Lesson video

Hello, my wonderful friends and welcome to the eighth lesson on this unit of ancient Greece.

My name is Mr. Pedroza and in this lesson, we're going to have a look at the final question.

So the question is, why was Alexander so great? Oh my goodness, you might think who is Alexander? Well, we're going to find out.

Let's have a look at the lesson structure.

So we're going to to begin with the star words.

Then we'll have a look at how did Alexander become king? Then we'll have a look at Alexander's conquests.

Then we'll have a look at why was Alexander so successful? And then we'll have a look at Alexander's death and legacy.

And then we'll finish up with our end of lesson quiz.

Things that you're going to need in this lesson, you need your exercise book or paper, where you can write some notes.

You need a pencil or a pen and then you're also going to need a ruler to underline key facts.

So at this point, if you want to go and get this things go and get them now.

Right, let's begin, shall we? Now, we have six words, we got despot, conquest, battle, customs, legacy and reliable.

So let's begin with despot.

A despot is a ruler who has complete power and authority.

Next one we got conquest and conquest is the act or the process of conquering.

Next, we've got battle and a battle is a fight between two armed persons or forces during a war.

Then we got customs and customs is their way of acting that is usual or accepted for a person or a social group.

Next one we've got legacy and legacy is anything that is passed down from ancestors, or someone who came before.

And the last one we got reliable and reliable, is capable of be trusted or relied upon and another word for level is dependable.

Now, let's have a look, how did Alexander become king? So who was Alexander? Now, Alexander III of Macedon, better known as Alexander the Great, single handedly changed the nature of the ancient world in little more than a decade, in 10 years.

Alexander the Great is sometimes known as the ruler of the world and he was one of the greatest military leaders of all time.

But was he himself really so great? Or what was the legacy that he left behind? So let's find out a little bit more about him.

Alexander III of Macedon is better known as what? What is Alexander III of Macedon better known as what? Have a think, have ago, complete that sentence now.

Okay, let's have a look.

What is Alexander III of Macedon better known as? He is better known as Alexander the Great, awesome job my friends.

So how did Alexander become king? Well, Alexander was a prince born in Pella in Macedonia, which was a Greek city state on the mainland.

His parents were Philip II of Macedon and his wife Olympias.

And Alexander was supposedly related to the Greek heroes, Hercules from his father's side, and Achilles from his mother's side.

Now Alexander's father King Philip, he employed the great philosopher Aristotle to tutor the young prince.

Aristotle, who was a student of the philosopher Plato, encouraged Alexander to be a great king to Greeks, but a despot against barbarians, against non Greeks.

And historians believe that his teachings influenced Alexander's decision to fight against the Persian Empire.

What famous Greek philosopher, tutored Alexander the Great? Was it A, was it Aristotle? Was it B, was it Plato? Was it C, Pythagoras? Or was it the Socrates? Which of those famous Greek philosophers tutored Alexander the Great, A, B, C, or D? Have a think, pause the video and complete that task.

Okay, let's see.

Which famous Greek philosopher tutored Alexander the Great? The answer was called Aristotle.

So the famous Greek philosopher Aristotle tutored Alexander the Great.

Awesome job my friends, well done.

Now let's move on.

When his father King Philip II was assassinated in 336 BCE, Alexander became king at a young age of 20.

Alexander had to fight to claim his father's throne.

And another of Prince Philip's wives and her daughter were murdered, along with two Macedon princess in the struggle to claim the throne.

Alexander was also forced to put down several rebellions against his rule.

Once he had gained power, he continued his father's work and he brought all of the Greek city states under his control after many years of fighting.

After controlling all of the Greek city states, he then decided to look east towards the Persian Empire for further conquest.

So let's have a look in here.

We've got a sentence to complete.

We've got four major words.

The key words could be Alexander, it could be 20, it could be 336 BCE, or it could be Philip II.

Remember that for Alexander and Philip II, you have to use capital letters at the beginning because their names of people.

So at this point, what I want you to do is complete the sentence, pause the video and have a go.

Okay, let's have a look and see if you got those right.

So when his father, King Philip II, was assassinated in 336 BCE, Alexander became king at the age of 20.

That's a very young age to become king, isn't it? Now, let's look at Alexander's conquests.

So once he had established himself as king, Alexander began a decade long campaign of conquest, and upon his crossing into Asia Minor in 334 BCE, Alexander was soon confronted by a Persian army that was waiting for him on the other side of the Granicus River in modern day Turkey, and that you can see is highlighted by the yellow circle.

Now, Alexander was almost killed in the attack that followed.

However, after much heavy fighting, Alexander's army emerged victorious and routed the Persian force.

Alexander went to conquer parts of the Persian Empire, including Egypt, his people were grateful to be freed from Persian rule.

And in Egypt, he founded the city of Alexandria, which still bears his name today.

And let's answer this question, in which year did the Battle of Granicus take place? So the the Battle of Granicus took place in? In which year did it take place? Have a think, pause the video and complete that task.

Okay, let's see.

In which year did the Battle of Granicus River take place? It was of course, in 334 BCE.

So the full sentence answer would be the the Battle of Granicus took place in 334 BCE.

Awesome job my friends, excellent job.

Now, let's move on.

Alexander, in 333 BC, so the next year, Alexander fought the Persian king, Darius III of Issus, which is the modern day Syria.

Now, Alexander's army was possibly only half the size of the Darius's army, but the narrow battle side ensured that Darius's larger numbers, the larger number of troops, it counted for very little.

And a Macedonian victory soon followed, and Darius fled eastwards towards Persia.

Alexander due to capture Darius's abandoned baggage train including the Persian kings lavish royal tent, his mother and his wife.

Two years later, Alexander defeated Darius again in 331 BCE, at the Battle of Gaugamela, which is highlighted that in pink.

And as a result, the Persian king was overthrown and he was murdered.

With Darius's death, Alexander became the king of Persia, as well as Macedon.

We've got true or false.

So the Persian king, Darius III, was murdered after his loss against Alexander at the Battle of Issus in 333 BCE, is that true or is that false? What do you think? At this point, pause the video and complete that task.

Okay, let's see.

Was he murdered after the Battle of Issus? No, he wasn't, that is false.

So King Darius III was killed after his defeat against Alexander at the Battle of Gaugamela in 331 BCE.

Awesome job my friends, well done.

I'm going to leave the answer up so that you can copy it, you can check it again as your own.

Let's have a look.

So why was Alexander so successful? Why did he win so many wars and conquered so many places? Well, Alexander's success, I'd match to his own management strategy, as to the military reforms introduced by his father.

King Phillip II made military service a full time occupation in Macedon.

And in a remarkably short space of time, this led to the creation of one of the finest military machines of the ancient world.

Alexander developed his own style of battle based on using a very large army of soldiers who marched and fought in tight formations.

And Alexander's army comprised of archers, carries, hypaspist, which is on the left, and the phalanx, who were famous for using four to six metre long pike known as the sarissa.

Let's complete the sentence.

So Alexander the Great benefited from his father's military reforms, which made being a soldier a job.

So here you got two sentences.

There are four missing words.

The missing words could be phalanx, it could be tight, it could be sarissa and it could be full time.

Where do you think those words go? Once you think you know, write them down, write the sentence out, read them back to see if it makes sense and then when we come back, we will check them.

So at this point pause the video and complete your task, good luck.

Okay, let's have a look.

So the keywords, phalanx, tight, sarissa and full time.

So Alexander the Great benefited from his father's military reforms, which made being a soldier a full time job.

Alexander's army marched and fought in tight formations and included the phalanx, who use a long pipe known as a sarissa.

Remember, phalanx were a type of army unit and they had a long, long pipe, it was four to six metres long, and it was known as a sarissa.

Awesome job my friends.

I'm going to leave it up so that you can check your work against my own.

Great job guys.

Now, let's continue.

So Alexander was also successful because he was an expert at diplomacy.

He made many alliances with his enemies, and that allowed him to keep control of the lands he conquered.

For example, he encouraged his soldiers to marry local women when conquering a new territory, and this allowed them to integrate better into their new conquered lands.

Now Alexander is also said to have followed the local customs and laws of the lands he conquered.

And this was seen as a sign of respect by the people that he conquered, increasing his popularity and loyalty to him.

Increasing their popularity and loyalty to him, my mistake.

Now, Alexander is supposed to have wept when he won his final battle, because he said, "There are no more worlds to conquer." I wonder why he cried and said that.

Let's have a look at Alexander's death and his legacy.

So not satisfied with conquering Persia, Alexander had the desire to conquer all of the known world, which was widely believed to be surrounded by an ocean that surrounded India.

And he crossed into the Hindu Kush into ancient India in 327 BCE.

Now this would be the bloodiest part of his 10 year long campaigns.

Alexander's forces fought against King Porus.

Now, he was the king of the Pauravas in 326 BC.

And again, Alexander, he was victorious, he won, but this battle was costly.

He attempted to take his army across the Hyphasis River to fight against the Nanda Empire.

However, tired of 10 years on nonstop war, and frightened of the Nanda Empire's elephant units, his army refused, and they demanded to turn back and go home.

Alexander tried to change their minds, but reluctantly, he agreed to call off the war, and he sent his army back to Macedon.

So here is Alexander's Empire and he tried to conquer the Nanda Empire.

But after 10 years of war, his soldiers were so tired, they were so exhausted, and they were also afraid of the Nanda Empire's elephant units that they decided they had enough and they decided to go back home.

Let's have a look at the next part.

So why did Alexander's army refuse to fight against the Nanda Empire? Now, there are two reasons.

Challenge yourself and think about what the two reasons were for that.

In your answer you could say, Alexander's army refused to fight against the Nanda Empire because, what were those two reasons? So at this point, pause the video and complete that task.

Okay, let's see if you got my two reasons, did you try and resolve? So why did Alexander's army refused to fight against the Nanda Empire? Well, Alexander's army refused to fight against the Nanda Empire because they were exhausted after 10 years of war.

They were all also afraid of the Nanda Empire's elephant units.

I think that's a sensible reason not to go to war against the Nanda Empire.

So at this point, pause the video and check your answer against mine.

Now let's have a look, let's continue to talk about his death and his legacy.

Now Alexander passed away in 323 BCE at the tender age of 32, that was quite young, because rich people and rich and powerful people at that time, were meant to live between 50 to 70 years.

So he died really, really young.

Now, there is a lack of reliable evidence on what really happened to him.

In one story, Alexander drank alcohol all day and all night, and then he died from a fever.

In another story, he drank a big bottle of wine to honour the god Hercules after the battle and then he died.

Some historians believe that he may have been poisoned by one of his soldiers who was tired of the nonstop wars.

Now following his death, Alexander's body was taken to Egypt, where is eventually placed in Alexandria, the city that he founded.

Mystery now surrounds what happened to Alexander's tomb.

Some even believe it is no longer in Alexandria.

We just don't know where he's buried.

We also don't know how he really died.

Now we have such an array of coaches and different peoples within his empire and with Alexander not naming a clear successor, Alexander's vast empire quickly fragmented into warring parties.

And the wars of the successors that followed would last around 40 years in which many would rise and fall in their attempts for dominance.

And eventually, Alexander's Empire became essentially divided into three parts.

You had the Seleucids in Asia, you had the Antinoids in Macedonia, and you had the Ptolemies in Egypt.

So let's look at this one.

So you're going to write whether these statements are true or false.

So Alexander died in 332 BCE, is that true or is that false? Historians are sure of how, of exactly how the Alexander the Great died, is that true or is that false? And then C, after Alexander the Great passed away, his empire divided into different kingdoms, is that true or is that false? Again, I don't know, you're going to tell me.

So at this point, pause the video and complete that task.

So let's see which of these statements was true or false.

So A, Alexander died in 332 BCE, that was false, he passed away in 323 BCE.

B, historians are sure of exactly how Alexander the Great died, that is false.

Historians disagree on how he died, some think he died from drinking too much alcohol, others think he was poisoned, others think he became sick.

So there's disagreement as to how he died.

And then C, after Alexander the Great passed away his empire divided into different kingdoms, is that true or is that false? That is true.

So after his death, Alexander's Empire became essentially divided into three parts, the Seleucids, who ruled in Asia, the Antinoids in Macedonia, and the Ptolemies in Egypt.

So those are the answers to those statements.

I'm going to leave them up so that you can check your own answers.

Awesome job, my friends, well done.

So, let's have a look at his legacy.

Well, Alexander the Great was one of the most influential people in history.

Having never lost a single battle, zero battles lost, Alexander's military tactics are still studied to this day.

And his Empire allowed for the spread of Greek culture and ideas as far east as modern day Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Alexander founded more than 20 cities bearing his name, and the Egyptian city of Alexandria, which was a key Mediterranean port in antiquity and now a metropolis of over 5 million people was founded by Alexander the Great.

Look how large his empire became.

And guys, that is the end of our lesson, awesome job today, well done.

It's now time to complete your end of lesson quiz, don't skip it.

If you'd like to, please ask your parent or carer to share your work.

They can do it on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, they're going to tag Oak National and they could use the hashtag learn with Oak.

So if there's anything that you would like to share, then please do share it but ask your parent or carer to do that for you.

Awesome job my friends, well done.

I shall see you in our next lesson.

Goodbye friends.