So many people respected Alexander a lot for his mercy.

Less than a year later in 333 BCE, Alexander and his army finally reached the town of Issus and they fought against the Persians in a huge battle.

Alexander soon gained more respect from his soldiers this time because he fought bravely alongside his men during the battle.

He didn't just watch them from a distance.

Both sides Greece and Persia fought hard, but Alexander's army was victorious at Issus.

The king of Persia at that time, Darius III retreated to another city to plan his defence of the rest of the Persian Empire against Alexander.

There was a lot more territory that was yet to be conquered.

Let's stop here for some quick activities about our learning so far.

This is a 30-second word challenge, so pause the video, get yourself a timer, and in 30 seconds I want you to try and think of as many words as you can to describe Alexander.

Pause the video and complete the activity.

Finished? Did you enjoy that? Here's some of the words that I wrote down in my 30-second challenge.

Alexander was a Greek.

He was a king, a soldier.

He was a warrior.

He was strong, he was brave, he was heroic, he was well respected, he was merciful, he was kind and he was from Macedon, so that made him Macedonian.

Did you choose any of those words as well? Good job.

Now let's try a multiple choice question.

Here are some statements.

I would like you to decide which one of these statements is correct.

Statement A says that King Darius defeated Alexander in battle at Issus.

Hmm.

Statement B says that the battle of Issus was not the first time Alexander defeated Darius.

Statement C says that Alexander defeated King Darius in battle at Issus.

Which of those statements is the correct one? Have you picked? Okay, let's see if you've picked the right one.

The right statement is C, Alexander defeated King Darius in battle at Issus.

That's very true at the battle of Issus, Alexander the Great and his Greek Macedonian army beat the Persian army of King Darius III.

Brilliant.

Let's try an activity now using our learning so far.

I would like you to work with a learning partner, and I want you to explain to them why Alexander was so respected by so many people during his first conquests.

Try to include the following words in your answer, mercy, brave, and fought alongside.

Pause the video now while you chat to your partner.

Ready? You've got some great ideas, well done.

I'm going to share an example with you now.

I would explain that Alexander was so well respected by saying that Alexander was respected because he showed mercy to the Persian people and because he was very brave, and because he fought alongside his soldiers in battle instead of watching from a distance.

You may have said something very similar.

I have used the words mercy, brave, and fought alongside.

They're highlighted there for you in purple.

So what happened then after Alexander conquered the city of Issus? He moved to Egypt.

So let's move into the second part of our lesson and find out what happened in Egypt.

Let's go.

Here's the map of Alexander's route showing all of his military conquests.

He's now heading in a southwest direction from Issus into Egypt.

I have labelled Egypt on the map for you.

You can see Egypt on this map as well.

It's the bit coloured blue here.

This map is a map of the Persian Empire, so you can see here that Egypt was under control of the Persian Empire at this time.

In fact, Egypt had been under Persian control since 525 BCE when King Cambyses II had conquered it and then crowned himself to be the pharaoh.

The people of ancient Egypt had waited for more than 200 years for help to remove these Persian rulers.

That help came when Alexander and his army finally arrived, ready and eager to fight against the Persians.

Before we find out what happened next, let's stop and try a quick question.

This is a multiple choice scenario.

I want to know why King Cambyses that's the Persian king, why did he make himself the pharaoh of Egypt? Was it A, because the pharaohs were the rulers of Egypt and he was the new ruler? Was it B, because pharaohs had large pyramids and he wanted a large pyramid? Or was it C, because he thought the title of pharaoh was better than the title of king? Have you chosen one? Did you choose option A? Good stuff.

A pharaoh is the name for ruler for leader or king in ancient Egypt.

Pharaohs were the rulers of ancient Egypt, and Cambyses decided that he was the new ruler when his army conquered Egypt, so he made himself the pharaoh.

Let's continue our story now and find out what happened 200 years later when Alexander arrived.

In 332 BCE, Alexander and his army marched into Egypt.

Once again, just like in Issus, Alexander's army was victorious against the Persians and they were thrown out of Egypt.

The ancient Egyptians were so grateful to Alexander that they crowned him as their new pharaoh.

This was the greatest honour they could possibly have given to him.

Archaeologists have found evidence of this in Egyptian writing called hieroglyphics.

You can see in the picture here, Alexander's name is inscribed or written inside a special ring called a cartouche.

Only pharaohs in ancients Egypt were able to have a cartouche around their name in hieroglyphic writing.

It's thanks to evidence like this that we know just how important Alexander became in ancient Egypt.

Other evidence that we have to show his importance comes in the form of a great city called Alexandria.

It was built in the north of Egypt, right on the coast where the river Nile met the Mediterranean Sea.

It was to be called Alexandria to honour the great Alexander.

The Oak Academy children have been discussing this.

Jacob says that he doesn't think that Alexandria in Egypt was the only city named after Alexander the Great.

And Sophia says, yes, you're quite right, Jacob, because there were 17 other cities named Alexandria in his honour.

Isn't that amazing? This example in Egypt still exists as a city today, and many tourists visit there every year.

Let's try some activities now all about what happens when Alexander went to Egypt.

We know that Alexander became pharaoh of ancient Egypt and that the Persian king Cambyses II also became pharaoh of Egypt.

But the way that each of those became pharaoh was very different.

Talk to a partner now about what was different in each of those cases.

Have you finished? You've got some really good ideas, well done.

Here's what some of the Oak Academy children thought.

Lucas says that Cambyses was pharaoh 200 years before Alexander.

That's right, and his army conquered Egypt, and then he crowned himself pharaoh.

Jacob says that Alexander conquered Egypt as well, but he removed the Persians and then the people made him the pharaoh.

Well done Lucas and Jacob.

That's quite right.

Time for a crossword puzzle now.

To solve this puzzle, you are going to need to recall all of the facts you know so far about what happened when Alexander went to Egypt.

There are clues to words that read across and down.

You'll write one letter in each box and be careful because some of the words share letters where they cross over.

If you're not sure of an answer, move on to the next one and then you might have some letters there to help you.

Pause the video while you complete your crossword.

Ready? Great job.

Let's have a look now at the answers together.

I'll go through the clues one by one.

First, all of the words that go across, starting with number two.

The title of the ruler of Egypt was pharaoh.

Clue four across, the name for Egyptian writing symbols was hieroglyphs.

Clue five across, the title of the ruler of Persia was king, and now the down clues.

One down, the first Persian ruler of Egypt was King Cambyses.

And three down, the city in the north of Egypt that was named after Alexander was Alexandria.

Well done.

Did you get all of those clues? You are working really well.

Good job.

Let's move along now to the third part of the lesson.

Now we have seen Alexander's first conquests.

We've seen him ride into Egypt and throw the Persians out.

We are now going to see how his empire continue to grow and expand.

Here's the map that you saw earlier, and I have highlighted another town this time it's Gaugamela.

Alexander didn't stay very long in ancient Egypt.

In the year 331 BCE, he was on the move with his army again.

They headed in a northeast direction this time and they were heading towards this Persian city called Gaugamela.

When he left Egypt, Alexander left another of his most trusted generals, Ptolemy to rule there for him.

Ptolemy was also made a pharaoh.

Alexander and his army made the northeasterly journey towards Gaugamela where he would meet King Darius III for the second time in another huge battle.

At this battle of Gaugamela, the Persians arrived in chariots.

They were confident that having these chariots would help them to win the battle.

Chariots were vehicles that were pulled by horses so they could travel very fast, and these Persian chariots had weapons attached to them and that gave the soldiers some protection as well.

Alexander, however, was a great and experienced soldier and he knew a great deal about tactics.

This picture may not make much sense to you or I right now, but to Alexander this showed his tactics.

This was his plan for winning the battle at Gaugamela.

Before the battle began, Alexander told the Army about his tactics, and it was not long before they were winning the battle.

When it was clear that their victory was imminent, King Darius III fled for safety and hid away in the nearby mountains leaving his men behind on the battlefield.

Alexander chose not to follow King Darius.

Instead, he remained on the battlefield and fought beside his army to defeat the remaining Persian soldiers.

Let's pause for a moment here and consider what we have learned so far.

Think about this statement.

Gaugamela was the first time that Alexander and Darius had met in battle.

Is that true or is that false? Make your choice now.

Have you decided? Did you pick false as well? Good, this is not the first time that they had met in battle, is it? So I'll show you two more sentences now.

Which of these is actually the correct thing to say here? A, Alexander and Darius both took part in many battles before Gaugamela.

Or B, Alexander and Darius met for the first time in battle at Issus, and then for the second time at Gaugamela.

Have you picked one? Did you pick B? Good job.

Yes, this explains that Alexander and Darius had fought each other before.

Their first fight was at the battle of Issus, and then they met for a second time at the Battle of Gaugamela.

Alexander was victorious at both of those battles.

In fact, Alexander never lost a battle in all his military career.

Let's see what happened next after this battle of Gaugamela had been won.

Alexander took his army in a southern direction this time from Gaugamela, and they headed straight toward the important Persian city of Babylon.

Do you remember Babylon from our keywords earlier? Babylon was a very important city.

It was situated right on the Euphrates River.

Marching victoriously into Babylon with his armies confirmed Alexander's authority over one of Persia's strongest cities.

Now, there's still more on this map that we haven't yet seen, so let's see what happened next in Alexander's journey.

Let's keep following this route.

From Babylon, Alexander and his army continue to head east to a place called the Indus Valley.

The Indus Valley is marked here on the map.

It's the orange bit around the huge river Indus.

The river Indus and the Indus Valley had been part of the Persian Empire since around 490 BCE when it was conquered.

Reaching the Indus Valley was important for Alexander because this was the furthest point east in the Persian Empire.

When they finally arrived at the River Indus in the year 326 BCE, Alexander and his army had successfully conquered the entire breadth of the Persian Empire.

After conquering the Indus Valley, Alexander and his troops headed west again to make the long journey home.

Along the way, in the year 323 BCE, when the army was actually passing back through the city of Babylon, King Alexander mysteriously became ill and then he died.

He was only 33 years old when this happened, and he had been the king of Macedon and the king of his newly conquered empire for 13 years in total.

The true details of Alexander's death actually remain unknown.

Some historians believe that he died from a disease like malaria, which can be caught from a mosquito bite.

Other people believe that Alexander could have been poisoned by one of his own soldiers.

For now, though, Alexander's death remains a mystery.

When he died, Alexander was not just buried in Babylon.

The body of Alexander the Great was carried in a long procession by his army.

The picture here shows what that procession may have looked like.

It was very grand and very fitting for such a great king.

After his death, Alexander became known as Alexander the Great because by defeating the Persians, he had created the largest empire ever to exist in the ancient world.

What an incredible achievement.

Let's try some activities then all about the conquests of Alexander the Great and his huge empire.

Here are some statements.

I would like you to decide if each one is true or false.

Tick the column for each one.

The Persian army used chariots at Gaugamela.

King Darius won the battle of Gaugamela.

Alexander conquered Babylon before Gaugamela.

In the Indus Valley Alexander successfully defeated the Persians, and Alexander died in Babylon before making it home to Macedon.

Have you decided? Let's go through them together.

The first sentence is true.

The Persian army used chariots at Gaugamela.

Next, King Darius won the battle of Gaugamela.

That's not true, Alexander won.

Alexander conquered Babylon before Gaugamela.

That's also not true because he had to win the battle of Gaugamela before he could ride into Babylon.

Next in the Indus Valley, Alexander successfully defeated the Persians.

That is true.

When that happened, the entire width of the Persian Empire had been defeated.

And then finally, Alexander died in Babylon before making it home.

That is true.

Did you identify three true and two false? Well done.

Time for one more activity now.

Here is the map that you've seen many times during this lesson.

It shows the size of Alexander's empire, the entire red area that is shaded were areas ruled over by Alexander the Great.

I have chosen five locations, Pella, Alexandria, Issus, Gaugamela and Babylon.

I'd like you to write one sentence about each place.

You could describe a historical event that happened there, or state a historical fact about it.

They've been chosen because they are key locations in the story of Alexander's conquests.

Pause the video now whilst you write your sentences.

Finished? Excellent.

I'm going to share some examples now.

Your sentences may have been similar to these.

I said that Pella was where Alexander's army set off from.

That was in Macedon.

Two, Alexandria was a city built in Egypt and named in honour of Alexander.

Issus, there was a battle in Issus in 330 BCE between Alexander's army and King Darius's Army.

Four, Alexander used excellent tactics to defeat King Darius at Gaugamela.

And five, Alexander conquered Babylon and later died there on his return journey home.

Wow, we have found out so much about all these incredible military conquests that Alexander had in his lifetime.

It really was a staggering achievement.

Let's review everything we now know about Alexander's conquests.

We know that Alexander left Pella in 334 BCE to conquer the Persian Empire.

Along the way, he was really brave in battles and he showed mercy to the people and that earned him a lot of respect.

He first met and defeated King Darius III at a battle in Issus.

Then he drove the Persians out of Egypt and the Egyptians made him their pharaoh.

He met again with King Darius at a second battle in a place called Gaugamela, and because Alexander's army had better tactics, he won again even though the Persians had chariots.

Then he conquered Babylon.

Then he went east towards the River Indus, and he finally defeated the entire Persian Empire in 326 BCE.

He later died in Babylon, and that was while he was returning home in 323 BCE.

I very much enjoyed learning all about Alexander's amazing conquest today.

Join me again for another history lesson to find out some more about Alexander the Great.

Bye for now.